StackExchangeAPI.py

import requests


def getResults(tags):

    # replace the spaces with underlines
    tags = getUsableTags(tags)

    # add a comma to the end of tags to prevent crashing and initialize individual tags
    tags = tags + ","
    tag1 = " "
    tag2 = " "
    tag3 = " "
    tag4 = " "
    tag5 = " "

    # isolate each tag by commas
    if (len(tags) > 0) & ("," in tags):
        tag1 = tags[0:tags.index(",")]
        tags = tags[tags.index(",") + 1:]

    if (len(tags) > 0) & ("," in tags):
        tag2 = tags[0:tags.index(",")]
        tags = tags[tags.index(",") + 1:]

    if (len(tags) > 0) & ("," in tags):
        tag3 = tags[0:tags.index(",")]
        tags = tags[tags.index(",") + 1:]

    if (len(tags) > 0) & ("," in tags):
        tag4 = tags[0:tags.index(",")]
        tags = tags[tags.index(",") + 1:]

    if (len(tags) > 0) & ("," in tags):
        tag5 = tags[0:tags.index(",")]
        tags = tags[tags.index(",") + 1:]

    # create the url from the tags that the API will collect
    tagSplit = "%3B%20"
    buildURL = ("https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/tags/" + tag1 + tagSplit + tag2 + tagSplit + tag3 + tagSplit +
                tag4 + tagSplit + tag5 + "/faq?site=stackoverflow")

    # url for testing, no longer needed
    testURL = "https://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/tags/java%3B%20exception%3B%20FileNotFoundException/" \
              "faq?site=stackoverflow"

    # get the response from the API and save it as a JSON object
    url = buildURL
    response = requests.get(url)
    responseJSON = response.json()

    # For testing, print all of the results' title and link
    """
    for i in range(len(responseJSON['items'])):
       print((responseJSON['items'][i]['title']))
       print((responseJSON['items'][i]['link']))
    """

    # return the JSON object
    return responseJSON

# replaces the spaces with underlines
def getUsableTags(tags):
    workingTags = ""
    originalTag = tags
    for i in range(len(tags)):
          if originalTag[i] == " ":
              workingTags = workingTags + "_"
          else:
              workingTags = workingTags + originalTag[i]
    return workingTags