Question

(This question is related – but not the same – to this one)

This is the POST data that I get from a github hook:

payload=%7B%22pusher%22%3A%7B%22name%22%3A%22none%22%7D%2C%22repository%22%3A%7B%22name%22%3A%22test%22%2C%22size%22%3A84%2C%22has_wiki%22%3Atrue%2C%22created_at%22%3A%222012%2F01%2F12%2001%3A04%3A25%20-0800%22%2C%22watchers%22%3A1%2C%22private%22%3Afalse%2C%22fork%22%3Afalse%2C%22url%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fgonvaled%2Ftest%22%2C%22pushed_at%22%3A%222012%2F01%2F12%2001%3A05%3A26%20-0800%22%2C%22has_downloads%22%3Atrue%2C%22open_issues%22%3A0%2C%22has_issues%22%3Atrue%2C%22homepage%22%3A%22%22%2C%22description%22%3A%22%22%2C%22forks%22%3A1%2C%22owner%22%3A%7B%22name%22%3A%22gonvaled%22%2C%22email%22%3A%22gonvaled%40gonvaled.com%22%7D%7D%2C%22forced%22%3Afalse%2C%22after%22%3A%2214209371dcbdd95cc3ef5c4a07d80edd42f1295c%22%2C%22deleted%22%3Afalse%2C%22ref%22%3A%22refs%2Fheads%2Fmaster%22%2C%22commits%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22before%22%3A%2214209371dcbdd95cc3ef5c4a07d80edd42f1295c%22%2C%22compare%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fgonvaled%2Ftest%2Fcompare%2F1420937...1420937%22%2C%22created%22%3Afalse%7D

Which I can decode using this:

urllib.unquote(data)

Getting this:

payload={"pusher":{"name":"none"},"repository":{"name":"test","size":84,"has_wiki":true,"created_at":"2012/01/12 01:04:25 -0800","watchers":1,"private":false,"fork":false,"url":"https://github.com/gonvaled/test","pushed_at":"2012/01/12 01:05:26 -0800","has_downloads":true,"open_issues":0,"has_issues":true,"homepage":"","description":"","forks":1,"owner":{"name":"gonvaled","email":"[e-mail]"}},"forced":false,"after":"14209371dcbdd95cc3ef5c4a07d80edd42f1295c","deleted":false,"ref":"refs/heads/master","commits":[],"before":"14209371dcbdd95cc3ef5c4a07d80edd42f1295c","compare":"https://github.com/gonvaled/test/compare/1420937...1420937","created":false}

I can see the JSON there, after the payload= bit. The question I have is: what format is the full data? How can I get just the payload bit, using standard python libraries; I would prefer to avoid splitting the string myself, since I do not know the special cases.

The github help page gives this suggested implementation for a Sinatra server:

post '/' do
  push = JSON.parse(params[:payload])
  "I got some JSON: #{push.inspect}"
end

How can this params array be handled in python, with standard libraries? What is the most pythonic implementation of that Ruby code? My end goal is to have the full POST data accessible as a python dictionary.

Answer 1

Try this:

import json
import urlparse
data = urlparse.parse_qs(r)
print json.loads(r['payload'][0])

where r is the string you received as response.

See http://docs.python.org/library/urlparse.html#urlparse.parse_qs