Passing a dictionary to get_data 'parameters='.

ec_20_inf

Hello,

I have the following code that produces a dictionary:

def gen_dict(a, b, c,d,f,**kwargs):
    data=dict()
    data.update(Sdate=c)
    data.update(Edate=d)
    data.update(freq=f)
    if kwargs is not None:
        data.update(kwargs)
    return data

That once given these parameters:

a=['JP3705200008']
b=['TR.CompanyMarketCap']
c='03/21/2017'
d='03/22/2017'
f='D'

The outcome is: 

data={'ShType': 'FFL', 'Frq': 'D', 'Edate': '03/22/2017', 'Curn': 'USD', 'Sdate': '03/21/2017'}

When I try to pass that to get_data(a, b, **data) I get errors, but when I hardcode the dictionary into get_data it works well.

How can I pass dictionaries as arguments to get_data function?

Alex Putkov.1

Use get_data(a, b, data) or get_data(a ,b, parameters=data).
When you use "**" notation in front of the variable name you pass to a function, Python unpacks the list or a dictionary inside the variable and provides the elements of the list or the dictionary as arguments for the function. In your example the call get_data(a, b, **data) is equivalent to get_data(a, b, ShType='FFL', Frq='D', Edate='03/22/2017', Curn='USD', Sdate='03/21/2017'), which produces "TypeError: get_data() got an unexpected keyword argument 'ShType'" because get_data method does not have a keyword argument named "ShType". To pass the dictionary as the value for the 3rd position argument of get_data method use get_data(a, b, data). To pass it as the value of the "parameters" keyword argument use get_data(a ,b, parameters=data). Both of these calls are equally valid.