Internal API

This part of the documentation covers the internal interfaces of reader, which are useful for plugins, or if you want to use low-level functionality without using Reader itself.

Warning

As of version 3.6, the internal API is not part of the public API; it is not stable yet and might change without any notice.

Parser

Reader._parser: The Parser instance used by this reader.

reader._parser.default_parser(feed_root=None, session_timeout=(3.05, 60))

Create a pre-configured Parser.

Parameters:

feed_root (str or None) – See make_reader() for details.
session_timeout (float or tuple(float, float) or None) – See make_reader() for details.

Returns:

The parser.

Return type:

Parser

class reader._parser.Parser

Retrieve and parse feeds by delegating to retrievers and parsers.

To retrieve and parse a single feed, you can call the parser object directly.

Reader only uses the following methods:

parallel()
validate_url()
process_feed_for_update()
process_entry_pairs()

To add retrievers and parsers:

mount_retriever()
mount_parser_by_mime_type()
mount_parser_by_url()

The rest of the methods are low-level methods.

session_factory

SessionFactory used to create Requests sessions for retrieving feeds.

Plugins may add request or response hooks to this.

parallel(feeds, map=<class 'map'>, is_parallel=True)

Retrieve and parse many feeds, possibly in parallel.

Yields the parsed feeds, as soon as they are ready.

Parameters:

feeds (iterable(FeedArgument)) – An iterable of feeds.
map (function) – A map()-like function; the results can be in any order.
is_parallel (bool) – Whether map runs the tasks in parallel.

Yields:

tuple(FeedArgument, ParsedFeed or None or ParseError) – A (feed, result) pair, where result is either:

the parsed feed
None, if the feed didn’t change
an exception instance

__call__(url, http_etag=None, http_last_modified=None)

Retrieve and parse one feed.

This is a convenience wrapper over parallel().

Parameters:

feed (str) – The feed URL.
http_etag (str or None) – The HTTP ETag header from the last update.
http_last_modified (str or None) – The the HTTP Last-Modified header from the last update.

Returns:

The parsed feed or None, if the feed didn’t change.

Return type:

ParsedFeed or None

Raises:

ParseError –

retrieve(url, http_etag=None, http_last_modified=None, is_parallel=False)

Retrieve a feed.

Parameters:

url (str) – The feed URL.
http_etag (str or None) – The HTTP ETag header from the last update.
http_last_modified (str or None) – The the HTTP Last-Modified header from the last update.
is_parallel (bool) – Whether this was called from parallel() (writes the contents to a temporary file, if possible).

Returns:

A context manager that has as target either the result or None, if the feed didn’t change.

Return type:

contextmanager(RetrieveResult or None)

Raises:

ParseError –

parse(url, result)

Parse a retrieved feed.

Parameters:

url (str) – The feed URL.
result (RetrieveResult) – A retrieve result.

Returns:

The feed and entry data.

Return type:

ParsedFeed

Raises:

ParseError –

get_parser(url, mime_type)

Select an appropriate parser for a feed.

Parsers registered by URL take precedence over those registered by MIME type.

If no MIME type is given, guess it from the URL using mimetypes.guess_type(). If the MIME type can’t be guessed, default to application/octet-stream.

Parameters:

url (str) – The feed URL.
mime_type (str or None) – The MIME type of the retrieved resource.

Returns:

The parser, and the (possibly guessed) MIME type.

Return type:

tuple(ParserType, str)

Raises:

ParseError – No parser matches.

validate_url(url)

Check if url is valid without actually retrieving it.

Raises:: InvalidFeedURLError – If url is not valid.

mount_retriever(prefix, retriever)

Register a retriever to a URL prefix.

Retrievers are sorted in descending order by prefix length.

Parameters:

prefix (str) – A URL prefix.
retriever (RetrieverType) – The retriever.

get_retriever(url)

Get the retriever for a URL.

Parameters:: url (str) – The URL.
Returns:: The matching retriever.
Return type:: RetrieverType
Raises:: ParseError – No retriever matches the URL.

mount_parser_by_mime_type(parser, http_accept=None)

Register a parser to one or more MIME types.

Parameters:

parser (ParserType) – The parser.
http_accept (str or None) – The content types the parser supports, as an Accept HTTP header value. If not given, use the parser’s http_accept attribute, if it has one.

Raises:

TypeError – The parser does not have an http_accept attribute, and no http_accept was given.

get_parser_by_mime_type(mime_type)

Get a parser for a MIME type.

Parameters:: mime_type (str) – The MIME type of the feed resource.
Returns:: The parser.
Return type:: ParserType
Raises:: ParseError – No parser matches the MIME type.

mount_parser_by_url(url, parser)

Register a parser to an exact URL.

Parameters:

prefix (str) – A URL.
parser (ParserType) – The parser.

get_parser_by_url(url)

Get a parser that was registered by URL.

Parameters:: url (str) – The URL.
Returns:: The parser.
Return type:: ParserType
Raises:: ParseError – No parser was registered for the URL.

process_feed_for_update(feed)

Change update-relevant information about a feed before it is passed to the retriever.

