txSpore 0.0.2
An asynchronous Spore Python API using Twisted.

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txSpore
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.. contents::
   :depth: 1


=======
History
=======

The Twisted Spore API was created more for fun than anything else. There's
really nothing special about it; all resource fetching is done with a Twisted
web client (twisted.web.client.getPage).

When possible (given the async nature of the Twisted Spore API), code from the
blocking Python API was reused. This was done in an effort to maintain
functional compatibility with the synchronous Spore Python API. However, as it
turned out, there were several features missing from the other API as well as
some REST resources that don't work anymore as originally written in that API.


============
Dependencies
============

To use this API as-is, you will need to have Twisted (Python) installed.
Downlowds for the latest release are always linked on the main page:

http://twistedmatrix.com/


===================
Further Development
===================

If there is interest in having a synchronous Python API updated to the latest
functionality as released by spore.com, I would be more than willing to add
explicit support for a non-Twisted API in this source code such that that it
could be used even when Twisted is not installed.

For more details on coming changes, be sure to read the TODO section.


============
Installation
============

Development
-----------

If you want to develop for txSpore or use the latest code we're working on, you
can install from the sources. You'll need bzr installed, and then just do the
following::

    $ bzr branch lp:txspore
    $ cd txspore
    $ sudo python setup.py install


Easy Install
------------

You can use the setuptools easy_install script to get txSpore on your system::

    $ sudo easy_install txSpore


Manual Download
---------------

You can manually download the source tarball from the Python Package Index by
visiting the following URL:

    http://pypi.python.org/pypi/txSpore/

You'll need to untar and gunzip the source, cd into the source directory, and
then you can do the usual::

    $ sudo python setup.py install


Checking the Source
-------------------

Once installed, as long as you have Twisted installed on your system and the
trial script in your PATH, you can test the source code by executing this
anywhere::

    $ trial txspore

That will run the test suite and report on the success and failure of any unit
tests.


=====
Usage
=====

Interactive Prompt
------------------

Sometimes it's not very practical to run Twisted code from the Python
interpreter (timeouts can be a problem and accessing results from callbacks can
be awkward). Regardless, there is one below showing the use of both the REST
service API as well as the static data service provided at spore.com.

The achivement data for a user that's available via the REST service only has
IDs associated with it, no text data. The Spore data service does have the
text. We're going to need to get both. First, though, let's do some initial
imports and setup some callbacks::

    >>> from cStringIO import StringIO
    >>> from twisted.internet import reactor
    >>> from twisted.internet.defer import DeferredList
    >>> from txspore.client import AsyncClient
    >>>
    >>> results = []
    >>> data = StringIO()
    >>>
    >>> def setResults(callback_results, results):
    ...     results.append(callback_results)
    ...
    >>> def printError(error):
    ...     print error.getErrorMessage()
    ...
    >>> def finish(ignored):
    ...     reactor.stop()
    ...

With our callbacks and errback defined, as well as some global objects for
holding result data, we're ready to make the client calls::

    >>> client = AsyncClient()
    >>> d1 = client.rest.getAchievementsForUser("oubiwann", 0, 20)
    >>> d1.addCallback(setResults, results)
    <Deferred at 0x...
    >>> d1.addErrback(printError)
    <Deferred at 0x...
    >>>
    >>> d2 = client.data.getAchievementDataXML(fd=data)
    >>> d2.addErrback(printError)
    <Deferred at 0x...
    >>>
    >>> d = DeferredList([d1, d2])
    >>> d.addCallback(finish)
    <DeferredList at 0x...
    >>> reactor.run()

Let's make sure we get the number of achievements we expected and then take a
quick peek at some of the achiements associated with this user::

    >>> achievements = results.pop()
    >>> len(achievements)
    20
    >>> for achievement in sorted(achievements)[0:4]:
    ...     print achievement.guid
    ...
    0xaec66642!0x0770b845
    0x0cc8b2c9!0xb9ff8f07
    0x0cc8b2c9!0x19988ceb
    0x0cc8b2c9!0xe1f5cf25

We now have the IDs, but not the text. Let's get the latter::

    >>> from txspore import util
    >>> from txspore import model
    >>>
    >>> xmlTree = util.XML(data.getvalue())
    >>> achievementsModel = model.RecursiveDataModel(xmlTree)
    >>> len(achievementsModel.achievements)
    124
    >>> achievementsLookup = {}
    >>> for achievement in achievementsModel.achievements:
    ...     achievementsLookup[achievement.id] = (
    ...         achievement.name, achievement.description)
    ...

