[FIXED] Why can't Spyder open the Dictionary variable when I click on it?

Issue

I create my dictionary through the following class, that at the end I believe is an ordinary dictionary subclass.

class my_dictionary(dict):
    # Function to add key:value 
    def add(self, key, value): 
        self[key] = value 

I use this dictionary subclass to associate a list to a string:

from collections import OrderedDict

timeDict = my_dictionary()

filename = 'name'
t = [0, 1, 2]

timeDict.add(filename, t)

The code creates the dictionary and uses it as expected:

However, I can not inspect the dictionary in Spyder by clicking on it in variable explorer! I get the following error dialog:

Error

Spyder was unable to retrieve the value of this variable from the console.

The error message was:

AttributeError("Can't get attribute 'my_dictionary' on ",)

Solution

This is a known issue in spyder: #8856. The fix for it is under development for Spyder 4.0, according to the developers.

In the meantime, your particular use-case has a workaround. The add method does not add any new functionality, so you can use a plain dict. The statement timeDict.add(filename, t) can be replaced by timeDict[filename] = t if you choose to do that.

If your goal is to experiment with overriding built it classes, you will not be able to use Spyder's variable explorer for now.

Answered By - Mad Physicist