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fdbae010 | 1 | Python Twitter Tools |
a65893e4 | 2 | ==================== |
fdbae010 | 3 | |
9ae71d46 | 4 | [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/sixohsix/twitter.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/sixohsix/twitter) |
5 | ||
f1a8ed67 | 6 | The Minimalist Twitter API for Python is a Python API for Twitter, |
7 | everyone's favorite Web 2.0 Facebook-style status updater for people | |
8 | on the go. | |
fdbae010 | 9 | |
f1a8ed67 | 10 | Also included is a twitter command-line tool for getting your friends' |
11 | tweets and setting your own tweet from the safety and security of your | |
5b8b1ead | 12 | favorite shell and an IRC bot that can announce Twitter updates to an |
f1a8ed67 | 13 | IRC channel. |
fdbae010 | 14 | |
5f47b302 | 15 | For more information, after installing the `twitter` package: |
fdbae010 | 16 | |
17 | * import the `twitter` package and run help() on it | |
18 | * run `twitter -h` for command-line tool help | |
a65893e4 | 19 | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
20 | |
21 | twitter - The Command-Line Tool | |
22 | ------------------------------- | |
a65893e4 | 23 | |
30913a4e | 24 | The command-line tool lets you do some awesome things: |
a65893e4 | 25 | |
30913a4e | 26 | * view your tweets, recent replies, and tweets in lists |
a65893e4 MV |
27 | * view the public timeline |
28 | * follow and unfollow (leave) friends | |
29 | * various output formats for tweet information | |
51e0b8f1 | 30 | |
a65893e4 MV |
31 | The bottom line: type `twitter`, receive tweets. |
32 | ||
33 | ||
34 | ||
51e0b8f1 MV |
35 | twitterbot - The IRC Bot |
36 | ------------------------ | |
a65893e4 MV |
37 | |
38 | The IRC bot is associated with a twitter account (either your own account or an | |
39 | account you create for the bot). The bot announces all tweets from friends | |
40 | it is following. It can be made to follow or leave friends through IRC /msg | |
41 | commands. | |
42 | ||
5f47b302 | 43 | |
5f47b302 | 44 | twitter-log |
51e0b8f1 | 45 | ----------- |
5f47b302 MV |
46 | |
47 | `twitter-log` is a simple command-line tool that dumps all public | |
48 | tweets from a given user in a simple text format. It is useful to get | |
49 | a complete offsite backup of all your tweets. Run `twitter-log` and | |
50 | read the instructions. | |
51 | ||
30913a4e MV |
52 | twitter-archiver and twitter-follow |
53 | ----------------------------------- | |
54 | ||
55 | twitter-archiver will log all the tweets posted by any user since they | |
56 | started posting. twitter-follow will print a list of all of all the | |
57 | followers of a user (or all the users that user follows). | |
58 | ||
5f47b302 | 59 | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
60 | Programming with the Twitter api classes |
61 | ======================================== | |
62 | ||
51e0b8f1 MV |
63 | The Twitter and TwitterStream classes are the key to building your own |
64 | Twitter-enabled applications. | |
65 | ||
66 | ||
67 | The Twitter class | |
68 | ----------------- | |
69 | ||
70 | The minimalist yet fully featured Twitter API class. | |
71 | ||
72 | Get RESTful data by accessing members of this class. The result | |
73 | is decoded python objects (lists and dicts). | |
74 | ||
75 | The Twitter API is documented at: | |
76 | ||
5d5d68cc | 77 | **[http://dev.twitter.com/doc](http://dev.twitter.com/doc)** |
51e0b8f1 | 78 | |
d4f3123e | 79 | Examples: |
bcbd4e2b | 80 | ```python |
814d84f5 | 81 | from twitter import * |
51e0b8f1 | 82 | |
814d84f5 | 83 | t = Twitter( |
d4f3123e | 84 | auth=OAuth(token, token_key, con_secret, con_secret_key))) |
51e0b8f1 | 85 | |
814d84f5 MG |
86 | # Get your "home" timeline |
87 | t.statuses.home_timeline() | |
51e0b8f1 | 88 | |
