Examples

The examples below will use httpie (a curl-like tool) for testing the APIs.

Text Analysis API (Bottle + TextBlob)

Here is a very simple text analysis API using Bottle and TextBlob that demonstrates how to declare an object serializer.

Assume that TextBlob objects have polarity, subjectivity, noun_phrase, tags, and words properties.

from bottle import route, request, run
from textblob import TextBlob
from marshmallow import Schema, fields

class BlobSchema(Schema):
    polarity = fields.Float()
    subjectivity = fields.Float()
    chunks = fields.List(fields.String, attribute="noun_phrases")
    tags = fields.Raw()
    discrete_sentiment = fields.Method("get_discrete_sentiment")
    word_count = fields.Function(lambda obj: len(obj.words))

    def get_discrete_sentiment(self, obj):
        if obj.polarity > 0.1:
            return 'positive'
        elif obj.polarity < -0.1:
            return 'negative'
        else:
            return 'neutral'


blob_schema = BlobSchema()

@route("/api/v1/analyze", method="POST")
def analyze():
    blob = TextBlob(request.json['text'])
    result = blob_schema.dump(blob)
    return result.data


run(reloader=True, port=5000)

Using The API

First, run the app.

$ python textblob_example.py

Then send a POST request with some text.

$ http POST :5000/api/v1/analyze text="Simple is better"
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Length: 189
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 08:58:40 GMT
Server: WSGIServer/0.1 Python/2.7.5

{
    "chunks": [
        "simple"
    ],
    "discrete_sentiment": "positive",
    "polarity": 0.25,
    "subjectivity": 0.4285714285714286,
    "tags": [
        [
            "Simple",
            "NN"
        ],
        [
            "is",
            "VBZ"
        ],
        [
            "better",
            "JJR"
        ]
    ],
    "word_count": 3
}

Quotes API (Flask + SQLAlchemy)

Below is a full example of a REST API for a quotes app using Flask and SQLAlchemy with marshmallow. It demonstrates a number of features, including:

• Validation and deserialization using Schema.load().

• Custom validation

• Nesting fields

• Using dump_only=True to specify read-only fields

• Output filtering using the only parameter

• Using @pre_load to preprocess input data.

import datetime

from flask import Flask, jsonify, request
from flask.ext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
from sqlalchemy.exc import IntegrityError
from marshmallow import Schema, fields, ValidationError, pre_load

app = Flask(__name__)
app.config["SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI"] = 'sqlite:////tmp/quotes.db'
db = SQLAlchemy(app)

##### MODELS #####

class Author(db.Model):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
    first = db.Column(db.String(80))
    last = db.Column(db.String(80))

class Quote(db.Model):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
    content = db.Column(db.String, nullable=False)
    author_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey("author.id"))
    author = db.relationship("Author",
                        backref=db.backref("quotes", lazy="dynamic"))
    posted_at = db.Column(db.DateTime)

##### SCHEMAS #####

class AuthorSchema(Schema):
    id = fields.Int(dump_only=True)
    first = fields.Str()
    last = fields.Str()
    formatted_name = fields.Method("format_name", dump_only=True)

    def format_name(self, author):
        return "{}, {}".format(author.last, author.first)


# Custom validator
def must_not_be_blank(data):
    if not data:
        raise ValidationError('Data not provided.')

class QuoteSchema(Schema):
    id = fields.Int(dump_only=True)
    author = fields.Nested(AuthorSchema, validate=must_not_be_blank)
    content = fields.Str(required=True, validate=must_not_be_blank)
    posted_at = fields.DateTime(dump_only=True)

    # Allow client to pass author's full name in request body
    # e.g. {"author': 'Tim Peters"} rather than {"first": "Tim", "last": "Peters"}
    @pre_load
    def process_author(self, data):
        author_name = data.get('author')
        if author_name:
            first, last = author_name.split(' ')
            author_dict = dict(first=first, last=last)
        else:
            author_dict = {}
        data['author'] = author_dict
        return data


author_schema = AuthorSchema()
authors_schema = AuthorSchema(many=True)
quote_schema = QuoteSchema()
quotes_schema = QuoteSchema(many=True, only=('id', 'content'))

##### API #####

@app.route('/authors')
def get_authors():
    authors = Author.query.all()
    # Serialize the queryset
    result = authors_schema.dump(authors)
    return jsonify({'authors': result.data})

@app.route("/authors/<int:pk>")
def get_author(pk):
    try:
        author = Author.query.get(pk)
    except IntegrityError:
        return jsonify({"message": "Author could not be found."}), 400
    author_result = author_schema.dump(author)
    quotes_result = quotes_schema.dump(author.quotes.all())
    return jsonify({'author': author_result.data, 'quotes': quotes_result.data})

