Downloading Flickr photos, part 2
I made several improvements in the previous script:
#!/usr/bin/python import flickr import urllib import time import re flickr.API_KEY = 'Flick API goes here' print "Registered using API key" user = flickr.people_findByUsername(u'username') print "Found user %s - username" % user.id try: photos = flickr.people_getPublicPhotos(user.id, 500) print "Found the photos" total = 0 for photo in photos: p = flickr.Photo(photo.id) title = re.sub('\s+', '-', p.title) title = re.sub('[^-\w]', '', title) title = "%s_%s" % (title, p.datetaken.split()[0]) for s in p.getSizes(): url = s['source'] photoFile = "%s_%s" % (title, url.split("/")[4]) data = urllib.urlretrieve(url, photoFile) total = total + 1 print "Retrieving %s ..." % photoFile time.sleep(1) except AttributeError: exit print "%s photos retrieved." % total
Python is pretty simple, once you get the hang of it. It also helps that the source for flickr.py is open — I got to fetch some more info regarding the photos I’m downloading, thus incorporating them in the code.
The code could use some more improvement, though: I should have opted for the Flickr error code (flickr.FlickrError) instead of AttributeError. The regex can certainly use more trimming. Perhaps I can save the photo information in a database instead of glomming them in the filename (so I can include tags, group and set memberships, etc.),
This should be elementary to Python devs out there, but for me, it’s just a hobby. 
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