The Developer Documentation for WeoGeo’s API provides examples using curl.  In this blog series, I’m providing similar examples but using Python.  In WeoGeo API: Python Examples, Part 1, I showed how to invoke the “GET Dataset as WeoFile” API from Python using urllib.  This time, I’ll show the same request using httplib.

Httplib is a little more complicated but it handles authentication slightly better and, more importantly, specifying the headers will enable more sophisticated requests (that will be required for later API examples).

The curl example for the API call is below:

And here is a bare-bones example of that request in Python using httplib:

import base64
import string
import httplib, urllib

usern = "your_username" # or your API key
passw = "your_password" # if API Key is used: = ""
library = "the * part of your Library's domain name in *.weogeo.com"

# Construct the Basic authentication string
auth = 'Basic ' + string.strip(base64.encodestring(usern + ':' + passw))

# List Datasets (GET) curl example
# curl -H 'Content-Type: application/xml' http://#{hostname}/datasets.weo?page=1&east=0&north=90&south=0&west=-180&scale=5

# Optional parameters:
params = urllib.urlencode({
 'page': '1',
 'per_page': '15',
 'north': '90.0',
 'south': '-90.0',
 'east': '180.0',
 'west': '-180.0',
 'date_from': '1990-01-01',
 'date_to': '2010-01-01',
 'data_type': 'RASTER',
 'min_provider_rating': '0',
 'min_dataset_rating': '0',
 'tags': 'test'
})

# create the header with the authentication
headers = {
 "Content-Type": "application/xml" ,
 "Authorization": auth,
 }

# create teh connection
conn = httplib.HTTPConnection("dandye.weogeo.com")

# Construct the request with headers amd add paramters to the URI
conn.request("GET","/datasets.weo?%s" % params, "", headers)

# call the URI
response = conn.getresponse()

# check status of result
print response.status, response.reason

# read the data retreieved
data = response.read()

# close the connection
conn.close()

# print the data retreieved
print data

Notice on Line 9 that your username and password are base64 encoded.  This is basic access authentication and encoding != encrypting.  So for added security, you may use your Library API Key in place of your username and leave your password blank (password = “”).

Again, for extra credit, try changing the extension (on line 40) from “.weo” to [".kml",".json",".rss"].

The Developer Documentation for WeoGeo’s API provides examples using curl:

curl example in WeoGeo Developer Documentation (wiki.weogeo.com)

However, after fielding some questions from Developers, I’m thinking some Python (and C#?) examples might be useful too.  So here is the first installment.

This is a bare-bones example of the List Datasets API, which returns a list of Datasets within the (optional) defined parameters.  Possible parameters include a Minimum Bounding Rectangle (MBR), date range, ratings, and/or Tags.

import urllib

usern = [your WeoGeo username]
passw = [your WeoGeo password]
library = [the * part of your Library's domain name *.weogeo.com]

# List Datasets (GET) curl example:
# curl -H 'Content-Type: application/xml' http://#{hostname}/datasets.weo?page=1&east=0&north=90&south=0&west=-180&scale=5

# Optional parameters:
params =  urllib.urlencode(
    {
        'page': 1,
        'per_page': '15',
        'north': '90.0',
        'south': '-90.0',
        'east': '180.0',
        'west': '-180.0',
        'date_from': '1990-01-01',
        'date_to': '2010-01-01',
        'data_type': 'RASTER',
        'min_provider_rating': '0',
        'min_dataset_rating': '0',
        'tags': 'test'
    }
)

# construct the URI for the API with parameters:
url = "https://%s:%s@%s.weogeo.com/datasets.weo?%s" % (usern,passw,library,params)

# call the URI
f = urllib.urlopen(url)

# print results to the CLI
print f.read()

For extra credit, try changing the extension from “.weo” to [".kml",".json",".rss"].

Next time, I’ll show the same WeoGeo API call in Python but use httplib instead of urllib.  Although, urllib is simpler, httplib handles authentication better and enables the more sophisticated requests that will be required for later API examples.