Delegates to process_feed_for_update() of the appropriate retriever.

Parameters:: feed (FeedForUpdate) – Feed information.
Returns:: The passed-in feed information, possibly modified.
Return type:: FeedForUpdate

process_entry_pairs(url, mime_type, pairs)

Process entry data before being stored.

Delegates to process_entry_pairs() of the appropriate parser.

Parameters:

url (str) – The feed URL.
mime_type (str or None) – The MIME type of the feed.
pairs (iterable(tuple(EntryData, EntryForUpdate or None))) – (entry data, entry for update) pairs.

Returns:

(entry data, entry for update) pairs, possibly modified.

Return type:

iterable(tuple(EntryData, EntryForUpdate or None))

class reader._requests_utils.SessionFactory(...)

Manage the lifetime of a session.

To get new session, call the factory directly.

request_hooks: Sequence of RequestHooks to be associated with new sessions.

response_hooks: Sequence of ResponseHooks to be associated with new sessions.

__call__()

Create a new session.

Return type:: SessionWrapper

transient()

Return the current persistent() session, or a new one.

If a new session was created, it is closed once the context manager is exited.

Return type:: contextmanager(SessionWrapper)

persistent()

Register a persistent session with this factory.

While the context manager returned by this method is entered, all persistent() and transient() calls will return the same session. The session is closed once the outermost persistent() context manager is exited.

Plugins should use transient().

Reentrant, but NOT threadsafe.

Return type:: contextmanager(SessionWrapper)

class reader._requests_utils.SessionWrapper(...)

Minimal wrapper over a requests.Session.

Only provides a limited get() method.

Can be used as a context manager (closes the session on exit).

session: The underlying requests.Session.

request_hooks: Sequence of RequestHooks.

response_hooks: Sequence of ResponseHooks.

get(url, headers=None, **kwargs)

Like Requests get(), but apply request_hooks and response_hooks.

Parameters:

url (str) – Passed to Request.
headers (dict(str, str)) – Passed to Request.

Keyword Arguments:

**kwargs – Passed to send().

Return type:

requests.Response

Protocols

class reader._parser.FeedArgument(*args, **kwargs)

Any FeedForUpdate-like object.

property url: The feed URL.

property http_etag: The HTTP ETag header from the last update.

property http_last_modified: The the HTTP Last-Modified header from the last update.

class reader._parser.RetrieverType(*args, **kwargs)

A callable that knows how to retrieve a feed.

slow_to_read: Allow Parser to read() the result resource into a temporary file, and pass that to the parser (as an optimization). Implies the resource is a readable binary file.

__call__(url, http_etag, http_last_modified, http_accept)

Retrieve a feed.

Parameters:

feed (str) – The feed URL.
http_etag (str or None) – The HTTP ETag header from the last update.
http_last_modified (str or None) – The the HTTP Last-Modified header from the last update.
http_accept (str or None) – Content types to be retrieved, as an HTTP Accept header.

Returns:

A context manager that has as target either the result or None, if the feed didn’t change.

Return type:

contextmanager(RetrieveResult or None)

Raises:

ParseError –

validate_url(url)

Check if url is valid for this retriever.

Raises:: InvalidFeedURLError – If url is not valid.

class reader._parser.FeedForUpdateRetrieverType(*args, **kwargs)

Bases: RetrieverType[T_co], Protocol

A RetrieverType that can change update-relevant information.

process_feed_for_update(feed)

Change update-relevant information about a feed before it is passed to the retriever (RetrieverType.__call__()).

Parameters:: feed (FeedForUpdate) – Feed information.
Returns:: The passed-in feed information, possibly modified.
Return type:: FeedForUpdate

class reader._parser.ParserType(*args, **kwargs)

A callable that knows how to parse a retrieved feed.

__call__(url, resource, headers)

Parse a feed.

Parameters:

resource – The feed resource. Usually, a readable binary file.
headers (dict(str, str) or None) – The HTTP response headers associated with the resource.

Returns:

The feed and entry data.

Return type:

tuple(FeedData, collection(EntryData))

Raises:

ParseError –

class reader._parser.HTTPAcceptParserType(*args, **kwargs)

Bases: ParserType[T_cv], Protocol

A ParserType that knows what content it can handle.

property http_accept: The content types this parser supports, as an Accept HTTP header value.

class reader._parser.EntryPairsParserType(*args, **kwargs)

Bases: ParserType[T_cv], Protocol

A ParserType that can modify entry data before being stored.

process_entry_pairs(url, pairs)

Process entry data before being stored.

Parameters:

url (str) – The feed URL.
pairs (iterable(tuple(EntryData, EntryForUpdate or None))) – (entry data, entry for update) pairs.

Returns:

(entry data, entry for update) pairs, possibly modified.

Return type:

iterable(tuple(EntryData, EntryForUpdate or None))

class reader._requests_utils.RequestHook(*args, **kwargs)

Hook to modify a Request before it is sent.

__call__(session, request, **kwargs)

Modify a request before it is sent.

Parameters:

session (requests.Session) – The session that will send the request.
request (requests.Request) – The request to be sent.

