Small module for getting JSON to work with in Python

Question

I currently have a module with Class / Methods I want to use in other scripts. Recently chess.com released a read-only REST API for beta-testing. The methods in my class build a URL for the API endpoints I am interested in and get the JSON data for me to work with in other scripts.

It is worth noting that I am fairly unused to using classes in the way I am in my code below - or at all really. Here is my working code:

"""TODO: docstring"""
from requests import get


class GetGamesJson:
    """TODO: docstring"""

    def build_url_for_player(self, username):
        """Build a custom URL for the `Palyer Profile` endpoint.

        Args:
            username (`str`): Player's username as string input.

        Returns:
            string: A URL for a player that can be used as a base for
            accessing other enpoints.

        Examples:
            >>> print(build_url_for_player('foo'))
            'https://api.chess.com/pub/player/foo'

        Raises:
            ValueError: If `username` is not found.

        """
        self.username = username
        player = (
            "https://api.chess.com/pub/player/{username}".format(
                username=username
            )
        )
        try:
            if get(player).json()['code'] == 0:
                raise ValueError("User '{username}' not found.".format(
                    username=username
                ))
        except KeyError:
            return player

    def build_url_for_monthly_archives(self, year, month):
        """Build URL for the `Monthly Archives` endpoint.

        This method depends on the base URL returned by the
        build_url_for_player() method.

        Args:
            year (int): Year as integer input.
            months (int): Month as integer input.

        Returns:
            string: URL to Monthly Archives.

        Examples:
            >>> print(build_url_for_monthly_archives(2009, 5))
            'https://api.chess.com/pub/player/foo/games/2009/05'

        """
        self.year = year
        self.month = month
        username = self.username
        url_to_monthly_archive = (
            self.build_url_for_player(username) +
            "/games/{year}/{month:02d}".format(
                username=username, year=year, month=month
            )
        )
        return url_to_monthly_archive

    def get_monthly_archive_json_doc(self):
        """Returns a JSON document from Monthly Archives endpoint."""
        link_to_json_doc = self.build_url_for_monthly_archives(
            self.year, self.month
        )
        get_json_doc = get(link_to_json_doc)
        return get_json_doc.json()

I would like to know what I can do to simplify and improve in the code I have.

Answer 1

I think you are over-complicating the problem, I would apply the following modifications:

• rename the class to, say, ChessAPI
• pass username into the class constructor
• check for username to exist and define the profile_url instance attribute inside the class constructor
• instantiate a single Session object and re-use inside the class methods

Modified code:

"""TODO: docstring"""
import requests


class ChessAPI:
    """TODO: docstring"""
    def __init__(self, username):
        self.username = username

        self.session = requests.Session()

        self.profile_url = "https://api.chess.com/pub/player/{username}".format(username=self.username)
        try:
            if self.session.get(self.profile_url).json()['code'] == 0:
                raise ValueError("User '{username}' not found.".format(username=self.username))
        except KeyError:
            pass

    def get_monthly_archives(self, year, month):
        """Returns a JSON document from Monthly Archives endpoint."""
        archive_url = self.profile_url + "/games/{year}/{month:02d}".format(username=self.username, year=year, month=month)
        get_json_doc = self.session.get(archive_url)
        return get_json_doc.json()

Sample usage (works for me):

api = ChessAPI('alex')
archives = api.get_monthly_archives(2017, 1)
print(archives)