Advanced Usage

This section will cover how to use Twython and interact with some more advanced API calls

Before you make any API calls, make sure you authenticated the user (or app)!

Note

All sections on this page will assume you’re using a Twython instance

---

Create a Twython instance with your application keys and the users OAuth tokens

from twython import Twython
twitter = Twython(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
                  OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET)

Updating Status with Image

This uploads an image as a media object and associates it with a status update.

photo = open('/path/to/file/image.jpg', 'rb')
response = twitter.upload_media(media=photo)
twitter.update_status(status='Checkout this cool image!', media_ids=[response['media_id']])

Documentation:

• https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/api-reference-index
• https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/media/upload-media/overview

Updating Status with Video

This uploads a video as a media object and associates it with a status update.

video = open('/path/to/file/video.mp4', 'rb')
response = twitter.upload_video(media=video, media_type='video/mp4')
twitter.update_status(status='Checkout this cool video!', media_ids=[response['media_id']])

Documentation:

• https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/api-reference-index
• https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/media/upload-media/overview

Posting a Status with an Editing Image

This example resizes an image, then uploads it as a media object and associates it with a status update.

# Assume you are working with a JPEG

from PIL import Image
try:
    # Python 3
    from io import StringIO
except ImportError:
    # Python 2
    from StringIO import StringIO

photo = Image.open('/path/to/file/image.jpg')

basewidth = 320
wpercent = (basewidth / float(photo.size[0]))
height = int((float(photo.size[1]) * float(wpercent)))
photo = photo.resize((basewidth, height), Image.ANTIALIAS)

image_io = StringIO.StringIO()
photo.save(image_io, format='JPEG')

# If you do not seek(0), the image will be at the end of the file and
# unable to be read
image_io.seek(0)


response = twitter.upload_media(media=image_io)
twitter.update_status(status='Checkout this cool image!', media_ids=[response['media_id']])

Search Generator

So, if you’re pretty into Python, you probably know about generators

That being said, Twython offers a generator for search results and can be accessed by using the following code:

from twython import Twython
twitter = Twython(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET, OAUTH_TOKEN,
    OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET)

results = twitter.cursor(twitter.search, q='python')
for result in results:
    print(result)

Manipulate the Request (headers, proxies, etc.)

There are times when you may want to turn SSL verification off, send custom headers, or add proxies for the request to go through.

Twython uses the requests library to make API calls to Twitter. requests accepts a few parameters to allow developers to manipulate the acutal HTTP request.

Here is an example of sending custom headers to a Twitter API request:

from twython import Twython

client_args = {
    'headers': {
        'User-Agent': 'My App Name'
    }
}

twitter = Twython(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
                  OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET,
                  client_args=client_args)

Here is an example of sending the request through proxies:

from twython import Twython

client_args = {
    'proxies': {
        'http': 'http://10.0.10.1:8000',
        'https': 'https://10.0.10.1:8001',
    }
}

twitter = Twython(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
                  OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET,
                  client_args=client_args)

or both (and set a timeout variable):

from twython import Twython

client_args = {
    'headers': {
        'User-Agent': 'My App Name'
    },
    'proxies': {
        'http': 'http://10.0.10.1:8000',
        'https': 'https://10.0.10.1:8001',
    }
    'timeout': 300,
}

twitter = Twython(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
                  OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET,
                  client_args=client_args)

Access Headers of Previous Call

There are times when you may want to check headers from the previous call. If you wish to access headers (ex. x-rate-limit-remaining, x-rate-limit-reset, content-type), you’ll use the get_lastfunction_header method.

from twython import Twython

twitter = Twython(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
                  OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET)

twitter.get_home_timeline()
twitter.get_lastfunction_header('x-rate-limit-remaining')

So now you can authenticate, update your status (with or without an image), search Twitter, and a few other things! Good luck!