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How to use SQLAlchemy ORM to access Facebook Data in Python
Create Python applications and scripts that use SQLAlchemy Object-Relational Mappings of Facebook data.
The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems effectively. With the CData Python Connector for Facebook and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build Facebook-connected Python applications and scripts. This article shows how to use SQLAlchemy to connect to Facebook data to query, update, delete, and insert Facebook data.
With built-in optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Facebook data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Facebook, the CData Connector pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Facebook and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).
Connecting to Facebook Data
Connecting to Facebook data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.
Most tables require user authentication as well as application authentication. Facebook uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate to Facebook, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Facebook.
See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.
Follow the procedure below to install SQLAlchemy and start accessing Facebook through Python objects.
Install Required Modules
Use the pip utility to install the SQLAlchemy toolkit and SQLAlchemy ORM package:
pip install sqlalchemy
pip install sqlalchemy.orm
Be sure to import the appropriate modules:
from sqlalchemy import create_engine, String, Column
from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
Model Facebook Data in Python
You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with Facebook data.
NOTE: Users should URL encode the any connection string properties that include special characters. For more information, refer to the SQL Alchemy documentation.
engine = create_engine("facebook:///?InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH&OAuthSettingsLocation=/PATH/TO/OAuthSettings.txt")
Declare a Mapping Class for Facebook Data
After establishing the connection, declare a mapping class for the table you wish to model in the ORM (in this article, we will model the Posts table). Use the sqlalchemy.ext.declarative.declarative_base function and create a new class with some or all of the fields (columns) defined.
base = declarative_base()
class Posts(base):
__tablename__ = "Posts"
FromName = Column(String,primary_key=True)
LikesCount = Column(String)
...
Query Facebook Data
With the mapping class prepared, you can use a session object to query the data source. After binding the Engine to the session, provide the mapping class to the session query method.
Using the query Method
engine = create_engine("facebook:///?InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH&OAuthSettingsLocation=/PATH/TO/OAuthSettings.txt")
factory = sessionmaker(bind=engine)
session = factory()
for instance in session.query(Posts).filter_by(Target="thesimpsons"):
print("FromName: ", instance.FromName)
print("LikesCount: ", instance.LikesCount)
print("---------")
Alternatively, you can use the execute method with the appropriate table object. The code below works with an active session.
Using the execute Method
Posts_table = Posts.metadata.tables["Posts"]
for instance in session.execute(Posts_table.select().where(Posts_table.c.Target == "thesimpsons")):
print("FromName: ", instance.FromName)
print("LikesCount: ", instance.LikesCount)
print("---------")
For examples of more complex querying, including JOINs, aggregations, limits, and more, refer to the Help documentation for the extension.
Insert Facebook Data
To insert Facebook data, define an instance of the mapped class and add it to the active session. Call the commit function on the session to push all added instances to Facebook.
new_rec = Posts(FromName="placeholder", Target="thesimpsons")
session.add(new_rec)
session.commit()
Update Facebook Data
To update Facebook data, fetch the desired record(s) with a filter query. Then, modify the values of the fields and call the commit function on the session to push the modified record to Facebook.
updated_rec = session.query(Posts).filter_by(SOME_ID_COLUMN="SOME_ID_VALUE").first()
updated_rec.Target = "thesimpsons"
session.commit()
Delete Facebook Data
To delete Facebook data, fetch the desired record(s) with a filter query. Then delete the record with the active session and call the commit function on the session to perform the delete operation on the provided records (rows).
deleted_rec = session.query(Posts).filter_by(SOME_ID_COLUMN="SOME_ID_VALUE").first()
session.delete(deleted_rec)
session.commit()
Free Trial & More Information
Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Facebook to start building Python apps and scripts with connectivity to Facebook data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.
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