Trouble with Gmail API integration: 'bytes-like object' error in Python

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1

I’m trying to add the Gmail API to my Python project but I’m running into a problem. Here’s what’s going on:

import base64
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

def craft_email(sender, recipient, topic, content):
    email = MIMEText(content)
    email['to'] = recipient
    email['from'] = sender
    email['subject'] = topic
    return {'raw': base64.urlsafe_b64encode(email.as_string())}

def dispatch_email(api, user, email):
    result = api.users().messages().send(userId=user, body=email).execute()
    print(f'Email ID: {result["id"]}')
    return result

# Other setup code here...

message = 'Hello, world!'
prepared_email = craft_email('[email protected]', '[email protected]', 'Test', message)
dispatch_email(gmail_service, 'me', prepared_email)

When I run this I get an error:

TypeError: a bytes-like object is required, not 'str'

It happens in the craft_email function when trying to encode the email. I’ve looked online but can’t find a solution. Any ideas what’s wrong?

2

I’ve had my fair share of struggles with the Gmail API, and I can relate to your frustration. One thing I’ve learned is that Python 3 is much stricter about string and byte types than Python 2 was. This often causes issues when working with APIs that expect specific encodings.

In your case, the problem is that email.as_string() returns a regular string, but base64.urlsafe_b64encode() needs bytes. Here’s a quick fix that should work:

 def craft_email(sender, recipient, topic, content):
     email = MIMEText(content)
     email['to'] = recipient
     email['from'] = sender
     email['subject'] = topic
     raw = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(email.as_bytes()).decode()
     return {'raw': raw}

The key difference is using email.as_bytes() instead of email.as_string(). This method returns the email as bytes, which is exactly what base64.urlsafe_b64encode() needs. Then we decode the result to get it back to a string for the API.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you run into any other issues.

3

hey josephk, i had the same problem. try changing ur craft_email function to use .encode() before b64encode. like this:

return {‘raw’: base64.urlsafe_b64encode(email.as_string().encode()).decode()}

that fixed it for me. good luck with ur project!

4

I encountered a similar issue when working with the Gmail API in Python. The problem lies in the encoding step. The as_string() method returns a string, but base64.urlsafe_b64encode() expects bytes.

To fix this, modify your craft_email function like this:

def craft_email(sender, recipient, topic, content):
    email = MIMEText(content)
    email['to'] = recipient
    email['from'] = sender
    email['subject'] = topic
    return {'raw': base64.urlsafe_b64encode(email.as_string().encode()).decode()}

The key change is .encode() to convert the string to bytes before encoding, and .decode() at the end to convert the result back to a string. This should resolve the ‘bytes-like object’ error you’re experiencing.

Remember to handle potential exceptions and ensure you have the necessary permissions set up in your Google Cloud Console for the Gmail API.