Python - Can't call a method passing only self argument

Question

Under python 2.7.

How to deal with methods those have passing only one argument, the "self"?

class MyTwitterClass(object):
    ...
    def keys(self):
        return {
            'consumer_key': self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'consumer_key'),
            "consumer_secret": self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'consumer_secret'),
            "access_token_key": self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'access_token_key'),
            "access_token_secret": self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'access_token_secret')
        }

    api = twitter.Api(consumer_key=keys()['consumer_key'],
                      consumer_secret=keys()['consumer_secret'],
                      access_token_key=keys()['access_token_key'],
                      access_token_secret=keys()['access_token_secret'])

The error I got is:

Traceback (most recent call):
    File "..." ...
    ...
     api = twitter.Api(consumer_key=keys()['consumer_key'],
    TypeError: keys() takes exactly 1 argument (0 given)

Any idea will be welcome.

Answer 1

keys() is a method of your class. To pass automatically the self parameter, you have to call it this way :

c = MyTwitterClass()
keys = c.keys()

So, I suggest you add a get_api() method to your class:

class MyTwitterClass(object):
    ...
    def keys(self):
        return {
            'consumer_key': self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'consumer_key'),
            "consumer_secret": self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'consumer_secret'),
            "access_token_key": self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'access_token_key'),
            "access_token_secret": self.read_settings().get('Keys', 'access_token_secret')
        }

    def get_api(self):
        keys = self.keys() # self refer to the current instance of your class
        api = twitter.Api(consumer_key=keys['consumer_key'],
                          consumer_secret=keys['consumer_secret'],
                          access_token_key=keys['access_token_key'],
                          access_token_secret=keys['access_token_secret'])

        return api

# Now, you can do :

c = MyTwitterClass()
api = c.get_api()

Answer 2

You need to call the instance method. keys() is the a method, which you can call on every MyTwitterClass object, or with self if your are in the class itself

obj = MyTwitterClass()
[...]
api = twitter.Api(consumer_key=obj.keys()['consumer_key'],
                  consumer_secret=obj.keys()['consumer_secret'],
                  access_token_key=obj.keys()['access_token_key'],
                  access_token_secret=obj.keys()['access_token_secret'])
                                      ^^^^
                                     note this addition