SQLAlchemy JSON as blob/text

Question

I\'m storing JSON down as blob/text in a column using MySQL. Is there a simple way to convert this into a dict using python/SQLAlchemy?

Answer 1

Based on @snapshoe answer and to answer @Timmy's comment:

You can do it by using properties. Here is an example of a table:

class Providers(Base):
    __tablename__ = "providers"
    id = Column(
        Integer,
        Sequence('providers_id', optional=True),
        primary_key=True
    )
    name = Column(Unicode(40), index=True)
    _config = Column("config", Unicode(2048))

    @property
    def config(self):
        if not self._config:
            return {}
        return json.loads(self._config)

    @config.setter
    def config(self, value):
        self._config = json.dumps(value)

    def set_config(self, field, value):
        config = self.config
        config[field] = value
        self.config = config

    def get_config(self):
        if not self._config:
            return {}
        return json.loads(self._config)

    def unset_config(self, field):
        config = self.get_config()
        if field in config:
            del config[field]
            self.config = config

Now you can use it on a Providers() object:

>>> p = Providers()
>>> p.set_config("foo", "bar")
>>> p.get_config()
{"foo": "bar"}
>>> a.config
{u'foo': u'bar'}

I know this is an old Question maybe even dead, but I hope this could help someone.