Download excel file from web?

[patf]

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.

This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.

http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/ind...sOf=Jul+25,+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional

Want to write python to download and save the file.

So far I've arrived at this:

 

[patf]

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.

This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.

http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&....

Want to write python to download and save the file.

So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch

xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")

# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')

# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()

xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview. Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).

Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.

So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with

response = urllib2.urlopen()

Except what then do I do with this?

Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it. It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.

I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.

I use pdb to debug. This is interesting:

(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)

I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff). Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).

pat

 

[Diez B. Roggisch]

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.

This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.

http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...

Want to write python to download and save the file.

So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch

xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")

# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')

# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()

xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview. Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).

Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.

So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with

response = urllib2.urlopen()

Except what then do I do with this?

Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it. It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.

I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.

I use pdb to debug. This is interesting:

(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)

I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.

Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff). Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).

The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:

"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""


And then for file-like objects:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html


"""
read( [size])
Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""

Diez

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).

Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.

So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with

response = urllib2.urlopen()

Except what then do I do with this?

Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.

I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.

I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:

(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)

I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.

right - I got it backwards.

Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).

The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:

"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""

And then for file-like objects:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html

"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""

Diez

Just stumbled upon .read:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read

Now the question is: what to do with this? I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.

thanx - pat

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.

right - I got it backwards.

The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:

"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""

And then for file-like objects:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html

"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""

Diez

Just stumbled upon .read:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read

Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.

thanx - pat

Or rather (next iteration):

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)

The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).

And then when I do:

print(response)

I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.

When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object. Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?

pat

 

[Guilherme Polo]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.

This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.

Want to write python to download and save the file.

So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch

xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")

# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')

# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()

xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview. Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).

Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.

So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with

response = urllib2.urlopen()

Except what then do I do with this?

Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it. It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.

I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.

I use pdb to debug. This is interesting:

(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)

I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.

right - I got it backwards.

Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff). Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).

The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:

"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""

And then for file-like objects:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html

"""
read( [size])
Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""

Diez

Just stumbled upon .read:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read

Now the question is: what to do with this? I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.

thanx - pat

Or rather (next iteration):

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)

The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).

And then when I do:

print(response)

I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.

When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object. Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?

You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you: http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:
Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).
No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.
right - I got it backwards.
Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).
The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:
"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""
And then for file-like objects:
http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""
Diez
Just stumbled upon .read:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read
Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.
thanx - pat

Or rather (next iteration):

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)

The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).

And then when I do:

I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.

When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object.  Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?

You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html

pat

OK:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)

OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.

pat

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:
Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program..
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file..
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).
No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.
right - I got it backwards.
Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).
The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:
"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""
And then for file-like objects:
http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""
Diez
Just stumbled upon .read:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read
Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.
thanx - pat
Or rather (next iteration):
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).
And then when I do:
print(response)
I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.
When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object.  Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?

You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html

OK:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)

OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.

pat

Nope - must have been stumbling over my own feet.

'wb' _is_ necessary (as I would expect).

So it works:

# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'wb')
f.write(response)
f.flush
f.close

I know the f.flush and f.close are redundant - in the sense that both
flush the contents to disk. So I can probably just take out the
f.flush.

Thanx for the help.

pat

 

[Guilherme Polo]

On Jul 28, 3:29 pm, "Diez B. Roggisch" <[email protected]> wrote:

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.

This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.

Want to write python to download and save the file.

So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch

xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")

# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')

# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()

xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview. Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).

Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.

So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with

response = urllib2.urlopen()

Except what then do I do with this?

Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it. It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.

I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.

I use pdb to debug. This is interesting:

(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)

I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.

right - I got it backwards.

Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff). Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).

The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:

"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""

And then for file-like objects:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html

"""
read( [size])
Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""

Diez

Just stumbled upon .read:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read

Now the question is: what to do with this? I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.

thanx - pat

Or rather (next iteration):

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)

The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).

And then when I do:

I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.

When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object. Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?

You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html

pat

OK:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)

I would initially change that to:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/ind...sOf=Jul+25,+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')

f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
f.write(line)
f.close()

and then..

OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.

try it.

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:
Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).
No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.
right - I got it backwards.
Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).
The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:
"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""
And then for file-like objects:
http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""
Diez
Just stumbled upon .read:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read
Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.
thanx - pat
Or rather (next iteration):
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).
And then when I do:
print(response)
I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.
When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object.  Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?
You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html
pat

OK:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)

I would initially change that to:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...)

f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
    f.write(line)
f.close()

and then..

OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.

try it.

pat

A simple f.write(response) does work (click on a single row in Excel
and you get a single row).

But I can see that what you recommend Guilherme is probably safer -
thanx.

pat

 

[MRAB]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:
Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).
No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.
right - I got it backwards.
Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).
The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:
"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""
And then for file-like objects:
http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""
Diez
Just stumbled upon .read:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read
Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.
thanx - pat
Or rather (next iteration):
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).
And then when I do:
print(response)
I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.
When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object.  Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?
You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html
pat
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves
OK:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)

I would initially change that to:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...)

f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
    f.write(line)
f.close()

and then..

try it.

