python-twitter / README

=Python Twitter=

_A python wrapper around the Twitter API_

Author: `DeWitt Clinton <dewitt@google.com>`

==Introduction==

This library provides a pure python interface for the Twitter API.

Twitter (http://twitter.com) provides a service that allows people to

connect via the web, IM, and SMS.  Twitter exposes a web services API 

(http://twitter.com/help/api) and this library is intended to make

it even easier for python programmers to use. 

==Building==

*From source:*

Install the dependencies:

  http://cheeseshop.python.org/pypi/simplejson

Download the latest python-twitter library from:

  http://code.google.com/p/python-twitter/

Untar the source distribution and run:

{{{

  $ python setup.py build

  $ python setup.py install

}}}

*Testing*

With setuptools installed:

{{{

  $ python setup.py test

}}}

Without setuptools installed:

{{{

  $ python twitter_test.py

}}}

==Getting the code==

View the trunk at:

  http://python-twitter.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/

Check out the latest development version anonymously with:

{{{

  $ svn checkout http://python-twitter.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ python-twitter

}}}

==Documentation==

View the last release API documentation at:

  http://static.unto.net/python-twitter/0.6/doc/twitter.html

==Using==

The library provides a python wrapper around the Twitter API and

the twitter data model.

*Model:*

The three model classes are twitter.Status, twitter.User, and

twitter.DirectMessage.  The API methods return instances of these

classes.

To read the full API for twitter.Status, twitter.User, or

twitter.DirectMessage, run:

{{{

  $ pydoc twitter.Status

  $ pydoc twitter.User

  $ pydoc twitter.DirectMessage

}}}

*API:*

The API is exposed via the twitter.Api class.

To create an instance of the twitter.Api class:

{{{

  >>> import twitter

  >>> api = twitter.Api()

}}}

To create an instance of the twitter.Api with login credentials (many API

calls required the client to be authenticated):

  >>> api = twitter.Api(username='username', password='password) 

To fetch the most recently posted public twitter status messages:

{{{

  >>> statuses = api.GetPublicTimeline()

  >>> print [s.user.name for s in statuses]

  [u'DeWitt', u'Kesuke Miyagi', u'ev', u'Buzz Andersen', u'Biz Stone'] 

}}}

To fetch a single user's public status messages, where "user" is either

a Twitter "short name" or their user id.

{{{

  >>> statuses = api.GetUserTimeline(user)

  >>> print [s.text for s in statuses]

}}}

To fetch a list a user's friends (requires authentication):

{{{

  >>> users = api.GetFriends()

  >>> print [u.name for u in users]

}}}

To post a twitter status message (requires authentication):

{{{ 

  >>> status = api.PostUpdate(username, password, 'I love python-twitter!')

  >>> print status.text

  I love python-twitter!

}}}

There are many more API methods, to read the full API documentation:

{{{

  $ pydoc twitter.Api

}}}

==Todo==

Patches and bug reports are welcome, just please keep the style

consistent with the original source.

Add more example scripts.

The twitter.Status and twitter.User classes are going to be hard

to keep in sync with the API if the API changes.  More of the 

code could probably be written with introspection.

Statement coverage of twitter_test is only about 80% of twitter.py.

The twitter.Status and twitter.User classes could perform more validation

on the property setters.

==More Information==

Please visit http://groups.google.com/group/python-twitter for more discussion.

==Contributors==

Additional thanks to Pierre-Jean Coudert, Omar Kilani, Jodok Batlogg,

edleaf,glen.tregoning, Brad Choate, Jim Cortez, Jason Lemoine, Thomas

Dyson, Robert Laquey, and the rest of the python-twitter mailing list.

==License==

{{{

  Copyright 2007 Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.

  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the 'License');

  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.

  You may obtain a copy of the License at

      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

  distributed under the License is distributed on an 'AS IS' BASIS,

  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and

  limitations under the License.

}}}