Handling an connection error with Twython

[Cecil Westerhof]

Cecil Westerhof <Cecil at decebal.nl> writes:

> I am using Twython to post updates on Twitter. Lately there is now and
> then a problem with my internet connection. I am using:
>     posted = twitter.update_status(status = message,
>                                    in_reply_to_status_id = message_id,
>                                    trim_user = True)
>
> What would be the best way to catch a connection error and try it (for
> example) again maximum three times with a delay of one minute?

At the moment I solved it with the following:
    max_tries   = 3
    current_try = 1
    while True:
        try:
            posted = twitter.update_status(status = message,
                                           in_reply_to_status_id = message_id,
                                           trim_user = True)
            return posted['id']
        except TwythonError as e:
            print('Failed on try: {0}'.format(current_try))
            if not 'Temporary failure in name resolution' in e.msg:
                raise
            if current_try == max_tries:
                raise
            current_try += 1
            time.sleep(60)

Is this a good way to do it, or can it be improved on?

When it goes OK I just return from the function.
If it goes wrong for something else as failure in the name resolution
I re-raise the exception.
When the maximum tries are done I re-raise the exception.
Otherwise I wait a minute to try it again.

-- 
Cecil Westerhof
Senior Software Engineer
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilwesterhof