Your First Machine

Your first machine will fetch the ID for a Klout user's account when given a twitterScreenName and an apiKey. The newly-generated get-klout-id machine looks like this:

module.exports = {
  friendlyName: 'Get Klout ID',
  description: 'Get the Klout ID from a Twitter screen name.',
  extendedDescription: '',
  inputs: {},
  defaultExit: 'success',
  exits: { error: { description: 'Unexpected error occurred.' },
    success: { description: 'Done.', example: 'TODO' } },
  fn: function (inputs,exits) {
    return exits.success();
  },

};

First, define the inputs:

inputs: {
    twitterScreenName: {
      example: 'tuneyards',
      description: 'The Twitter screen name for a Klout user.',
      required: true
    },
    apiKey: {
      example: 'ODUfdisauPUdufsoUSF',
      description: 'Your Klout API key.',
      required: true
    }
  },

Next, define the exits:

exits: {
  error: {
    description: 'Unexpected error occurred.'
  },
  wrongOrNoKey: {
    description: 'Invalid or unprovided API key. All calls must have a key.'
  },
  success: {
    description: 'Returns a Klout ID.',
    example: '234234239472379'
  }
},

Finally, implement the function:

fn: function(inputs, exits) {

    var URL = require('url');
    var QS = require('querystring');
    var _ = require('lodash');
    var Http = require('machinepack-http');

    Http.sendHttpRequest({
      baseUrl: 'http://api.klout.com/v2/identity.json/twitter?screenName=' + inputs.twitterScreenName + '&key=' + inputs.apiKey,
      url: '',
      method: 'get',
    }).exec({
      // OK.
      success: function(result) {

        try {
          var responseBody = JSON.parse(result.body);
        } catch (e) {
          return exits.error('An error occurred while parsing the body.');
        }

        return exits.success(responseBody.id);

      },
      // Non-2xx status code returned from server
      notOk: function(result) {

        try {
          if (result.status === 403) {
            return exits.wrongOrNoKey("Invalid or unprovided API key. All calls must have a key.");
          }
        } catch (e) {
          return exits.error(e);
        }

      },
      // An unexpected error occurred.
      error: function(err) {

        exits.error(err);
      },
    });
  },

Your first machine is ready to run! You can find the example code for the completed machine in this gist.

Running the machine

Before running the machine, make sure its dependencies are installed:

$ npm install lodash --save
$ npm install machinepack-http --save

Then, to execute the machine:

$ machinepack exec get-klout-id

You'll be prompted for each of your machine's inputs, using the descriptions provided in the input definitions. Once you've entered them all, the machine will run.

? Please enter the Twitter screen name for a Klout user.
twitterScreenName:  irlnathan
? Please enter your Klout API key.
apiKey:  bb8xy34;;dls9facob8ad44
________________________________________________________________˛

   Klout.getKloutId()

   » twitterScreenName "irlnathan"
   » apiKey "bb8xy34;;dls9facob8ad44"

________________________________________________________________¸ 
  | 
  • 
  The machine triggered its success exit and returned a value:
   '52917300386935988'


 To run again:
 machinepack exec get-klout-id --twitterScreenName='irlnathan' --apiKey='bb8xy34;;dls9facob8ad44'

Hint: Check out the "To run again:" message- it will save you time.

Creating a second machine

Next, we'll make a machine that fetches a user's Klout score. Since this machine will have a lot of similar content to the "Get Klout Id" machine, we'll start off with a copy of that first machine:

$ machinepack cp get-klout-id get-klout-score

You should see something like:

Copied: `get-klout-id` to new machine: `get-klout-score`

Now, you can make the necessary changes to the machine definition to make your new machine. The example code for "Get Klout Score" can be found in this Gist.