Python application for getting The Hindu editorials

Refer to this document for the details about the web API which this application consumes.

####Steps for running the application

Dependencies

To run this application, besides having python the following dependencies are required :

1. libyaml-dev - On debian based systems, execute sudo apt-get install libyaml-dev. On rpm based systems, execute su -c 'yum install libyaml-devel'.

2. python-dev - On debian based systems, execute sudo apt-get install python-dev. On rpm based systems, run su -c 'yum install python-dev'.

3. python-pip - On debian based systems, execute sudo apt-get install python-pip. On rpm based systems, run su -c 'yum install python-pip. Using python, pip can be installed by first downloading get-pip.py securely using wget or curl and subsequently running python get-pip.py. This website gives you more information and the link to download get-pip.py.

Virtual Environment

Once the above dependencies are taken care of, install virtualenv using pip.

sudo pip install virtualenv

Now, virtualenv is useful in creating virtual python environments (as can be gathered by its name). These virtual environments are useful because it does not interfere with working of other python applications and their dependencies. Visit this website for more information on virtualenv.

For now, do the following to setup and use a virtual environment for this application.

1. Make a directory for the virtual environment. Make sure this is outside the source directory and not included in the version control system.

   virtualenv ../pyenv

   This directory (../pyenv) will contain a separate python file and pip file. All installations while virtualenv is active (activation in next step) would also go in this directory.

2. Activate the virtual environment by running the pyenv/bin/activate file. On linux do this using

   source ../pyenv/bin/activate

   You'll notice that your prompt has changed to include (pyenv) at the beginning. This means your virtual environment is active.

3. When the task is done, deactivate the virtual environment by executing the command.

   deactivate

Note : Henceforth, all the commands listed are to be executed in the virtual environment. Cross check by looking at the prompt.

Python dependencies

Install the python dependencies for this project by running the following command

pip install -r requirements.txt

This installs every needed dependency for this application. To view those dependencies, view requirements.txt file.

Configuration

Before running the scripts, edit the data.yml file to modify the baseurl attribute. It should point towards the deployed th-editorials-server.

Finally, the scripts

Now, run the python scripts

python script_name.py