How to use SQLAlchemy ORM to access Hacker News Data in Python

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems effectively. With the CData API Driver for Python and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build Hacker News-connected Python applications and scripts. This article shows how to use SQLAlchemy to connect to Hacker News data to query Hacker News data.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Hacker News data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Hacker News, the CData Connector pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Hacker News and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Hacker News Data

Connecting to Hacker News 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.

Connecting to HackerNews

The HackerNews API (powered by Firebase) is a public API that requires no authentication. You can connect and query data immediately without any credentials.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to None.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\HackerNews.apip;AuthScheme=None

Follow the procedure below to install SQLAlchemy and start accessing Hacker News 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 Hacker News Data in Python

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with Hacker News 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("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\HackerNews.apip&AuthScheme=None")

Declare a Mapping Class for Hacker News 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 TopStories 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 TopStories(base):
	__tablename__ = "TopStories"
	 = Column(String,primary_key=True)
	 = Column(String)
	...

Query Hacker News 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("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\HackerNews.apip&AuthScheme=None")
factory = sessionmaker(bind=engine)
session = factory()
for instance in session.query(TopStories).filter_by(=""):
	print(": ", instance.)
	print(": ", instance.)
	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

TopStories_table = TopStories.metadata.tables["TopStories"]
for instance in session.execute(TopStories_table.select().where(TopStories_table.c. == "")):
	print(": ", instance.)
	print(": ", instance.)
	print("---------")

For examples of more complex querying, including JOINs, aggregations, limits, and more, refer to the Help documentation for the extension.

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for Python to start building Python apps and scripts with connectivity to Hacker News data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.