Question

According to the docs, super(cls, obj) returns

a proxy object that delegates method calls to a parent or sibling
class of type cls

I understand why super() offers this functionality, but I need something slightly different: I need to create a proxy object that delegates methods calls (and attribute lookups) to class cls itself; and as in super, if cls doesn’t implement the method/attribute, my proxy should continue looking in the MRO order (of the new not the original class). Is there any function I can write that achieves that?

Example:

class X:
  def act():
    #...

class Y:
  def act():
    #...

class A(X, Y):
  def act():
    #...

class B(X, Y):
  def act():
    #...

class C(A, B):
  def act():
    #...

c = C()
b = some_magic_function(B, c)
# `b` needs to delegate calls to `act` to B, and look up attribute `s` in B
# I will pass `b` somewhere else, and have no control over it

Of course, I could do b = super(A, c), but that relies on knowing the exact class hierarchy and the fact that B follows A in the MRO. It would silently break if any of these two assumptions change in the future. (Note that super doesn’t make any such assumptions!)

If I just needed to call b.act(), I could use B.act(c). But I am passing b to someone else, and have no idea what they’ll do with it. I need to make sure it doesn’t betray me and start acting like an instance of class C at some point.

A separate question, the documentation for super() (in Python 3.2) only talks about its method delegation, and does not clarify that attribute lookups for the proxy are also performed the same way. Is it an accidental omission?

EDIT

The updated Delegate approach works in the following example as well:

class A:
    def f(self):
        print('A.f')
    def h(self):
        print('A.h')
        self.f()

class B(A):
    def g(self):
        self.f()
        print('B.g')
    def f(self):
        print('B.f')
    def t(self):
        super().h()


a_true = A()
# instance of A ends up executing A.f
a_true.h()

b = B()
a_proxy = Delegate(A, b)
# *unlike* super(), the updated `Delegate` implementation would call A.f, not B.f
a_proxy.h()

Note that the updated class Delegate is closer to what I want than super() for two reasons:

1. super() only does it proxying for the first call; subsequent calls will happen as normal, since by then the object is used, not its proxy.

2. super() does not allow attribute access.

Thus, my question as asked has a (nearly) perfect answer in Python.

It turns out that, at a higher level, I was trying to do something I shouldn’t (see my comments here).

Answer 1

This class should cover the most common cases:

class Delegate:
    def __init__(self, cls, obj):
        self._delegate_cls = cls
        self._delegate_obj = obj
    def __getattr__(self, name):
        x = getattr(self._delegate_cls, name)
        if hasattr(x, "__get__"):
            return x.__get__(self._delegate_obj)
        return x

Use it like this:

b = Delegate(B, c)

(with the names from your example code.)

Restrictions:

1. You cannot retrieve some special attributes like __class__ etc. from the class you pass in the constructor via this proxy. (This restistions also applies to super.)

2. This might behave weired if the attribute you want to retrieve is some weired kind of descriptor.

Edit: If you want the code in the update to your question to work as desired, you can use the foloowing code:

class Delegate:
    def __init__(self, cls):
        self._delegate_cls = cls
    def __getattr__(self, name):
        x = getattr(self._delegate_cls, name)
        if hasattr(x, "__get__"):
            return x.__get__(self)
        return x

This passes the proxy object as self parameter to any called method, and it doesn’t need the original object at all, hence I deleted it from the constructor.

If you also want instance attributes to be accessible you can use this version:

class Delegate:
    def __init__(self, cls, obj):
        self._delegate_cls = cls
        self._delegate_obj = obj
    def __getattr__(self, name):
        if name in vars(self._delegate_obj):
            return getattr(self._delegate_obj, name)
        x = getattr(self._delegate_cls, name)
        if hasattr(x, "__get__"):
            return x.__get__(self)
        return x