Twitter - Get follower(s)

Declaration

<AMTWITTER ACTIVITY="get_followers" CONSUMERKEY="text" CONSUMERSECRET="text (encrypted)" SCREENNAME="text" ACCESSTOKEN="text" SECRETTOKEN="text (encrypted)" ENABLESSL="YES/NO" PROXYTYPE="text (options)" PROXYSERVER="text" PROXYPORT="number" PROXYUSERNAME="text" PROXYPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" RESULTDATASET="text"><Parameter Name="text (options)" Value="text" /></AMTWITTER>

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Description

Retrieves a list of followers and populates a dataset with the results.

Practical usage

See Description.

Parameters

Authentication

Property	Type	Required	Default	Markup	Description
Type	---	---	---	---	Specifies the type of authentication that should be used to establish a Twitter connection. The available options are: Default keys - Specifies that the default consumer/secret key combination used to authorize Automate access to Twitter API will be used. This also determines the text status that appears by way of Twitter application. Selecting this option would show Automate as the default application used to perform status updates. If this parameter is selected, the Custom keys parameter is ignored. Custom keys - specifies that a custom consumer/secret key combination should be entered. This also determines the text status that appears by way of Twitter application. Selecting this option would show the specified application name as the one used to perform status updates.  If this parameter is selected, the Default keys parameter is ignored. NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.
Consumer key	Text	Yes, if Type is set to Custom keys	(Empty)	CONSUMERKEY="text"	The consumer key to authenticate with. To use the Twitter API, each client application you register will be provisioned a consumer key and secret. This parameter is available only if the Custom Keys parameter is enabled.
Consumer secret	Text	Yes, if Type is set to Custom keys	(Empty)	CONSUMERSECRET="encrypted"	The consumer key secret to authenticate with. To use the Twitter API, each client application you register will be provisioned a consumer key and secret. This parameter is available only if the Custom Keys parameter is enabled.
Get PIN	---	---	---	---	You must initially register Automate (or the desired application) to allow it to use the Twitter API. If you have not done so already, click the Get Pin button. This will open your Twitter account site. Follow the instructions and copy the provided pin. Thereafter, return to the Automate Twitter authentication properties dialog and paste it in the Pin text box. Click the Authenticate Pin button to produce a consumer key and secret, thus, completing the token exchange. NOTE: This is a one-time process. Once authenticated, the information will be stored on your system. More information about OAuth authentication can be found below under OAuth Consumer Key/Secret Authentication.
Pin	---	---	---	---	The pin in which to authorize Automate to allow it to use the Twitter API. NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.
Authenticate Pin	---	---	---	---	Click this button to authenticate the provided PIN. This is a visual mode parameter used only during design time, therefore, contains no markup.   NOTE: This is a one-time process. Once authenticated, the information will be stored on your system.
Screen name	Text	Yes	(Empty)	SCREENNAME="Catwoman"	The screen name of the authenticating user. NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.
Enable SSL	Yes/No	No	(Empty)	ENABLESSL="yes"	If selected, SSL is enabled. This parameter is disabled by default.
Access token	Text	No	(Empty)	SECRETTOKEN="pL1IdTedxHU6JFd6HHRlknM"	The Oauth Access Token. This allows OAuth applications to directly exchange Twitter user names and passwords for OAuth access tokens and secrets. More information can be found below under OAuth Consumer Key/Secret Authentication.
Access token secret	Text	No	(Empty)	SECRETTOKEN="text"	The Oauth Token Secret. This allows OAuth applications to directly exchange Twitter user names and passwords for OAuth access tokens and secrets. More information can be found below under OAuth Consumer Key/Secret Authentication.

