ubersystem menu rework idea

menu.py

import json

# Dom's idea to try and rework the ubersystem menu system so we can append things to it from plugins
# right now, we can't really inject things into the menu from plugins, and I thought this should be an easier thing.
# (mostly, was trying to get some links for the band plugin on the main menu)
#
# TLDR ended up coming up with this idea for how to represent the menu in python, and then passing that as JSON to
# our javascript code which actually creates the HTML elements.
#
# Lemme know what you guys think and if it's worth pursuing I'll continue on with this when I have a few spare minutes


# pretend this is uber's Config() class
class DomsJunkConfig(object):

    # fake config data to make this example work
    ACCOUNTS = 0
    PEOPLE = 1
    REG_AT_CON = 2
    PEOPLE = 3
    WATCHLIST = 4
    STUFF = 5
    STATS = 6
    AT_THE_CON = False
    # end fake config data

    class MenuItemEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
        def default(self, o):
            out = {}
            # skip anything that is None
            for key,value in o.__dict__.items():
                if value:
                    out[key] = value
            return out

    @property
    def MENU_JSON(self):
        return json.dumps(c.MENU, cls=self.MenuItemEncoder, sort_keys=True, indent=2)

c = DomsJunkConfig()


class MenuItem:
    access = None   # list of permission levels allowed to display this menu
    href = None     # link to show
    submenu = None  # submenu to show

    def __init__(self, href=None, access=None, submenu=None):
        if submenu:
            self.submenu = submenu
        else:
            self.href = href

        self.access = access


# in base ubersystem, we represent the menu like this
c.MENU = {
    'Accounts': MenuItem(href='../accounts/', access=c.ACCOUNTS),

    'People': MenuItem(access=[c.PEOPLE, c.REG_AT_CON], submenu=[
        {'Attendees': MenuItem(href='../registration/{}'.format('?invalid=True' if c.AT_THE_CON else ''))},
        {'Groups': MenuItem(href='../groups/')},
        {'All Untaken Shifts': MenuItem(access=c.PEOPLE, href='../jobs/everywhere')},
        {'Jobs': MenuItem(access=c.PEOPLE, href='../jobs/')},
        {'Watchlist': MenuItem(access=c.WATCHLIST, href='../registration/watchlist_entries')},
        {'Feed of Database Changes': MenuItem(href='../registration/feed')}
    ]),

    'Schedule': MenuItem(access=c.STUFF, submenu=[
        {'View Schedule': MenuItem(href='../schedule/')},
        {'Edit Schedule': MenuItem(href='../schedule/edit')}
    ]),

    'Statistics': MenuItem(href='../summary/'),
}

# in plugins, we can add stuff to the menus like this:
c.MENU['People'].submenu.append(
    {'Bands': MenuItem(href='../registration/feed')}
)

# convert to JSON like this and pass to the templates (should already be passed to templates because it's in 'c')
print(c.MENU_JSON)

resulting JSON:

{
  "Accounts": {
    "href": "../accounts/"
  },
  "People": {
    "access": [
      3,
      2
    ],
    "submenu": [
      {
        "Attendees": {
          "href": "../registration/"
        }
      },
      {
        "Groups": {
          "href": "../groups/"
        }
      },
      {
        "All Untaken Shifts": {
          "access": 3,
          "href": "../jobs/everywhere"
        }
      },
      {
        "Jobs": {
          "access": 3,
          "href": "../jobs/"
        }
      },
      {
        "Watchlist": {
          "access": 4,
          "href": "../registration/watchlist_entries"
        }
      },
      {
        "Feed of Database Changes": {
          "href": "../registration/feed"
        }
      },
      {
        "Bands": {
          "href": "../registration/feed"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "Schedule": {
    "access": 5,
    "submenu": [
      {
        "View Schedule": {
          "href": "../schedule/"
        }
      },
      {
        "Edit Schedule": {
          "href": "../schedule/edit"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "Statistics": {
    "href": "../summary/"
  }
}

ignore all of this, I now have a better version here:
magfest/ubersystem#1849