old_contents: #!/usr/bin/python
  import psycopg2
  import sys
  import os
  
  def parse_connection_uri():
      here, _ = os.path.split(__file__)
      with open(os.path.join(here, '../portal/application.cfg'), 'r') as fh:
          conn_strings = [l for l in fh.readlines() if
                          l.startswith('SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI')]
  
      if len(conn_strings) != 1:
          raise ValueError("can't find connection string in application.cfg")
      conn_uri = conn_strings[0].split('=')[1]
      return conn_uri.strip()[1:-1]  # strip quotes, newlines
  
  connection_uri = parse_connection_uri()
  print "Connecting to database\n ->{}".format(connection_uri)
  
  try:
      conn = psycopg2.connect(connection_uri)
      cursor = conn.cursor()
      print "Connected!\n"
  except:
      exceptionType, exceptionValue, exceptionTraceback = sys.exc_info()
      sys.exit("Database connection failed!\n ->%s" % (exceptionValue))
  
new_contents: #!/usr/bin/env python
  import psycopg2
  import sys
  import os
  
  def parse_connection_uri():
      here, _ = os.path.split(__file__)
      with open(os.path.join(here, '../instance/application.cfg'), 'r') as fh:
          conn_strings = [l for l in fh.readlines() if
                          l.startswith('SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI')]
  
      if len(conn_strings) != 1:
          raise ValueError("can't find connection string in application.cfg")
      conn_uri = conn_strings[0].split('=')[1]
      return conn_uri.strip()[1:-1]  # strip quotes, newlines
  
  connection_uri = parse_connection_uri()
  print "Connecting to database\n ->{}".format(connection_uri)
  
  try:
      conn = psycopg2.connect(connection_uri)
      cursor = conn.cursor()
      print "Connected!\n"
  except:
      exceptionType, exceptionValue, exceptionTraceback = sys.exc_info()
      sys.exit("Database connection failed!\n ->%s" % (exceptionValue))
  
subject: Use virtualenv python & look for config file in new instance directory.