With the lookup dictionary populated, we can re-print our user results with
friendlier output::

    >>> for achievement in sorted(achievements):
    ...     try:
    ...         print "%s: %s" % achievementsLookup[achievement.guid]
    ...     except KeyError:
    ...         print "Couldn't find key '%s' ..." % achievement.guid
    ...
    Couldn't find key '0xaec66642!0x0770b845' ...
    Wanderer Passion: Play as a Wanderer
    Quest Master: Complete 150 missions in the Space stage
    Gunner: Destroy at least 500 other space vessels
    Relentless: Complete the Civilization stage 10 times
    Tribal: Complete the Tribal stage 10 times
    Maxis Scout: Earn 100 badges in the Space stage
    Shaman Hero: Achieve Master Badge Level 10 as a Shaman
    Universe In A Box: Play in every stage and every creator
    Slugger: Finish Creature stage without legs
    Bestial: Play the Creature stage 10 times
    Max Power: Build a creature with maximum stats in at least 4 abilities...
    Spore Fan: Spend 50 hours in your Spore galaxy
    Biologist: Make and publish 100 creatures
    Bard Passion: Play as a Bard
    General Custer: Lead 30 posse members to their death
    Spice Hoarder: Control every resource node on the planet simultaneously
    Rolling Thunder: Complete the Civilization stage in less than an hour
    Missionary: Finish the Civilization stage with more than 8 religious cities
    Speed Demon: Finish Creature stage within an hour


Demo
----

In the top-level source directory for txSpore, there is an examples directory.
This contains a demo web application that shows:

* one simple way of integrating txSpore into a web app

* how to use the client to get user data and assets

* how to use callbacks to process results


Unit Tests
----------

The unit tests are actually one of the best places to look for details about
usage. There're two test modules that could provide very enlightening when
figuring out how to use the txSpore API:

* txspore/tests/test_client.py - basic client usage, and how to handle results

* txspore/tests/test_model.py - detailed view of available attributes on
  returned model objects.


===================
API Quick Reference
===================

Below are listed the objects and the methods that are available on the txSpore
client class.


txspore.client.AsyncClient.rest
-------------------------------

 * __init__

   * parameter: parent

 * getAchievementsForUser

   * parameters: username, start, length

 * getAssetsForSporeCast

   * parameters: sporeCastID, start, length

 * getAssetsForUser

   * parameters: username, start, length

 * getBuddiesForUser

   * parameters: username, start, length

 * getCommentsForAsset

   * parameters: assetID, start, length

 * getDailyStats (takes no parameters)

 * getInfoForAsset

   * parameter: assetID

 * getProfileInfo

   * parameter: username

 * getSporeCastsForUser

   * parameter: username

 * getStatsForCreature

   * parameter: creatureID

 * searchAssets

   * parameters: searchType, start, length, assetType


txspore.client.AsyncClient.data
-------------------------------

 * __init__

   * parameter: parent

 * getAchievementDataXML

   * parameters: path, fd

 * getAchievementIcon

   * parameters: achievementID, path, fd

 * getAchievementText

   * parameters: path, fd

 * getAssetDataLargePNG

   * parameters: assetID, path, fd

 * getAssetDataSmallPNG

   * parameters: assetID, path, fd

 * getAssetDataXML

   * parameters: assetID, path, fd

 * getLargeCard

   * parameters: assetID, path, fd

 * getPaintIcon

   * parameters: remoteFilename, path, fd

 * getPaintInfo

   * parameters: path, fd

 * getPartIcon

   * parameters: remoteFilename, path, fd

 * getPartInfo

   * parameters: blockType, path, fd


txspore.client.AsyncClient.atom
-------------------------------

 * __init__

   * parameter: parent

 * getAssetsForUser

   * parameter: username

 * getEventsForAsset

   * parameter: assetID

 * getEventsForUser

   * parameter: username

 * getSporeCastFeed

   * parameter: sporeCastID

 * searchAssets

   * parameters: searchType, start, length


txspore.client.AsyncClient.cache
--------------------------------

 * __init__ (takes no parameters)

 * get

   * parameter: key

 * purge (takes no parameters)

 * remove

   * parameter: key

 * set

   * parameters: key, object


==========
Known Bugs
==========

* None so far

====
TODO
====

* Update all methods with epydoc-parsable docstrings.

* Create an aspect for non-spore API methods... something like CustomAspect.

* Add support for using a complete, up-to-date sync API without the need to
  have Twisted installed.

* Fix the threading/logging stuff in test_saveFileWithError.

* Add search functions to client.

* Add code for everything below line 244 in txspore.original.SporeAPICoreUtils.

* Add mode code to the demo and/or add more demos/examples.

* Encode results as utf-8


AsyncClient.custom
------------------

* Get useful achievement data with secondary query in
  client.getAchievementsForUser.

* Most popular creation by archetype/category with name and .png (suggested by
  MrAlex92; more details: http://forum.spore.com/jforum/posts/list/27693.page).

* Order/filter creations by limb count, complexity, specific traits, size
  (suggested by Technodude12).

* Order/filter by flying/swimming patterns (suggested by docpippo).

* Add methods for the following user data (suggested by Eochaid1701):

  - creation count

  - latest creation (name)

  - latest creation (.png)

  - a tuple-result: username, creation count, latest creation (name), latest
    creation (.png)

  - might want to add user icon, latest achiemvement, tagline, joined date


=======
Changes
=======

0.0.1 to 0.0.2
--------------

* Added a new client object; calls are made with methods now, instead of
  module-level functions.

* Added support for caching method results.

* Moved the REST service API methods into their own object and instantiated
  it on a ".rest" attribute of the client class.

* Moved the static data service API methods into their own object and
  instantiated it on a ".data" attribute of the client class.

* Added support for Spore Atom ("RSS") data, available on the ".atom" attribute
  of the client object.

* Implemented the last remaining Spore API method that hadn't been added.

Version 0.0.1
-------------

* Initial release of txSpore, supporting most of the REST and static data APIs.