api_day3.md

Warmup Activity: Favorite Quotes API with Python's Requests Module!

Objective:
Take the starter Python script below- it interacts with a simple "Fav Quotes" API that Chad spun up. As written, the starter code sends a GET request to retrieve all current quotes, displaying them to the user.

YOUR TASK:

• Add code that uses the requests library to send a POST request with a new quote.
• Check if the POST request is successful (status code 201), and if so print "Quote added successfully!"
• Otherwise, print "Failed to add quote!" with the error message.
• You can see the API in your browser by clicking here!

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API Documentation

Use this to help figure out how you can POST to this API!

Base URL:

https://aux1-7db214f2-7074-4400-abe0-2a5559030ea9.live.alta3.com/quotes

Endpoints:

1. GET /quotes

   • Description: Returns a JSON object containing all saved quotes.
   • Response Format:

     {
       "quotes": [
         {"name": "Author", "quote": "This is a sample quote."}
       ]
     }

   • Expected Status: 200 OK

2. POST /quotes

   • Description: Adds a new quote to the API.
   • Request Body (JSON):

     {
       "name": "Author's Name",
       "quote": "The quote text here."
     }

   • Response:
     • Success: Returns {"message": "Quote added successfully"} with status code 201 Created.
     • Error: If a quote by the same name exists, returns {"error": "A quote by this name already exists"} with status code 409 Conflict.

---

Starter Code

import requests
from pprint import pprint

def main():
    # API URL
    url = "https://aux1-7db214f2-7074-4400-abe0-2a5559030ea9.live.alta3.com/quotes"

    # Send GET request to retrieve all quotes
    response = requests.get(url)
    
    # Check if the GET request was successful
    if response.status_code == 200:
        quotes = response.json().get("quotes", [])
        print("Current quotes in the API:")
        pprint(quotes)

    else:
        print("Failed to retrieve quotes!")

    # TODO: Add code to send a POST request with a new quote

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

---

Hints

• Use requests.post() to send data to the API.
• Set the JSON data in the data parameter of requests.post() with {"name": "Author", "quote": "New quote text"}.
• Check response.status_code to confirm if the POST was successful.

---

(A) Solution

import requests
from pprint import pprint

def main():
    # API URL
    url = "https://aux1-7db214f2-7074-4400-abe0-2a5559030ea9.live.alta3.com/quotes"

    # Send GET request to retrieve all quotes
    response = requests.get(url)

    # Check if the GET request was successful
    if response.status_code == 200:
        quotes = response.json().get("quotes", [])
        print("Current quotes in the API:")
        pprint(quotes)
    else:
        print("Failed to retrieve quotes!")

    # Gather user input for a new quote
    name = input("\nWho said your quote?\n>")
    quote = input("\nWhat is the quote?\n>")

    # Construct POST data
    post_data = {
        "name": name,
        "quote": quote
    }

    # Send POST request to add a new quote
    post_response = requests.post(url, json=post_data)

    # Check if the POST request was successful
    if post_response.status_code == 201:
        print("Quote added successfully!")
    else:
        error_message = post_response.json().get("error", "Unknown error occurred!")
        print(f"Failed to add quote: {error_message}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()