Plain dicts get converted to AttrDicts when placed in the field attri…

…bute of a SkidlBaseObject.

skidl/AttrDict.py

@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ class AttrDict(dict):
         attr_obj: The object whose attributes will mirror the entries in
             the dictionary. If not specified, then the attributes of the
             dict will be used.
+        **kwargs: Key/value pairs that will be entered into the dict.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -65,11 +66,8 @@ def _setattr_setitem(self, key, value):
     __setattr__ = _setattr_setitem
     __setitem__ = _setattr_setitem
 
-    def __repr__(self):
-        return "AttrDict({})".format(dict.__repr__(self))
-
     def copy(self, attr_obj):
-        """Copy and set the object whose attributes will mirror the copy dict entires."""
+        """Copy and set the object whose attributes will mirror the copy dict entries."""
         cpy = AttrDict(attr_obj=attr_obj)
         for k, v in self.items():
             cpy[k] = copy(v)

skidl/Part.py

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 from future import standard_library
 
+from .AttrDict import AttrDict
 from .baseobj import SkidlBaseObject
 from .defines import *
 from .erc import dflt_part_erc

skidl/SchLib.py

@@ -244,9 +244,7 @@ def prettify(s):
         if not file_:
             file_ = libname + skidl.lib_suffixes[tool]
 
-        export_str = (
-            "from skidl import Pin, Part, AttrDict, Alias, SchLib, SKIDL, TEMPLATE\n\n"
-        )
+        export_str = "from skidl import Pin, Part, Alias, SchLib, SKIDL, TEMPLATE\n\n"
         export_str += "SKIDL_lib_version = '0.0.1'\n\n"
         part_export_str = ",".join([p.export() for p in self.parts])
         export_str += "{} = SchLib(tool=SKIDL).add_parts(*[{}])".format(

skidl/baseobj.py

@@ -46,11 +46,16 @@ def __init__(self):
         self.fields = AttrDict(attr_obj=self)
 
     def __setattr__(self, key, value):
-        super().__setattr__(key, value)
+        if key == "fields":
+            # Whatever is assigned to the fields attribute is cast to an AttrDict.
+            super().__setattr__(key, AttrDict(attr_obj=self, **value))
 
-        # Whenever an attribute is changed, then also sync it with the fields dict
-        # in case it is mirroring one of the dict entries.
-        self.fields.sync(key)
+        else:
+            super().__setattr__(key, value)
+
+            # Whenever an attribute is changed, then also sync it with the fields dict
+            # in case it is mirroring one of the dict entries.
+            self.fields.sync(key)
 
     @property
     def aliases(self):