How do I...In Python 3, how to append a nested dictionary to a shelve file with the added difficulty of using a for loop?

See more:

Python

dictionary

I am trying to figure out how to populate a shelve file with a nested dictionary.

These are my requirements:

-Create shelve file called people.db
-Append the shelve file with new people (person_1, person_2, etc.).
-Use a for loop to iterate through 'attributes' so that I do not need to write out the lengthy code line by line to populate to the shelve file.
-Need to reference shelve file data for future use

Here is the key/value format that I would like to append to the shelve file.

person_1 = { 'name': 'Bob', 'type': 'employee', 'attributes':
[{'game': 'basketball', 'high score': '100', 'time': '3.34'},
{'game': 'bridge', 'high score': '10', 'time': '30.34'},
{'game': 'foosball', 'high score': '2', 'time': '24'}]
'''
50+ other attributes
'''
}

# Example: s['person_1]['attributes'][2]['time'] would call out '24'.
# 's' is from 's = shelve.open('people')'
I have a dictionary dictPeople.py file (created using pprint() that contains the information of person_1, etc. And I am extracting only a small percentage of the data that is needed.

I have tried the following, but I get an invalid key error.

import shelve, dictPeople
s = shelve.open('people')
person = 'person_1'
s[person]['name'] = dictPeople.person_1['name']
s[person]['type'] = dictPeople.person_1['type']
# I need to use this for loop because there are 50+ attributes.
for attribute in range(0, len(dictPeople['attributes'][attribute])):
s[person]['attributes'][attribute]['game'] = \
dictPeople['attributes'][attribute]['game']
s[person]['attributes'][attribute]['high score'] = \
dictPeople['attributes'][attribute]['high score']
s[person]['attributes'][attribute]['time'] = \
dictPeople['attributes'][attribute]['time']
It turns out, I get the key error because I am not allowed to reference a key/value pair the same way that I can with a dictionary. However, the crazy thing is that I can call values in the db file using the same exact format when trying to write.

For example: I can read data from the .db file using:

x = s['person_1']['name']
print(x)
BUT! I cannot write to that .db file using that exact format or I get an invalid key error. Makes no sense!

s['person_1']['name'] = 'Bob'
# Returns invalid key entry. Makes no sense.
Therefore, I tried to extract data and populate the db file using the following:

s[person] = { 'name': dictPeople.person_1['name'],
'type': dictPeople.person_1['type'],
for attribute in range(0, len(dictPeople['attributes'][attribute])):
['game': dictPeople['attributes'][attribute]['game'],
'high score': dictPeople['attributes'][attribute]['high score'],
'time': dictPeople['attributes'][attribute]['time']]

}
But, this obvously doesn't work because of the for loop. How can I do this?

-I am trying to figure out how to extract data from the dictionary dictPeople.py file and store it in the people.db file.
-I am trying to add new people to the people.db file as more people become available.
-I need to use the for loop because of the 50+ attributes I need to add.
-My future steps would be to modify some of the data values that I extract and used to populate the people.db file, but my first step is to, at least, extract, and then populate the people.db file.

Thank you!