814d84f5 | 89 | # Get a particular friend's timeline |
aaf199d3 | 90 | t.statuses.user_timeline(screen_name="billybob") |
51e0b8f1 | 91 | |
ae2bf888 HN |
92 | # to pass in GET/POST parameters, such as `count` |
93 | t.statuses.home_timeline(count=5) | |
94 | ||
95 | # to pass in the GET/POST parameter `id` you need to use `_id` | |
96 | t.statuses.oembed(_id=1234567890) | |
97 | ||
814d84f5 MG |
98 | # Update your status |
99 | t.statuses.update( | |
100 | status="Using @sixohsix's sweet Python Twitter Tools.") | |
51e0b8f1 | 101 | |
814d84f5 MG |
102 | # Send a direct message |
103 | t.direct_messages.new( | |
104 | user="billybob", | |
105 | text="I think yer swell!") | |
d09c0dd3 | 106 | |
814d84f5 MG |
107 | # Get the members of tamtar's list "Things That Are Rad" |
108 | t._("tamtar")._("things-that-are-rad").members() | |
51e0b8f1 | 109 | |
814d84f5 MG |
110 | # Note how the magic `_` method can be used to insert data |
111 | # into the middle of a call. You can also use replacement: | |
112 | t.user.list.members(user="tamtar", list="things-that-are-rad") | |
a5aab114 | 113 | |
814d84f5 | 114 | # An *optional* `_timeout` parameter can also be used for API |
d4f3123e MV |
115 | # calls which take much more time than normal or twitter stops |
116 | # responding for some reason: | |
117 | t.users.lookup( | |
118 | screen_name=','.join(A_LIST_OF_100_SCREEN_NAMES), _timeout=1) | |
51e0b8f1 | 119 | |
ae2bf888 HN |
120 | # Overriding Method: GET/POST |
121 | # you should not need to use this method as this library properly | |
122 | # detects whether GET or POST should be used, Nevertheless | |
123 | # to force a particular method, use `_method` | |
124 | t.statuses.oembed(_id=1234567890, _method='GET') | |
5a412b39 R |
125 | |
126 | # Send a tweet with an image included (or set your banner or logo similarily) | |
d4f3123e | 127 | # by just reading your image from the web or a file in a string: |
5a412b39 R |
128 | with open("example.png", "rb") as imagefile: |
129 | params = {"media[]": imagefile.read(), "status": "PTT"} | |
130 | t.statuses.update_with_media(**params) | |
d4f3123e MV |
131 | |
132 | # Or by sending a base64 encoded image: | |
5a412b39 R |
133 | params = {"media[]": base64_image, "status": "PTT", "_base64": True} |
134 | t.statuses.update_with_media(**params) | |
ae2bf888 | 135 | ``` |
51e0b8f1 | 136 | |
51e0b8f1 | 137 | |
d4f3123e MV |
138 | Searching Twitter: |
139 | ```python | |
814d84f5 MG |
140 | # Search for the latest tweets about #pycon |
141 | t.search.tweets(q="#pycon") | |
142 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
143 | |
144 | Using the data returned | |
145 | ----------------------- | |
146 | ||
147 | Twitter API calls return decoded JSON. This is converted into | |
d4f3123e | 148 | a bunch of Python lists, dicts, ints, and strings. For example: |
51e0b8f1 | 149 | |
814d84f5 MG |
150 | ```python |
151 | x = twitter.statuses.home_timeline() | |
51e0b8f1 | 152 | |
814d84f5 MG |
153 | # The first 'tweet' in the timeline |
154 | x[0] | |
51e0b8f1 | 155 | |
814d84f5 MG |
156 | # The screen name of the user who wrote the first 'tweet' |
157 | x[0]['user']['screen_name'] | |
158 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
159 | |
160 | Getting raw XML data | |
161 | -------------------- | |
162 | ||
163 | If you prefer to get your Twitter data in XML format, pass | |
d4f3123e | 164 | format="xml" to the Twitter object when you instantiate it: |
51e0b8f1 | 165 | |
814d84f5 MG |
166 | ```python |
167 | twitter = Twitter(format="xml") | |
168 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
169 | |
170 | The output will not be parsed in any way. It will be a raw string | |
171 | of XML. | |
172 | ||
173 | ||
174 | The TwitterStream class | |
175 | ----------------------- | |
176 | ||
