Type hinting list of objects

I should mention that I have been looking online for solutions and so far what I've found and tried do not seem to work as I'm expecting in the latest version.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17824280/how-to-specify-that-a-parameter-is-a-list-of-specific-objects-in-python-docstrin

#: :type: list of models.ContactList

That is one I've tried without any luck, there are others I've tried over the last few months but so far no luck.

Does this help you? https://www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/2016.1/type-hinting-in-pycharm.html

You can specify the return type from the method using

:rtype: object

The function is returning a list of objects, not a single object. :rtype: doesn't work for objects within the list itself..

Hi Ian. Sorry for the late reply.

Actually, there are multiple ways to type hint your code in PyCharm (especially, regarding function signatures).

First of all, you can use docstrings, as Marcel suggested earlier. You can write it in whatever docstring format you like. For instance, in reStructuredText

def get_contact_lists(self):
    """
    :rtype: collections.Iterable[models.ContactList]
    """
    return undefined()

or in Google Python Style (Napoleon) docstrings flavor

def get_contact_lists(self):
    """
    Returns:
        collections.Iterable[models.ContactList]
    """
    return undefined()

The exact syntax of type annotations in docstring that we support is described in details in our python-skeletons project.

Meanwhile, the standard way of adding optional type annotations has emerged in Python community with appearance of PEP 484 and typing module. Unlike, syntax of python-skeletons these annotations are recognized not only by PyCharm, but also in other tools like mypy and pytype.

In Python 3 you can use standard syntax for annotating return value of function introduced back in PEP 3107

from typing import Iterable
from models import ContactList

class Contacts:
    def get_contact_lists(self) -> Iterable[ContactList]:
        return undefined()

And in Python 2/3 compatible code you can use the alternative approach with special "#type:" comments:

from typing import Iterable
from models import ContactList

class Contacts:
    def get_contact_lists(self):
        # type: () -> Iterable[ContactList]
        return undefined()

There are actually a few articles on this subject you may find helpful:

• https://blog.jetbrains.com/pycharm/2015/11/python-3-5-type-hinting-in-pycharm-5
• https://www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/2016.1/type-hinting-in-pycharm.html

Perfect, thanks that helps a lot.

I simply wanted to write down a quick word to say thanks to you for those wonderful tips and hints you are showing on this site.

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