I had the honor of becoming a contributor for the outstanding NotesIn9 Video Podcast produced by David Leedy. In this show, I demonstrate how I built and Amazon Alexa Skill for the IBM Domino based IdeaJam app. If you have any questions, please let me know. I would be more than happy to answer them! Thank you, David, for having me on. More videos on building Alexa Skills coming soon.
Modern business ecosystems need to rethink their approach to innovation and integration. This eBook is your guide to applying the power of APIs to business challenges ranging from changing business models to embracing a world of devices and sensors.
Here is a simple example of calling the IBM Weather Company REST API using Python. The program asks for a US ZIP code and then displays some of the data. A perfect program for an intro to programming class. Also, on GitHub.
# Using the IBM Bluemix Weather Company API
# Bruce Elgort
# July 9, 2016
# Version 1.0
# IBM Weather Company Docs: https://console.ng.bluemix.net/docs/services/Weather/weather_rest_apis.html#rest_apis
import requests
import json
def get_weather(zip):
username = 'your username'
password = 'your password'
watsonUrl = 'https://twcservice.mybluemix.net/api/weather/v1/location/' + zip + ':4:US' + '/observations.json?language=en-US'
try:
r = requests.get(watsonUrl,auth=(username,password))
return r.text
except:
return False
def display_weather(results):
print()
print('Here is the weather for {0}'.format(results['observation']['obs_name']))
print('{0:20} {1:<10}'.format('Current Temperature:',str(results['observation']['temp']) + '° and ' + results['observation']['wx_phrase']))
print('{0:20} {1:<10}'.format('Feels Like: ',str(results['observation']['feels_like']) + '°'))
print('{0:20} {1:<10}'.format('Low Temp: ',str(results['observation']['min_temp']) + '°'))
print('{0:20} {1:<10}'.format('High Temp: ',str(results['observation']['max_temp']) + '°'))
print('{0:20} {1:<10}'.format('Winds:',str(results['observation']['wspd']) + ' mph coming from the ' + results['observation']['wdir_cardinal']))
def get_weather():
zip = input('Enter US ZIP code to get weather for:\n')
results = get_weather(zip)
if results != False:
results = json.loads(str(results))
display_weather(results)
else:
print('Something went wrong :-(')
if __name__ == '__main__':
get_weather()
Here is a simple Python program that can be used to:
Students in my Intro to Programming and Problems Solving class at Clark College learn how to build this and other things using Python.
Have fun with it!
# CTEC 121 / Intro to Programming and Problem Solving
# Lab - Using the Slack API
# by Bruce Elgort, 2016
# pip install slackclient to install SlackClient library
from slackclient import SlackClient
import json
def test_slack(sc):
# use for debugging
print("Testing API")
print(80 * "=")
print (sc.api_call("api.test"))
def get_channel_info(sc,channel):
# get info about the channel
print("Getting Channel Info")
print(80 * "=")
print (sc.api_call("channels.info", channel=channel))
def get_list_of_channels(sc):
print("Getting List of Channels")
print(80 * "=")
# get list of channels
channels = sc.api_call("channels.list")
channels = json.dumps(channels)
channels = json.loads(str(channels))
return channels
def display_channels(channels):
print("Display Channels")
print(80 * "=")
for i in channels['channels']:
print("Channel:",i['name'])
def post_message(sc,text,channel,icon_url,username):
print("Posting Message to Slack")
print(80 * "=")
# post a message into the #general channel
print (sc.api_call("chat.postMessage",channel=channel,text=text,username=username,icon_url=icon_url,unfurl_links="true"))
def get_users(sc):
print("Get Users")
print(80 * "=")
#call the users.list api call and get list of users
users = (sc.api_call("users.list"))
users = json.dumps(users)
users = json.loads(str(users))
return users
def display_users(sc,users):
print("User List")
print(80 * "=")
# display active users
for i in users['members']:
# don't display slackbot
if i['profile']['real_name'] != "slackbot":
# don't display deleted users
if not i['deleted']:
# display real name
print (i['profile']['real_name'])
def main():
# define variables
token = "your token"
channel = "a channel id"
username = "Username to use display for message function"
icon_url = "icon url for message function"
# connect to Slack
sc = SlackClient(token)
# test slack
test_slack(sc)
# get channel info
get_channel_info(sc,channel)
# get list of channels
channels = get_list_of_channels(sc)
# display channels
display_channels(channels)
# post message
post_message(sc,"Visit http://slack.com",channel,icon_url,username)
# get users
users = get_users(sc)
# display users
display_users(sc,users)
main()
Here’s an updated list of the courses I have taught at Clark College in Vancouver, WA over the past 4 years:
There are some new courses on the horizon as well that I may be teaching. Stay tuned.
Here’s a short video demonstrating how I used the IBM Watson Tone Analyzer service on IBM Bluemix to create a Slack bot that analyzes text you enter.
Let me know if you have any questions.
For those of you who know me, I’m a huge fan and user of Slack; both the company and the product. Here are some things that Slack has done and continues to do right:
It’s these six things that make Slack a company and product to admire. There are so many companies trying to take on Slack and there are some other products that do what Slack does. Bottom line is that they are not Slack the company and Slack the product.
I expect in the forthcoming weeks, to see other companies announcing products to challenge Slack’s dominance and I’m looking forward to seeing how those new products align with the six things I outlined above, if at all.
