json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0) in requests

Question

I'm trying to get some data from a third-party API, and I always get the same result no matter how I do it.

This is my code:

row = db.execute("SELECT isbn, title, author, year FROM books WHERE \
                        isbn = :isbn",
                        {"isbn": isbn})

        bookInfo = row.fetchall()

        """ GOODREADS reviews """

        # Read API key from env variable
        key = os.getenv('GOODREADS_KEY')
        
        # Query the api with key and ISBN as parameters
        query = requests.get("https://www.goodreads.com/book/review_counts.json",
                params={"key": key, "isbns": isbn})

        # Convert the response to JSON
        response = query.json()

        # "Clean" the JSON before passing it to the bookInfo list
        response = response['books'][0]

        # Append it as the second element on the list. [1]
        bookInfo.append(response)

        """ Users reviews """

         # Search book_id by ISBN
        row = db.execute("SELECT id FROM books WHERE isbn = :isbn",
                        {"isbn": isbn})

        # Save id into variable
        book = row.fetchone() # (id,)
        book = book[0]

        # Fetch book reviews
        results = db.execute("SELECT users.username, review, rate, \
                            to_char(date, 'DD Mon YY - HH24:MI:SS') as time \
                            FROM users \
                            INNER JOIN reviews \
                            ON users.id = reviews.user_id \
                            WHERE book_id = :book \
                            ORDER BY time",
                            {"book": book})
                  
        if results.rowcount == 0:
            return render_template("error.html", message="kept you waiting, huh")

        reviews = results.fetchall()

        return render_template("book.html", bookInfo=bookInfo, reviews=reviews) 

And this is the error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 2463, in __call__
    return self.wsgi_app(environ, start_response)
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 2449, in wsgi_app
    response = self.handle_exception(e)
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 1866, in handle_exception
    reraise(exc_type, exc_value, tb)
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\_compat.py", line 39, in reraise
    raise value
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 2446, in wsgi_app
    response = self.full_dispatch_request()
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 1951, in full_dispatch_request
    rv = self.handle_user_exception(e)
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 1820, in handle_user_exception
    reraise(exc_type, exc_value, tb)
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\_compat.py", line 39, in reraise
    raise value
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 1949, in full_dispatch_request
    rv = self.dispatch_request()
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\flask\app.py", line 1935, in dispatch_request
    return self.view_functions[rule.endpoint](**req.view_args)
  File "C:\Users\Enrique Mota\Documents\project1\LR.py", line 9, in decorated_function
    return f(*args, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\Enrique Mota\Documents\project1\application.py", line 195, in book
    response = query.json()
  File "c:\users\enrique mota\documents\project1\env\lib\site-packages\requests\models.py", line 897, in json
    return complexjson.loads(self.text, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Users\Enrique Mota\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\json\__init__.py", line 348, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "C:\Users\Enrique Mota\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\json\decoder.py", line 337, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "C:\Users\Enrique Mota\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\json\decoder.py", line 355, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

These are the parameters to get the book info:

Get review statistics given a list of ISBNs Get review statistics for books given a list of ISBNs. ISBNs can be specified as an array (e.g. isbns[]=0441172717&isbns[]=0141439602) or a single, comma-separated string (e.g. isbns=0441172717,0141439602). You can mix ISBN10s and ISBN13s, but you'll receive a 422 error if you don't specify any, and you'll receive a 404 if none are found. URL: https://www.goodreads.com/book/review_counts.json (sample url) HTTP method: GET Parameters:

key: Developer key (required).

isbns: Array of ISBNs or a comma separated string of ISBNs (1000 ISBNs per request max.)

format: json

callback: function to wrap JSON response

This is a sample URL:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/review_counts.json?isbns=0441172717%2C0141439602&key=IcOZSbhCZizWqiomGMUw

To my understanding, I only need two parameters which I specified in my code, no matter how I code the app, It always has that response/error, what I'm I doing wrong?

I did import json, os, jsonify, and requests btw.

Answer 1

The code below works so you need to check the params you send (key and isbns)

import requests

r = requests.get("https://www.goodreads.com/book/review_counts.json",
                 params={"key": 'IcOZSbhCZizWqiomGMUw', "isbns": '0441172717,0141439602'})
if r.status_code == 200:
    print(r.json())

output

{'books': [{'id': 47173379, 'isbn': '0441172717', 'isbn13': '9780441172719', 'ratings_count': 85, 'reviews_count': 211, 'text_reviews_count': 5, 'work_ratings_count': 641157, 'work_reviews_count': 1080654, 'work_text_reviews_count': 17613, 'average_rating': '4.22'}, {'id': 1953, 'isbn': '0141439602', 'isbn13': '9780141439600', 'ratings_count': 705737, 'reviews_count': 1237587, 'text_reviews_count': 11902, 'work_ratings_count': 758306, 'work_reviews_count': 1389929, 'work_text_reviews_count': 15806, 'average_rating': '3.83'}]}

Answer 2

You should check status code first.

if  query.status_code == requests.codes['ok']:
     response = query.json()
else:
     # Do something else