Load providers by class & module name. Closes #6

README.md

@@ -15,3 +15,19 @@ Currently supports:
 * Parks n Peaks
 * RBN
 * APRS
+
+### Writing your own Providers
+
+(S)pothole is designed to be easily extensible. If you want to write your own provider, simply add a module to the `providers` package containing your class. (Currently, in order to be loaded correctly, the module (file) name should be the same as the class name, but lower case.)
+
+Your class should extend "Provider"; if it operates by polling an HTTP Server on a timer, it can instead extend "HTTPProvider" where some of the work is done for you.
+
+The class will need to implement a constructor that takes in the `provider_config` and provides it to the superclass constructor, while also taking any other config parameters it needs.
+
+If you're extending the base `Provider` class, you will need to implement `start()` and `stop()` methods that start and stop a separate thread which handles the provider's processing needs. The thread should call `submit()` or `submit_batch()` when it has one or more spots to report.
+
+If you're extending the `HTTPProvider` class, you will need to provide a URI to query and an interval to the superclass constructor. You'll then need to implement the `http_response_to_spots()` method which is called when new data is retrieved. Your implementation should then call `submit()` or `submit_batch()` when it has one or more spots to report.
+
+When constructing spots, use the comments in the Spot class and the existing implementations as an example. All parameters are optional, but you will at least want to provide a `time` (which must be timezone-aware) and a `dx_call`.
+
+Finally, simply add the appropriate config to the `providers` section of `config.yml`, and your provider should be instantiated on startup.

config-example.yml

@@ -8,56 +8,56 @@ server-owner-callsign: "N0CALL"
 
 # Data providers to use. This is an example set, tailor it to your liking by commenting and uncommenting.
 # RBN and APRS-IS are supported but have such a high data rate, you probably don't want them enabled.
-# Each provider needs a type, a name, and an enabled/disabled state. Some require more config such as hostnames/IP
+# Each provider needs a class, a name, and an enabled/disabled state. Some require more config such as hostnames/IP
 # addresses and ports. You can duplicate them if you like, e.g. to support several DX clusters. RBN uses two ports, 7000
 # for CW/RTTY and 7001 for FT8, so if you want both, you need two entries, as shown below.
-# Feel free to write your own provider classes!
+# Feel free to write your own provider classes! There are details in the README.
 providers:
   -
-    type: "POTA"
+    class: "POTA"
     name: "POTA"
     enabled: true
   -
-    type: "SOTA"
+    class: "SOTA"
     name: "SOTA"
     enabled: true
   -
-    type: "WWFF"
+    class: "WWFF"
     name: "WWFF"
     enabled: true
   -
-    type: "WWBOTA"
+    class: "WWBOTA"
     name: "WWBOTA"
     enabled: true
   -
-    type: "GMA"
+    class: "GMA"
     name: "GMA"
     enabled: true
   -
-    type: "HEMA"
+    class: "HEMA"
     name: "HEMA"
     enabled: true
   -
-    type: "ParksNPeaks"
+    class: "ParksNPeaks"
     name: "ParksNPeaks"
     enabled: true
   -
-    type: "APRS-IS"
+    class: "APRSIS"
     name: "APRS-IS"
     enabled: false
   -
-    type: "DXCluster"
+    class: "DXCluster"
     name: "HRD Dx Cluster"
     enabled: true
     host: "hrd.wa9pie.net"
     port: 8000
   -
-    type: "RBN"
+    class: "RBN"
     name: "RBN CW/RTTY"
     enabled: false
     port: 7000
   -
-    type: "RBN"
+    class: "RBN"
     name: "RBN FT8"
     enabled: false
     port: 7001

main.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import sys
 from datetime import datetime
 from time import sleep
 
+import importlib
 import psutil
 import pytz
 
@@ -41,30 +42,11 @@ def shutdown(sig, frame):
             p.stop()
     cleanup_timer.stop()
 
-# Utility method to get a data provider based on its config entry.
+# Utility method to get a data provider based on the class specified in its config entry.
 def get_provider_from_config(config_providers_entry):
-    match config_providers_entry["type"]:
+    module = importlib.import_module('providers.' + config_providers_entry["class"].lower())
-        case "POTA":
+    provider_class = getattr(module, config_providers_entry["class"])
-            return POTA(config_providers_entry)
+    return provider_class(config_providers_entry)
-        case "SOTA":
-            return SOTA(config_providers_entry)
-        case "WWFF":
-            return WWFF(config_providers_entry)
-        case "GMA":
-            return GMA(config_providers_entry)
-        case "WWBOTA":
-            return WWBOTA(config_providers_entry)
-        case "HEMA":
-            return HEMA(config_providers_entry)
-        case "ParksNPeaks":
-            return ParksNPeaks(config_providers_entry)
-        case "DXCluster":
-            return DXCluster(config_providers_entry)
-        case "RBN":
-            return RBN(config_providers_entry)
-        case "APRS-IS":
-            return APRSIS(config_providers_entry)
-    return None
 
 
 # Main function