module has no submodule

Question

I am making a flask web app and I have something I don't understand.

My app module folder structure goes like this :

app\
 | static\
 | templates\
 | tmp\
 | __init__.py
 | run.py <= debug script
 | toolxls.py <= helper functions 
 | views.py

in my init.py :

from flask import Flask
app = Flask(__name__)
from app import views

now if I import app module from IDLE:

>>> import app
>>> dir(app)
['Flask', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__name__', '__package__', '__path__', 'app', 'views']

module app has no toolxls sub-module. How can I add toolxls.py into app?

• Fred Foo: Have you tried from . import views?

Answer 1

In Python, submodules are not imported when you import the package. You must import them explicitly if you want access to their namespace.

import app.toolxls

• thkang: after from app import toolxls I can access app.toolxls. My question : How can I access toolxls from app in app's __init__.py?
• thkang: I meant that after adding from app import toolxls to __init__.py I can use toolxls from elsewhere via app.toolxls. the behavior I don't understand is, app isn't initialized before __init__.py but __init__.py can access app and import toolxls. How is this possible?
• Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams: Python doesn't require initialization to be complete.