Attempting to parse a JSON file with Python - json

Question

So I've been beating my head against a wall for days now and have been diving down the google/SO rabbit hole in search of answers. I've been debating on how to phrase this question as the API that I am pulling from, may or may not contain some sensitive information that gets uncomfortably close to HIPPA laws for my liking. For that reason I will not be providing the direct link/auth for the my code. That being said I will be providing a made up JSON script to help with the explaining.
import requests
import json
import urllib3
r = requests.get('https://madeup.url.com/api/vi/information here', auth=('123456789', '1111111111222222222223333333333444444455555555'))
payload = {'query': 'firstName'}
response = requests.get(r, params=payload)
json_response = response.json()
print(json.dumps(json_response))
The JSON file that I'm trying to parse looks in part like this:
"{\"id\": 123456789, \"firstName\": \"NAME\", \"lastName\": \"NAME\", \"phone\": \"NUMBER\", \"email\": \"EMAIL#gmail.com\", \"date\": \"December 16, 2021\", \"time\": \"9:50am\", \"endTime\": \"10:00am\",.....
When I run the code I am getting a "urllib3.exceptions.LocationParseError: Failed to parse: <Response [200]>" traceback and I can not for the life of me figure out what is going on. urllib3 is installed and updated according to the console.
Any help would be much appreciated. TIA

Answer 1

That is not a JSON file. It is a string containing escaped characters. It needs to be unescaped before parsing can work.

Answer 2

youre passing r to requests.get() (line 9) , but r is a response to another requests.get() (line 5)... shouldn't you be passing params=payload in line 5? then getting de response from there, in one single request
import requests
import json
import urllib3
payload = {'query': 'firstName'}
response = requests.get('{YOUR_URL}', auth=('{USER}', '{PASS}'), params=payload)
json_response = response.json()
print(json.dumps(json_response))

Answer 3

That is not a JSON file. It is a string containing escaped characters. It needs to be unescaped before parsing can work.
Well now I'm even more confused. I'm trying to self teach myself python and clearly struggling. To get the "JSON" I posted I used the following code:
r = requests.get('URL', 'auth = ('user', 'pass'))
Data = r.json()
packages_str = json.dumps(Data[0])
with open('Data.json', 'w') as f:
json.dump(packages_str, f)
So basically I'm even more lost now...

Answer 4

Okay, update: Good news! kinda... so my code now reads as follows;
import requests
import json
import urllib3
payload = {
'query1'= 'firstName',
'query2'= 'lastName'
}
response = requests.get("url", auth= ("user","pass"), params=payload)
Data = response.json()
packages_str = json.dumps(Data, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2)
with open('Data.json), 'w') as f:
json.dump(packages_str,f)
f.write(packages_str)
And when I then open the JOSN file, the first line of is the entire API in a string but below that, is a properly formatted JSON file. Unfortunately its the entire API and not a parsed JSON file looking for the the information That I need...
Continuing down the google/youtube/SO rabbit hole and will update at a later date if i find a work around.