How to correctly error check JSON value in Python?

Question

OK, I have this code where i'm getting some json back from instagram's api....

      instaINFO = requests.get("https://api.instagram.com/v1/media/%s?access_token=xyz" % instaMeID).json()
      print instaINFO
      #pdb.set_trace()
      MSG = {'fromEMAIL': uEmail, 'toCHANNELID': channelID, 'timeSENT': uTi    me, 'profilePIC': instaINFO['data']['user']['profile_picture'],'userNAME': instaINFO[    'data']['user']['username'], 'msgBODY': instaINFO['data']['caption']['text']}

but sometimes

       instaINFO['data']['caption']['text']

might not have any data. and I get this back.

      MSG = {'fromEMAIL': uEmail, 'toCHANNELID': channelID, 'timeSENT': uTime,
      'profilePIC': instaINFO['data']['user']['profile_picture'],'userNAME':
      instaINFO['data']['user']['username'], 'msgBODY': instaINFO['data']['caption']
      ['text']}
      TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

error checking or defensive coding is not my speciality... So how do I make the code pass if a json value = None

I've tried to do this but to no avail...

      if instaINFO['data']['caption']['text'] == None:
       pass

What do you want to happen if the key is missing? Also (as an aside) checking for the None singleton should not be done with == but with is. — Tim Pietzcker
– Tim Pietzcker, Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 7:52
if the key is missing, I want the value filled with "" and the script to keep on running. the script stops running if someone's instagram caption isn't filled. — sirvon
– sirvon, Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 7:53

Tim Pietzcker · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-07 07:58:08Z

1

If you want to fill the MSG dictionary as much as possible, you need to add each value separately:

MSG = {'fromEMAIL': uEmail, 'toCHANNELID': channelID, 'timeSENT': uTime}
try:
    MSG['profilePIC'] = instaINFO['data']['user']['profile_picture']
except TypeError:
    MSG['profilePIC'] = ""
try:
    MSG['userNAME'] = instaINFO['data']['user']['username']
except TypeError:
    MSG['userNAME'] = ""
try:
    MSG['msgBODY'] = instaINFO['data']['caption']['text']
except TypeError:
    MSG['msgBODY'] = ""

or, to avoid violating the DRY principle:

MSG = {'fromEMAIL': uEmail, 'toCHANNELID': channelID, 'timeSENT': uTime}
for mkey, subdict, ikey in (('profilePIC', 'user', 'profile_picture'), 
                            ('userNAME', 'user', 'username'),
                            ('msgBODY', 'cpation', 'text')):
    try:
        MSG[msgkey] = instaINFO['data'][subdict][instakey]
    except TypeError:
        MSG[msgkey] = ""

edited Aug 7, 2013 at 7:58

answered Aug 7, 2013 at 7:51

Tim Pietzcker

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1 Comment

sirvon Over a year ago

stackoverflow.com/questions/15009276/… would this answer help my cause?

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