@app.route('/quotes/', methods=['GET'])
def get_quotes():
    quotes = Quote.query.all()
    result = quotes_schema.dump(quotes)
    return jsonify({"quotes": result.data})

@app.route("/quotes/<int:pk>")
def get_quote(pk):
    try:
        quote = Quote.query.get(pk)
    except IntegrityError:
        return jsonify({"message": "Quote could not be found."}), 400
    result = quote_schema.dump(quote)
    return jsonify({"quote": result.data})

@app.route("/quotes/", methods=["POST"])
def new_quote():
    json_data = request.get_json()
    if not json_data:
        return jsonify({'message': 'No input data provided'}), 400
    # Validate and deserialize input
    data, errors = quote_schema.load(json_data)
    if errors:
        return jsonify(errors), 422
    first, last = data['author']['first'], data['author']['last']
    author = Author.query.filter_by(first=first, last=last).first()
    if author is None:
        # Create a new author
        author = Author(first=first, last=last)
        db.session.add(author)
    # Create new quote
    quote = Quote(
        content=data['content'],
        author=author,
        posted_at=datetime.datetime.utcnow()
    )
    db.session.add(quote)
    db.session.commit()
    result = quote_schema.dump(Quote.query.get(quote.id))
    return jsonify({"message": "Created new quote.",
                    "quote": result.data})


if __name__ == '__main__':
    db.create_all()
    app.run(debug=True, port=5000)

Using The API

Run the app.

$ python flask_example.py

First we’ll POST some quotes.

$ http POST :5000/quotes/ author="Tim Peters" content="Beautiful is better than ugly."
$ http POST :5000/quotes/ author="Tim Peters" content="Now is better than never."
$ http POST :5000/quotes/ author="Peter Hintjens" content="Simplicity is always better than functionality."

If we provide invalid input data, we get 400 error response. Let’s omit “author” from the input data.

$ http POST :5000/quotes/ content="I have no author"
{
    "author": [
        "Data not provided."
    ]
}

Now we can GET a list of all the quotes.

$ http :5000/quotes/
{
    "quotes": [
        {
            "content": "Beautiful is better than ugly.",
            "id": 1
        },
        {
            "content": "Now is better than never.",
            "id": 2
        },
        {
            "content": "Simplicity is always better than functionality.",
            "id": 3
        }
    ]
}

We can also GET the quotes for a single author.

$ http :5000/authors/1
{
    "author": {
        "first": "Tim",
        "formatted_name": "Peters, Tim",
        "id": 1,
        "last": "Peters"
    },
    "quotes": [
        {
            "content": "Beautiful is better than ugly.",
            "id": 1
        },
        {
            "content": "Now is better than never.",
            "id": 2
        }
    ]
}

ToDo API (Flask + Peewee)

This example uses Flask and the Peewee ORM to create a basic Todo application.

Here, we use Schema.load to validate and deserialize input data to model data. Also notice how pre_load is used to clean input data and post_load is used to add an envelope to response data.

import datetime as dt
from functools import wraps

from flask import Flask, request, g, jsonify
import peewee as pw
from marshmallow import Schema, fields, validate, pre_load, post_dump, post_load

app = Flask(__name__)
db = pw.SqliteDatabase('/tmp/todo.db')

###### MODELS #####

class BaseModel(pw.Model):
    """Base model class. All descendants share the same database."""
    class Meta:
        database = db

class User(BaseModel):
    email = pw.CharField(max_length=80, unique=True)
    password = pw.CharField()
    joined_on = pw.DateTimeField()

class Todo(BaseModel):
    content = pw.TextField()
    is_done = pw.BooleanField(default=False)
    user = pw.ForeignKeyField(User)
    posted_on = pw.DateTimeField()

    class Meta:
        order_by = ('-posted_on', )

def create_tables():
    db.connect()
    User.create_table(True)
    Todo.create_table(True)

##### SCHEMAS #####

class UserSchema(Schema):
    id = fields.Int(dump_only=True)
    email = fields.Str(required=True,
                       validate=validate.Email(error='Not a valid email address'))
    password = fields.Str(required=True,
                          validate=[validate.Length(min=6, max=36)],
                          load_only=True)
    joined_on = fields.DateTime(dump_only=True)

    # Clean up data
    @pre_load
    def process_input(self, data):
        data['email'] = data['email'].lower().strip()
        return data

