Back
May 12, 2010

Twitter API, OAuth and decorators

In my current project I had a task to use twitter API. Twitter uses OAuth for authentication, which is pretty dreary. To avoid fiddling with it all the time, I've moved authentication to decorator, now it looks like this:

@twitter_api
def tweet_hello(request, api):
    api.update_status('hello')
# ...

Decorator checks if key is available, and, if needed - initiates authentication. User is redirected to twitter, grants permission and is redirected back to site, to the same place where he left off. If key is available - nothing happens, just view is launched as usual.

It's convenient that there's no need for additional twitter settings in user profile.

tweepy is used as an API wrapper.

def twitter_api(view):
    def wrapped(request, args, *kwargs):
        callback_url = absolute_url(oauth_endpoint)
        auth = tweepy.OAuthHandler(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, callback_url)

        if 'twitter_access_token' in request.session:
            key, secret =     request.session['twitter_access_token']
            auth.set_access_token(key, secret)
            return view(request, api=tweepy.API(auth), *args, **kwargs)

        request.session['twitter_action'] = request.path
        redirect_url = auth.get_authorization_url()
        request.session['twitter_request_token'] = (auth.request_token.key, auth.request_token.secret)
        return redirect(redirect_url)

    return wrapped


def oauth_endpoint(request):
    callback_url = absolute_url(oauth_endpoint)
    auth = tweepy.OAuthHandler(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, callback_url)
    key, secret = request.session.pop('twitter_request_token')
    auth.set_request_token(key, secret)
    verifier = request.REQUEST.get('oauth_verifier')
    auth.get_access_token(verifier)
    request.session['twitter_access_token'] = (auth.access_token.key, auth.access_token.secret)
    return redirect(request.session.pop('twitter_action'))
  • of course, you need to wrap everything in try..except blocks and process errors accordingly
  • absolute_url should return full url, with http://
  • apart from request.path you can also store POST and GET.
  • path can be passed as an argument to callback_url

Subscribe for the news and updates

More thoughts
Jul 27, 2022Technology
Forge Viewer: Our Experience with an Unusual Project

Once we received an interesting task from a client. They needed to allow their users to upload a 3D model of the building and show it in a timelapse video from the construction site.

Apr 19, 2022Technology
Improve efficiency of your SELECT queries

SQL is a fairly complicated language with a steep learning curve. For a large number of people who make use of SQL, learning to apply it efficiently takes lots of trials and errors. Here are some tips on how you can make your SELECT queries better. The majority of tips should be applicable to any relational database management system, but the terminology and exact namings will be taken from PostgreSQL.

May 9, 2018Technology
How to Generate PDF Files in Python with Xhtml2pdf, WeasyPrint or Unoconv

Programmatic generation of PDF files is a frequent task when developing applications that can export reports, bills, or questionnaires. In this article, we will consider three common tools for creating PDFs, including their installation and converting principles.

Feb 28, 2017Technology
How to write an API in Django

There is such a term as Remote Procedure Call (RPC). In other words, by using this technology, programs can call functions on remote computers. There are many ways to implement RPC.

Jan 12, 2017Technology
Making Custom Report Tables Using AngularJS and Django

In this article I will tell you how to create an interactive interface with a widely customized visual look and different filtering to view reports.

Mar 6, 2010Technology
Ajax form validation

There was a task to submit form with ajax, with server side validation of course. Obvious solution is to do validation and return json with erros. I didn't like idea of writing separate view for validation and then inserting errors in form html on client side. Especially since I already had a generic template for django form with errors display. In this article I'll describe how I solved the task.