Creating an API with just Google App Engine, webapp2 and Python?

user_8518863 0
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Is it possible to create an API using just webapp2 and Python on Google App Engine?

For example, let's my route /post/123 is handled by this RequestHandler:

class ShowPosts(webapp2.RequestHandler):
    def get(self):
        posts = Post.query().fetch()
        # return the post as data (JSON) here as response

When a client makes a restful request to /post/123, it can be returned the data object (instead of a rendered html page).

Is this possible or recommended?

google-cloud-python google-cloud-platform google-app-engine python
2 Answers

You can build a python list or dict object out of the query, then send it as a JSON object, and send that as the response. Try something like this:

import json

posts     = Post.query()
post_json = []

for post in posts:
    post_dict = {
        'name' : post.name,
        'city' : post.city,
        'state': post.state
    }
    post_json.append( post_dict )

return json.dumps(post_json)

UPDATE: OP asked for example with POST method:

import json

class ShowPosts(webapp2.RequestHandler):
    def get(self):
        posts = Post.query()
        post_json   = []

        for post in posts:
            post_dict = {
                'name' : post.name,
                'city' : post.city,
                'state': post.state
            }

            post_json.append( post_dict )

        return json.dumps(post_json) 

    def post(self):
        posts = Post.query()
        post_json   = []

        for post in posts:
            post_dict = {
                'name' : post.name,
                'city' : post.city,
                'state': post.state
            }

            post_json.append( post_dict )

        post_json.append(
            {
                'posted_name': self.request.get('name'),
                'posted_msg': self.request.get('msg')
            }
        )
        return json.dumps(post_json)
user_35246130

You don't have to return a HTML page. You can return a JSON, or even just a string since it's your code that you are hosting. You can easily send up an URL with your App Engine that can respond to a REST call.

user_40924010
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