ohawf 0.0.5

Easy OAuth2 authentication for Google services

ohawf

Google OAuth2 login that's not oh... awful.

Install

pip install -U ohawf

Google services require OAuth2 login which is often hard for newbs. If you're trying to do Python things with your Google data (GA, GSC, Sheets, Photos, etc.) and have failed in the past over mere login issues, this package is for you. For example, ohawf simplifies the SEO-related processes described on their GSC API quickstart page.

How to use

import ohawf

credentials = ohawf.Credentials().get()

Import ohawf and create a credentials object like this. You will immediately receive a link for the Web-based Google OAuth2 login prompt. If you're in Jupyter, you can just click it. If you're in Terminal, copy/paste it to the Browser address bar. Pick the account you want when the Google prompt pops up. Copy/paste the token back into Jupyter or terminal. You will then be sitting on top of an authenticated credentials object that is used to create new Google service objects.

I'm attempting to get App Verification from Google. Until I do, you may need to click Advanced and Go to OhAwf (unsafe).

If you wish to provide your own Desktop App OAuth credentials.json file downloaded from the developer console site, just drop it into your working folder with the name "credentials.json" and it will use it instead of the credentials-default.json I have provided. Additionally if you wish to change which services you're authorizing for, just add one per line to the scopes.csv file.

Google Services

After we have an authenticated credentials object, we build Google services objects with build from the Google API Python client installed as a requirement of ohawf.

from apiclient.discovery import build

Connect to Google services by giving build any (activated) API name, version and credetials such listing your GSC sites:

gsc_service = build('webmasters', 'v3', credentials=credentials)
gsc_sites = gsc_service.sites().list().execute()
[print(x['siteUrl']) for x in gsc_sites['siteEntry']];

...or this go list your GA accounts:

ga_service = build('analytics', 'v3', credentials=credentials)
ga_accounts = ga_service.management().accounts().list().execute()
[print((x['id'], x['name'])) for x in ga_accounts['items']];

Rant

Notice how clean this code is. Missing is all the authentication slop and needless spreading of this process over multiple functions. It seems to be every documenter's favorite game to obfuscate Google service examples, thus infuriating newbs and raising the bar to entry. Just as advancements like Jupyter make software development fun and easy, other things like login become more difficult, I suppose to maintain some comic balance.

Become a Google Developer

This ohawf package is ready to go. If you pip install it, you'll be using my Pipulate credentials. This is fine, but you have to live with whichever API services I happen to enable through the Google Developers Console. In other words, you can only do stuff with:

• Analytics Reporting
• Chrome UX Report
• Google Search
• Google Analytics
• Google Sheets
• Gmail
• PageSpeed Insights
• YouTube Analytics
• YouTube Data

...and that's only if you edit the code to add anything other than GA and GSC to scope. Right now I have the API for everything above on, but scope only for 2 services. If you'd like me to add something to the default, reach out and let me know. I've considered making scope an argument that could be fed in on the credentials request but thought that would complicate things too much for version 1. Let me know if you think it's a good idea.

Google Developers Console

If however you want to take control of your own destiny, using this login trick to work with Google Photos, Big Query, Maps, or the Google Cloud Platform, you're going to want to replace the credentials.json file with your own. If you pip installed ohawf, then this is burried in pip's site-package folder and will be overwritten again with my own on every pip --upgrade. So git clone it instead, then go to the Google Developers Console and get your credentials.json.

If you switch from a pip install to git clone, then uninstall the pip version:

pip uninstall ohawf

Developers Console vs. Cloud Console

The Google Developers Console is the older and simpler version of the Google Cloud Platform. You can probably use either one, but these instructions are for the GDC. You have to make at least 1 Project to get a credential file. From the Project you can click Credentials on the left-nav and create a new OAuth 2.0 Client IDs for desktop (middle option).

OAuth 2.0 Client IDs (for Desktop)

The ohawf package runs as a user account in a Desktop App so it can masquerade as you through 3-legged OAuth2 (that Web-login thing). While the alternative Service Accounts are better for more reliable automation, they would not allow you access to your own data in this context. Think of Jupyter as the desktop app. It all stays private because Jupyter's on your machine. Beware sharing credentials on Colab, Asure Notebooks, MyBinder or the like.

Download and rename your OAuth 2.0 Client IDs for desktop file to credentials.json. It should already have a .json extension. Drop the renamed file into the ohawf repo folder. If you're using Jupyter, it's fine to put it in the upper folder with the .ipynb files. If you're running from command-line, also put a copy of credentials.json in the nested ohawf folder.

About the Author

I used to be Mike Levin, SEO in NYC. Since our lovely pandemic I got my butt back to Pennsylvania and am now the Poconos Pythonista focusing on the kind of data exploration and automation folks are calling Data Engineering these days. Once upon a time, I worked for legendary Commodore Computers due to my love for the amazing Amiga computer, which spoiled me then caused me to be disappointed with everything to follow. Finally I'm finding the love again using a certain mix of Linux, Python, vim and git (plus Jupyter and Virtual Desktops). Today, I'm part of the J2 family of sites including Mashable, PCMag, Everyday Health and RetailMeNot. To thank me for this package, visit these sites. In particular if you use browser shopping plugins and mobile apps, try RMN's coupon app or coupon plugin.

Copyright (c) 2021 Mike Levin

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Last updated: March 10, 2021

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