How to make a generator callable?

From the docs, which you linked:

The generator argument must be a callable object that returns an object that support the iter() protocol (e.g. a generator function)

This means you should be able to do something like this:

import tensorflow as tf
import csv

with open("test.csv", "r") as f:
    csvreader = csv.reader(f)
    gen = lambda: (row for row in csvreader)
    ds = tf.data.Dataset()
    ds.from_generator(gen, [tf.uint8]*28**2)

In other words, the function you pass must produce a generator when called. This is easy to achieve when making it an anonymous function (a lambda).

Alternatively try this, which is closer to how it is done in the docs:

import tensorflow as tf
import csv


def read_csv(file_name="test.csv"):
    with open(file_name) as f:
        reader = csv.reader(f)
        for row in reader:
            yield row

ds = tf.data.Dataset.from_generator(read_csv, [tf.uint8]*28**2)

(If you need a different file name than whatever default you set, you can use functools.partial(read_csv, file_name="whatever.csv").)

The difference is that the read_csv function returns the generator object when called, whereas what you constructed is already the generator object and equivalent to doing:

gen = read_csv()
ds = tf.data.Dataset.from_generator(gen, [tf.uint8]*28**2)  # does not work

Yuck, two years later... But hey! Another solution! :D

This might not be the cleanest answer but for generators that are more complicated, you can use a decorator. I made a generator that yields two dictionaries, for example:

>>> train,val = dataloader("path/to/dataset")
>>> x,y = next(train)
>>> print(x)
{"data": [...], "filename": "image.png"}

>>> print(y)
{"category": "Dog", "category_id": 1, "background": "park"}

When I tried using the from_generator, it gave me the error:

>>> ds_tf = tf.data.Dataset.from_generator(
    iter(mm),
    ({"data":tf.float32, "filename":tf.string},
    {"category":tf.string, "category_id":tf.int32, "background":tf.string})
    )
TypeError: `generator` must be callable.

But then I wrote a decorating function

>>> def make_gen_callable(_gen):
        def gen():
            for x,y in _gen:
                 yield x,y
        return gen
>>> train_ = make_gen_callable(train)

>>> train_ds = tf.data.Dataset.from_generator(
    train_,
    ({"data":tf.float32, "filename":tf.string},
    {"category":tf.string, "category_id":tf.int32, "background":tf.string})
    )

>>> for x,y in train_ds:
        break

>>> print(x)
{'data': <tf.Tensor: shape=(320, 480), dtype=float32, ... >,
 'filename': <tf.Tensor: shape=(), dtype=string, ...> 
}

>>> print(y)
{'category': <tf.Tensor: shape=(), dtype=string, numpy=b'Dog'>,
 'category_id': <tf.Tensor: shape=(), dtype=int32, numpy=1>,
 'background': <tf.Tensor: shape=(), dtype=string, numpy=b'Living Room'>
}

But now, note that in order to iterate train_, one has to call it

>>> for x,y in train_():
        do_stuff(x,y)
        ...

The generator argument (perhaps confusingly) should not actually be a generator, but a callable returning an iterable (for example, a generator function). Probably the easiest option here is to use a lambda. Also, a couple of errors: 1) tf.data.Dataset.from_generator is meant to be called as a class factory method, not from an instance 2) the function (like a few other in TensorFlow) is weirdly picky about parameters, and it wants you to give the sequence of dtypes and each data row as tuples (instead of the lists returned by the CSV reader), you can use for example map for that:

import csv
import tensorflow as tf

with open("test.csv", "r") as f:
    csvreader = csv.reader(f)
    ds = tf.data.Dataset.from_generator(lambda: map(tuple, csvreader),
                                        (tf.uint8,) * (28 ** 2))