steem-python for dummies #12 - Lookups (Discussion Queries)

Hello,

This is the 12. post of "steem-python for dummies" series. If you didn't read the older ones take your time and have a look.

In this post, we will explore a couple of calls on steem daemon.

Discussions API

Do you know how Steemit filters the posts in the Condenser interface? Even though I didn't check it implicitly how they're doing, I am pretty much sure they're using discussions API in the steem daemon.

Getting Trending Posts

from steem import Steem
s = Steem()
query = {"limit": 5} # limit for 5 posts
for p in s.get_discussions_by_trending(query):
    print("%s - %s" % (p["author"], p["permlink"]))

Let's check if that list matches with Steemit interface:

Looks like we have the same list!

Tip: If you want to filter specific tags, just add a tag parameter to the query dict.

from steem import Steem
s = Steem()
query = {"limit": 5, "tag": "python"} # limit for 5 posts
for p in s.get_discussions_by_trending(query):
    print("%s - %s" % (p["author"], p["permlink"]))

This will return last 5 trending posts on #python category.

All discussion related functions

get_discussions_by_trending
get_comment_discussions_by_payout
get_post_discussions_by_payout
get_discussions_by_created
get_discussions_by_active
get_discussions_by_cashout
get_discussions_by_payout
get_discussions_by_votes
get_discussions_by_children
get_discussions_by_hot
get_discussions_by_feed
get_discussions_by_blog
get_discussions_by_comments
get_discussions_by_promoted

All of these functions gets a query dict in steem-python which should map to original discussion_query struct defined at steemd database api.

So, after the first example about trending, you can pretty much use all functions with the same structure on query dict.

discussion_query definition on steem source code

Tip: Currently, select_authors, select_tags, filter_tags arguments in discussion queries are not supported. See the related issue.

More examples

Promoted list

query = {"limit": 10}
for p in s.get_discussions_by_promoted(query):
    print("%s - %s" % (p["author"], p["permlink"]))

By Highest Payout

query = {"limit": 10}
for p in s.get_discussions_by_payout(query):
    print("%s - %s" % (p["author"], p["permlink"]))

Going back to history

Discussion filter has a maximum limit on limit parameter. It's 100. What if we want to go back?

It has a simple pagination logic.

Get the initial 100 posts.
Select the 100.post and keep in mind its author and permlink.
Get another 100 posts, however add two more parameters. (start_author, start_permlink)

query = {
    "limit": 10,
    "start_author": "canadian-coconut",
    "start_permlink": "the-nightmare-before-christmas-familyprotection-series-anna-s-family-story-part-i"
}
for p in s.get_discussions_by_trending(query):
    print("%s - %s" % (p["author"], p["permlink"]))

canadian-coconut's this post is currently 10. place in the trending. If I start the query with that post, I will get the trending posts between 10 and 20.

That's all for now. Feel free to ask questions or request topics about steem-python for the incoming posts.

Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors