dictionary value is dict but printing as string in json dump - json

Question

I have a script that is working fine except for this tiny issue. My script is looping over list items and appending a json string over a loop and then doing json dump to file.
My json string:
main_json = {"customer": {"main_address": "","billing_address": "","invoice_reference": "","product": []}}
main loop:
for row in result:
account_id = ACCOUNTID_DATA_CACHE.get(row['customer.main_address.customer_id'])
if account_id is None or account_id != row['customer.main_address.customer_id']:
if main_json:
results.append(main_json)
main_json = {"customer": {"main_address": "","billing_address": "","invoice_reference": "","product": []}}
main_address = {}
billing_address = {}
for key,value in row.items():
if key.startswith('customer.main_address'):
main_address[key.split(".")[2]] = value
if key.startswith('customer.billing_address'):
billing_address[key.split(".")[2]] = value
billing_address_copy = billing_address.copy()
for mkey,mvalue in main_address.items():
for bkey,bvalue in billing_address_copy.items():
if str(bvalue) == str(mvalue):
bvalue = ''
billing_address_copy[bkey] = bvalue
if all(value == '' for value in billing_address_copy.values()) is True:
main_json['customer']['billing_address'] = ''
else:
main_json['customer']['billing_address'] = billing_address
main_json['customer']['main_address'] = main_address
product = parse_products(row)
main_json['customer']['product'].append(product)
...
def parse_products(row):
product = {}
x = {}
for key,value in row.items():
if key.startswith('customer.product'):
product[key.split(".")[2]] = value
if key.startswith('customer.product.custom_attributes'):
x['domain'] = value
print(x)
product[key.split(".")[2]] = x
if key == 'start_date' or 'renewal_date':
value = str(value)
product[key] = value
return product
In this part below, how do make sure that the value is not a string when dumped?
if key.startswith('customer.product.custom_attributes'):
x['domain'] = value
print(x)
product[key.split(".")[2]] = x
Because in the output I'm getting:
{
"custom_attributes": "{'domain': 'somedomain.com'}",
"description": "some_description",
"discount": "0.00"}
When what I really want is:
{
"custom_attributes": {"domain": "somedomain.com"},
"description": "some_description",
"discount": "0.00"}
EDIT: how i'm dumping:
with open('out.json', 'w') as jsonout:
json.dump(main_json, jsonout, sort_keys=True, indent=4)

Answer 1

Well, this IF is flawed and always TRUE:
if key == 'start_date' or 'renewal_date':
So you are converting everything to str()