Update Aug 1, 2011:With Google's acquisition of Dealmap one would have to assume this will become a Google API. The deal raises a number of interesting questions related to how deals would be served to specific clients. Should be interesting to watch.

Update Jun 11, 2011: I made one more tweak I neglected to mention to the Dealmap python API which I highly recommend if you intend to use it in a production environment which is to modify the call to urllib2.urlopen and add the timeout parameter. In fact, in my revision I've modified all of the calls into the API to accept a timeout parameter which is passed along to the urllib2.urlopen call.

I’ve been looking into the $l(DealMap API) and found what appears to be a semi/partially/maybe/sorta-official python implementation though there appears to be a missing module reference called “Util” containing an $g(ordered dictionary) and some XML serialization bits. I posted a message to the Google group for the project and even followed up with Dealmap directly but unfortunately haven’t gotten any response, not exactly a great sign though seeing as this is a pretty straightforward $g(REST API) let’s move on shall we...

There’s a fairly simple workaround for this unknown (at least to me) module using Beautiful Soup (gotta love that domain name) and a few simple wrapper classes making it easier to work with the API. Beautiful Soup is defined thusly:

Beautiful Soup is an HTML/XML parser for Python that can turn even invalid markup into a parse tree. It provides simple, idiomatic ways of navigating, searching, and modifying the parse tree. It commonly saves programmers hours or days of work.

In dealmap.py I removed all of the Util module references and changed the deserialize calls to return an instance of a BeautifulStoneSoup wrapper class called Deals:

class Deals(BeautifulStoneSoup):
    def __init__(self, dealmarkup=""):
        BeautifulStoneSoup.__init__(self, dealmarkup, convertEntities=BeautifulSoup.XML_ENTITIES)
        self._deals = None

    def getDeal(self, index):
        deals = self.getDeals()
        return Deal(deals[index])
        
    def getDeals(self):
        if self._deals == None:
            self._deals = self.findAll('deal')
            l = []
            for d in self._deals:
                l.append(Deal(d))
            self._deals = l
        return self._deals

Here’s a method from the Service class where I replaced the call to deserialize(…) with my new Deals class:

def search_deals(self, activities, capabilities, expirationDate, location, query="*", distance=5.0, startIndex=0, pageSize=20):
    searchDeals = self.__build_get_url(self.__dealmapUrls["search_deals"],
                                     l=location,
                                     q=query,
                                     d=distance,
                                     si=startIndex,
                                     ps=pageSize,
                                     a=activities,
                                     c=capabilities,
                                     ed=expirationDate,
                                     key=self.__apikey
                                     )
      
    result = self.__dealmap_get_request(searchDeals)
    obj = Deals(result)
    return obj

In the Deals class above you might have noticed I reference a Deal (singular) class which is a thin wrapper for accessing the properties of the Deal Tag object returned via BeautifulSoup using a __getattr__ override:

class Deal(object):
    def __init__(self, dealtag):
        self._dealtag = dealtag
        
    def __getattr__(self, name):
     

Accessing information from a deal now looks like this:

dealmap = Service("dealmap_api_key")
deals = dealmap.search_deals(None, None, None, location="+37.0491490732-122.025146484")
d = deals.getDeal(0)
print d.moreinfolink

You can specify any of XML child property names for a Deal and they’ll be returned (moreinfolink is such an example).

Fair, warning what’s posted here has essentially no error checking.

Btw, having been looking at the API I’ve found the performance to be much better if you provide a lat/lng location rather than city/state or zip where the latter seems to be particularly slow.

If you’ve worked with this API I’d be interested to get your impressions.

At work I’m using Python 2.4.6 and wanted to play around with some of the Google API’s like Buzz and Moderator. Things didn’t quite work out-of-the-box so I thought I’d document my steps here for future reference and in the event anyone else might find it useful.

First, I read over the Python Google API page and found that in order to grab the code I’d first need to install Mercurial.

