gistfile1.py

def getqattr(obj, name):
    ''' get value of an object, safely '''
    try:
        if hasattr(name,'__call__'):
             return name(obj)
        else:
            value = getattr(obj, name)
            if hasattr(value, '__call__'):  # function generated value
                if name.find('link') != -1:  # link tuple triplet
                    return _linkify(value())
                return value()
            elif (isinstance(value, datetime.datetime)
            or isinstance(value, datetime.date)):  # datetime object
                return datetime2iso8601(value)
            return value
    except:
        return None