Attributes no longer use a faux functional style (#1046)

* attributes no longer use this faux functional style

* improved comment

* pointless try/catch removed

* Update NeXus HTML documentation

* Update NeXus HTML documentation

* Update NeXus HTML documentation

---------

Co-authored-by: cow-bot <dm-jenkins-integration@esss.se>

nexus_constructor/model/attributes.py

@@ -4,21 +4,46 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 from nexus_constructor.common_attrs import CommonKeys
-from nexus_constructor.model.helpers import _get_item, _set_item
 from nexus_constructor.model.value_type import ValueType, ValueTypes
 
 
-class Attributes(list):
-    """Abstract class used for common functionality between a group and dataset."""
+class Attributes:
+    """List-like class used for storing attributes."""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self._attributes = []
+
+    def _find_item_index(self, item_name: str):
+        for count, element in enumerate(self._attributes):
+            if element.name == item_name:
+                return count
+        return None
+
+    def _get_item(self, item_name: str) -> Any:
+        index = self._find_item_index(item_name)
+        return self._attributes[index] if index is not None else None
+
+    def _set_item(
+        self,
+        parent,
+        item_name: str,
+        new_value: Any,
+    ):
+        index = self._find_item_index(item_name)
+        if index is not None:
+            self._attributes[index] = new_value
+        else:
+            self._attributes.append(new_value)
+        if hasattr(new_value, "parent_node"):
+            new_value.parent_node = parent
 
     def set_attribute_value(
         self,
         attribute_name: str,
         attribute_value: Any,
         attribute_type: str = ValueTypes.STRING,
     ):
-        _set_item(
-            self,
+        self._set_item(
             self,
             attribute_name,
             FieldAttribute(
@@ -31,20 +56,32 @@ def set_attribute_value(
 
     def get_attribute_value(self, attribute_name: str):
         if self.contains_attribute(attribute_name):
-            return _get_item(self, attribute_name).values
+            return self._get_item(attribute_name).values
         return None
 
     def get_attribute(self, attribute_name: str):
         if self.contains_attribute(attribute_name):
-            return _get_item(self, attribute_name)
+            return self._get_item(attribute_name)
         return None
 
     def contains_attribute(self, attribute_name):
-        result = _get_item(self, attribute_name)
+        result = self._get_item(attribute_name)
         return True if result is not None else False
 
     def as_dict(self, error_collector: List[str]):
-        return [attribute.as_dict(error_collector) for attribute in self]
+        return [attribute.as_dict(error_collector) for attribute in self._attributes]
+
+    def __getitem__(self, index):
+        return self._attributes[index]
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return len(self._attributes)
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        try:
+            return other._attributes == self._attributes
+        except AttributeError:
+            return False
 
 
 @attr.s(eq=False)

nx-class-documentation/html/index.html

@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ <h1>User Manual and Reference Documentation<a class="headerlink" href="#user-man
 </div>
 <hr class="docutils" />
 <p class="rubric">Publishing Information</p>
-<p>This manual built Nov 22, 2023.</p>
+<p>This manual built Nov 23, 2023.</p>
 <div class="admonition seealso">
 <p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
 <p>This document is available in these formats online:</p>