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UnboundLocalError: local variable referenced before assignment

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ch1zra

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Jun 8, 2010, 4:03:10 AM6/8/10
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I have following code :

import os, time, re, pyodbc, Image, sys
from datetime import datetime, date, time
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A4
from reportlab.lib.units import cm
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
from reportlab.pdfbase import pdfmetrics
from reportlab.pdfbase.ttfonts import TTFont
import mkTable

mkTable.mkTable()

and then file mkTable.py located in same directory has :

def mkTable():
global canvas
canvas = canvas.Canvas(fname, pagesize=A4)
... and so on

this gives me following traceback:


Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\py\pdf_test.py", line 36, in <module>
mkTable.mkTable()
File "C:\py\mkTable.py", line 38, in mkTable
canvas = canvas.Canvas("K_lista.pdf", pagesize=A4)
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'canvas' referenced before
assignment

i haven't posted entire code, because those lines are giving me
problems. I've searched the web, and all say that I should make var
global inside function. so I did it, but still nothing...
using python 2.6.2 and reportlab 2.4
help plz :)

Richard Thomas

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Jun 8, 2010, 4:29:48 AM6/8/10
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The version of mkTable.py you posted is clearly different to the one
in the traceback. You might want to check that.

Richard.

Bryan

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Jun 8, 2010, 4:59:13 AM6/8/10
to
ch1zra wrote:
> I have following code :
>
> import os, time, re, pyodbc, Image, sys
> from datetime import datetime, date, time
> from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A4
> from reportlab.lib.units import cm
> from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
> from reportlab.pdfbase import pdfmetrics
> from reportlab.pdfbase.ttfonts import TTFont
> import mkTable
>
> mkTable.mkTable()
>
> and then file mkTable.py located in same directory has :
>
> def mkTable():
>     global canvas
>     canvas = canvas.Canvas(fname, pagesize=A4)
>     ... and so on
>
> this gives me following traceback:
>
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "C:\py\pdf_test.py", line 36, in <module>
>     mkTable.mkTable()
>   File "C:\py\mkTable.py", line 38, in mkTable
>     canvas = canvas.Canvas("K_lista.pdf", pagesize=A4)
> UnboundLocalError: local variable 'canvas' referenced before
> assignment

Python doesn't have one global namespace. Each module (file) has its
own namespace, which is a Python dict, and 'global' means defined in
the containing module's dict. Put the import:

from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas

in the mkTable.py file. That brings 'canvas' into the mkTable module's
namespace.

Python programs commonly import the same module multiple times. Only
the first import runs the body of the imported module. Subsequent
imports merely bring the names into the importing module's namespace.


--
--Bryan Olson

ch1zra

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Jun 8, 2010, 5:00:46 AM6/8/10
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here's full version of mkTable.py (I've cut out all the drawing code
for clarity)
http://bpaste.net/show/7003/

and it's caller :
http://bpaste.net/show/7004/

and the newest traceback (just generated):

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\py\pdf_test.py", line 36, in <module>
mkTable.mkTable()
File "C:\py\mkTable.py", line 38, in mkTable

canvas.setFillColorRGB(0.8,0.8,0.8)

Chris Rebert

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Jun 8, 2010, 5:25:02 AM6/8/10
to ch1zra, pytho...@python.org

mkTable.py:
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
def mkTable():
global canvas
<snip>


canvas = canvas.Canvas("K_lista.pdf", pagesize=A4)

The only global variable defined in mkTable.py is the "mkTable"
function (partly since you don't import anything). So the reference to
the global variable "canvas" on the right-hand side of this expression
is completely undefined, resulting in the error you're getting.

In this respect, your code is akin to:
whatever.py:
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
def foo():
global x
x = 2 * x
foo()
# This is obviously horribly flawed since x is never given an initial value!
#EOF

More generally, your code uses "canvas" to refer both to the module
reportlab.pdfgen.canvas and an instance of the class
reportlab.pdfgen.canvas.Canvas; this is confusing and problematic. I
suggest you either rename one of them to something distinct (e.g.
`import reportlab.pdfgen.canvas as pdfcanvas`), or import just the
class Canvas straight from reportlab.pdfgen.canvas (i.e. `from
reportlab.pdfgen.canvas import Canvas`).

Cheers,
Chris
--
http://blog.rebertia.com

ch1zra

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Jun 8, 2010, 5:28:22 AM6/8/10
to

thanx so much, it worked.
I am getting some other problems now, but will use this logic to fix
it.
thanx once again :)

Peter Otten

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Jun 8, 2010, 6:41:33 AM6/8/10
to
Chris Rebert wrote:

The above would produce a NameError, not an UnboundLocalError:

>>> def foo():
... global x
... x = x
...
>>> foo()


Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "<stdin>", line 3, in foo
NameError: global name 'x' is not defined

To get the latter you'd have to omit the global declaration.

Peter

Bryan

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Jun 8, 2010, 9:30:06 AM6/8/10
to
Peter Otten wrote:
> Chris Rebert wrote:
[...]

> > The only global variable defined in mkTable.py is the "mkTable"
> > function (partly since you don't import anything). So the reference to
> > the global variable "canvas" on the right-hand side of this expression
> > is completely undefined, resulting in the error you're getting.
>
> The above would produce a NameError, not an UnboundLocalError:

Ah, yes. The OP's code produces a NameError.

[...]


> To get the latter you'd have to omit the global declaration.

Not hard to diagnose: The OP got the UnboundLocalError, so he looked
stuff up and tried various things, such as the global declaration, but
still got an exception. In writing it up, he copied the initial
exception, but a latter version of the function.


--
--Bryan

Bruno Desthuilliers

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Jun 8, 2010, 9:58:03 AM6/8/10
to
ch1zra a écrit :

> On Jun 8, 10:59 am, Bryan <bryanjugglercryptograp...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Python doesn't have one global namespace. Each module (file) has its
>> own namespace, which is a Python dict, and 'global' means defined in
>> the containing module's dict. Put the import:
>>
>> from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
>>
>> in the mkTable.py file. That brings 'canvas' into the mkTable module's
>> namespace.
>>
>
> thanx so much, it worked.
> I am getting some other problems now,

Yeps. One of them being rebinding mkTable.canvas on the first call to
mkTable.mkTable...

Get rid of the 'global canvas' at the beginning of the mkTable.mkTable
function, and rename your local var to something else than canvas.

danieldelay

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Jun 8, 2010, 2:59:08 PM6/8/10
to
Le 08/06/2010 10:03, ch1zra a écrit :
> import os, time, re, pyodbc, Image, sys
> from datetime import datetime, date, time
> from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A4
> from reportlab.lib.units import cm
> from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
> from reportlab.pdfbase import pdfmetrics
> from reportlab.pdfbase.ttfonts import TTFont
> import mkTable
>
> mkTable.mkTable()
>
> and then file mkTable.py located in same directory has :
>
> def mkTable():
> global canvas
> canvas = canvas.Canvas(fname, pagesize=A4)
> ... and so on

Hello,

It does not really make sense to redefine an object you've imported,
like in
> import mkTable
> def mkTable():

or like in :
> from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
> canvas = ...

You must use differents names for the variables you wan't to use, or the
function you wan't to import

> from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas
> ....
> import mkTable
> ...
> def MYmkTable():
> ...
> MYcanvas = canvas.Canvas(fname, pagesize=A4)

Daniel

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