XML POST REST Request using Python

Question

Does anyone have a simple example of sending an XML POST request to a RESTful API with Python? I am trying to use the urllib2 Python library to "create a new project" in the Harvest API, with no luck. The payload variable is a valid XML document that is a near copy/paste of their documentation (under the Create New Project heading) shown here:

http://www.getharvest.com/api/projects

Here is the code I am trying to execute.

def postRequest():
 """ Makes POST request to url, and returns a response. """
 url = 'http://subdomain.harvestapp.com/projects'

 opener = urllib2.build_opener()
 opener.addheaders = [('Accept', 'application/xml'),
      ('Content-Type', 'application/xml'),
      ('Authorization', 'Basic %s' % base64.encodestring('%s:%s' % (self.username, self.password))[:-1]), 
      ('User-Agent', 'Python-urllib/2.6')]

 req = urllib2.Request(url=url, data=payload)
 assert req.get_method() == 'POST'
 response = self.opener.open(req)
 print response.code

 return response

I receive a response code 200 (Status OK) instead of a response code 201 (Created)...is this a question for the Harvest Support guys?

Any hints anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Jeff.

Answer 1

It's common to return a 200 response even when a 201 response would strictly be more appropriate. Are you sure that the request isn't correctly processed even if you are getting a 'correct' response?