Automating Simple Tasks with Python: Using Python and Window Task Scheduler to get the word of the day

❝Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.❞‒Chinese Proverb

So I want to learn one english word per day, but I am too lazy and forgetful to visit the website ? Hmm…. bulb floats on head

Let us create a python script, that runs daily by the Windows Task Scheduler

12:16:00 AM Coffee break…

In this blog post, I will be describing my thought process of solving this problem and providing the code.

Hopefully it helps.

What I learned

Knowing Code is awesome!
Python Desktop application development is possible
Using Task Scheduler to execute a program
With this, I can basically automate the backup of my websites / web apps and many more

Goal

Word of the day Website

Create a function that crawls the website
extracts the word, its definition and examples
transforms the data into a dictionary
Create a function that opens the saved file using the default application

Code

# USAGE: python wordofday.py

# TODO: create function to crawl the website
# TODO: create function to display the word, definition and examples in a notepad

import requests
import logging
import os
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

filepath = os.path.abspath("C:\\users\\ajala\\desktop\\word.txt")
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG,
                    format="%(asctime)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s")


def crawl_web():
    url = "http://www.wordnik.com/word-of-the-day"
    dictionary = {}
    try:
        # make request
        res = requests.get(url)
        #raise status
        res.raise_for_status()
        content = res.text
        # create soup
        soup = BeautifulSoup(content, "html.parser")
        try:
            content_column = soup.find("div", {"class": "content_column"})
            try:
                word_of_day = content_column.find("h1")
                word_of_day = word_of_day.find("a").get_text()
                dictionary["word"] = word_of_day
                # get all definitions
                try:
                    dictionary["definitions"] = []
                    def_soup = content_column.find_all(
                        "abbr", {"title": "partOfSpeech"})
                    for definition in def_soup:
                        d = definition.find_parent("li").get_text()
                        dictionary["definitions"].append(d)
                        # get all examples
                        try:
                            dictionary["examples"] = []
                            ex_soup = content_column.find_all(
                                "li", {"class": "exampleItem"})
                            for example in ex_soup:
                                e = example.find("p", {"class": "text"}).get_text()
                                dictionary["examples"].append(e)
                                return save_word_of_day(dictionary)
                        except Exception as exErr:
                            logging.error(
                                "Error while finding examples: " + str(exErr))
                except Exception as defErr:
                    logging.error(
                        "Error while finding definitions: " + str(defErr))
            except Exception as wErr:
                logging.error("Error while finding word of day: " + str(wErr))
        except Exception as cErr:
            logging.error("Error while finding content column: " + str(cErr))
    except Exception as err:
        logging.error("Error while making request: " + str(err))

Create a function that saves the data into a .txt file

def save_word_of_day(dictionary: dict):
    # save the word of the day
    global filepath
    try:
        fh = open(filepath, "w")
        # write word
        fh.write(dictionary["word"] + "\n")
        fh.write("-"*10)
        fh.write("\n\n")
        fh.write("Definition\n")
        fh.write("--"*10)
        fh.write("\n\n")
        # prints all definitions
        for pos in range(len(dictionary["definitions"])):
            de = dictionary["definitions"][pos]
            fh.write(str(pos + 1) + ".\t" + de)
            fh.write("\n")
            fh.write("\n\n")
            fh.write("Examples\n")
            fh.write("--"*10)
            fh.write("\n\n")
            for pos in range(len(dictionary["examples"])):
                ex = dictionary["examples"][pos]
                fh.write(str(pos + 1) + ".\t" + ex)
                fh.write("\n")
                logging.info("closing file: " + filepath)
            fh.close()
            display_in_notepad()
    except Exception as err:
        logging.error("Error while creating file: " + str(err))

def display_in_notepad():
    # open the wordpad
    global filepath
    # create alarm before opening file
    os.system("start " + filepath)
    return


if __name__ == "__main__":
    crawl_web()

Add the task in the Task Scheduler

Create New Task

Add Task information e.g. Name, Description

Define an action –> which specifies what program should be ran and how

I set “program/script” to the python.exe file, so you have to find the file in your own system

The arguments for the python is the wordofday script, which is located in the root directory “C:\\”

Define the trigger –> specifies when and how often the program is to be run or “triggered”

I set mine to once daily at 7:00 am

Click ok. Done!

Complete

How do I plan to make this better ?

Execute a music player before the wordpad is opened. This acts like an alarm, which signals that “it is time to learn the word of the day”.
Create a desktop application, that displays the word of the day and its content without using the wordpad application.

IF you have suggestions, provide them in the comment section..

See ya!