+++
title = "A Python Transaction Class"
date = 2015-10-13T10:20:43+00:00
[taxonomies]
tags = ["python", "programming"]
+++
This is a repost of a blog post of 2008. Just for the reference :-)

This class allows sub-classes to commit changes to an instance to a history, and rollback to previous states.

<!-- more -->

The final class with an extension for `__setstate__` and `__getstate__` can be found here:
[transaction.py](/files/transaction.py)
and [transaction_test.py](/files/transaction_test.py).

Now to the story, that led to it: I had the need for a transaction class in python and browsing the python cookbook led me to a [small Transaction class](http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/551788).

```python
$ python
Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Oct 30 2007, 13:45:26)
[GCC 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-33)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> class Transaction(object):
...     def __init__(self):
...         self.log = []
...     def commit(self):
...         self.log.append(self.__dict__.copy())
...     def rollback(self):
...         try:
...             self.__dict__.update(self.log.pop(-1))
...         except IndexError:
...             pass
...
```

 Ok, lets have some fun with it.

```python
>>> class A(Transaction):
...     pass
...
>>> a = A()
>>> a.test = True
>>> a.commit()
>>> a.test = False
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': False, 'log': [{'test': True, 'log': [...]}]}'
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': True, 'log': []}'
```

 Nice. Let's see if we can commit and rollback several times.

```python
>>> a = A()
>>> a.test = 1
>>> a.commit()
>>> a.test = 2
>>> a.commit()
>>> a.test = 3
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 3, 'log': [{'test': 1, 'log': [...]}, {'test': 2, 'log': [...]}]}'
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 2, 'log': [{'test': 1, 'log': [...]}]}'
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 1, 'log': []}'
```

 Ok.. works :) Let's try some lists.

```python
>>> a = A()
>>> a.test = [ 0, 1 ]
>>> a.commit()
>>> a.test.append(2)
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': [0, 1, 2], 'log': [{'test': [0, 1, 2], 'log': [...]}]}'
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': [0, 1, 2], 'log': []}'
```

 Doh! Ok, someone mentioned that already in the comments. copy.deepcopy() is the key.

```python
>>> import copy
>>>
>>> class Transaction2(Transaction):
...     def commit(self, **kwargs):
...         self.log.append(copy.deepcopy(self.__dict__))
...
>>> class A(Transaction2):
...     pass
...
>>> a = A()
>>> a.test = [ 0, 1 ]
>>> a.commit()
>>> a.test.append(2)
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': [0, 1, 2], 'log': [{'test': [0, 1], 'log': []}]}'
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': [0, 1], 'log': []}'

```

 Ah, works. Very good. Now another check:

```python
>>> a = A()
>>> a.test = 1
>>> a.commit()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 1, 'log': [{'test': 1, 'log': []}]}'
>>> a.other = 2
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 1, 'other': 2, 'log': [{'test': 1, 'log': []}]}'
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 1, 'other': 2, 'log': []}'
>>> a.other
2

```

 Oh, a leftover... seems like `self.__dict__` has to be cleared, before the update.

```python
>>> class Transaction3(Transaction2):
...     def rollback(self, **kwargs):
...         try:
...             state = self.log.pop(-1)
...             self.__dict__.clear()
...             self.__dict__.update(state)
...         except IndexError:
...             pass
...
>>> class A(Transaction3):
...     pass
...
>>> a = A()
>>> a.test = 1
>>> a.commit()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 1, 'log': [{'test': 1, 'log': []}]}'
>>> a.other = 2
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 1, 'other': 2, 'log': [{'test': 1, 'log': []}]}'
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'test': 1, 'log': []}'
>>> a.other
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1, in
AttributeError: 'A' object has no attribute 'other'
>>>
```

 Ah, works. Very good. Ok, more tests...

```python
>>> b = a.ncls
>>> a.ncls.test = True
>>> a.commit()
>>> a.ncls.test = False
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'ncls': 'self.__dict__ = {'test': True, 'log': []}', 'log': []}'
>>> b
'self.__dict__ = {'test': False, 'log': []}'
```

 Oh, what if we work with "b", which stills holds the old value? Maybe we should commit() all our attributes also, traversing through them all? Ok, here is such a beast:

```python
>>> class TransactionNew1(object):           
...     def _docommit(self):
...         if "log" not in self.__dict__:
...             self.__dict__["log"] = list()
...             
...         self.__dict__["log"].append(copy.deepcopy(self.__dict__))
...     
...     def _dorollback(self):
...         if "log" not in self.__dict__:
...             return
...         try:
...             state = self.__dict__["log"].pop(-1)
...             self.__dict__.clear()
...             self.__dict__.update(state)
...         except IndexError:
...             pass
...     
...     def commit(self, **kwargs):
...         # commit ourselves, then our childs
...         self._docommit()
...         if kwargs.get("deep", True):
...             for child in self.__dict__.values():
...                 if isinstance(child, self.__class__):
...                     child.commit()
...                     
...     def rollback(self, **kwargs):
...         # rollback our childs, then ourselves
...         if kwargs.get("deep", True):
...             for child in self.__dict__.values():
...                 if isinstance(child, self.__class__):
...                     child.rollback()
...         self._dorollback()
...     
...     def __repr__(self):
...         return "'self.__dict__ = %s'" % self.__dict__
...
>>> class A(TransactionNew1):
...     pass
...
>>> a = A()
>>> a.ncls = A()
>>> b = a.ncls
>>> a.ncls.test = True
>>> a.commit()
>>> a.ncls.test = False
>>> a.rollback()
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'ncls': 'self.__dict__ = {'test': True}', 'log': []}'
>>> b
'self.__dict__ = {'test': True, 'log': []}'

```

 Ok... looks good, but we lost the reference. id(b) != id(a.ncls) ... ( update: this is fixed in the final version ) Working with it revealed also:

```python
>>> a = A()
>>> b = a
>>> for i in xrange(3):
...     b.n = A()
...     b.t = "test"
...     b = b.n
...     a.commit()
...
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'log': [{'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}', 'log': [], 't': 'test'}, {'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': [{'log': []}], 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}', 'log': [{'t': 'test', 'log': [], 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}], 't': 'test'}, {'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': [{'log': []}, {'log': [{'log': []}], 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}], 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': [{'log': []}], 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}'}', 'log': [{'t': 'test', 'log': [], 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}, {'t': 'test', 'log': [{'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}', 't': 'test', 'log': []}], 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'t': 'test', 'log': [{'log': []}], 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}'}], 't': 'test'}], 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'t': 'test', 'log': [{'log': []}, {'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}', 't': 'test', 'log': [{'log': []}]}, {'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': [{'log': []}], 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}', 't': 'test', 'log': [{'log': []}, {'log': [{'log': []}], 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}]}], 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'t': 'test', 'log': [{'log': []}, {'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}', 't': 'test', 'log': [{'log': []}]}], 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': [{'log': []}]}'}'}'}'
>>> len(str(a))
1192
```

 Hmm... seems strange.. Ah, self.log was also copied with copy.deepcopy(). So, we have multiple useless copies. Let's "pop()" the state from self.__dict__ before the deepcopy.

```python
>>> class TransactionNew2(TransactionNew1):
...     def _docommit(self):
...         if "log" in self.__dict__:
...             oldstate = self.__dict__.pop("log")
...         else:
...             oldstate = None             
...         state = copy.deepcopy(self.__dict__)
...         if oldstate:
...             state["log"] = oldstate
...         self.__dict__["log"] = state
...     def _dorollback(self):
...         if "log" not in self.__dict__:
...             return
...         try:
...             state = self.__dict__["log"]
...             self.__dict__.clear()
...             self.__dict__.update(state)
...         except IndexError:
...             pass
...
>>> class A(TransactionNew2):
...     pass
...
>>>
>>> a = A()
>>> b = a
>>> for i in xrange(3):
...     b.n = A()
...     b.t = "test"
...     b = b.n
...     a.commit()
...
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'log': {'log': {'log': {'t': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': {}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': {'t': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': {}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}'}'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'t': 'test', 'log': {'log': {'t': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': {}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}'}, 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'t': 'test', 'log': {'t': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {}'}, 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'log': {}}'}'}'}'
>>> len(str(a))
671

```

 Ok, saved us a bit of state length. The final version has:

```python
>>> a
'self.__dict__ = {'__l': {'__l': {'__l': {'t': 'test'}, 't': 'test'}, 't': 'test'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'__l': {'__l': {'t': 'test'}, 't': 'test'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'__l': {'t': 'test'}, 't': 'test', 'n': 'self.__dict__ = {'__l': {}}'}'}'}'
>>> len(str(a))
275

```

 Now another thing:

```python
>>> a = A()
>>> a.n = a
>>> a.commit()

  File "/usr/lib64/python2.5/copy.py", line 162, in deepcopy
    y = copier(x, memo)
RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded
```

 ... Oh, oh! Recursion in commit()... Now we have to check, if we have been there.

```python
>>> class TransactionNew3(TransactionNew2):
...     def _checksetseen(self, seen):
...         if id(self) in seen:
...             import sys
...             sys.stderr.write("Recursion detected... \n")
...             return True
...         seen.add(id(self))
...         return False
...         
...     def commit(self, **kwargs): # pylint: disable-msg=W0613
...         seen = kwargs.get("_commit_seen", set())
...         if self._checksetseen(seen):
...             return
...         # commit ourselves, then our childs
...         self._docommit()
...         if kwargs.get("deep", True):
...             for child in self.__dict__.values():
...                 if isinstance(child, self.__class__):
...                     child.commit(_commit_seen = seen)
...                     
...     def rollback(self, **kwargs):
...         seen = kwargs.get("_rollback_seen", set())
...         if self._checksetseen(seen):
...             return
...         # rollback our childs, then ourselves
...         if kwargs.get("deep", True):
...             for child in self.__dict__.values():
...                 if isinstance(child, self.__class__):
...                     child.rollback(_rollback_seen = seen)
...         self._dorollback()
...
>>>
>>> class A(TransactionNew3):
...     pass
...
>>> a = A()
>>> a.n = a
>>> a.commit()
Recursion detected...
>>>
```

The final class with an extension for `__setstate__` and `__getstate__` can be found here: [transaction.py](https://harald.hoyer.xyz/files/transaction.py) and [transaction_test.py](/files/transaction_test.py). Have fun with it :-)
