Fetching and processing a JSON file using Python

Part 1: Displaying the quotes

We will use the Python ** requests ** module to fetch a JSON file that contains wise quotes. We will then convert the JSON to a list, shuffle it and then use a ** for ** loop to display the quotes. Once we have the quotes displayed we will colour them using the ** termcolor ** module.

Here is the start of the JSON data source.

[
    {
      "author": "Abraham Lincoln",
      "quote": "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.",
      "image": "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Abraham_Lincoln_November_1863.jpg"
    },
    {
      "author": "Adam Smith",
      "quote": "The great secret of education is to direct vanity to proper objects.",
      "image": "https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/adam-smith.jpg"
    },
... ]

First we need to import some modules. Note that we import ** replit ** so we can use its ** clear ** method to clear the console.

import requests, random, replit

Next we need to use the ** requests ** module's ** get ** method to fetch the external JSON resource. ** response ** will be a ** requests ** ** Response ** type object.

json_url = 'https://gist.githubusercontent.com/shakked/2a964ccf120b6a853786/raw/bda7928fe658a847506a3e564d37e9ae353cba61/quotes.json'
response = requests.get(json_url)

Now we will convert the response into a Python list using the ** requests ** ** json ** method. We will store tje list using the ** quotes ** variable.

quotes = response.json()

Next we will use the ** shuffle ** method from the ** random ** module to shuffle the list. Then we clear the console using the ** replit ** module's ** clear ** method.

random.shuffle(quotes)
replit.clear()

We now use a ** for ** loop to display the quotes. Each one consists of a dictionary that has three key/value pairs. The keys are: ** author **, ** quote ** and ** image **. This last one contains the URL associated with the quote. Because we are displaying in the terminal we can not display the image. Note how each quote has a string of 60 asterisks as a border at the bottom, then a new line.

num_quotes = len(quotes)
for index in range(num_quotes):
  quote = quotes[index]
  author_string = "Author: " + quote["author"]
  print(author_string)  
  print(Quote: " + quote["quote"])
  print("*" * 60, "\n")

Part 2: Colouring the quotes

The ** termcolor ** module's ** color ** method allows us to colour terminal output. Lets use it. Edit the ** for ** loop code so it is the same as that below.

for index in range(num_quotes):
  quote = quotes[index]
  author_string = colored("Author: " + quote["author"], "white", "on_red", attrs=['bold'])
  print(str(index + 1) +")", author_string)
  
  print(colored("Quote: " + quote["quote"], "white", "on_magenta", attrs=['bold']))
  print("*" * 60, "\n")

For a reference about how to use ** color ** method visit this link: https://kite.com/python/docs/termcolor.colored

For a more advanced version of the program, that asks the user for the number of quotes they want to see, examine this program: https://repl.it/@freddiethefrog/python-wise-sayings