How to Pass Date Parameter in a REST Request Query in Python

Learn how to effectively filter REST requests by date in Python, enabling you to retrieve specific data from your API with ease.
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How to Pass Date Parameter in a REST Request Query in Python

When working with REST APIs, it’s common to filter requests by certain parameters, and dates are no exception. If you've ever wondered how to filter a REST request by date using Python, this guide is for you! Here, we’ll walk through how to do this effectively using Python's requests library along with the datetime module.

Understanding the Problem

Filtering by date allows you to retrieve data that falls within a specific range, which can be crucial for applications that rely on time-sensitive information. In this case, you'll be fetching incident records from a ServiceNow instance. Suppose you want to get all incidents created within the last 90 days; you need to set an appropriate date range.

The Solution

To accomplish this, follow these steps:

Step 1: Import Required Libraries

You'll need two modules: datetime and requests. The datetime module will help manage and manipulate dates, while the requests module is used to make HTTP requests.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Define the Date Range

First, you should determine the current date and then calculate the date 90 days back. Here’s how you can do it:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Construct the API Request

Next, you'll create the query to fetch incidents from the ServiceNow API. The sysparm_query parameter allows you to specify the filter criteria for the request.

Here's how to format the URL:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

In the above code:

Replace your_instance with your actual ServiceNow instance name.

Use the correct format for the date strings as required by the API.

Step 4: Making the Request

After constructing the URL with the necessary parameters, you can send the request and check the response:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

In this example:

Check if the response status code is 200, which indicates a successful request.

Extract the results from the JSON response.

Conclusion

By using Python's requests library in combination with datetime, you can effectively filter REST requests by date. The above method allows you to retrieve specific records based on their creation dates, thus enabling more precise data management.

Key Takeaways

Import necessary libraries for HTTP requests and date manipulations.

Calculate date ranges using datetime.

Construct API requests with appropriate query parameters to filter records effectively.

With these steps, filtering your REST requests by date should be straightforward and efficient! Happy coding!