[QUESTION] Protected function `_update_state`

[rejedai]

Issue I am facing

Why is the _update_state function from ConversationHandler protected?

In my context, there is a certain task that should be performed once a week, and send some participants a "pass" for further dialogue.

At the moment I have to make extra queries to the database in order to save the "pass" and check if there is one every time a person writes something.

However, using _update_state after receiving the object via dispatcher greatly simplifies this task.

Are there any problems related to using this function, will it become invalid in future updates and will I have to rewrite this part of the logic?

Traceback to the issue

No response

Related part of your code

def send_pass(context: CallbackContext, users):
    for user in users:
        dispatcher: Dispatcher = context.dispatcher
        conv: ConversationHandler = dispatcher.handlers[0][0]
        conv._update_state(NextStep.NEXT, (user.id, user.id))

Operating System

Linux

Version of Python, python-telegram-bot & dependencies

python-telegram-bot 13.10 (0.3-1-g9c62773)
Bot API 5.6
certifi 2021.10.08
Python 3.9.9 (main, Dec 28 2021, 07:54:03)  [GCC 11.1.0]

[Bibo-Joshi]

Why is the _update_state function from ConversationHandler protected?

Because it's part of the internal logic of ConversationHandler and calling it manually has a high potential of breaking currently running conversations - e.g. if you manually update the state while a handler inside that conversation is currently running.

Are there any problems related to using this function, will it become invalid in future updates and will I have to rewrite this part of the logic?

Not unlikely, yes. Overhauling ConversationHandler is one of the bigger todos for after the asyncio switch. See e.g. #2770 .

In my context, there is a certain task that should be performed once a week, and send some participants a "pass" for further dialogue.

At the moment I have to make extra queries to the database in order to save the "pass" and check if there is one every time a person writes something.

You could do the following instead:

• after making the query, save a flag (e.g. in context.bot_data) for every user where the query was successful/gave the required result
• In you conversation callbacks, add a check for that flag and depending on that change which state you return from the callback

[rejedai]

You could do the following instead:

• after making the query, save a flag (e.g. in context.bot_data) for every user where the query was successful/gave the required result
• In you conversation callbacks, add a check for that flag and depending on that change which state you return from the callback

Thank you for the prompt response.

I found another solution, writing the state directly to user_data, via context.dispatcher.user_data[user.id]