menu munge | Python Fiddle

from pathlib import Path
import yaml
from advcommon.security.aam_security import security
from os import sep
from collections import Mapping
from copy import deepcopy
from itertools import cycle
from pprint import pprint
__author__ = 'jknoll'

def data_merge(a, b, name):
    key = None
    try:
        if (a is None or isinstance(a, str) or isinstance(a, unicode) or
           isinstance(a, int) or isinstance(a, long) or isinstance(a, float)):
            a = b
        elif isinstance(a, list):
            if isinstance(b, list):
                a.extend(b)
            else:
                a.append(b)
        elif isinstance(a, dict):
            if isinstance(b, dict):
                for key in b:
                    if key in a:
                        a[key] = data_merge(a[key], b[key], name)
                    else:
                        a[key] = b[key]
            else:
                raise TypeError('Cannot merge non-dict "%s" into dict "%s"' % (b, a))
        else:
            raise TypeError('NOT IMPLEMENTED "%s" into "%s"' % (b, a))
    except TypeError, e:
        raise TypeError('TypeError "%s" in key "%s" when merging "%s" into "%s"' % (e, key, b, a))
    return a

def make_lists(menu_dict):
    list_dict = []
    if isinstance(menu_dict, Mapping) and 'text' not in menu_dict:
        list_tuple = [x[::-1] for x in zip(menu_dict.keys(), cycle(['text', ]))]
        list_dict = [{x[0]:x[1], 'children': make_lists(menu_dict[x[1]])} for x in list_tuple]
    elif isinstance(menu_dict, list):
        for x in menu_dict:
            list_dict.extend(make_lists(x))
    elif isinstance(menu_dict, Mapping) and 'text' in menu_dict:
        list_dict.append(menu_dict)
    return list_dict

def get_menu(user, initial_menu=None, config_path='./yaml'):
    main_menu = dict() if initial_menu is None else deepcopy(initial_menu)
    for file_path in Path(config_path).glob('**/*.yaml'):
        with open(str(file_path), 'r') as stream:
            config = yaml.load(stream)
            groups = security.get_member_of(user)
            if config['Security'] in groups and config['Security'] + ' deny' not in groups:
                data_merge(main_menu, config['Menu'], str(file_path).split(sep)[-1])
    return make_lists(main_menu)

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