Make calls to the Salesforce REST API

After successfully getting an access token, one can make calls the Salesforce REST API to extract data (leads, opportunities, etc.) or to modify and create new records.

import requests

def sf_api_call(action, parameters = {}, method = 'get', data = {}):
    """
    Helper function to make calls to Salesforce REST API.
    Parameters: action (the URL), URL params, method (get, post or patch), data for POST/PATCH.
    """
    headers = {
        'Content-type': 'application/json',
        'Accept-Encoding': 'gzip',
        'Authorization': 'Bearer %s' % access_token
    }
    if method == 'get':
        r = requests.request(method, instance_url+action, headers=headers, params=parameters, timeout=30)
    elif method in ['post', 'patch']:
        r = requests.request(method, instance_url+action, headers=headers, json=data, params=parameters, timeout=10)
    else:
        # other methods not implemented in this example
        raise ValueError('Method should be get or post or patch.')
    print('Debug: API %s call: %s' % (method, r.url) )
    if r.status_code < 300:
        if method=='patch':
            return None
        else:
            return r.json()
    else:
        raise Exception('API error when calling %s : %s' % (r.url, r.content))