Currently I am retrieving data in json format from a GraphQL API and inserting it into a BigQuery table. Every time this code executes, then it deletes the table to guarantee the insertion of data in the table – if the schema of the API changes then a new table will be created with the new schema. Below is the code:

import json
import requests
import pandas as pd

def main():
    url = apigraphql/v1/content
    headers = {'key': 'xxxx', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'}
    response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers)
    data = json.loads(response.text)
    table = 'myproject.mydataset.mytable'


    table_exists = True
    try: 
        client.get_table(table)
    except:
        table_exists = False

    if table_exists:
        client.delete_table(table)

    flattened = flatten(data)
    df = pd.DataFrame(flattened)

    client = Client()
    job_config = bigquery.LoadJobConfig()
    job_config.write_disposition = bigquery.WriteDisposition.WRITE_TRUNCATE 
    job = client.load_table_from_dataframe(df, table, job_config=job_config)
    job.result()

The code works since every time I change the schema of the response then the new table will have the new structure, but I am wondering if there’s a better way to replace the try-except clause. Feel free to improve this question or ask for further clarification 🙂