Threaded the calls to GetUserList, so that the View menu is populated asynchronously and startup time can be faster.

apithreads.py

@@ -1,20 +1,38 @@
 # Python module that handles calls to the twitter API as a separate thread
 
 import re
-import gtk
+import gtk, gobject
 from threading import Thread,RLock
 from twitter import Api
 from urllib2 import HTTPError,URLError
 
-class SafeApi(Api):
+class CustomApi(Api):
-    ''' This is just a Twitter API with an RLock for multi-threaded access '''
+    '''
+    This is a Twitter API with an RLock for multi-threaded access
+    Also included is logic for processing the list names when the object is
+    instantiated
+    '''
 
     def __init__(self, username, password):
         Api.__init__(self, username, password)
         self.lock = RLock()
+        self.sig_proxy = SigProxy()
 
-# End class SafeApi
+        self.username = username
 
+        thread = GetUserLists(api=self)
+        thread.sig_proxy.connect('lists-ready', self.on_lists_ready)
+        thread.start()
+        
+
+    def on_lists_ready(self, widget, lists, ignored):
+        list_names = []
+        for l in lists['lists']:
+            list_names.append(l.name)
+        list_names.sort()
+        self.sig_proxy.emit('lists-ready', self.username, list_names)
+
+# End class CustomApi
 
 
 class ApiThread(Thread):
@@ -152,6 +170,41 @@ class GetVerified(ApiThread):
 ### End class GetVerified
 
 
+class GetUserLists(ApiThread):
+    def __init__(self, api):
+        ApiThread.__init__(self, api)
+        self.sig_proxy = SigProxy()
+
+
+    def run(self):
+        lists = []
+        done = False
+
+        while not done:
+            done = True
+            try:
+                with self.api.lock:
+                    lists = self.api.GetUserLists()
+            except (HTTPError, URLError):
+                done = False
+
+        self.sig_proxy.emit('lists-ready', lists, None)
+
+### End class GetUserLists
+
+
+
+class SigProxy(gtk.Alignment):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        gtk.Alignment.__init__(self)
+
+# End class SigProxy
+
+gobject.signal_new("lists-ready", SigProxy,
+                   gobject.SIGNAL_RUN_LAST,
+                   gobject.TYPE_NONE, (gobject.TYPE_PYOBJECT,gobject.TYPE_PYOBJECT))
+
 
 # We use these classes to emulate a Status object when we need
 # one to be built out of something else.

mytwitter.py

@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ class MyTwitter():
         for item in config.sections():
             if (re.match(r'account', item)):
                 username = config.get(item, 'username')
-                self.accounts[username] = apithreads.SafeApi(username=username, password=config.get(item, 'password'))
+                self.accounts[username] = apithreads.CustomApi(username=username, password=config.get(item, 'password'))
+                self.accounts[username].sig_proxy.connect('lists-ready', self.on_lists_ready)
         
         self.username = self.accounts.keys()[0]
         self.api = self.accounts[self.username]
@@ -107,31 +108,9 @@ class MyTwitter():
         for tab, single_tweet in self.db['open_tabs']:
             self.add_to_notebook(tab, single_tweet, update=False)
         self.tweet_notebook.set_current_page(page_num)
+
         self.update_windows()
 
-        # Put Home, @user, Direct Messages, and lists in the View menu for
-        # each user
-        for username in self.accounts.keys():
-            outer_menu_item = gtk.MenuItem(username)
-            self.view_menu.append(outer_menu_item)
-            new_menu = gtk.Menu()
-            outer_menu_item.set_submenu(new_menu)
-
-            lists = self.accounts[username].GetUserLists()
-            list_names = []
-            for l in lists['lists']:
-                list_names.append(l.name)
-            list_names.sort()
-            list_names.insert(0, 'Home')
-            list_names.insert(1, '@' + username)
-            list_names.insert(2, 'Direct Messages')
-            for l in list_names:
-                menu_item = gtk.MenuItem(l)
-                new_menu.append(menu_item)
-                menu_item.connect('activate', self.on_view_selected, username, l)
-                menu_item.show()
-            outer_menu_item.show()
-
         # Timer to update periodically
         gobject.timeout_add(self.refresh_time * 1000, self.update_windows)
 
@@ -450,6 +429,28 @@ class MyTwitter():
             self.username = new_user
             self.api = self.accounts[self.username]
 
+
+    def on_lists_ready(self, widget, username, list_names):
+        # Setup the new sub-menu
+        outer_menu_item = gtk.MenuItem(username)
+        self.view_menu.append(outer_menu_item)
+        new_menu = gtk.Menu()
+        outer_menu_item.set_submenu(new_menu)
+
+        # Insert the default list items
+        list_names.insert(0, 'Home')
+        list_names.insert(1, '@' + username)
+        list_names.insert(2, 'Direct Messages')
+
+        # Add the items to the submenu, connect handler
+        for l in list_names:
+            menu_item = gtk.MenuItem(l)
+            new_menu.append(menu_item)
+            menu_item.connect('activate', self.on_view_selected, username, l)
+            menu_item.show()
+        
+        outer_menu_item.show()
+
 ### end class MyTwitter