How to access a variable in a method in a class from another method in the same class

Question

There are no errors or problems with the below code I want to "connect" this script to an external file or database so that that "my_dict" dictionary can have its contents stored and used after the script is executed. I am looking for ideas on how to make this happen. I am not asking for the code to be fixed as it is functional. It is merely there to provide context.

my_dict = {}


class password(object):
    def __init__(self):
        pass

    def username_input(self):
        self.user = str(input("Please enter the username you would like to use: "))
        return self.user
        #gets the input for a username


    def password_input(self):
        self.passw = str(input("Please enter the password you would like to use: "))
        return self.passw
        #gets the input for a password


    def username_creator(self):
        password.username_input(self)
        return self.user


    def password_creator(self):
        password.password_input(self)
        return self.passw

    def swap_username(self, new_pass, old_pass):
        my_dict[new_pass] = my_dict.pop(old_pass)

    def swap_password(self, new_pas, old_pas):
        my_dict[old_pas] = new_pas



    def username_change(self):
        self.d = input("please enter your username: ")
        for key in my_dict:
            if key == self.d:
                self.x = input("enter a  new username: ")
                password().swap_username(self.x, self.d)
                print("your username has been updated!")
                break

            else:
                print("the username you entered does not exist in our records")
                password().username_change()


    def password_change(self):
        self.e = input("please enter your username: ")
        self.q = input("please enter your password: ")
        for key, value in my_dict.items():
            if key == self.e and value == self.q:
                self.z = input("enter a new password: ")
                password().swap_password(self.z, self.e)
                break
            else:
                print ('the combination  entered does not exist in our records')
                password().password_change()



    make_a_username = password()
    my_dict.update({(make_a_username.username_creator()): (make_a_username.password_creator())})

Answer 1

One way of achieving this is by storing my_dict in a file. So basically, whenever you start the app, you'd be loading my_dict from the file, and before closing, storing the updated my_dict in the file again. Since it's a dictionary, you could store it in JSON.

So, what you're ultimately doing is:

// to save
json_string = json.dumps(datastore)
// now write this string to a file

// to load, first read json_string from file. Then,
my_dict = json.loads(json_string)