Append Values To Dictionary In REST API Using Python

Introduction

In this article, you will learn how to read Microsoft SQL table and append additional values to the result which will be sent as REST API JSON response using Python. I have created a simple Microsoft SQL table for this demo named as Employees which contains the following columns and rows.

I have a requirement to append 2 more columns named as Date and Code to the SQL table results so that it can be sent as JSON response. The values for these columns will be static and same for all the rows.

• Date – today’s date
• Code – value is retrieved from the query string parameter

The output looks like the below JSON,

{
  "data": [
    {
      "Code": "AX001",
      "Date": "29.10.2022",
      "Designation": "Architect",
      "EmployeeId": "1001",
      "Location": "UK",
      "Name": "Vijai"
    },
    {
      "Code": "AX001",
      "Date": "29.10.2022",
      "Designation": "Manager",
      "EmployeeId": "1002",
      "Location": "India",
      "Name": "Anand"
    },
    {
      "Code": "AX001",
      "Date": "29.10.2022",
      "Designation": "CEO",
      "EmployeeId": "1003",
      "Location": "USA",
      "Name": "Advik"
    },
    {
      "Code": "AX001",
      "Date": "29.10.2022",
      "Designation": "CTO",
      "EmployeeId": "1004",
      "Location": "India",
      "Name": "Adhvik"
    }
  ]
}

Topics Covered

This article demonstrates how to build the following:

• Create the project folder
• Install the required packages
• Implement the REST API
• Test the API

Prerequisites

1. Windows machine and Visual Studio code are used for this article. Complete all the prerequisites mentioned in this article.
2. Install the Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server on Windows.

Tools

1. Visual Studio Code

Task 1: Create the project folder

In this task, you will see how to create the project folder.

Step 1

Open Windows Command Prompt and run the following commands to create the new folder for this project.

mkdir AppendItemsToDic
cd .\AppendItemsToDic

Task 2: Install the required packages

In this task, you will see how to install the required packages for this project.

Step 1

Open AppendItemsToDic folder in Visual Studio Code. Click Terminal -> New Terminal.

Step 2

Run the following command to install the packages required for this project.

pip install flask
pip install flask-restful
pip install pyodbc

• flask is a simple framework for building complex web applications.
• flask-restful is an extension for Flask that adds support for quickly building REST APIs
• pyodbc is an open source Python module that makes accessing ODBC databases simple.

Task 3: Implement the REST API

In this task, you will see how to implement the REST API to read the Microsoft SQL table and send the results as REST API JSON response.

Step 1

In Visual Studio Code, create a new file app.py under AppendItemsToDic folder.

Step 2

Copy and paste the below code.

from flask import Flask, jsonify
from flask_restful import Resource, Api, request
import pyodbc 
from datetime import date

# Input Parameters
getdatacmd='SELECT id AS EmployeeId, name AS Name, designation AS Designation, location AS Location FROM Employees'
connstring='DRIVER={ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server};SERVER=LHR-**********\SQLEXPRESS;DATABASE=demo;ENCRYPT=no;Trusted_Connection=yes;'
today=date.today().strftime('%d.%m.%Y')

# Create the flask app
app = Flask(__name__)
# Create an API object
api = Api(app)

# Class for GetData
class GetData(Resource):
	# GET Request
	def get(self):        
		cnxn = pyodbc.connect(connstring)
		cursor = cnxn.cursor()
		cursor.execute(getdatacmd)	
		columns = [column[0] for column in cursor.description]
		results = []	
		rows = cursor.fetchall()
		for row in rows:
			value=dict(zip(columns, row))					
			value.update({'Date': today})
            # Get the values from query parameter
            # /?code='<value>'
			value.update({'Code': request.args['code']})		
			results.append(value)		
		return jsonify({'data': results})

# Add the defined resources along with their corresponding urls
api.add_resource(GetData, '/')

# Driver function
if __name__ == '__main__':

	app.run(debug = True)

Task 3: Test the API

In this task, you will see how to test the API which returns the SQL table results as JSON response.

Step 1

In Visual Studio Code, run the following command in the Terminal.

python .\app.py 

Step 2

Open the browser and access the below URL to view the JSON response as shown below.

http://127.0.0.1:5000/?Code=AX001

References

1. Flask-RESTful documentation
2. Python SQL Driver - pyodbc

Summary

This article describes how to read Microsoft SQL table and append additional values to the result which will be sent as REST API JSON response using Python.