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Twitter API cursor navigation with Async node.js

I am trying to use Twitter’s API with node.js using async/await (which I admit I am new to) but I am struggling to get to the next cursor value.

Why does my getFollowers function bellow always returns before the await block?

require('dotenv').config();

const Twitter = require('twitter');
 
const client = new Twitter({
  consumer_key: process.env.API_KEY,
  consumer_secret: process.env.API_KEY_SECRET,
  access_token_key: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN,
  access_token_secret: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET
});
 
const getFollowers = async (screen_name, count, cursor) => {
    console.log("Cursor: " + cursor);
    const params = {
        screen_name: screen_name,
        count: count,
        cursor: cursor
    };

    const promise = await client.get('followers/list', params)
        .then(data => {
            console.log("This promise is never executed...");
            return data.next_cursor;
        })
        .catch(err => console.error(err));

    return promise;
}

const main = async () => {
    let cursor = -1;
    while (cursor != 0) {
        getFollowers(process.env.SCREEN_NAME, 200, cursor)
            .then(next_cursor => {
                cursor = next_cursor;
                console.log("This promise is never executed either... " + cursor);
            });
    }
}

main();
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2

Answers


  1. Chosen as BEST ANSWER
    0

    I gave up on the implementation using the Twitter package and switched to using axios instead.

    require('dotenv').config();

const axios = require('axios');

const credentials = {
    consumer_key: process.env.API_KEY,
    consumer_secret: process.env.API_KEY_SECRET,
    access_token_key: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN,
    access_token_secret: process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET
};

const FOLLOWERS_LIST_ENDPOINT = "https://api.twitter.com/1.1/followers/list.json";

//documentation: https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/authentication/oauth-2-0/application-only
const generateToken = async () => {
    return process.env.BEARER_TOKEN;
}

//documentation: https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api/v1/accounts-and-users/follow-search-get-users/api-reference/get-followers-list
const getFollowers = async (screen_name, count, cursor) => {
    let token = await generateToken();
    let requestConfig = {
        params: {
            screen_name: screen_name,
            count: count,
            cursor: cursor,
            include_user_entities: false
        },
        headers: { 
            Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` 
        }
    };
    let response = await axios.get(FOLLOWERS_LIST_ENDPOINT, requestConfig);
    let users = response.data.users;
    processUsers(users);
    return response.data.next_cursor;
};

const processUsers = (users) => {
    users.map(user => {
        console.log(user.screen_name);
    });
}
const main = async () => {
    let cursor = -1;
    while (cursor != 0) {
        cursor = await getFollowers(process.env.SCREEN_NAME, 200, cursor);
    }
}

main();

  2. 0

    With your .then statement in main(), you weren’t awaiting for client.get() to resolve, but for data.next_cursor(). Therefore, promise of client.get() remained pending.

    Instead, return the promise of client.get() as a in getFollowers(). This will make sure that when you call getFollowers().then() in main(), you are referring to client.get.

    Edit:

    Following the line of thought in the answer in this question, I have modified getFollowers(). It now includes a promise that is resolved when cursor hits the value of 0. Every other value, a request will be made.

    I have a concern though with the rate limit of requests, which is set to 15 per 15 minutes. Since a new request is made for every non 0 next_cursor value, you’ll reach this limit quite soon for accounts with many followers.

    Also note that the data retrieved will be stored in an array. I am not sure what your use case exactly is.

    const Twitter = require('twitter');

const client = new Twitter({
    consumer_key: '',
    consumer_secret: '',
    bearer_token: ''
});

let output = [];

const getFollowers = (screen_name, count) => {
    let cursor = -1;

    const params = {
        screen_name: screen_name,
        count: count,
        cursor: cursor
    };

    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        client.get('followers/list', params, function getData(err, data, response) {
            if (err) reject(response.body);
            output.push(data);
            cursor = data.next_cursor;
            
            if (cursor > 0) {
                client.get('followers/list', params, getData);
            }
            if (cursor = 0) {
                resolve('done');
            }
        });    
    });
};

const main = async () => {
   await getFollowers('MozDevNet', 200);
   console.log(output);

};
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