Add Task.[get/set]_parameters_as_dict() to allow interaction with non-main task parameters (no need to connect())

trains/task.py

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ from .utilities.args import argparser_parseargs_called, get_argparser_last_args,
     argparser_update_currenttask
 from .utilities.dicts import ReadOnlyDict
 from .utilities.proxy_object import ProxyDictPreWrite, ProxyDictPostWrite, flatten_dictionary, \
-    nested_from_flat_dictionary
+    nested_from_flat_dictionary, naive_nested_from_flat_dictionary
 from .utilities.resource_monitor import ResourceMonitor
 from .utilities.seed import make_deterministic
 
@@ -878,6 +878,21 @@ class Task(_Task):
                     j['variant'], {'last': j['value'], 'min': j['min_value'], 'max': j['max_value']})
         return scalar_metrics
 
+    def get_parameters_as_dict(self):
+        """
+        Get task parameters as a raw nested dict
+        Note that values are not parsed and returned as is (i.e. string)
+        """
+        return naive_nested_from_flat_dictionary(self.get_parameters())
+
+    def set_parameters_as_dict(self, dictionary):
+        """
+        Set task parameters from a (possibly nested) dict.
+        While parameters are set just as they would be in connect(dict), this does not link the dict to the task,
+        but rather does a one-time update.
+        """
+        self._arguments.copy_from_dict(flatten_dictionary(dictionary))
+
     @classmethod
     def set_credentials(cls, api_host=None, web_host=None, files_host=None, key=None, secret=None, host=None):
         """

trains/utilities/proxy_object.py

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import itertools
+
 import six
 
 
@@ -110,3 +112,28 @@ def nested_from_flat_dictionary(a_dict, flat_dict, prefix=''):
             # leave it as is, we have nothing to do with it.
             a_dict[k] = flat_dict.get(prefix+k, v)
     return a_dict
+
+
+def naive_nested_from_flat_dictionary(flat_dict, sep='/'):
+    """ A naive conversion of a flat dictionary with '/'-separated keys signifying nesting
+    into a nested dictionary.
+    """
+    return {
+        sub_prefix: (
+            bucket[0][1] if (len(bucket) == 1 and sub_prefix == bucket[0][0])
+            else naive_nested_from_flat_dictionary(
+                {
+                    k[len(sub_prefix)+1:]: v
+                    for k, v in bucket
+                    if len(k) > len(sub_prefix)
+                }
+            )
+        )
+        for sub_prefix, bucket in (
+            (key, list(group))
+            for key, group in itertools.groupby(
+                sorted(flat_dict.items()),
+                key=lambda item: item[0].partition(sep)[0]
+            )
+        )
+    }