    # We add a post_dump hook to add an envelope to responses
    @post_dump(pass_many=True)
    def wrap(self, data, many):
        key = 'users' if many else 'user'
        return {
            key: data
        }


class TodoSchema(Schema):
    id = fields.Int(dump_only=True)
    done = fields.Boolean(attribute='is_done', missing=False)
    user = fields.Nested(UserSchema, exclude=('joined_on', 'password'), dump_only=True)
    content = fields.Str(required=True)
    posted_on = fields.DateTime(dump_only=True)

    # Again, add an envelope to responses
    @post_dump(pass_many=True)
    def wrap(self, data, many):
        key = 'todos' if many else 'todo'
        return {
            key: data
        }

    # We use make_object to create a new Todo from validated data
    @post_load
    def make_object(self, data):
        if not data:
            return None
        return Todo(content=data['content'],
                    is_done=data['is_done'],
                    posted_on=dt.datetime.utcnow())


user_schema = UserSchema()
todo_schema = TodoSchema()
todos_schema = TodoSchema(many=True)

###### HELPERS ######

def check_auth(email, password):
    """Check if a username/password combination is valid.
    """
    try:
        user = User.get(User.email == email)
    except User.DoesNotExist:
        return False
    return password == user.password

def requires_auth(f):
    @wraps(f)
    def decorated(*args, **kwargs):
        auth = request.authorization
        if not auth or not check_auth(auth.username, auth.password):
            resp = jsonify({"message": "Please authenticate."})
            resp.status_code = 401
            resp.headers['WWW-Authenticate'] = 'Basic realm="Example"'
            return resp
        kwargs['user'] = User.get(User.email == auth.username)
        return f(*args, **kwargs)
    return decorated

# Ensure a separate connection for each thread
@app.before_request
def before_request():
    g.db = db
    g.db.connect()

@app.after_request
def after_request(response):
    g.db.close()
    return response

#### API #####

@app.route("/register", methods=["POST"])
def register():
    json_input = request.get_json()
    data, errors = user_schema.load(json_input)
    if errors:
        return jsonify({'errors': errors}), 422
    try:  # Use get to see if user already to exists
        User.get(User.email == data['email'])
    except User.DoesNotExist:
        user = User.create(email=data['email'], joined_on=dt.datetime.now(),
                            password=data['password'])
        message = "Successfully created user: {0}".format(user.email)
    else:
        return jsonify({'errors': 'That email address is already in the database'}), 400

    data, _ = user_schema.dump(user)
    data['message'] = message
    return jsonify(data), 201

@app.route("/todos/", methods=['GET'])
def get_todos():
    todos = Todo.select().order_by(Todo.posted_on.asc())  # Get all todos
    result = todos_schema.dump(list(todos))
    return jsonify(result.data)

@app.route("/todos/<int:pk>")
def get_todo(pk):
    todo = Todo.get(Todo.id == pk)
    if not todo:
        return jsonify({'errors': 'Todo could not be find'}), 404
    result = todo_schema.dump(todo)
    return jsonify(result.data)

@app.route("/todos/<int:pk>/toggle", methods=["POST", "PUT"])
def toggledone(pk):
    try:
        todo = Todo.get(Todo.id == pk)
    except Todo.DoesNotExist:
        return jsonify({"message": "Todo could not be found"}), 404
    status = not todo.is_done
    update_query = todo.update(is_done=status)
    update_query.execute()
    result = todo_schema.dump(todo)
    return jsonify(result.data)

@app.route('/todos/', methods=["POST"])
@requires_auth
def new_todo(user):
    json_input = request.get_json()
    todo, errors = todo_schema.load(json_input)
    if errors:
        return jsonify({'errors': errors}), 422
    todo.user = user
    todo.save()
    result = todo_schema.dump(todo)
    return jsonify(result.data)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    create_tables()
    app.run(port=5000, debug=True)

Using the API

After registering a user and creating some todo items in the database, here is an example response.

$ http GET :5000/todos/
{
    "todos": [
        {
            "content": "Install marshmallow",
            "done": false,
            "id": 1,
            "posted_on": "2015-05-05T01:51:12.832232+00:00",
            "user": {
                "user": {
                    "email": "foo@bar.com",
                    "id": 1
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "content": "Learn Python",
            "done": false,
            "id": 2,
            "posted_on": "2015-05-05T01:51:20.728052+00:00",
            "user": {
                "user": {
                    "email": "foo@bar.com",
                    "id": 1
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "content": "Refactor everything",
            "done": false,
            "id": 3,
            "posted_on": "2015-05-05T01:51:25.970153+00:00",
            "user": {
                "user": {
                    "email": "foo@bar.com",
                    "id": 1
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}