Python: 'appointments.py' refactor need to figure out how to change a str type object into a tzinfo subclass

Question

I am refactoring the "Times in Python" project "appointments.py" so that the user can convert his 'appointment time' into any selected timezone. I have the list of all timezones as a dictionary (pytz.all_timezones, enumerated and put into a dict) and then I access the value by a user input selected number as the key (e.g. 453 gets your 'Europe/Madrid').

The problem seems to be when I call up this tzinfo to spit out the users time with a new timezone the program says the timezone info called up is a str not a 'tzinfo subclass', like so:

When is your meeting? Please use MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM format. Enter Q to quit. : 08/22/2017 23:45
Pick a timezone by its number (1-593) or pick RANDOM : 453
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "C:\Program Files\Python36\learningPython\one_to_six_tz_treehouse2.py", line 54, in <module>
    output.append(utc_date.astimezone(all_timezones_dict[time_zone_choice]))
TypeError: tzinfo argument must be None or of a tzinfo subclass, not type 'str'

The body of the program is the following:

# things to be added: 
# way for user to pick the timezone, with all timezones and RANDOM option

from datetime import datetime

import pytz
import sys
import random

all_timezones_dict = (dict(enumerate(pytz.all_timezones, start=1)))

''' #from previous version
OTHER_TIMEZONES = [
    pytz.timezone('US/Eastern'),
    pytz.timezone('Pacific/Auckland'),
    pytz.timezone('Asia/Calcutta'),
    pytz.timezone('UTC'),
    pytz.timezone('Europe/Paris'),
    pytz.timezone('Africa/Khartoum')
]
'''
fmt = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z%z'



while True:
    input("Welcome to International Innernet Timezone Switcher. Take a look at our 593 timezones and remember the number!")
    input("Press any key to continue ! Or don't, see if I care...")
    for k, v in all_timezones_dict.items():
        print(k, v)

    date_input = input("When is your meeting? Please use MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM format. Enter Q to quit. : ")
    time_zone_choice = int(input("Pick a timezone by its number (1-593) or pick RANDOM : "))


    try:
        local_date = datetime.strptime(date_input, '%m/%d/%Y %H:%M')

    except ValueError:
        if date_input == 'q'.upper() or date_input == 'q':
            sys.exit()

        elif date_input == 'random' or 'RANDOM':
            time_zone_choice = random.randint(1, 593)

        else:
            print("{} doesn't seem to be a valid date & time.".format(date_input))

    else:
        local_date = pytz.timezone('US/Pacific').localize(local_date)
        utc_date = local_date.astimezone(pytz.utc)

        output = []
        output.append(utc_date.astimezone(all_timezones_dict[time_zone_choice]))
        for appointment in output:
            print(appointment.strftime(fmt))
        break

I hope that there is a way to change the string accessed by "all_timezones_dict[time_zone_choice] into a tzinfo subclass. Or maybe use replace() to add this info back manually? I am all turned around here!

RJB

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Robert Baucus

Robert Baucus

Python: 'appointments.py' refactor need to figure out how to change a str type object into a tzinfo subclass