Merge pull request #289 from lzpap/fetch_data_tutorial

docs: Add 'Fetch Data' tutorial

docs/tutorials.rst

@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ Let's get to it then!
 
 .. py:currentmodule:: iota
 
-Hello Node
-----------
+1. Hello Node
+-------------
 In this example, you will learn how to:
 
 - **Import the** ``iota`` **package into your application.**
@@ -73,8 +73,8 @@ we could list the ``features`` of the node::
 
     pprint(response['features'])
 
-Send Data
----------
+2. Send Data
+------------
 In this example, you will learn how to:
 
 - **Encode data to be stored on the Tangle.**
@@ -167,6 +167,67 @@ Observe how we extract the transaction hash from the response ``dict``. We take
 the first element of the bundle, as it is just a sequence of transactions, and
 access its ``hash`` attribute.
 
+3. Fetch Data
+-------------
+In this example, you will learn how to:
+
+- **Fetch transaction objects from the Tangle based on a criteria.**
+- **Decode messages from transactions.**
+
+Code
+~~~~
+.. literalinclude:: ../examples/tutorials/03_fetch_data.py
+   :linenos:
+
+Discussion
+~~~~~~~~~~
+.. literalinclude:: ../examples/tutorials/03_fetch_data.py
+   :lines: 1-5
+   :lineno-start: 1
+
+The usual part again, but we also import ``TrytesDecodeError`` from
+``iota.codec``. We will use this to detect if the fetched trytes contain
+encoded text.
+
+.. literalinclude:: ../examples/tutorials/03_fetch_data.py
+   :lines: 7-10
+   :lineno-start: 7
+
+We declare an IOTA address on the Tangle to fetch data from. You can replace
+this address with your own from the previous example `2. Send Data`_, or just
+run it as it is.
+
+.. literalinclude:: ../examples/tutorials/03_fetch_data.py
+   :lines: 12-14
+   :lineno-start: 12
+
+We use :py:meth:`~Iota.find_transaction_objects` extended API method to gather
+the transactions that belong to our address. This method is also capable of
+returning :py:class:`Transaction` objects for bundle hashes, tags or approving
+transactions. Note that you can supply multiple of these, the method always
+returns a ``dict`` with a list of transactions.
+
+.. note::
+
+    Remember, that the parameters need to be supplied as lists, even if
+    there is only one value.
+
+.. literalinclude:: ../examples/tutorials/03_fetch_data.py
+   :lines: 16-25
+   :lineno-start: 16
+
+Finally, we extract the data we are looking for from the transaction objects.
+A :py:class:`Transaction` has several attributes, one of which is the
+``signature_message_fragment``. This contains the payload message for zero-value
+transactions, and the digital signature that authorizes spending for value
+transactions.
+
+Since we are interested in data now, we decode its content (raw trytes) into
+text. Notice, that we pass the ``errors='ignore'`` argument to the ``decode()``
+method to drop values we can't decode using ``utf-8``, or if the raw trytes
+can't be decoded into legit bytes. A possible reason for the latter can be if
+the attribute contains a signature rather than a message.
+
 .. _PyOTA Bug Tracker: https://github.com/iotaledger/iota.py/issues
 .. _bytestring: https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#bytes
 .. _tryte alphabet: https://docs.iota.org/docs/getting-started/0.1/introduction/ternary#tryte-encoding

examples/tutorials/03_fetch_data.py

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+from iota import Iota, Address
+from iota.codecs import TrytesDecodeError
+
+# Declare an API object
+api = Iota('https://nodes.devnet.iota.org:443', testnet=True)
+
+# Address to fetch data from
+# Replace with your random generated address from Tutorial 2. to fetch the data
+# that you uploaded.
+addy = Address(b'WWO9DRAUDDSDSTTUPKJRNPSYLWAVQBBXISLKLTNDPVKOPMUERDUELLUPHNT9L9YWBDKOLYVWRAFRKIBLP')
+
+print('Fetching data from the Tangle...')
+# Fetch the transaction objects of the address from the Tangle
+response = api.find_transaction_objects(addresses=[addy])
+
+if not response['transactions']:
+    print('Couldn\'t find data for the given address.')
+else:
+    print('Found:')
+    # Iterate over the fetched transaction objects
+    for tx in response['transactions']:
+        # data is in the signature_message_fragment attribute as trytes, we need
+        # to decode it into a unicode string
+        data = tx.signature_message_fragment.decode(errors='ignore')
+        print(data)