Khoros Communities Python Library

The khoros library acts as a Python software development kit (SDK) to administer and manage Khoros Communities (formerly Lithium) online community platforms.

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Installation

The package can be installed via pip using the syntax below.

pip install khoros --upgrade

You may also clone the repository and install from source using below.

git clone git://github.com/jeffshurtliff/khoros.git
cd khoros/
python setup.py install

Change Log

The change log can be found in the documentation.

Usage

This section provides basic usage instructions for the package.

Importing the package

Rather than importing the base package, it is recommended that you import the primary Khoros class using the syntax below.

from khoros import Khoros

This recommendation is because the best practice is to use the name khoros when naming your object instance.

Initializing a Khoros object instance

The primary Khoros object serves many purposes, the most important being to establish a connection to the Khoros Community environment with which you intend to interact. As such, when initializing an instance of the Khoros object, you will need to pass it the community URL, the credentials it will use and related information so that the connection can be established.

The Khoros object can be initiated in two different ways:

• Passing the information directly into the object
• Leveraging a "helper" configuration file

Passing the information directly into the object

The community and connection information can be passed directly into the Khoros object when initializing it, as demonstrated in the example below.

khoros = Khoros(
    community_url='https://community.example.com', 
    session_auth={'username': USERNAME, 'password': PASSWD}
)

Alternatively, configuration settings can be passed at once using the options argument in the Khoros class, as shown below.

my_settings = {
    'community_url': 'https://community.example.com',
    'community_name': 'mycommunity',
    'auth_type': 'session_auth',
    'session_auth': {
        'username': USERNAME,
        'password': PASSWD
    }
}

Leveraging a "helper" configuration file

As an alternative to passing the connection information to the Khoros class in the ways demonstrated above, a "helper" configuration file in yaml or json format can be leveraged instead and passed to the Khoros class when initializing the object.

This is an example of how the configuration file would be written:

# Helper configuration file for the khoros package

# Define how to obtain the connection information
connection:
    community_url: https://community.example.com/
    tenant_id: example12345

    # Define the default authentication type to use
    default_auth_type: session_auth

    # Define the OAuth 2.0 credentials
    oauth2:
        client_id: FLFeNYob7XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXZcWQEQHR5T6bo=
        client_secret: 1n0AIXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX1udOtNaYnfJCeOszYw=
        redirect_url: http://redirect.community.example.com/getAccessToken

    # Define the session key authorization information
    session_auth:
        username: serviceaccount
        password: Ch@ng3ME!

# Define the preferred format for API responses
prefer_json: yes

The file can then be referenced using the helper argument when initializing the object instance, as shown below.

HELPER_FILE = "/path/to/helper.yml"
khoros = Khoros(helper=HELPER_FILE)

Utilizing environment variables

This third method of initializing a Khoros object instance is definitely the easiest, as it allows you to call upon the Khoros class without passing any arguments, as shown below.

from khoros import Khoros
khoros = Khoros()

This is accomplished by defining environment variables within your Operating System, either through the graphical UI, the command-line or within the Python IDE using the os module and adding entries to the os.environ dictionary, as shown below.

import os
os.environ['KHOROS_URL'] = 'https://community.example.com'

Environment Variable	Description	Example
KHOROS_URL	The base URL of the environment	https://community.example.com
KHOROS_TENANT_ID	The Tenant ID associated with your environment	abcde12345
KHOROS_DEFAULT_AUTH	The default authentication method you wish to use	session_auth
KHOROS_OAUTH_ID	The Client ID utilized by the OAuth 2.0 authorization grant flow	FXXXXXXb7owXXXXXXo+jFlPXXXXXXjZcWQXXXXXX6bo=
KHOROS_OAUTH_SECRET	The Client Secret utilized by the OAuth 2.0 authorization grant flow	1XXXXXX+/kZXXXXXXZZ9u1B5+1uXXXXXXfJCeOszYw=
KHOROS_OAUTH_REDIRECT_URL	The Redirect URL utilized by the OAuth 2.0 authorization grant flow	http://redirect.community.example.com/getAccessToken
KHOROS_SESSION_USER	The username to use with Session Key authentication	apiuser
KHOROS_SESSION_PW	The password to use with Session Key authentication	Ch@ng3M3!
KHOROS_PREFER_JSON	Boolean string indicating if JSON responses are preferred	True
KHOROS_LIQL_PRETTY	Boolean string indicating if reader-friendly formatting should be used	False
KHOROS_LIQL_TRACK_LSI	Boolean string indicating if queries should be captured in Community Analytics search reports	False
KHOROS_LIQL_ALWAYS_OK	Boolean string indicating if all responses should return a 200 OK status code	False
KHOROS_TRANSLATE_ERRORS	Boolean string indicating if errors in API responses should be made more relevant where possible	True

If you are leveraging this library on a macOS or Linux operating system (e.g. Ubuntu Server) then you can simply add the environment variables you wish to define to either the /etc/environment file if you wish to apply them to all users, or to your user's ~/.bashrc file for them to only apply to your user.

# Define environment variables for Khoros
KHOROS_URL='https://community.example.com'

Note: You will generally need to log out and log back in for the changes to take effect.

If you are leveraging this library on a Windows operating system (e.g. Windows 10) then you can add environment variables for your user via the Command Prompt (i.e. cmd.exe) or PowerShell.

Note: Using either of these two methods, you can add the environment variables using an interactive terminal window or using a batch/script file. (Files should use the .bat or .cmd extension for the Command Prompt and .ps1 for PowerShell.)

Command Prompt

@echo off
echo Defining the KHOROS_URL environment variable...
setx KHOROS_URL https://community.example.com
echo.

PowerShell

"Defining the KHOROS_URL environment variable..."
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("KHOROS_URL", "https://community.example.com/", "User")

Interacting with the Community APIs

Once the Khoros object instance has been initialized, it can be leveraged to interact with a Khoros Community environment in many ways, which is fully documented in the official documentation. The example below demonstrates how a search can be performed using LiQL to return information from the environment in JSON format.

response_json = khoros.search(
    select_fields=('id', 'view_href'),
    from_source='messages',
    where_filter=('style', 'tkb'),
    order_by='last_post_time',
    limit=5
)

Documentation

The documentation is located here: https://khoros.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

License

MIT License

Reporting Issues

Issues can be reported within the GitHub repository.

Roadmap

Upcoming improvements to the library can be found in the following locations:

• 2020 Roadmap on GitHub
• 2021 Roadmap on GitHub

Additional Resources

Additional resources for leveraging the Community APIs can be found in the official Khoros Developer Documentation.

Disclaimer

This package is considered unofficial and is in no way endorsed or supported by Khoros, LLC.