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I'm new to getting data using API and Python. I want to pull data from my trading platform. They've provided the following instructions:

http://www.questrade.com/api/documentation/getting-started

I'm ok up to step 4 and have an access token. I need help with step 5. How do I translate this request:

GET /v1/accounts HTTP/1.1
Host: https://api01.iq.questrade.com
Authorization: Bearer C3lTUKuNQrAAmSD/TPjuV/HI7aNrAwDp

into Python code? I've tried 

import requests
r = requests.get('https://api01.iq.questrade.com/v1/accounts', headers={'Authorization': 'access_token myToken'})

I tried that after reading this: python request with authentication (access_token)

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Community
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tpoh
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    `headers = {'Authorization': 'Bearer C3lTUKuNQrAAmSD/TPjuV/HI7aNrAwDp'}` – Tore Eschliman Oct 29 '16 at 19:18
  • doesn't seem to work. Getting – tpoh Oct 29 '16 at 19:35
  • you should substitute in your real access token for the one after `Bearer ` in the example above. But that is the format of the header that's expected. A `401` error is Unauthorized, which means the token is invalid. – Tore Eschliman Oct 29 '16 at 19:39
  • I did substitute my real access token. I'll check with the trading platform why this is happening... – tpoh Oct 29 '16 at 19:44
  • step 4 is the "login" functionality, have you exchanged the token you got from the user frontend for the `access_token` object from the response? has it expired in the interim, possibly? – Tore Eschliman Oct 29 '16 at 19:47
  • I did that. I'm using the 'access_token' from the returned json message from Step 4. I don't think it expired since the frontend says it's good for 7 days. – tpoh Oct 29 '16 at 19:51

2 Answers2

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As you point out, after step 4 you should have received an access token as follows:

{
    “access_token”: ”C3lTUKuNQrAAmSD/TPjuV/HI7aNrAwDp”,
    “token_type”: ”Bearer”,
    “expires_in”: 300,
    “refresh_token”: ”aSBe7wAAdx88QTbwut0tiu3SYic3ox8F”,
    “api_server”: ”https://api01.iq.questrade.com”
}

To make subsequent API calls, you will need to construct your URI as follows:

uri = [api_server]/v1/[rest_operation]

e.g.
uri = "https://api01.iq.questrade.com/v1/time"

Note: Make sure you use the same [api_server] that you received in your json object from step 4, otherwise your calls will not work with the given access_token

Next, construct your headers as follows:

headers = {'Authorization': [token_type] + ' ' + [access_token]}

e.g.
headers = {'Authorization': 'Bearer C3lTUKuNQrAAmSD/TPjuV/HI7aNrAwDp'}

Finally, make your requests call as follows

r = requests.get(uri, headers=headers)
response = r.json()

Hope this helps!

Note: You can find a Questrade API Python wrapper on GitHub which handles all of the above for you. https://github.com/pcinat/QuestradeAPI_PythonWrapper

Peter
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Improving a bit on Peter's reply (Thank you Peter!) start by using the token you got from the QT website to obtain an access_token and get an api_server assigned to handle your requests.

# replace XXXXXXXX with the token given to you in your questrade account

import requests

r = requests.get('https://login.questrade.com/oauth2/token?grant_type=refresh_token&refresh_token=XXXXXXXX')

access_token = str(r.json()['access_token'])
refresh_token= str(r.json()['refresh_token']) # you will need this refresh_token to obtain another access_token when it expires
api_server= str(r.json()['api_server'])
token_type= str(r.json()['token_type'])
api_server= str(r.json()['api_server'])
expires_in = str(r.json()['expires_in'])

# uri = api_server+'v1/'+[action] - let's try checking the server's time:
uri = api_server+'v1/'+'time'
headers = {'Authorization': token_type +' '+access_token}
# will look sth like this
 
#    headers will look sth like    {'Authorization': 'Bearer ix7rAhcXx83judEVUa8egpK2JqhPD2_z0'}
#        uri will look sth like    'https://api05.iq.questrade.com/v1/time'

# you can test now with
r = requests.get(uri, headers=headers)
response = r.json()
print(response)
ReNet
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