• #api #request #rest

Calling 3rd party services is an essential part of web development these days. I did a quick little python article on Basic urllib GET and POST With and Without Data. It was a good look into how python natively handles doing GET and POST HTTP actions. However, there is a better way, and that is with the requests library.

GET

Most of what you will be doing is using different HTTP Verbs. GET is probably the one you will use the most, and it is simple to do. Look at the following code example:

import requests
r = requests.get('https://localhost/user/buddylindsey/')
print(r.text)
print(r.json())

You can even pass in some data with your get request.

import requests
r = requests.get(
        'https://localhost/user/',
        params={'user':'buddy'}
    )

This builds up the request and adds the data as a query-string automagically. Makes things a bit easier don’t you think?

POST

import requests
r = request.post(
        'http://localhost/user/new',
        {'username':'buddylindsey', 'password':'password'}
    )
print(r.status_code)
print(r.json())

Other Verbs

OPTIONS, HEAD, PUT, PATCH and DELETE are also available. To be honest I haven’t used OPTIONS, PATCH, or HEAD before so while I have a basic understanding of how they work I won’t attempt to explain it to you. Instead please visit the requests HTTP verbs docs to get a better understanding of their usage.

More on Response Object

The great thing about the response object you get back after making a request is you all of the options available for things to do and know. Here are some of the methods and properties you have access to:

  • headers
  • status_code
  • text
  • json()
  • encoding

There are many more, but these are probably the ones you will use the most.

Conclusion

The requests library is one of the best, if not the best, libraries for calling 3rd party web services and acting upon them. This is a powerful tool to have in your toolbelt, it is recommended to learn it, and learn it well.