d4f3123e MV |
177 | The TwitterStream object is an interface to the Twitter Stream |
178 | API. This can be used pretty much the same as the Twitter class | |
179 | except the result of calling a method will be an iterator that | |
180 | yields objects decoded from the stream. For example:: | |
51e0b8f1 | 181 | |
814d84f5 | 182 | ```python |
d4f3123e | 183 | twitter_stream = TwitterStream(auth=OAuth(...)) |
814d84f5 | 184 | iterator = twitter_stream.statuses.sample() |
51e0b8f1 | 185 | |
814d84f5 | 186 | for tweet in iterator: |
d4f3123e | 187 | ...do something with this tweet... |
814d84f5 | 188 | ``` |
51e0b8f1 | 189 | |
84e6e1e4 | 190 | Per default the ``TwitterStream`` object uses |
191 | [public streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/public). | |
192 | If you want to use one of the other | |
193 | [streaming APIs](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis), specify the URL | |
194 | manually: | |
195 | ||
196 | - [Public streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/public): stream.twitter.com | |
197 | - [User streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/user): userstream.twitter.com | |
198 | - [Site streams](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/site): sitestream.twitter.com | |
199 | ||
200 | Note that you require the proper | |
201 | [permissions](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/application-permission-model) to | |
202 | access these streams. E.g. for direct messages your | |
203 | [application](https://dev.twitter.com/apps) needs the "Read, Write & Direct | |
204 | Messages" permission. | |
205 | ||
9ae71d46 | 206 | The following example demonstrates how to retrieve all new direct messages |
84e6e1e4 | 207 | from the user stream: |
208 | ||
209 | ```python | |
210 | auth = OAuth( | |
211 | consumer_key='[your consumer key]', | |
212 | consumer_secret='[your consumer secret]', | |
213 | token='[your token]', | |
214 | token_secret='[your token secret]' | |
215 | ) | |
216 | twitter_userstream = TwitterStream(auth=auth, domain='userstream.twitter.com') | |
217 | for msg in twitter_userstream.user(): | |
218 | if 'direct_message' in msg: | |
219 | print msg['direct_message']['text'] | |
220 | ``` | |
221 | ||
d4f3123e MV |
222 | The iterator will yield until the TCP connection breaks. When the |
223 | connection breaks, the iterator yields `{'hangup': True}`, and | |
224 | raises `StopIteration` if iterated again. | |
225 | ||
226 | Similarly, if the stream does not produce heartbeats for more than | |
227 | 90 seconds, the iterator yields `{'hangup': True, | |
228 | 'heartbeat_timeout': True}`, and raises `StopIteration` if | |
229 | iterated again. | |
230 | ||
231 | The `timeout` parameter controls the maximum time between | |
232 | yields. If it is nonzero, then the iterator will yield either | |
233 | stream data or `{'timeout': True}` within the timeout period. This | |
234 | is useful if you want your program to do other stuff in between | |
235 | waiting for tweets. | |
236 | ||
237 | The `block` parameter sets the stream to be fully non-blocking. In | |
238 | this mode, the iterator always yields immediately. It returns | |
239 | stream data, or `None`. Note that `timeout` supercedes this | |
240 | argument, so it should also be set `None` to use this mode. | |
241 | ||
51e0b8f1 MV |
242 | Twitter Response Objects |
243 | ------------------------ | |
244 | ||
d4f3123e | 245 | Response from a twitter request. Behaves like a list or a string |
51e0b8f1 MV |
246 | (depending on requested format) but it has a few other interesting |
247 | attributes. | |
248 | ||
249 | `headers` gives you access to the response headers as an | |
250 | httplib.HTTPHeaders instance. You can do | |
d4f3123e | 251 | `response.headers.get('h')` to retrieve a header. |
