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Tutorial of snscli
This 20 minute tutorial will present the basics of SNSAPI to you. We'll walk you through configuring, authorising, reading timeline, updating status, replying to one status, etc.
Type "print helpdoc" whenever you forget commands.
Note that those commands are essentially Python functions derived from SNSPocket class. You can use the normal way to invoke them and seek for online documentation.
e.g. Type list_channel() to list the current channels.
e.g. Type help(sp.list_channel) to see the detailed description of parameters.
e.g. Type lsc() as the shortcut for list_channel.
Type:
>>> nc = new_channel()
>>> print nc
See the template we created for you. Now fill in
information using standard Python assignment.
e.g.
>>> nc["channel_name"] = "test_rss"
We subscribe the RSS feed of SNSAPI wiki pages. Configure accordingly, and add this channel:
>>> nc["channel_name"] = "test_rss"
>>> nc["url"] = "https://github.com/hupili/snsapi/wiki.atom"
>>> nc["platform"] = "RSS"
>>> add_channel(nc)
You can use list_channel() to check it.
You can use list_platform() to see what are the currently supported platforms.
Type:
>>> sl = home_timeline()
>>> print sl
You can read the news feeds of SNSAPI wiki pages now. In order to expose the same interface as other platforms, only a subset of the information is formatted. e.g. publish date, author, title, and link.
The basic function of SNSAPI is to unify the interface.
You can expect to call home_timeline() on any other
platforms (most of them). The returned object is a list.
You can of course inspect it using print sl[0],
print len(sl).
Try:
>>> save_config()
You can quit() and invoke this CLI again. Use
load_config() to recover the channels you've just
configured. To let this tutorial continue, we try to
clear channels and load them from file.
Try:
>>> list_channel()
>>> clear_channel()
>>> list_channel()
>>> load_config()
>>> list_channel()
You don't have problem figuring out what's going on by looking at the console output.
The RSS channel just gives you a flavour of how SNSAPI works. It requires the minimum operation. In this section, we'll configure one Renren channel and update/reply status using SNSAPI. You have to spend some time applying for an app key.
See our wiki page if you haven't done so or you need troubleshooting assistance: https://github.com/hupili/snsapi/wiki/Apply-for-app-key
Try:
>>> clear_channel()
>>> nc = new_channel()
>>> nc["platform"] = "RenrenStatus"
>>> nc["app_secret"] = "YOU_APP_SECRET_KEY"
>>> nc["app_key"] = "YOU_APP_KEY"
>>> nc["channel_name"] = "test_renren"
>>> nc["auth_info"]["callback_url"] = "http://snsapi.sinaapp.com/auth.php"
>>> add_channel(nc)
>>> auth()
>>> sl = home_timeline(count = 5)
>>> print sl
In the auth stage, you will be prompt a browser for authorization by default. After authorizing your own App, you can copy the url which contains authorization code to snscli console. If you use the above defaults, we should be able to guide you through the process at every step. Check wether you get 5 statuses from your home timeline.
Try update your own status:
>>> update("t.....")
>>> sl = home_timeline(count = 5)
>>> print sl[0]
If the return value is "True", then we successfully updated one status. We can get the status using home_timeline(). Check if this is the message you just post.
Now we reply to it:
>>> reply(sl[0].ID, "a reply")
Again, you'll see "True" on successful reply. You can login the web portal of this SNS and check whether it is successful.
Let's do something advanced. First configure one OSN channel as is done in the last two sections. Then configure one RSS2RW channel. You can write feeds using RSS2RW channel. Here's the basic settings:
>>> n["platform"] = "RSS2RW"
>>> n["channel_name"] = "output"
>>> n["url"] = "output.rss"
>>> add_channel(n)
>>> list_channel()
Let's read the statuses from OSN and write some of them to an RSS2 feed:
>>> sl = home_timeline(5)
>>> print sl[0]
>>> print home_timeline(channel = "output")
>>> update(text = unicode(sl[0]), channel = "output")
>>> print home_timeline(channel = "output")
>>> update(text = unicode(sl[3]), channel = "output")
>>> print home_timeline(channel = "output")
Besides the console output, you can also check the resuling "output.rss" file. It is a valid RSS file so you can subscribe to it using RSS Readers. Note how simple this task is! It's a totally different thing from OSN, but you can use the same "update()" method to put information there!
Congratulations! You have grasped all basics of SNSAPI. Feeling interested? Um, let's look at one more complex idea:
- Follow (being friends with) different users on different platforms.
- Use SNSAPI to pull all the new information.
- Classifying, filtering, etc. Whatever you like.
- Output those valuable statuses to one single RSS file.
- Subscribe to that feed alone! You can get all information in just one place.
- Take a step further. You can use ifttt.com to forward the RSS to your cell phone by SMS for free!
Think wild. We are standing on top of different platforms (and there will definitely be more). Let's make all the things to work for us.
Don't know Python? It's absolutely OK!
We intend to use STDIN/STDOUT to communicate with all other languages. (of course, Python programmers will find it more convenient to use the class directly)
e.g.
echo -e 'load_config()\nauth()\nprint home_timeline(5)\nquit()' | python -i snscli.py
You can use the above line to get home timeline from bash. You can deal with it using grep, awk, etc. Same to all other programming laguages: write command to STDIN and read result from STDOUT. You may have noticed that the console output is not clean. Writing logs to a file will make it much better. Check out the next and the last section for pointers.
Here's a few pointers to proceed next:
- Check out our wiki for more advanced use cases.
- Check "snsapi/app" for some sample apps.
- Look at the codes, write plugins, write Apps, etc.
Enjoy!