SteveT:cc strefethen$ sudo port install mercurial
--->  Computing dependencies for mercurial
--->  Dependencies to be installed: curl-ca-bundle python26 db46 gdbm sqlite3
--->  Fetching curl-ca-bundle
--->  Attempting to fetch curl-7.21.2.tar.bz2 from http://distfiles.macports.org/curl
--->  Attempting to fetch certdata-1.70.txt from http://distfiles.macports.org/curl
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for curl-ca-bundle
--->  Extracting curl-ca-bundle
--->  Applying patches to curl-ca-bundle
--->  Configuring curl-ca-bundle
--->  Building curl-ca-bundle
--->  Staging curl-ca-bundle into destroot
--->  Installing curl-ca-bundle @7.21.2_4
--->  Activating curl-ca-bundle @7.21.2_4
--->  Cleaning curl-ca-bundle
--->  Fetching db46
--->  Attempting to fetch patch.4.6.21.1 from http://distfiles.macports.org/db4/4.6.21_6
--->  Attempting to fetch patch.4.6.21.2 from http://distfiles.macports.org/db4/4.6.21_6
--->  Attempting to fetch patch.4.6.21.3 from http://distfiles.macports.org/db4/4.6.21_6
--->  Attempting to fetch patch.4.6.21.4 from http://distfiles.macports.org/db4/4.6.21_6
--->  Attempting to fetch db-4.6.21.tar.gz from http://distfiles.macports.org/db4/4.6.21_6
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for db46
--->  Extracting db46
--->  Applying patches to db46
--->  Configuring db46
--->  Building db46
--->  Staging db46 into destroot
--->  Installing db46 @4.6.21_6
--->  Activating db46 @4.6.21_6
--->  Cleaning db46
--->  Fetching gdbm
--->  Attempting to fetch gdbm-1.8.3.tar.gz from http://mirrors.kernel.org/gnu/gdbm
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for gdbm
--->  Extracting gdbm
--->  Configuring gdbm
--->  Building gdbm
--->  Staging gdbm into destroot
--->  Installing gdbm @1.8.3_3
--->  Activating gdbm @1.8.3_3
--->  Cleaning gdbm
--->  Fetching sqlite3
--->  Attempting to fetch sqlite-autoconf-3070400.tar.gz from http://distfiles.macports.org/sqlite3
--->  Attempting to fetch sqlite-autoconf-3070400.tar.gz from http://www.sqlite.org/
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for sqlite3
--->  Extracting sqlite3
--->  Applying patches to sqlite3
--->  Configuring sqlite3
--->  Building sqlite3
--->  Staging sqlite3 into destroot
--->  Installing sqlite3 @3.7.4_0
--->  Activating sqlite3 @3.7.4_0
--->  Cleaning sqlite3
--->  Fetching python26
--->  Attempting to fetch Python-2.6.6.tar.bz2 from http://distfiles.macports.org/python26
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for python26
--->  Extracting python26
--->  Applying patches to python26
--->  Configuring python26
--->  Building python26
--->  Staging python26 into destroot
--->  Installing python26 @2.6.6_1
--->  Activating python26 @2.6.6_1

To fully complete your installation and make python 2.6 the default,  please run:
 	sudo port install python_select
 	sudo python_select python26

--->  Cleaning python26
--->  Fetching mercurial
--->  Attempting to fetch mercurial-1.7.3.tar.gz from http://distfiles.macports.org/python
--->  Attempting to fetch mercurial-1.7.3.tar.gz from http://mercurial.selenic.com/release/
--->  Verifying checksum(s) for mercurial
--->  Extracting mercurial
--->  Configuring mercurial
--->  Building mercurial
--->  Staging mercurial into destroot
--->  Installing mercurial @1.7.3_0
--->  Activating mercurial @1.7.3_0
--->  Cleaning mercurial

As you can see after a fairly lengthy install I was ready to grab the API sources:

SteveT:work strefethen$ hg clone https://google-api-python-client.googlecode.com/hg/ google-api-python-client
requesting all changes
adding changesets
adding manifests
adding file changes
added 153 changesets with 468 changes to 204 files
updating to branch default
172 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved

Next, was to setup the Google API python client

SteveT:work strefethen$ cd google-api-python-client/
SteveT:google-api-python-client strefethen$ sudo python setup.py install
Password:
Installing the following packages: 
'apiclient', 'apiclient.ext', 'uritemplate'
Loaded setuptools
running install
Checking .pth file support in /Users/strefethen/Library/Python2.4/site-packages/
/opt/local/bin/python -E -c pass
TEST PASSED: /Users/strefethen/Library/Python2.4/site-packages/ appears to support .pth files
running bdist_egg
running egg_info
creating google_api_python_client.egg-info
writing google_api_python_client.egg-info/PKG-INFO
writing top-level names to google_api_python_client.egg-info/top_level.txt
writing dependency_links to google_api_python_client.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
writing manifest file 'google_api_python_client.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
reading manifest file 'google_api_python_client.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
writing manifest file 'google_api_python_client.egg-info/SOURCES.txt'
installing library code to build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg
running install_lib
running build_py
creating build
creating build/lib
creating build/lib/apiclient
copying apiclient/__init__.py -> build/lib/apiclient
copying apiclient/anyjson.py -> build/lib/apiclient
copying apiclient/discovery.py -> build/lib/apiclient
copying apiclient/errors.py -> build/lib/apiclient
copying apiclient/http.py -> build/lib/apiclient
copying apiclient/model.py -> build/lib/apiclient
copying apiclient/oauth.py -> build/lib/apiclient
creating build/lib/apiclient/ext
copying apiclient/ext/__init__.py -> build/lib/apiclient/ext
copying apiclient/ext/appengine.py -> build/lib/apiclient/ext
copying apiclient/ext/authtools.py -> build/lib/apiclient/ext
copying apiclient/ext/django_orm.py -> build/lib/apiclient/ext
creating build/lib/uritemplate
copying uritemplate/__init__.py -> build/lib/uritemplate
creating build/lib/apiclient/contrib
creating build/lib/apiclient/contrib/buzz
copying apiclient/contrib/buzz/future.json -> build/lib/apiclient/contrib/buzz
creating build/lib/apiclient/contrib/latitude
copying apiclient/contrib/latitude/future.json -> build/lib/apiclient/contrib/latitude
creating build/lib/apiclient/contrib/moderator
copying apiclient/contrib/moderator/future.json -> build/lib/apiclient/contrib/moderator
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
copying build/lib/apiclient/__init__.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
copying build/lib/apiclient/anyjson.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/contrib
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/contrib/buzz
copying build/lib/apiclient/contrib/buzz/future.json -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/contrib/buzz
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/contrib/latitude
copying build/lib/apiclient/contrib/latitude/future.json -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/contrib/latitude
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/contrib/moderator
copying build/lib/apiclient/contrib/moderator/future.json -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/contrib/moderator
copying build/lib/apiclient/discovery.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
copying build/lib/apiclient/errors.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext
copying build/lib/apiclient/ext/__init__.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext
copying build/lib/apiclient/ext/appengine.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext
copying build/lib/apiclient/ext/authtools.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext
copying build/lib/apiclient/ext/django_orm.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext
copying build/lib/apiclient/http.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
copying build/lib/apiclient/model.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
copying build/lib/apiclient/oauth.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/uritemplate
copying build/lib/uritemplate/__init__.py -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/uritemplate
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/__init__.py to __init__.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/anyjson.py to anyjson.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/discovery.py to discovery.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/errors.py to errors.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext/__init__.py to __init__.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext/appengine.py to appengine.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext/authtools.py to authtools.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/ext/django_orm.py to django_orm.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/http.py to http.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/model.py to model.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/apiclient/oauth.py to oauth.pyc
byte-compiling build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/uritemplate/__init__.py to __init__.pyc
creating build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/EGG-INFO
copying google_api_python_client.egg-info/PKG-INFO -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/EGG-INFO
copying google_api_python_client.egg-info/SOURCES.txt -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/EGG-INFO
copying google_api_python_client.egg-info/dependency_links.txt -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/EGG-INFO
copying google_api_python_client.egg-info/top_level.txt -> build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg/EGG-INFO
zip_safe flag not set; analyzing archive contents...
apiclient.discovery: module references __file__
creating dist
creating 'dist/google_api_python_client-0.1-py2.4.egg' and adding 'build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg' to it
removing 'build/bdist.macosx-10.6-i386/egg' (and everything under it)
Processing google_api_python_client-0.1-py2.4.egg
creating /Users/strefethen/Library/Python2.4/site-packages/google_api_python_client-0.1-py2.4.egg
Extracting google_api_python_client-0.1-py2.4.egg to /Users/strefethen/Library/Python2.4/site-packages
Adding google-api-python-client 0.1 to easy-install.pth file