A simple f.write(response) does work (click on a single row in Excel
and you get a single row).

But I can see that what you recommend Guilherme is probably safer -
thanx.

pat

If response contains a string then:

for line in response:
f.write(line)

will actually be writing the string one character at a time!

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:
Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).
No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.
right - I got it backwards.
Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).
The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:
"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""
And then for file-like objects:
http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""
Diez
Just stumbled upon .read:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read
Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.
thanx - pat
Or rather (next iteration):
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).
And then when I do:
print(response)
I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.
When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object.  Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?
You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html
pat
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves
OK:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)
I would initially change that to:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
    f.write(line)
f.close()
and then..
OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.
try it.
pat

A simple f.write(response) does work (click on a single row in Excel
and you get a single row).

But I can see that what you recommend Guilherme is probably safer -
thanx.

pat

If response contains a string then:

for line in response:
    f.write(line)

will actually be writing the string one character at a time!

Hmm. In this case, response was a string object. (that's what
urllib2.urlopen().read() returns).

My concern was with line ending characters (delimiters). I was
thinking that if the string object doesn't contain line ending
delimiters then maybe the for loop was better. Although that begs the
question of how

for line in reponse

recognizes lines (as defined by line ending delimiters) in the first
place.

pat

 

[Guilherme Polo]

On Jul 28, 3:29 pm, "Diez B. Roggisch" <[email protected]> wrote:

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.

This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.

Want to write python to download and save the file.

So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch

xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")

# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')

# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()

xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview. Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).

Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.

So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with

response = urllib2.urlopen()

Except what then do I do with this?

Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it. It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.

I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.

I use pdb to debug. This is interesting:

(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)

I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.

right - I got it backwards.

Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff). Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).

The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:

"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""

And then for file-like objects:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html

"""
read( [size])
Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""

Diez

Just stumbled upon .read:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read

Now the question is: what to do with this? I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.

thanx - pat

Or rather (next iteration):

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)

The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).

And then when I do:

I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.

When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object. Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?

You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html

--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)

I would initially change that to:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...)

f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
f.write(line)
f.close()

and then..

OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.

try it.

A simple f.write(response) does work (click on a single row in Excel
and you get a single row).

But I can see that what you recommend Guilherme is probably safer -
thanx.

pat

If response contains a string then:

Did you notice I removed the read(...) part ?

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:
Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).
No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.
right - I got it backwards.
Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).
The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:
"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""
And then for file-like objects:
http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""
Diez
Just stumbled upon .read:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read
Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.
thanx - pat
Or rather (next iteration):
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).
And then when I do:
print(response)
I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.
When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object.  Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?
You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html
pat
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves
OK:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)
I would initially change that to:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
    f.write(line)
f.close()
and then..
OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.
try it.
pat
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves
A simple f.write(response) does work (click on a single row in Excel
and you get a single row).
But I can see that what you recommend Guilherme is probably safer -
thanx.
pat

If response contains a string then:

Did you notice I removed the read(...) part ?

for line in response:
   f.write(line)

will actually be writing the string one character at a time!

Actually no I didn't Guilherme (although I'll take it out now).

Would leaving the in urllib2.urlopen().read() imply, as MRAB would
seem to indicate, that the following for loop would act byte-by-byte?
And if so, how?

Even with the .read() in, it was very fast. But it looks like it
won't hurt (and very possibly helps) to take it out.

pat

 

[patf]

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:
Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.
This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.
http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...
Want to write python to download and save the file.
So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')
# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()
xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview.  Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).
Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.
So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with
response = urllib2.urlopen()
Except what then do I do with this?
Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it.  It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.
I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.
I use pdb to debug.  This is interesting:
(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)
I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).
No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.
right - I got it backwards.
Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff).  Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).
The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:
"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""
And then for file-like objects:
http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html
"""
read(   [size])
     Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""
Diez
Just stumbled upon .read:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read
Now the question is: what to do with this?  I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.
thanx - pat
Or rather (next iteration):
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).
And then when I do:
print(response)
I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.
When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object.  Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?
You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html
pat
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves
OK:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)
I would initially change that to:
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
    f.write(line)
f.close()
and then..
OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.
try it.
pat
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves
A simple f.write(response) does work (click on a single row in Excel
and you get a single row).
But I can see that what you recommend Guilherme is probably safer -
thanx.
pat

If response contains a string then:

Did you notice I removed the read(...) part ?

for line in response:
   f.write(line)

will actually be writing the string one character at a time!

Actually no I didn't Guilherme (although I'll take it out now).

Would leaving the in urllib2.urlopen().read() imply, as MRAB would
seem to indicate, that the following for loop would act byte-by-byte?
And if so, how?

