docs: def _make_path(self, items):
          '''Returns a relative path for the given dictionary of items.
  
          Uses this url rule's url pattern and replaces instances of <var_name>
          with the appropriate value from the items dict.
          '''
          for key, val in items.items():
              if not isinstance(val, basestring):
                  raise TypeError, ('Value "%s" for key "%s" must be an instance'
                                    ' of basestring' % (val, key))
              items[key] = quote_plus(val)
  
          try:
              path = self._url_format.format(**items)
          except AttributeError:
              # Old version of python
              path = self._url_format
              for key, val in items.items():
                  path = path.replace('{%s}' % key, val)
          return path