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A class representing a section within a complex document, supporting hierarchical structure with headers, text content, and references.

Purpose

DocumentSection provides a structured way to represent and manage individual sections of a document. It supports different section types (header, text, reference), hierarchical levels, metadata tracking (creation/update timestamps), and serialization to/from dictionary format for storage or transmission. This class is designed for document management systems that need to track document structure, maintain references between sections, and associate sections with chat sessions.

Source Code

class DocumentSection:
    """Represents a section in a complex document"""
    
    def __init__(self, section_id, section_type='text', level=1, title='', content=''):
        self.id = section_id
        self.type = section_type  # 'header', 'text', 'reference'
        self.level = level  # 1-6 for header levels
        self.title = title
        self.content = content
        self.chat_session_id = None
        self.references = []
        self.created_at = datetime.now()
        self.updated_at = datetime.now()
    
    def to_dict(self):
        return {
            'id': self.id,
            'type': self.type,
            'level': self.level,
            'title': self.title,
            'content': self.content,
            'chat_session_id': self.chat_session_id,
            'references': self.references,
            'created_at': self.created_at.isoformat(),
            'updated_at': self.updated_at.isoformat()
        }
    
    @classmethod
    def from_dict(cls, data):
        section = cls(
            data['id'], 
            data.get('type', 'text'),
            data.get('level', 1),
            data.get('title', ''),
            data.get('content', '')
        )
        section.chat_session_id = data.get('chat_session_id')
        section.references = data.get('references', [])
        section.created_at = datetime.fromisoformat(data.get('created_at', datetime.now().isoformat()))
        section.updated_at = datetime.fromisoformat(data.get('updated_at', datetime.now().isoformat()))
        return section

Parameters

Parameter Details

section_id: Unique identifier for the section. Can be any hashable type (string, int, UUID). Required parameter with no default value.

section_type: Type of section content. Expected values are 'header', 'text', or 'reference'. Defaults to 'text'. Determines how the section should be rendered or processed.

level: Hierarchical level of the section, typically 1-6 for header levels (similar to HTML h1-h6). Defaults to 1. Used for document structure and formatting.

title: Title or heading text for the section. Defaults to empty string. Typically used for headers or named sections.

content: Main content body of the section. Defaults to empty string. Can contain text, markdown, or other formatted content depending on section type.

Return Value

Instantiation returns a DocumentSection object with all attributes initialized. The to_dict() method returns a dictionary with all section data including ISO-formatted timestamps. The from_dict() class method returns a new DocumentSection instance reconstructed from dictionary data.

Class Interface

Methods

Attributes

Dependencies

• datetime

Required Imports

from datetime import datetime

Usage Example

# Create a new document section
section = DocumentSection(
    section_id='sec_001',
    section_type='header',
    level=1,
    title='Introduction',
    content='This is the introduction section'
)

# Set optional attributes
section.chat_session_id = 'chat_123'
section.references = ['ref_001', 'ref_002']

# Serialize to dictionary
section_dict = section.to_dict()
print(section_dict)
# Output: {'id': 'sec_001', 'type': 'header', 'level': 1, ...}

# Deserialize from dictionary
restored_section = DocumentSection.from_dict(section_dict)
print(restored_section.title)  # 'Introduction'

# Create a text section
text_section = DocumentSection(
    section_id='sec_002',
    section_type='text',
    content='Main body content here'
)

Best Practices

• Always provide a unique section_id when creating instances to avoid conflicts in document management systems
• Use appropriate section_type values ('header', 'text', 'reference') for proper rendering and processing
• Keep level values between 1-6 for header sections to maintain standard document hierarchy
• The created_at timestamp is set automatically on instantiation and should not be modified
• Update updated_at manually when modifying section content if tracking changes is important
• Use to_dict() for serialization before storing in databases or sending over network
• Use from_dict() class method for deserialization rather than manual attribute assignment
• The references list can store any reference identifiers (strings, IDs) to link sections together
• chat_session_id is optional and used to associate sections with specific chat or editing sessions
• Timestamps are stored as datetime objects internally but serialized to ISO format strings in to_dict()

Tags

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