Python Twitter Tools
====================

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The Minimalist Twitter API for Python is a Python API for Twitter,
everyone's favorite Web 2.0 Facebook-style status updater for people on
the go.

Also included is a Twitter command-line tool for getting your friends'
tweets and setting your own tweet from the safety and security of your
favorite shell and an IRC bot that can announce Twitter updates to an
IRC channel.

For more information, after installing the ``twitter`` package:

-  import the ``twitter`` package and run ``help()`` on it
-  run ``twitter -h`` for command-line tool help

twitter - The Command-Line Tool
-------------------------------

The command-line tool lets you do some awesome things:

-  view your tweets, recent replies, and tweets in lists
-  view the public timeline
-  follow and unfollow (leave) friends
-  various output formats for tweet information

The bottom line: type ``twitter``, receive tweets.

twitterbot - The IRC Bot
------------------------

The IRC bot is associated with a Twitter account (either your own
account or an account you create for the bot). The bot announces all
tweets from friends it is following. It can be made to follow or leave
friends through IRC /msg commands.

``twitter-log``
---------------

``twitter-log`` is a simple command-line tool that dumps all public
tweets from a given user in a simple text format. It is useful to get a
complete offsite backup of all your tweets. Run ``twitter-log`` and read
the instructions.

``twitter-archiver`` and ``twitter-follow``
-------------------------------------------

twitter-archiver will log all the tweets posted by any user since they
started posting. twitter-follow will print a list of all of all the
followers of a user (or all the users that user follows).

Programming with the Twitter API classes
========================================

The ``Twitter`` and ``TwitterStream`` classes are the key to building
your own Twitter-enabled applications.

The ``Twitter`` class
---------------------

The minimalist yet fully featured Twitter API class.

Get RESTful data by accessing members of this class. The result is
decoded python objects (lists and dicts).

The Twitter API is documented at:

**https://dev.twitter.com/overview/documentation**

The list of most accessible functions is listed at:

**https://dev.twitter.com/rest/public**

Examples:

.. code:: python

    from twitter import *

    t = Twitter(
        auth=OAuth(token, token_secret, consumer_key, consumer_secret))

    # Get your "home" timeline
    t.statuses.home_timeline()

    # Get a particular friend's timeline
    t.statuses.user_timeline(screen_name="billybob")

    # to pass in GET/POST parameters, such as `count`
    t.statuses.home_timeline(count=5)

    # to pass in the GET/POST parameter `id` you need to use `_id`
    t.statuses.oembed(_id=1234567890)

    # Update your status
    t.statuses.update(
        status="Using @sixohsix's sweet Python Twitter Tools.")

    # Send a direct message
    t.direct_messages.new(
        user="billybob",
        text="I think yer swell!")

    # Get the members of tamtar's list "Things That Are Rad"
    t.lists.members(owner_screen_name="tamtar", slug="things-that-are-rad")

    # An *optional* `_timeout` parameter can also be used for API
    # calls which take much more time than normal or twitter stops
    # responding for some reason:
    t.users.lookup(
        screen_name=','.join(A_LIST_OF_100_SCREEN_NAMES), _timeout=1)

    # Overriding Method: GET/POST
    # you should not need to use this method as this library properly
    # detects whether GET or POST should be used, Nevertheless
    # to force a particular method, use `_method`
    t.statuses.oembed(_id=1234567890, _method='GET')

    # Send images along with your tweets:
    # - first just read images from the web or from files the regular way:
    with open("example.png", "rb") as imagefile:
        imagedata = imagefile.read()
    # - then upload medias one by one on Twitter's dedicated server
    #   and collect each one's id:
    t_upload = Twitter(domain='upload.twitter.com',
        auth=OAuth(token, token_secret, consumer_key, consumer_secret))
    id_img1 = t_upload.media.upload(media=imagedata)["media_id_string"]
    id_img2 = t_upload.media.upload(media=imagedata)["media_id_string"]
    # - finally send your tweet with the list of media ids:
    t.statuses.update(status="PTT ★", media_ids=",".join([id_img1, id_img2]))

    # Or send a tweet with an image (or set a logo/banner similarily)
    # using the old deprecated method that will probably disappear some day
    params = {"media[]": imagedata, "status": "PTT ★"}
    # Or for an image encoded as base64:
    params = {"media[]": base64_image, "status": "PTT ★", "_base64": True}
    t.statuses.update_with_media(**params)

    # Attach text metadata to medias sent, using the upload.twitter.com route
    # using the _json workaround to send json arguments as POST body
    # (warning: to be done before attaching the media to a tweet)
    t_upload.media.metadata.create(_json={
      "media_id": id_img1,
      "alt_text": { "text": "metadata generated via PTT!" }
    })
    # or with the shortcut arguments ("alt_text" and "text" work):
    t_upload.media.metadata.create(media_id=id_img1, text="metadata generated via PTT!")

Searching Twitter:

.. code:: python

    # Search for the latest tweets about #pycon
    t.search.tweets(q="#pycon")

Retrying after reaching the API rate limit
------------------------------------------

Simply create the ``Twitter`` instance with the argument ``retry=True``,
then the HTTP error codes ``429``, ``502``, ``503``, and ``504`` will
cause a retry of the last request.

If ``retry`` is an integer, it defines the maximum number of retry
attempts.

Using the data returned
-----------------------

Twitter API calls return decoded JSON. This is converted into a bunch of
Python lists, dicts, ints, and strings. For example:

.. code:: python

    x = twitter.statuses.home_timeline()

    # The first 'tweet' in the timeline
    x[0]

    # The screen name of the user who wrote the first 'tweet'
    x[0]['user']['screen_name']

Getting raw XML data
--------------------

If you prefer to get your Twitter data in XML format, pass
``format="xml"`` to the ``Twitter`` object when you instantiate it:

.. code:: python

    twitter = Twitter(format="xml")

The output will not be parsed in any way. It will be a raw string of
XML.

