[BUG] column parameter of read_pdf currently needs to be list, not generic iterable

[rbubley]

Summary

Docs say columns parameter can be iterable, but code requires it to be list.

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(Optional) PDF URL

No response

About your environment

Python version:
    3.12.3 (main, Apr  9 2024, 08:09:14) [Clang 15.0.0 (clang-1500.3.9.4)]
Java version:
    openjdk version "21.0.3" 2024-04-16
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Homebrew (build 21.0.3)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Homebrew (build 21.0.3, mixed mode, sharing)
tabula-py version: 2.9.1
platform: macOS-14.5-arm64-arm-64bit
uname:
    uname_result(system='Darwin', node='Russs-MacBook-Pro-2.local', release='23.5.0', version='Darwin Kernel Version 23.5.0: Wed May  1 20:12:58 PDT 2024; root:xnu-10063.121.3~5/RELEASE_ARM64_T6000', machine='arm64')
linux_distribution: ('Darwin', '23.5.0', '')
mac_ver: ('14.5', ('', '', ''), 'arm64')

What did you do when you faced the problem?

Used the read_pdf function with columns parameter being a tuple.

Problem arises because of this line 238 in util.py:

            if self.columns != sorted(self.columns):

It should presumably say:

            if list(self.columns) != sorted(self.columns):

Code

import tabula

# Read pdf into list of DataFrame
dfs = tabula.read_pdf("test.pdf",
                      stream=True,
                      area = (145.39, 26.05, 584.21, 584.02),
                      columns = (26.05, 142.55, 175.47, 215.61, 252.32, 385.59, 487.44, 583.15),
                      pages='all')

Expected behavior

function executes successfully.

Actual behavior

Relevant part of Traceback

 File "/Users/russ/project/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tabula/util.py", line 239, in build_option_list
    raise ValueError("columns option should be sorted")
ValueError: columns option should be sorted

Related issues

No response

[chezou]

@rbubley Thanks for reporting. That should be an unexpected error and the option should work.

I'm happy if you can contribute on it!

[rbubley]

Sure. Two things are possible:

1. Change the type hint/documentation from iterable to collections.Sequence, and check that it is sorted
2. Don't bother checking if it's already sorted, just sort it within the function.

Do you have a preference?

[chezou]

Thanks for your suggestion. I prefer Option 1 since hidden conversion could cause an unintended issue.