Installed /Users/strefethen/Library/Python2.4/site-packages/google_api_python_client-0.1-py2.4.egg
Processing dependencies for google-api-python-client==0.1
Finished processing dependencies for google-api-python-client==0.1
Setup complete!

Finally, attempt to run the Buzz sample which caused the following error

SteveT:buzz strefethen$ python three_legged_dance.py 
Go to the following link in your browser:
https://www.google.com/buzz/api/auth/OAuthAuthorizeToken?scope=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.googleapis.com%2Fauth%2Fbuzz&domain=anonymous&oauth_token=4%2FetZ5lubFdHfPmrqf0pg9IRR_Nury

    

^CTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "three_legged_dance.py", line 40, in ?
    run(flow, 'buzz.dat')
  File "/Users/strefethen/Library/Python2.4/site-packages/google_api_python_client-0.1-py2.4.egg/apiclient/ext/authtools.py", line 121, in run
    httpd.handle_request()
  File "/opt/local/lib/python2.4/SocketServer.py", line 217, in handle_request
    request, client_address = self.get_request()
  File "/opt/local/lib/python2.4/SocketServer.py", line 373, in get_request
    return self.socket.accept()
  File "/opt/local/lib/python2.4/socket.py", line 161, in accept
    sock, addr = self._sock.accept():

I hadn’t reviewed the code (yeah, not necessarily the brightest idea but hey, it’s Google right?). The above error occurred because I had an application running on port 8080 and didn’t realize the demo was going to require that. After shutting down Hudson I was able to authenticate and move forward.

SteveT:buzz strefethen$ python three_legged_dance.py 
Go to the following link in your browser:
https://www.google.com/buzz/api/auth/OAuthAuthorizeToken?scope=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.googleapis.com%2Fauth%2Fbuzz&domain=anonymous&oauth_token=4%2FyDtHZJcU8xD_XP023fUiaKC93wyE

You have successfully authenticated.

However, I ran into another problem which is where the significance of python 2.4 comes in. Attempting to run the buzz.py example I got the following error:

SteveT:buzz strefethen$ python buzz.py 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "buzz.py", line 75, in ?
    main()
  File "buzz.py", line 37, in main
    activitylist = activities.list(
  File "/Users/strefethen/Library/Python2.4/site-packages/google_api_python_client-0.1-py2.4.egg/apiclient/discovery.py", line 243, in method
    new_base_url = url_result.scheme + '://' + url_result.netloc
AttributeError: 'tuple' object has no attribute 'scheme'

After a few minutes of tangling with Google I found this page which gave me a clue. Specifically, it was dag’s post from 2008/12/9 relating to urlparse and a difference between python 2.4 and 2.5. I opened the above discovery.py file and searched for ‘scheme’ in order to change the reference to something that would work in 2.4. I had to repeat this for ‘netloc’ and ‘path’ with url_result[0], [1], [2] respectively. After saving the file the sample worked as expected.

Granted I’ve probably included a lot more information with respect to the console output above but there are are few things I’m interested in keeping so this is a great place to do just that.

Now, time to go off and have some fun with these Google API’s.

I’m particularly interested in the Moderator API and I’m curious if anyone has written apps to completely replace the Google Moderator UI with a custom design?