CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonapirestpython-requests
Chris
Chris

Reputation: 1680

Use of parameters dictionary with Python requests GET method

Trying to retrieve data via the EIA data API (v2): https://www.eia.gov/opendata/documentation.php.

I'm able to use the API dashboard to return data:

https://www.eia.gov/opendata/browser/electricity/retail-sales?frequency=monthly&data=price;revenue;sales;&start=2013-01

But when I attempt to retrieve within Python using the attached documentation, I don't appear to be returning any values when using the same parameters.

url = 'https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/retail-sales/data/?api_key=' + API_KEY

params = {
    "frequency": "monthly",
    "data": [
        "revenue",
        "sales",
        "price"
    ],
    "start": "2013-01"
}

if x.status_code == 200:
    print('Success')
else:
    print('Failed')  
    
res = x.json()['response']
data = res['data']

If I print the url created by the GET method, and compare to API url included in the dashboard, the issue appears to be in the way the GET method is attempting to retrieve items from the data parameter:

Works

https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/retail-sales/data/?frequency=monthly&data[0]=price&data[1]=revenue&data[2]=sales&start=2013-01&sort[0][column]=period&sort[0][direction]=desc&offset=0&length=5000

Doesn't work (returned by GET method):

https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/retail-sales/data/?api_key=MY_API&frequency=monthly&data=revenue&data=sales&data=price&start=2013-01

Can anyone provided guidance on how to coerce the GET method to pass my data parameters in the same way as the API dashboard appears to?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 277

Answers (1)

Ivan
Ivan

Reputation: 21

Your data in params not formatted correctly in url. Try this if you want the url to be formed as in your working version:

url = 'https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/retail-sales/data/?api_key=' + API_KEY

data = [
        "revenue",
        "sales",
        "price"
    ]

params = {
    "frequency": "monthly",
    "start": "2013-01"
}
for index in range(0, len(data)):
    params[f"data[{index}]"] = data[index]

response = requests.get(url, params = params)

But if the server is adequate, then square brackets in the name of the data[] parameter are enough:

url = 'https://api.eia.gov/v2/electricity/retail-sales/data/?api_key=' + API_KEY

params = {
    "frequency": "monthly",
    "data[]": [
        "revenue",
        "sales",
        "price"
    ],
    "start": "2013-01"
}

Upvotes: 1

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