The ``TwitterStream`` class
---------------------------

The ``TwitterStream`` object is an interface to the Twitter Stream API.
This can be used pretty much the same as the ``Twitter`` class, except
the result of calling a method will be an iterator that yields objects
decoded from the stream. For example::

.. code:: python

    twitter_stream = TwitterStream(auth=OAuth(...))
    iterator = twitter_stream.statuses.sample()

    for tweet in iterator:
        ...do something with this tweet...

Per default the ``TwitterStream`` object uses `public
streams <https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/public>`__.
If you want to use one of the other `streaming
APIs <https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis>`__, specify the URL
manually:

-  `Public
   streams <https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/public>`__:
   stream.twitter.com
-  `User
   streams <https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/user>`__:
   userstream.twitter.com
-  `Site
   streams <https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/streams/site>`__:
   sitestream.twitter.com

Note that you require the proper
`permissions <https://dev.twitter.com/docs/application-permission-model>`__
to access these streams. (E.g., for direct messages, your
`application <https://dev.twitter.com/apps>`__ needs the "Read, Write &
Direct Messages" permission.)

The following example demonstrates how to retrieve all new direct
messages from the user stream:

.. code:: python

    auth = OAuth(
        consumer_key='[your consumer key]',
        consumer_secret='[your consumer secret]',
        token='[your token]',
        token_secret='[your token secret]'
    )
    twitter_userstream = TwitterStream(auth=auth, domain='userstream.twitter.com')
    for msg in twitter_userstream.user():
        if 'direct_message' in msg:
            print msg['direct_message']['text']

The iterator will ``yield`` until the TCP connection breaks. When the
connection breaks, the iterator yields ``{'hangup': True}`` (and raises
``StopIteration`` if iterated again).

Similarly, if the stream does not produce heartbeats for more than 90
seconds, the iterator yields
``{'hangup': True,  'heartbeat_timeout': True}`` (and raises
``StopIteration`` if iterated again).

The ``timeout`` parameter controls the maximum time between yields. If
it is nonzero, then the iterator will yield either stream data or
``{'timeout': True}`` within the timeout period. This is useful if you
want your program to do other stuff in between waiting for tweets.

The ``block`` parameter sets the stream to be fully non-blocking. In
this mode, the iterator always yields immediately. It returns stream
data, or ``None``.

Note that ``timeout`` supercedes this argument, so it should also be set
``None`` to use this mode, and non-blocking can potentially lead to 100%
CPU usage.

Twitter ``Response`` Objects
----------------------------

Response from a Twitter request. Behaves like a list or a string
(depending on requested format), but it has a few other interesting
attributes.

``headers`` gives you access to the response headers as an
``httplib.HTTPHeaders`` instance. Use ``response.headers.get('h')`` to
retrieve a header.

Authentication
--------------

You can authenticate with Twitter in three ways: NoAuth, OAuth, or
OAuth2 (app-only). Get ``help()`` on these classes to learn how to use
them.

OAuth and OAuth2 are probably the most useful.

Working with OAuth
------------------

Visit the Twitter developer page and create a new application:

**https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new**

This will get you a ``CONSUMER_KEY`` and ``CONSUMER_SECRET``.

When users run your application they have to authenticate your app with
their Twitter account. A few HTTP calls to Twitter are required to do
this. Please see the ``twitter.oauth_dance`` module to see how this is
done. If you are making a command-line app, you can use the
``oauth_dance()`` function directly.

Performing the "oauth dance" gets you an oauth token and oauth secret
that authenticate the user with Twitter. You should save these for
later, so that the user doesn't have to do the oauth dance again.

``read_token_file`` and ``write_token_file`` are utility methods to read
and write OAuth ``token`` and ``secret`` key values. The values are
stored as strings in the file. Not terribly exciting.

Finally, you can use the ``OAuth`` authenticator to connect to Twitter.
In code it all goes like this:

.. code:: python

    from twitter import *

    MY_TWITTER_CREDS = os.path.expanduser('~/.my_app_credentials')
    if not os.path.exists(MY_TWITTER_CREDS):
        oauth_dance("My App Name", CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET,
                    MY_TWITTER_CREDS)

    oauth_token, oauth_secret = read_token_file(MY_TWITTER_CREDS)

    twitter = Twitter(auth=OAuth(
        oauth_token, oauth_secret, CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET))

    # Now work with Twitter
    twitter.statuses.update(status='Hello, world!')

Working with ``OAuth2``
-----------------------

Twitter only supports the application-only flow of OAuth2 for certain
API endpoints. This OAuth2 authenticator only supports the
application-only flow right now.

To authenticate with OAuth2, visit the Twitter developer page and create
a new application:

**https://dev.twitter.com/apps/new**

This will get you a ``CONSUMER_KEY`` and ``CONSUMER_SECRET``.

Exchange your ``CONSUMER_KEY`` and ``CONSUMER_SECRET`` for a bearer
token using the ``oauth2_dance`` function.

Finally, you can use the ``OAuth2`` authenticator and your bearer token
to connect to Twitter. In code it goes like this::

.. code:: python

    twitter = Twitter(auth=OAuth2(bearer_token=BEARER_TOKEN))

    # Now work with Twitter
    twitter.search.tweets(q='keyword')

License
=======

Python Twitter Tools are released under an MIT License.

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