51e0b8f1 MV |
252 | |
253 | Authentication | |
254 | -------------- | |
255 | ||
256 | You can authenticate with Twitter in three ways: NoAuth, OAuth, or | |
d4f3123e | 257 | OAuth2 (app-only). Get help() on these classes to learn how to use them. |
51e0b8f1 | 258 | |
d4f3123e | 259 | OAuth and OAuth2 are probably the most useful. |
51e0b8f1 MV |
260 | |
261 | ||
262 | Working with OAuth | |
263 | ------------------ | |
264 | ||
265 | Visit the Twitter developer page and create a new application: | |
266 | ||
5d5d68cc | 267 | **[https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new](https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new)** |
51e0b8f1 MV |
268 | |
269 | This will get you a CONSUMER_KEY and CONSUMER_SECRET. | |
270 | ||
271 | When users run your application they have to authenticate your app | |
d4f3123e | 272 | with their Twitter account. A few HTTP calls to twitter are required |
51e0b8f1 MV |
273 | to do this. Please see the twitter.oauth_dance module to see how this |
274 | is done. If you are making a command-line app, you can use the | |
275 | oauth_dance() function directly. | |
276 | ||
d4f3123e | 277 | Performing the "oauth dance" gets you an ouath token and oauth secret |
51e0b8f1 MV |
278 | that authenticate the user with Twitter. You should save these for |
279 | later so that the user doesn't have to do the oauth dance again. | |
280 | ||
281 | read_token_file and write_token_file are utility methods to read and | |
282 | write OAuth token and secret key values. The values are stored as | |
283 | strings in the file. Not terribly exciting. | |
284 | ||
285 | Finally, you can use the OAuth authenticator to connect to Twitter. In | |
d4f3123e | 286 | code it all goes like this: |
51e0b8f1 | 287 | |
814d84f5 MG |
288 | ```python |
289 | from twitter import * | |
51e0b8f1 | 290 | |
814d84f5 MG |
291 | MY_TWITTER_CREDS = os.path.expanduser('~/.my_app_credentials') |
292 | if not os.path.exists(MY_TWITTER_CREDS): | |
293 | oauth_dance("My App Name", CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, | |
294 | MY_TWITTER_CREDS) | |
51e0b8f1 | 295 | |
814d84f5 | 296 | oauth_token, oauth_secret = read_token_file(MY_TWITTER_CREDS) |
51e0b8f1 | 297 | |
814d84f5 | 298 | twitter = Twitter(auth=OAuth( |
d4f3123e | 299 | oauth_token, oauth_token_secret, CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET)) |
51e0b8f1 | 300 | |
814d84f5 | 301 | # Now work with Twitter |
04e76c4d | 302 | twitter.statuses.update(status='Hello, world!') |
814d84f5 | 303 | ``` |
51e0b8f1 | 304 | |
d4f3123e MV |
305 | Working with OAuth2 |
306 | ------------------- | |
307 | ||
308 | Twitter only supports the application-only flow of OAuth2 for certain | |
309 | API endpoints. This OAuth2 authenticator only supports the application-only | |
310 | flow right now. | |
311 | ||
312 | To authenticate with OAuth2, visit the Twitter developer page and create a new | |
313 | application: | |
314 | ||
315 | **[https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new](https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new)** | |
316 | ||
317 | This will get you a CONSUMER_KEY and CONSUMER_SECRET. | |
318 | ||
319 | Exchange your CONSUMER_KEY and CONSUMER_SECRET for a bearer token using the | |
320 | oauth2_dance function. | |
321 | ||
322 | Finally, you can use the OAuth2 authenticator and your bearer token to connect | |
323 | to Twitter. In code it goes like this:: | |
324 | ||
325 | ```python | |
326 | twitter = Twitter(auth=OAuth2(bearer_token=BEARER_TOKEN)) | |
327 | ||
328 | # Now work with Twitter | |
329 | twitter.search.tweets(q='keyword') | |
330 | ``` | |
51e0b8f1 MV |
331 | |
332 | License | |
333 | ======= | |
334 | ||
8be9a740 | 335 | Python Twitter Tools are released under an MIT License. |