python: Write totals at different indentation levels

"""
ReportWithLevels
__author__ = 'Margery Harrison'
__license__ = "Public Domain"
__version__ = "1.0"
"""

import sys

class ReportWithLevels():

    def __init__(self):
        """
        Sets the default values for the class
        """
        self.fdout=sys.stdout  #default - writes report to stdout
        self.number_width=10
        self.level_indent=2
        self.total_width=30
        self.debug = True
        self.min_level = 1
        self.max_level = 4

        #levels before which to print a newline
        self.newline_before = [1]

    # open the input path as file to write to
    def open_outfile(self,path):
        try:
            self.fdout = open(path,'w')
        except IOError:
            msg="{0:s} Can't open and write to {1:s}".format(self.__class__.__name__,path)
            sys.stderr.write(msg)

    # print debug statement if debugging turned on
    def debugPrint(self,message):
        if self.debug:
            print(message)

    # Write a line out to the output file with newline at end
    def writeLine(self,message):
        self.fdout.write(message + '\n')

    # Print message and total with indentation set by input level
    def printLevel(self, level, message, total):
        lev=int(level)
        assert lev >= self.min_level and lev <= self.max_level,\
            "input level not within current limits"

        #skip a space before level 1 statements
        if lev in self.newline_before:
            self.writeLine('')

        #s1 and s2 are number of spaces for formatting
        s1 = lev * self.level_indent
        s2 = self.total_width - s1

        #initialize fstr to the correct number of spaces
        fstr='{{0:{0:d}s}} {{1:{1:d}s}}'.format(s1,s2)

        # Number format string is right justified within number_width
        number_format='{{2:-{0:d}d}}'.format(self.number_width)
        fstr+=number_format
        self.debugPrint('level {0:d} format str= {1:s}'.format(lev,fstr))

        self.writeLine(fstr.format(' ', message, int(total)))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    print "Testing ReportWithLevels.printLevel()"
    pl=ReportWithLevels()
    pl.open_outfile("testout.txt")
    pl.writeLine("This is my report")
    pl.number_width=12
    tot=7
    for level in [1,2,3,2,2,3,4,3,1]:  #range(1,4):
        msg='level {0:d} msg'.format(level)
        tot=tot * 12
        pl.printLevel(level,msg,tot)


    #pl.printLevel(8,"level 8 msg",88)  #test assert error