Python iterate through list to get dictionary values

Question

I have this list object that i would like to recursively iterate until i find "nodes" that have "hostname" value and count states by it's code. The problem is i can have multiple "nodes" inside each other randomly.

Disclaimer: I'm no developer, just an enthusiast so go easy on me! :)

I've already tried bunch of loops (for, while and so on) calling some functions to validate the content of nodes, but it keeps me failing when i have multiple nodes inside each other.

Any help would be appreciated, Cheers,

[
    u"MY CONTAINER",
    u"MY APP",
    "0",
    "",
    {
        "title": u"MyApp",
        "state": 0,
        "nodes": [
            {
                "title": u"AppStuff01",
                "state": 0,
                "nodes": [
                    {
                        "title": u"HOSTX",
                        "state": 0,
                        "nodes": [
                            {
                                "title": u"CPU ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Memory ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                        ],
                        "currently_active": True,
                    },
                    {
                        "title": u"HOSTX",
                        "state": 0,
                        "nodes": [
                            {
                                "title": u"CPU ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Memory ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                        ],
                        "currently_active": True,
                    },
                ],
                "currently_active": True,
            },
            {
                "title": u"AppStuff02",
                "state": 0,
                "nodes": [
                    {
                        "title": u"MySubApp",
                        "state": 0,
                        "nodes": [
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            "nodes": [
                                {
                                    "title": u"Another Random Node",
                                    "state": 0
                                    "nodes": [
                                        {
                                             "title": u"Service Y",
                                                                             "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                                                             "state": 0,
                                        },
                                    ],
                                },
                            ],
                        ],
                        "currently_active": True,
                    }
                ],
                "currently_active": True,
            },
        ],
        "currently_active": True,
    },
    "0",
    "0",
]

Answer 1

You can recursively check through your list to find nodes with hostname property:

(PS: your original list had some syntax errors that I had to fix)

If your list is a variable like this:

my_list = [
    u"MY CONTAINER",
    u"MY APP",
    "0",
    "",
    {
        "title": u"MyApp",
        "state": 0,
        "nodes": [
            {
                "title": u"AppStuff01",
                "state": 0,
                "nodes": [
                    {
                        "title": u"HOSTX",
                        "state": 0,
                        "nodes": [
                            {
                                "title": u"CPU ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Memory ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                        ],
                        "currently_active": True,
                    },
                    {
                        "title": u"HOSTX",
                        "state": 0,
                        "nodes": [
                            {
                                "title": u"CPU ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Memory ",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                        ],
                        "currently_active": True,
                    },
                ],
                "currently_active": True,
            },
            {
                "title": u"AppStuff02",
                "state": 0,
                "nodes": [
                    {
                        "title": u"MySubApp",
                        "state": 0,
                        "nodes": [
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                            },
                            {
                                "title": u"Service Y",
                                "hostname": u"HOSTX",
                                "state": 0,
                                "nodes": [
                                    {
                                        "title": u"Another Random Node",
                                        "state": 0,
                                        "nodes": [
                                            {
                                                 "title": u"Service Y",
                                                 "hostname": u"HOSTX",     
                                                 "state": 0,
                                            },
                                        ],
                                    },
                                ],
                            },
                        ],
                        "currently_active": True,
                    }
                ],
                "currently_active": True,
            },
        ],
        "currently_active": True,
    },
    "0",
    "0",
]

Then you can use a function like this:

def find_nodes(to_check):
    
    nodes = []
    
    if type(to_check).__name__ != "list":
        return nodes
    
    for element in to_check:
        if type(element).__name__ == "dict":
            if "hostname" in element:
                nodes.append(element)
            if "nodes" in element:
                nodes.extend(find_nodes(element["nodes"]))
                
    return nodes
    
    
print(find_nodes(my_list))