Even with the .read() in, it was very fast. But it looks like it
won't hurt (and very possibly helps) to take it out.

pat

 

[Guilherme Polo]

On Jul 28, 4:20 pm, "Guilherme Polo" <[email protected]> wrote:

On Jul 28, 3:29 pm, "Diez B. Roggisch" <[email protected]> wrote:

(e-mail address removed) schrieb:

Hi - experienced programmer but this is my first Python program.

This URL will retrieve an excel spreadsheet containing (that day's)
msci stock index returns.

Want to write python to download and save the file.

So far I've arrived at this:

# import pdb
import urllib2
from win32com.client import Dispatch

xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")

# test 1
# xlApp.Workbooks.Add()
# xlApp.ActiveSheet.Cells(1,1).Value = 'A'
# xlApp.ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 'B'
# xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook
# xlBook.SaveAs(Filename='C:\\test.xls')

# pdb.set_trace()
response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional')
# test 2 - returns check = False
check_for_data = urllib2.Request('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/
indexperf/excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').has_data()

xlApp = response.fp
print(response.fp.name)
print(xlApp.name)
xlApp.write
xlApp.Close

Woops hit Send when I wanted Preview. Looks like the html

tag
doesn't work from groups.google.com (nice).

Anway, in test 1 above, I determined how to instantiate an excel
object; put some stuff in it; then save to disk.

So, in theory, I'm retrieving my excel spreadsheet with

response = urllib2.urlopen()

Except what then do I do with this?

Well for one read some of the urllib2 documentation and found the
Request class with the method has_data() on it. It returns False.
Hmm that's not encouraging.

I supposed the trick to understand what urllib2.urlopen is returning
to me; rummage around in there; and hopefully find my excel file.

I use pdb to debug. This is interesting:

(Pdb) dir(response)
['__doc__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__module__', '__repr__', 'close',
'code', '
fileno', 'fp', 'geturl', 'headers', 'info', 'msg', 'next', 'read',
'readline', '
readlines', 'url']
(Pdb)

I suppose the members with __*_ are methods; and the names without the
underbars are attributes (variables) (?).

No, these are the names of all attributes and methods. read is a method,
for example.

right - I got it backwards.

Or maybe this isn't at all the right direction to take (maybe there
are much better modules to do this stuff). Would be happy to learn if
that's the case (and if that gets the job done for me).

The docs (http://docs.python.org/lib/module-urllib2.html) are pretty
clear on this:

"""
This function returns a file-like object with two additional methods:
"""

And then for file-like objects:

http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html

"""
read( [size])
Read at most size bytes from the file (less if the read hits EOF
before obtaining size bytes). If the size argument is negative or
omitted, read all data until EOF is reached. The bytes are returned as a
string object. An empty string is returned when EOF is encountered
immediately. (For certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue
reading after an EOF is hit.) Note that this method may call the
underlying C function fread() more than once in an effort to acquire as
close to size bytes as possible. Also note that when in non-blocking
mode, less data than what was requested may be returned, even if no size
parameter was given.
"""

Diez

Just stumbled upon .read:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read

Now the question is: what to do with this? I'll look at the
documentation that you point to.

thanx - pat

Or rather (next iteration):

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)

The file is generally something like 26 KB so specifying 1,000,000
seems like a good idea (first approximation).

And then when I do:

I get a whole lot of garbage (and some non-garbage), so I know I'm
onto something.

When I read the .read documentation further, it says that read() has
returned the data as a string object. Now - how do I convince Python
that the string object is in fact an excel file - and save it to disk?

You don't need to convince Python, just write it to a file.
More reading for you:http://docs.python.org/tut/node9.html

--
-- Guilherme H. Polo Goncalves

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/
excel?
priceLevel=0&scope=0&currency=15&style=C&size=36&market=1897&asOf=Jul
+25%2C+2008&export=Excel_IEIPerfRegional').read(1000000)
# print(response)
f = open("c:\\msci.xls",'w')
f.write(response)

I would initially change that to:

response = urllib2.urlopen('http://www.mscibarra.com/webapp/indexperf/excel?priceLevel=0&scope=0&...)

f = open("c:\\msci.xls", "wb")
for line in response:
f.write(line)
f.close()

and then..

OK this makes the file, and there's a c:\msci.xls in place and it's
about the right size. But whether I make the second param to open 'w'
or 'wb', when I try to open msci.xls from the Windows file explorer,
excel tells me that the file is corrupted.

try it.

A simple f.write(response) does work (click on a single row in Excel
and you get a single row).

But I can see that what you recommend Guilherme is probably safer -
thanx.

If response contains a string then:

Did you notice I removed the read(...) part ?

for line in response:
f.write(line)

will actually be writing the string one character at a time!

Actually no I didn't Guilherme (although I'll take it out now).

Would leaving the in urllib2.urlopen().read() imply, as MRAB would
seem to indicate, that the following for loop would act byte-by-byte?
And if so, how?

..read() returns a string, so yes.
The point in removing the .read(xxxxx) is that you no longer need to
guess how long is the file to read it entirely.