Integration in APIs

Bots & APIs: A Powerful Combo

APIs vs. Web Scraping

API Basics: Endpoints & Methods

Making a Simple GET Request

import requests

def main():
    api_url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1"
    response = requests.get(api_url)
    
    print(f"Status Code: {response.status_code}")
    print(response.text)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Parsing JSON Responses

import requests
import json

def main():
    api_url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1"
    response = requests.get(api_url)
    
    if response.status_code == 200:
        todo_item = response.json() # Parse JSON into a Python dict
        print(f"User ID: {todo_item['userId']}")
        print(f"Title: {todo_item['title']}")
        print(f"Completed: {todo_item['completed']}")
    else:
        print("Failed to fetch data.")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

API Authentication Concepts

Using API Keys in Requests

import requests

def main():
    # This is a placeholder for demonstration.
    # In a real scenario, use a valid API key.
    api_key = "YOUR_DUMMY_API_KEY_HERE"
    search_term = "bot automation"
    
    # Fictional API endpoint requiring a key
    api_url = "https://api.example.com/search"
    
    params = {
        "q": search_term,
        "apiKey": api_key # API key as a query parameter
    }
    
    response = requests.get(api_url, params=params)
    print(f"Request URL: {response.url}")
    print(f"Status Code: {response.status_code}")
    # In a real app, you'd process response.json()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Sending Data with POST Requests

import requests
import json

def main():
    api_url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts"
    
    new_post_data = {
        "title": "Bot-Generated Post",
        "body": "This is content created by our bot!",
        "userId": 1
    }
    
    # The 'json' parameter automatically sets Content-Type
    response = requests.post(api_url, json=new_post_data)
    
    print(f"Status Code: {response.status_code}")
    if response.status_code == 201: # 201 Created is common for successful POST
        print("Post created successfully!")
        print(response.json()) # API returns the created item
    else:
        print("Failed to create post.")
        print(response.text)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Robust Error Handling for APIs

import requests

def main():
    # Intentional bad URL to show error handling
    api_url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/nonexistent_endpoint"
    
    try:
        response = requests.get(api_url, timeout=5) # Set a timeout
        response.raise_for_status() # Raises HTTPError for 4xx/5xx responses
        print(f"Status Code: {response.status_code}")
        print("Successfully fetched data.")
    except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as err:
        print(f"HTTP Error occurred: {err}")
        print(f"Status Code: {response.status_code}")
    except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as err:
        print(f"Connection Error occurred: {err}")
    except requests.exceptions.Timeout as err:
        print(f"Timeout Error occurred: {err}")
    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as err:
        print(f"An unexpected error occurred: {err}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Quick Check: API Interaction

Recap & Next Steps