Small module for getting JSON to work with in Python

Question

I currently have a module with Class / Methods I want to use in other scripts. Recently chess.com released a read-only REST API for beta-testing. The methods in my class build a URL for the API endpoints I am interested in and get the JSON data for me to work with in other scripts.

It is worth noting that I am fairly unused to using classes in the way I am in my code below - or at all really. Here is my working code:

"""TODO: docstring"""
from requests import get
class GetGamesJson:
 """TODO: docstring"""
 def build_url_for_player(self, username):
 """Build a custom URL for the `Palyer Profile` endpoint.
 Args:
 username (`str`): Player's username as string input.
 Returns:
 string: A URL for a player that can be used as a base for
 accessing other enpoints.
 Examples:
 >>> print(build_url_for_player('foo'))
 'https://api.chess.com/pub/player/foo'
 Raises:
 ValueError: If `username` is not found.
 """
 self.username = username
 player = (
 "https://api.chess.com/pub/player/{username}".format(
 username=username
 )
 )
 try:
 if get(player).json()['code'] == 0:
 raise ValueError("User '{username}' not found.".format(
 username=username
 ))
 except KeyError:
 return player
 def build_url_for_monthly_archives(self, year, month):
 """Build URL for the `Monthly Archives` endpoint.
 This method depends on the base URL returned by the
 build_url_for_player() method.
 Args:
 year (int): Year as integer input.
 months (int): Month as integer input.
 Returns:
 string: URL to Monthly Archives.
 Examples:
 >>> print(build_url_for_monthly_archives(2009, 5))
 'https://api.chess.com/pub/player/foo/games/2009/05'
 """
 self.year = year
 self.month = month
 username = self.username
 url_to_monthly_archive = (
 self.build_url_for_player(username) +
 "/games/{year}/{month:02d}".format(
 username=username, year=year, month=month
 )
 )
 return url_to_monthly_archive
 def get_monthly_archive_json_doc(self):
 """Returns a JSON document from Monthly Archives endpoint."""
 link_to_json_doc = self.build_url_for_monthly_archives(
 self.year, self.month
 )
 get_json_doc = get(link_to_json_doc)
 return get_json_doc.json()

I would like to know what I can do to simplify and improve in the code I have.

Answer 1

I think you are over-complicating the problem, I would apply the following modifications:

• rename the class to, say, ChessAPI
• pass username into the class constructor
• check for username to exist and define the profile_url instance attribute inside the class constructor
• instantiate a single Session object and re-use inside the class methods

Modified code:

"""TODO: docstring"""
import requests
class ChessAPI:
 """TODO: docstring"""
 def __init__(self, username):
 self.username = username
 self.session = requests.Session()
 self.profile_url = "https://api.chess.com/pub/player/{username}".format(username=self.username)
 try:
 if self.session.get(self.profile_url).json()['code'] == 0:
 raise ValueError("User '{username}' not found.".format(username=self.username))
 except KeyError:
 pass
 def get_monthly_archives(self, year, month):
 """Returns a JSON document from Monthly Archives endpoint."""
 archive_url = self.profile_url + "/games/{year}/{month:02d}".format(username=self.username, year=year, month=month)
 get_json_doc = self.session.get(archive_url)
 return get_json_doc.json()

Sample usage (works for me):

api = ChessAPI('alex')
archives = api.get_monthly_archives(2017, 1)
print(archives)

• Walid Mujahid وليد مجاهد: I tend to usually over complicate things :-) Thank you for your answer!