Proxy

Property	Type	Required	Default	Markup	Description
Proxy type	Text (options)	Yes	Default	PROXYTYPE="none" PROXYTYPE="http"	The type of proxy required for connections that pass through a proxy server. The available options are: System default (default) - Points to the default proxy used by the system. None - No proxy authentication required. HTTP - Proxy type is HTTP.
Use authentication	---	No	---	---	If enabled, specifies proxy authentication is required, enabling authentication-based parameters (disabled by default). It is active only if Proxy type is set to HTTP. NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.
Proxy server	Text	No	(Empty)	PROXYSERVER="proxy.host.com"	The hostname (server.domain.com) or IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) of the proxy server. This parameter is available only if Proxy type is set to HTTP.
Proxy username	Text	No	(Empty)	PROXYUSERNAME="username"	The proxy username to authenticate with. This parameter is available only if Use authentication is enabled.
Proxy port	Number	No	808	PROXYPORT="8080"	The port number to use to connect to the proxy server. This parameter is available only if Proxy type is set to HTTP. The default value is 808.
Proxy password	Text	No	(Empty)	PROXYPASSWORD="encrypted"	The proxy password to authenticate with. Manually enter a password, or click the icon to select from the list of credentials variables available to you that may correspond with this activity. This parameter is available only if Use Authentication is enabled.

General

Parameters

This activity allows you to set name/value parameters to filter results. The parameter names that this activity allows are listed below under Parameters.

Description

Error Causes

On Error

Additional notes

OAuth consumer key/secret authentication

To use the Twitter API, the first thing you have to do is register a client application. Each client application you register will be provisioned a consumer key and secret. This key and secret scheme is similar to the public and private keys used in protocols such as ssh for those who are familiar. This key and secret will be used, in conjunction with an OAuth library in your programming language of choice, to sign every request you make to the API. It is through this signing process that Twitter trusts that the traffic that identifies itself is in fact you.

OAuth authentication is the process in which Users grant access to their Protected Resources without sharing their credentials with the Consumer. OAuth uses Tokens generated by the Service Provider instead of the User’s credentials in Protected Resources requests. The process uses two Token types:

Request Token

Used by the Consumer to ask the User to authorize access to the Protected Resources. The User-authorized Request Token is exchanged for an Access Token, MUST only be used once, and MUST NOT be used for any other purpose. It is RECOMMENDED that Request Tokens have a limited lifetime.

Access Token

Used by the Consumer to access the Protected Resources on behalf of the User. Access Tokens MAY limit access to certain Protected Resources, and MAY have a limited lifetime. Service Providers SHOULD allow Users to revoke Access Tokens. Only the Access Token SHALL be used to access the Protect Resources.

OAuth Authentication is done in three steps:

1. The Consumer obtains an unauthorized Request Token.

2. The User authorizes the Request Token.

3. The Consumer exchanges the Request Token for an Access Token.

Datasets

A dataset is a multiple column, multiple row container object. This activity creates and populates a dataset containing a specific set of fields. The table below describes these fields (assuming the dataset name assigned was theDataset).

Parameters

Variables and expressions

All text fields allow the use of expressions, which can be entered by surrounding the expression in percentage signs (Example: %myVariable% or %Left('Text',2)%). To help construct these expressions, you can open Expression Builder from these fields by clicking theInsert expression/variablebutton or pressingF2.

More on variables
More on expressions
More on the Expression Builder

Example

Example 1

This sample task gets information about follower with screen name "Superman," and then stores user information into Automate dataset "myDataset.

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<AMTWITTER ACTIVITY="get_followers" RESULTDATASET="theDataset" SCREENNAME="text" ACCESSTOKEN="138893066-pcQPBQlFnI8exepSZPaQcnljQJNg4tB6mUfGAywz" SECRETTOKEN="pL1IdTedxHU6JFd6HHRlkncy98R5PQLwKyrESGGM"><Parameter Name="screen_name" Value="Superman" /></AMTWITTER>

Example 2

This sample task gets information about all followers, and then stores user information into Automate dataset "myDataset. Loop dataset and display the following information about each user in a message dialog:

1. ID

2. Language

3. Time Zone

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<AMTWITTER ACTIVITY="get_followers" RESULTDATASET="theDataset" SCREENNAME="text" ACCESSTOKEN="138893066-pcQPBQlFnI8exepSZPaQcnljQJNg4tB6mUfGAywz" SECRETTOKEN="pL1IdTedxHU6JFd6HHRlkncy98R5PQLwKyrESGGM" />
<AMLOOP ACTIVITY="dataset" DATASET="theDataset" />
<AMSHOWDIALOG>ID = %theDataset.ID%
Language = %theDataset.Language%
Time Zone = %theDataset.TimeZone%</AMSHOWDIALOG>
<AMLOOP ACTIVITY="end" />