pyODK

An API client for the ODK Central API. Use it to interact with your data and automate common tasks from Python.

This library aims to make common data analysis and workflow automation tasks as simple as possible by providing clear method names, types, and examples. It also provides convenient access to the full API using HTTP verb methods.

Install

The currently supported Python version for pyodk is 3.8.

From pip

pip install pyodk

From source

# Get a copy of the repository.
mkdir -P ~/repos/pyodk
cd ~/repos/pyodk
git clone https://github.com/getodk/pyodk.git repo

# Create and activate a virtual environment for the install.
/usr/local/bin/python3.8 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Install pyodk and it's production dependencies.
cd ~/repos/pyodk/repo
pip install -e .

# Leave the virtualenv.
deactivate

Configuration

Main configuration file

The main configuration file uses the TOML format. The default file name is .pyodk_config.toml, and the default location is the user home directory. The file name and location can be customised by setting the environment variable PYODK_CONFIG_FILE to some other file path, or by passing the path at init with Client(config_path="my_config.toml"). The expected file structure is as follows:

[central]
base_url = "https://www.example.com"
username = "my_user"
password = "my_password"
default_project_id = 123

Session cache file

The session cache file uses the TOML format. The default file name is .pyodk_cache.toml, and the default location is the user home directory. The file name and location can be customised by setting the environment variable PYODK_CACHE_FILE to some other file path, or by passing the path at init with Client(config_path="my_cache.toml"). This file should not be pre-created as it is used to store a session token after login.

Usage

Authentication is triggered by the first API call on the Client, or by using Client.open(). Use Client.close() to clean up a client session. Clean up is recommended for long-running scripts, e.g. analysis notebooks, web apps, etc.

Examples

from pyodk.client import Client

client = Client()
projects = client.projects.list()
forms = client.forms.list()
submissions = client.submissions.list(form_id=next(forms).xmlFormId)
form_data = client.submissions.get_table(form_id="birds", project_id=8)
comments = client.submissions.list_comments(form_id=next(forms).xmlFormId, instance_id="uuid:...")
client.close()

When using the Client as a context manager, authentication occurs at entry and clean up occurs at exit.

with Client() as client:
    print(client.projects.list())

👉 Looking for more advanced examples? You can find detailed Jupyter notebooks, scripts, and webinars here.

Default project

The Client is not specific to a project, but a default project_id can be set by:

A default_project_id in the configuration file.
An init argument: Client(project_id=1).
A property on the client: client.project_id = 1.

Custom configuration file paths

The Client is specific to a configuration and cache file. These approximately correspond to the session which the Client represents; it also encourages segregating credentials. These paths can be set by:

Setting environment variables PYODK_CONFIG_FILE and PYODK_CACHE_FILE
Init arguments: Client(config_path="my_config.toml", cache_path="my_cache.toml").

Methods

Available methods on Client:

Projects
- list: Read all Project details.
- get: Read Project details.
Forms
- list: Read all Form details.
- get: Read Form details.
Submissions
- list: Read all Submission metadata.
- get: Read Submission metadata.
- get_table: Read Submission data.
- create: Create a Submission.
- edit: Edit a submission, and optionally comment on it.
- review: Update Submission metadata (review state), and optionally comment on it.
- list_comments: Read Comment data for a Submission.
- add_comment: Create a Comment for a Submission.
for additional requests
- get
- post
- put
- patch
- delete

See issues for additions to pyodk that are under consideration. Please file new issues for any functionality you are missing.

Raw HTTP requests

For interacting with parts of the ODK Central API (docs) that have not been implemented in pyodk, use HTTP verb methods exposed on the Client:

client.get("projects/8")
client.post("projects/7/app-users", json={"displayName": "Lab Tech"})

You can find a more detailed tutorial in the examples.

These methods provide convenient access to Client.session, which is a requests.Session object subclass. The Session has customised to prefix request URLs with the base_url from the pyodk config. For example with a base_url https://www.example.com, a call to client.session.get("projects/8") gets the details of project_id=8, using the full url https://www.example.com/v1/projects/8.

Session customization

If Session behaviour needs to be customised, for example to set alternative timeouts or retry strategies, etc., then subclass the pyodk.session.Session and provide an instance to the Client constructor, e.g. Client(session=my_session).

Logging

Errors and other messages are logged to a standard library logging logger in the pyodk namespace / hierarchy (e.g pyodk.config, pyodk.endpoints.auth, etc.). The logs can be manipulated from an application as follows.

import logging


# Initialise an example basic logging config (writes to stdout/stderr).
logging.basicConfig()
logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

# Get a reference to the pyodk logger.
pyodk_log = logging.getLogger("pyodk")

# Receive everything DEBUG level and higher.
pyodk_log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
pyodk_log.propagate = True

# Ignore everything below FATAL level.
pyodk_log.setLevel(logging.FATAL)
pyodk_log.propagate = False

Development

Install the source files as described above, then:

pip install -r dev_requirements.pip

You can run tests with:

nosetests

On Windows, use:

nosetests -v -v --traverse-namespace ./tests

Releases

Run all linting and tests.
Draft a new GitHub release with the list of merged PRs.
Checkout a release branch from latest upstream master.
Update CHANGES.md with the text of the draft release.
Update pyodk/__init__.py with the new release version number.
Commit, push the branch, and initiate a pull request. Wait for tests to pass, then merge the PR.
Tag the release and it will automatically be published (see release.yml actions file).

tobiasmcnulty/pyodk