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
Mar 18, 2024Technology
From boring to exciting: turn learning to code into an adventure

Tired of boring programming courses where you're forced to read thick textbooks and write code that's never used? Need a platform that makes learning fun and exciting? Then you're in the right place!

Dec 13, 2022Technology
How to create a timelapse video from frames

We’ll tell you how to create a video timelapse from a sequence of snapshots and provide customers with video playlists optimized for browser playback.

Aug 18, 2022Technology
5 Best Practices of RESTful API Design to Keep Your Users Happy

Dive into our guide to RESTful API best practices

May 26, 2017Technology
Tutorial: Django User Registration and Authentication

In this beginners friends article I'll explain how to make authentication with Google account on your Django site and how to make authentication for you REST API.

Mar 4, 2011Technology
Css sprite generation

I've created this small sprite to create css sprites. It glues images from directory directory into single file and generates corresponding css.

Mar 6, 2010TechnologyManagement
Supplementing settings in settings_local

For local project settings, I use old trick with settings_local file:try:from settings_local import \*except ImportError:passSo in settings_local.py we can override variables from settings.py. I didn't know how to supplement them. For example how to add line to INSTALLED_APPS without copying whole list.Yesterday I finally understood that I can import settings from settings_local:# settings_local.pyfrom settings import \*INSTALLED_APPS += (# ...)