Request : Keep original field name order about knackpy

[johnclary]

@CatParky you should be able to accomplish this with a custom function that writes the Knack data to csv.

Your function would look something like this:

def to_csv(data, fieldnames, filename, delimiter=","):
    with open(filename, 'w', newline='\n') as fout:
        writer = csv.DictWriter(fout, fieldnames=fieldnames, delimiter=delimiter)

        writer.writeheader()

        for row in data:
            writer.writerow(row)

    return None

With your function defined, you can do this to get your CSV:

# define your fieldnames
my_fieldnames = ['fieldname_1', 'fieldname_2', 'fieldname_3']

# write your data to `my_data.csv`
# see readme for more about the `kn.data` object
to_csv(kn.data, my_fieldnames, "my_data.csv")

[CatParky]

I'm sorry to bother you, but I just can't get this working.
Using tutorials I have saved the custom function as knackpy_to_csv.py in a folder and ensured that the text is exactly as stated above with no whitespace.

I have then used the attached file (security details removed) and when I uncomment the print(row) I can see that it is recieving all the data however I get the error :

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Z:\System Administrator\System Backups\KNACK\Scripts\KNACK - Clients.py", line 29, in
to_csv(kn.data, my_fieldnames, "Clients.csv")
NameError: name 'to_csv' is not defined

Python Files.zip

As I am a real beginner at python I created and called a Hello World function from the same folder as knackpy_to_csv.py and it called just as expected.

Any advice would be very appriciated
Thank you so much for building this whole function

[johnclary]

@CatParky i think it would make your life easier to put all of you python code in one file.

#### import modules #### 
from knackpy import Knack

#### define csv function #### 
def to_csv(data, fieldnames, filename, delimiter=","):
    with open(filename, 'w', newline='\n') as fout:
        writer = csv.DictWriter(fout, fieldnames=fieldnames, delimiter=delimiter)

        writer.writeheader()

        for row in data:
            writer.writerow(row)

    return None

#### get knack data #### 
kn = Knack(
      obj='object_1',
      app_id='abc123',
      api_key='topsecretapikey'
)
   
#### define your fieldnames #### 
my_fieldnames = ['fieldname_1', 'fieldname_2', 'fieldname_3']

#### # write your data to csv #### 
to_csv(kn.data, my_fieldnames, "my_data.csv")

I'm not going to download your zip file. Please paste your code directly into a comment.

[CatParky]

Thank you for your reply, unfortunately I'm still getting the same error

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Z:/System Administrator/System Backups/KNACK/Scripts/KNACK - Clients2.py", line 27, in
to_csv(kn.data, my_fieldnames, 'my_data.csv')
File "Z:/System Administrator/System Backups/KNACK/Scripts/KNACK - Clients2.py", line 7, in to_csv
writer = csv.DictWriter(fout, fieldnames=fieldnames, delimiter=delimiter)
NameError: name 'csv' is not defined

I'm running Windows 10 using Python 3.7.1 and this is the code I copied from above

#### import modules ####
from knackpy import Knack

#### define csv function #### 
def to_csv(data, fieldnames, filename, delimiter=","):
    with open(filename, 'w', newline='\n') as fout:
        writer = csv.DictWriter(fout, fieldnames=fieldnames, delimiter=delimiter)

        writer.writeheader()

        for row in data:
            writer.writerow(row)

    return None

#### get knack data #### 
kn = Knack(
      obj='object_2',
        app_id='MyID',
        api_key='MyKey'
)
   
#### define your fieldnames #### 
my_fieldnames = ['Client_ID', 'Client Name', 'Client Three Letter Ref']

#### # write your data to csv #### 
to_csv(kn.data, my_fieldnames, "my_data.csv")```

I know that the data is being returned as when I run the print command I can see all the data scroll. I can also see that the my_data.csv file is being created, however it's blank.
Thank you again

[hmnd]

@CatParky you need to add import csv at the beginning of your code.

[CatParky]

I tried that and then get the error

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Z:/System Administrator/System Backups/KNACK/Scripts/KNACK - Clients2.py", line 28, in
to_csv(kn.data, my_fieldnames, "my_data.csv")
File "Z:/System Administrator/System Backups/KNACKScripts/KNACK - Clients2.py", line 13, in to_csv
writer.writerow(row)
File "C:\Program Files\Python37\lib\csv.py", line 155, in writerow
return self.writer.writerow(self._dict_to_list(rowdict))
File "C:\Program Files\Python37\lib\csv.py", line 151, in _dict_to_list
+ ", ".join([repr(x) for x in wrong_fields]))
ValueError: dict contains fields not in fieldnames: 'Client Lead', 'id', 'Third Party', 'Client Type', 'Status'

The full list of field names from the Client table are
Client_ID, Client Name, Client Three Letter Ref, Client Type, Third Party, Status, Client Lead

When I change the fieldnames part of your code to include all fields
my_fieldnames = ['Client_ID', 'Client Name', 'Client Three Letter Ref', 'Client Type', 'Third Party', 'Status', 'Client Lead']

I get the error

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "Z:/System Administrator/System Backups/KNACK/Scripts/KNACK - Clients2.py", line 28, in
to_csv(kn.data, my_fieldnames, "my_data.csv")
File "Z:/System Administrator/System Backups/KNACK/Scripts/KNACK - Clients2.py", line 13, in to_csv
writer.writerow(row)
File "C:\Program Files\Python37\lib\csv.py", line 155, in writerow
return self.writer.writerow(self._dict_to_list(rowdict))
File "C:\Program Files\Python37\lib\csv.py", line 151, in _dict_to_list
+ ", ".join([repr(x) for x in wrong_fields]))
ValueError: dict contains fields not in fieldnames: 'id'

[CatParky]

Hi,
I'm sorry to bother you again. But do you think there is a resolution to this ? I can see there is a line in the original code : self.fieldnames.sort() is there any way I can comment this out ?

[CatParky]

@johnclary I was wondering if there is a solution to the above.