Keyword Arguments:

**kwargs – Will be passed to send().

Returns:

A (possibly modified) request to be sent. If none, send the initial request.

Return type:

requests.Request or None

class reader._requests_utils.ResponseHook(*args, **kwargs)

Hook to repeat a request depending on the Response.

__call__(session, response, request, **kwargs)

Repeat a request depending on the response.

Parameters:

session (requests.Session) – The session that sent the request.
request (requests.Request) – The sent request.
response (requests.Response) – The received response.

Keyword Arguments:

**kwargs – Were passed to send().

Returns:

A (possibly new) request to be sent, or None, to return the current response.

Return type:

requests.Request or None

Data objects

class reader._parser.RetrieveResult(resource, mime_type=None, http_etag=None, http_last_modified=None, headers=None)

The result of retrieving a feed, plus metadata.

resource: The result of retrieving a feed. Usually, a readable binary file. Passed to the parser.

mime_type = None: The MIME type of the resource. Used to select an appropriate parser.

http_etag = None: The HTTP ETag header associated with the resource. Passed back to the retriever on the next update.

http_last_modified = None: The HTTP Last-Modified header associated with the resource. Passed back to the retriever on the next update.

headers = None: The HTTP response headers associated with the resource. Passed to the parser.

class reader._types.ParsedFeed(feed, entries, http_etag=None, http_last_modified=None, mime_type=None)

A parsed feed.

feed: The feed.

entries: Iterable of entries.

http_etag: The HTTP ETag header associated with the feed resource. Passed back to the retriever on the next update.

http_last_modified: The HTTP Last-Modified header associated with the feed resource. Passed back to the retriever on the next update.

mime_type: The MIME type of the feed resource. Used by process_entry_pairs() to select an appropriate parser.

class reader._types.FeedData(url, updated=None, title=None, link=None, author=None, subtitle=None, version=None)

Feed data that comes from the feed.

Attributes are a subset of those of Feed.

url

updated = None

title = None

link = None

author = None

subtitle = None

version = None

as_feed(**kwargs)

Convert this to a feed; kwargs override attributes.

Returns:: Feed.

property resource_id

property hash

class reader._types.EntryData(feed_url, id, updated=None, title=None, link=None, author=None, published=None, summary=None, content=(), enclosures=())

Entry data that comes from the feed.

Attributes are a subset of those of Entry.

feed_url

id

updated = None

title = None

link = None

author = None

published = None

summary = None

content = ()

enclosures = ()

as_entry(**kwargs)

Convert this to an entry; kwargs override attributes.

Returns:: Entry.

property resource_id

property hash

class reader._types.FeedForUpdate(url, updated, http_etag, http_last_modified, stale, last_updated, last_exception, hash)

Update-relevant information about an existing feed, from Storage.

url: The feed URL.

updated: The date the feed was last updated, according to the feed.

http_etag: The HTTP ETag header from the last update.

http_last_modified: The HTTP Last-Modified header from the last update.

stale: Whether the next update should update all entries, regardless of their .updated.

last_updated: The date the feed was last updated, according to reader; none if never.

last_exception: Whether the feed had an exception at the last update.

hash: The hash of the corresponding FeedData.

class reader._types.EntryForUpdate(updated, published, hash, hash_changed)

Update-relevant information about an existing entry, from Storage.

updated: The date the entry was last updated, according to the entry.

published: The date the entry was published, according to the entry.

hash: The hash of the corresponding EntryData.

hash_changed: The number of updates due to a different hash since the last time updated changed.

Storage

Reader._storage: The Storage instance used by this reader.

class reader._storage.Storage

Data access object used for all storage except search.

delete_entries(entries, *, added_by=None)

Delete a list of entries.

Parameters:

entries (list(tuple(str, str))) – A list of resource_ids.
added_by (str or None) – If given, only delete the entries if their added_by is equal to this.

Raises:

EntryNotFoundError – An entry does not exist.
EntryError – An entry has a different added_by from the given one.

Recipes

Parsing a feed retrieved with something other than reader

Example of using the reader internal API to parse a feed retrieved asynchronously with HTTPX:

$ python examples/parser_only.py
death and gravity
Has your password been pwned? Or, how I almost failed to search a 37 GB text file in under 1 millisecond (in Python)

import asyncio
import io
import httpx
from reader._parser import default_parser
from werkzeug.http import parse_options_header

url = "https://death.andgravity.com/_feed/index.xml"
meta_parser = default_parser()


async def main():
    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
        response = await client.get(url)

        # to select the parser, we need the MIME type of the response
        content_type = response.headers.get('content-type')
        if content_type:
            mime_type, _ = parse_options_header(content_type)
        else:
            mime_type = None

        # select the parser (raises ParseError if none found)
        parser, _ = meta_parser.get_parser(url, mime_type)

        # wrap the content in a readable binary file
        file = io.BytesIO(response.content)

        # parse the feed; not doing parser(url, file, response.headers) directly
        # because parsing is CPU-intensive and would block the event loop
        feed, entries = await asyncio.to_thread(parser, url, file, response.headers)

        print(feed.title)
        print(entries[0].title)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    asyncio.run(main())