Listing contacts in System groups

[Karra]

When I try to run the sample code from the most recent python library
for gdata, I am unable to list the contacts in my System Groups. I
separately tried to fetch the group feed for 'My Contacts' which
exited with a similar error. I am pasting below the output from
running the sample script. The Group ID of My Contacts is:
http://www.google.com/m8/feeds/groups/karra.etc%40gmail.com/base/6

Any idea what I am doing wrong?

---
Contacts Sample
1) List all of your contacts.
2) Create a contact.
3) Query contacts on updated time.
4) Modify a contact.
5) Delete a contact.
6) List all of your contact groups.
7) Query your groups on updated time.
8) Exit.

> 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./contacts_example.py", line 352, in <module>
main()
File "./contacts_example.py", line 348, in main
sample.Run()
File "./contacts_example.py", line 294, in Run
self.ListAllContacts()
File "./contacts_example.py", line 136, in ListAllContacts
feed = self.gd_client.GetContacts()
File "/Users/sriramkarra/Downloads/software/unix/gdata-2.0.17/src/
gdata/contacts/client.py", line 201, in get_contacts
desired_class=desired_class, **kwargs)
File "/Users/sriramkarra/Downloads/software/unix/gdata-2.0.17/src/
gdata/client.py", line 640, in get_feed
**kwargs)
File "/Users/sriramkarra/Downloads/software/unix/gdata-2.0.17/src/
gdata/client.py", line 278, in request
version=get_xml_version(self.api_version))
File "/Users/sriramkarra/Downloads/software/unix/gdata-2.0.17/src/
atom/core.py", line 520, in parse
tree = ElementTree.fromstring(xml_string)
File "<string>", line 106, in XML
cElementTree.ParseError: unbound prefix: line 5, column 1552

[Karra]

On Monday, 23 April 2012 06:28:08 UTC+5:30, Karra wrote:

 

cElementTree.ParseError: unbound prefix: line 5, column 1552

I just found this thread that suggests there is an uncaught parsing error in the internal google code. Can someone from the Contacts team comment on this, please?

https://code.google.com/p/sync-google-contacts/issues/detail?id=5 

-Sriram

[Karra]

I guess this issue has been known since Aug 2011, but there has been no response from Google. But thank goodness, the code is open... I am able to apply the attached patch and move on. Posting here so others can benefit as well.

As noted in the comments, I have no idea why the invalid XML is being generated, and hence, what the real impact of the patch is. I guess I'll find out soon...

------

    Fix invalid contact entry XML from Google Data server

    

    Certain contacts - it is not entirely clear what sort of contacts -

    generate invliad XML from Google that the client libraries are

    unable to parse. This can cause an irrecoverable exception that looks

    like: "cElementTree.ParseError: unbound prefix: line 1, column 3089"

    

    The actual column number and line number may differ. We fix the problem

    by patching the incoming XML by editing out the invalid parts. This p

    atch is not extensively tested, but certainly allows life to move

    forward.

diff --git a/lib/atom/core.py b/lib/atom/core.py

index a19a70d..1da703a 100644

--- a/lib/atom/core.py

+++ b/lib/atom/core.py

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@

 __author__ = 'j...@google.com (Jeff Scudder)'

 

 

+import string

 import inspect

 try:

   from xml.etree import cElementTree as ElementTree

@@ -517,6 +518,19 @@ def parse(xml_string, target_class=None, version=1, encoding=None):

       xml_string = xml_string.encode(STRING_ENCODING)

     else:

       xml_string = xml_string.encode(encoding)

+

+  # For some contacts, the google data protocol returns invalid XML. This

+  # issue was originally reported on the python client api google groups, but

+  # it essentially an underlying data api error. More on this error at:

+  # https://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client/issues/detail?id=538

+  #

+  # This is a fatal error and applications cannot proceed when this error

+  # occurs. The following hack patches the received xml and allows life to

+  # go on. Ofcourse, there is really no confirmation yet from Google on why we

+  # are getting invalid XML for certain contacts in the first place.

+  xml_string = string.replace(xml_string, r'<ns0:cc>', '')

+  xml_string = string.replace(xml_string, r'</ns0:cc>', '')

+

   tree = ElementTree.fromstring(xml_string)

   return _xml_element_from_tree(tree, target_class, version)