function or otherwise to convert a ReSt table into python dict

All

(Sorry this got longer than I planned)

I would like to ask a question of the list.  I have been a long time
front end user of docutils (thank you!)
but just realised I have a need for deeper digging.  Gmane and a quick
grep seem not to give me the answer.

I want to use docutils to allow me to store data as nice tabular format,
but be able to parse that string in docutils 
and get out a usable python object (not a docutils object).  For example
I would like to take

input = """
==== ====
test feed
==== ====
A     B
C     D
==== ===="""

and get

[
{'test':'A', 'feed':'B'},
{'test':'C', 'feed':'D'},
]

I have tried the following (I brute forced the optparse.Values.  FOr
bonus points can anyone tell me why 
document = docutils.utils.new_document('') errored?) ::

    #docutils testing

    from docutils.parsers.rst import Parser #this line seems to
kickstart an __init__ file???
    import docutils

    import optparse

    parser = docutils.parsers.rst.Parser()
    input = """
    ==== ====
    test feed
    ==== ====
    A     B
    C     D
    ==== ===="""

    # I am unable to create a new document with just defaults - it seems
to need ,v in the params,
    # and that optparse object needs the below as defaults (new_document
errors on creation unless those below exist

    v = optparse.Values()
    v.ensure_value('tab_width',4)
    v.ensure_value('report_level',1)
    v.ensure_value('halt_level',1)
    v.ensure_value('warning_stream',None)
    v.ensure_value('warning_stream',None)
    v.ensure_value('debug',False)
    v.ensure_value('error_encoding',False)
    v.ensure_value('error_encoding_error_handler',False)
    v.ensure_value('language_code','en')
    v.ensure_value('pep_references',False)
    v.ensure_value('rfc_references',False)
    document = docutils.utils.new_document('', v)
    parser.parse(input, document)

    print
document.children[0].children[0].children[3].children[1].children[0].ast
ext()

    #so it looks like I am writing a wrapper around the parser output,
but i would rather not...

    from docutils import nodes
    class myv(nodes.NodeVisitor):
        def default_visit(self):
            print self.document

    n = myv(document)
    document.walk(n)

    #AttributeError: Values instance has no attribute 'strict_visitor'
    ##AAARRGGHH!!!

1. How do I avoid the optparse force approach - the default just seems
to not work ::

  >>> document = docutils.utils.new_document('')
  >>> parser.parse(input, document)
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "<interactive input>", line 1, in <module>
    File
"C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\docutils-0.7-py2.7.egg\docutils\parsers\r
st\__init__.py", line 155, in parse
      inputstring, tab_width=document.settings.tab_width,
  AttributeError: Values instance has no attribute 'tab_width'

2. Anyway, short of rolling my way through the docutils tree (which
might be the thing, but I am not sure where to go)
how do I get out a dict?  Can I do what I am hoping to do, am I walking
through the tree correctly, and has someone already written it?

And if I have to write a tree -> dict, do you accept patches?

Paul Brian
ScrumMaster
07540 456 115
paul.brian <at> bupa.com 
   "Everything can be automated"

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