def resolve_name(import_name, silent=False, reload=False):
    """Imports an object based on a string.  This is useful if you want to
    use import paths as endpoints or something similar.  An import path can
    be specified either in dotted notation (``xml.sax.saxutils.escape``)
    or with a colon as object delimiter (``xml.sax.saxutils:escape``).

    If `silent` is True the return value will be `None` if the import fails.

    :param import_name: the dotted name for the object to import.
    :param silent: if set to `True` import errors are ignored and
                   `None` is returned instead.
    :param reload: if set to `True` modules that are already loaded will be
                   reloaded
    :return: imported object
    """
    # force the import name to automatically convert to strings
    import_name = bytestring(import_name)
    try:
        if ':' in import_name:
            module, obj = import_name.split(':', 1)
        elif '.' in import_name and import_name not in sys.modules:
            module, obj = import_name.rsplit('.', 1)
        else:
            module, obj = import_name, None
            # __import__ is not able to handle unicode strings in the fromlist

        mod = None
        # if the module is a package
        if reload and module in sys.modules:
            try:
                importlib.invalidate_caches()
            except Exception:
                pass
            try:
                mod = reload_module(sys.modules[module])
            except Exception:
                pass
        if not mod:
            if not obj:
                return __import__(module)
            try:
                mod = __import__(module, None, None, [obj])
            except ImportError:
                if ':' in import_name:
                    raise
                return __import__(import_name)
        if not obj:
            return mod
        try:
            return getattr(mod, obj)
        except __HOLE__:
            # support importing modules not yet set up by the parent module
            # (or package for that matter)
            if ':' in import_name:
                raise
            return __import__(import_name)
    except ImportError as e:
        if not silent:
            raise_with_tb(ImportStringError(import_name, e))
dataset/ETHPy150Open circus-tent/circus/circus/util.py/resolve_name