parse.py

"""
Data Visualization Project

Parse data from an ugly CSV or Excel file, and render it in
JSON, save to a database, and visualize in graph form.

Part I: Taking data from a CSV/Excel file, and return it into a format
that is easier for Python to play with.

Copyright (c) 2013 E. Lynn Root
Distributed under the zlib png license. See LICENSE for details.
"""

import csv


# Put the full path to your CSV/Excel file here
MY_FILE = "../data/sample_sfpd_incident_all.csv"


def parse(raw_file, delimiter):
    """Parses a raw CSV file to a JSON-like object"""

    # Open CSV file, and safely close it when we're done
    opened_file = open(raw_file)

    # Read the CSV data
    csv_data = csv.reader(opened_file, delimiter=delimiter)

    # Setup an empty list
    parsed_data = []

    # Skip over the first line of the file for the headers
    fields = next(csv_data)

    # Iterate over each row of the csv file, zip together field -> value
    for row in csv_data:
        parsed_data.append(dict(zip(fields, row)))

    # Close the CSV file
    opened_file.close()

    return parsed_data


def main():
    # Call our parse function and give it the needed parameters
    new_data = parse(MY_FILE, ",")

    # Let's see what the data looks like!
    print(new_data)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()