Building Custom Calls for Hive - An Example

Context

<p dir="auto"><a href="/@felixxx/python-requests-for-hive-json-rpc">I wrote a post, where I demonstrated how to build calls for Hive's JSON-RPC endpoints.<br /> To show that this can have certain benefits over using predefined libraries like BEEM, I came up with an example, that can do one particular job faster than BEEM. <p dir="auto">To keep the post short and tight, I did not comment too much.<br /> Writing such posts isn't easy, because I never know, who reads them.<br /> For some people everything code is like magic. For others, the stuff I work on seems so far below their level, that they don't even understand my problems. <p dir="auto">But this time, I had a reader. Someone who also tested my examples.<br /><span> Thanks <a href="/@arc7icwolf">@arc7icwolf! <p dir="auto">He tested the examples and then went ahead and tried building his own calls, based on <a href="https://developers.hive.io/apidefinitions/#json-rpc-api" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">Hive's developer information.<br /> That's exactly what I intended: enabling readers to explore that on their own. <p dir="auto">He has since run into problems and <a href="/@arc7icwolf/re-felixxx-sjrrqu">replied to me. <p dir="auto">Here is my attempt to demonstrate my workflow with this stuff.... <h2><code>get_discussions_by_author_before_date <p dir="auto"><span><a href="https://developers.hive.io/apidefinitions/#condenser_api.get_discussions_by_author_before_date" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">https://developers.hive.io/apidefinitions/#condenser_api.get_discussions_by_author_before_date <p dir="auto">Another great example for how incomplete these docs are.<br /> The expected JSON response according to the docs is: <code>[]<br /> An empty list. 😡 ...what a useful call! The response is a constant <code>[] <p dir="auto">I don't like anything <code>get_discussions - I had trouble with those before.<br /> <a href="/@felixxx/hive-api-reference-incomplete">I raged about this stuff...<br /> The higher level functions, that precompile data a specific way, seem to get worse the more abstract they are. Generally, for beginners, I'd recommend sticking to <code>block_api and <code>account_history_api and other low level, core features. <p dir="auto">But I think we can make it work... (I am building as I write) <h2>Parameters <p dir="auto">In my last dev post, I used <code>database_api.get_dynamic_global_properties, which takes no parameters. That makes it easy to demonstrate the concept with. <p dir="auto"><code>get_discussions_by_author_before_date takes parameters, and again the docs aren't helpful: <p dir="auto">Query Parameters JSON: <code>["", "", "1970-01-01T00:00:00", 100]<br /> Why publish these docs and leave them empty? 😡 <p dir="auto">Anyways, I assume it takes at least 4 parameters.<br /> 3 strings and one integer.<br /> The example from the docs provides more help: <p dir="auto"><code>"params":["hiveio","firstpost","2016-04-19T22:49:43",1] <p dir="auto">I have done this before, so I have an idea, how that's supposed to work.<br /> Without more context or prior knowledge, that API is unusable like this though.<br /> What anyone can see: the call takes 4 different parameters. <ul> <li><code>hiveio (string)- an account name <li><code>firstpost (string) - That's a post identifier <li><code>2016-04-19T22:49:43 (string) - that's a date in a specific format <li><code>1 (integer) - that's the batch size, most likely (1 will return a list with 1 item) <h2>Example Parameters <p dir="auto">For a test shot, I will simply use fixed parameters. <p dir="auto"><code>"params":["felixxx","python-requests-for-hive-json-rpc","2024-09-14T10:00:00",10] <ul> <li><code>felixxx - that's me! <li><code>python-requests-for-hive-json-rpc - an identifier of a post of mine <li><code>2024-09-14T10:00:00 - today, 10 AM (blockchain runs on UTC) <li><code>10 - batch size of 10. <h3>Test Code <pre><code>import requests url = 'https://api.hive.blog' params_string = '"params":["felixxx","python-requests-for-hive-json-rpc","2024-09-14T10:00:00",10]' data = '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "method":"condenser_api.get_discussions_by_author_before_date", '+ params_string + ',"id":1}' response = requests.post(url, data=data) print(response.json()) <blockquote> <p dir="auto">I am not using f strings. I prefer to use <code>+ operator to manipulate strings.<br /> That is not recommended, but I find it easier to read, use and understand.<br /> Generally considered as poor code, though. <p dir="auto">That gives me a response, which looks like a list of 'discussion' objects or something. <p dir="auto">You can define a start- and end-point by using the date and post-identifier, much like here:<br /><br /> ...to collect more data than the batch size allows.<br /> I am a bit too annoyed to explain the details right here...<br /> I am not getting paid for any of this...<span> <a href="https://peakd.com/@felixxx/hive-api-reference-incomplete" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">https://peakd.com/@felixxx/hive-api-reference-incomplete <h2>Conclusion <p dir="auto">I made the function work. It's a useless function, it seems. <p dir="auto">I didn't know how this would end, as I coded it while writing this post.<br /> I made it work, but have no real idea what the response data represents.<br /> I have also no desire to waste any more time exploring this call.<br /><span> I hope it works as an example for <a href="/@arc7icwolf">@arc7icwolf and helps him along his path. <p dir="auto"><br /> It took years, cost a fortune, nobody bothered documenting it properly.<br /> At the time, I was so impressed by these developers.<br /> Now that I caught up a little, I think much less of them.<span><a href="/@vandeberg">@vandeberg built this. <p dir="auto"><br /> I am sure they are building great things this time. 🤣<span>Most of them went to a different company and work for <a href="/@andrarchy">@andrarchy now.