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Correct way to try/except using Python requests module? - python

try:
r = requests.get(url, params={'s': thing})
except requests.ConnectionError, e:
print(e)
Is this correct? Is there a better way to structure this? Will this cover all my bases?

Have a look at the Requests exception docs. In short:
In the event of a network problem (e.g. DNS failure, refused connection, etc), Requests will raise a ConnectionError exception.
In the event of the rare invalid HTTP response, Requests will raise an HTTPError exception.
If a request times out, a Timeout exception is raised.
If a request exceeds the configured number of maximum redirections, a TooManyRedirects exception is raised.
All exceptions that Requests explicitly raises inherit from requests.exceptions.RequestException.
To answer your question, what you show will not cover all of your bases. You'll only catch connection-related errors, not ones that time out.
What to do when you catch the exception is really up to the design of your script/program. Is it acceptable to exit? Can you go on and try again? If the error is catastrophic and you can't go on, then yes, you may abort your program by raising SystemExit (a nice way to both print an error and call sys.exit).
You can either catch the base-class exception, which will handle all cases:
try:
r = requests.get(url, params={'s': thing})
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e: # This is the correct syntax
raise SystemExit(e)
Or you can catch them separately and do different things.
try:
r = requests.get(url, params={'s': thing})
except requests.exceptions.Timeout:
# Maybe set up for a retry, or continue in a retry loop
except requests.exceptions.TooManyRedirects:
# Tell the user their URL was bad and try a different one
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
# catastrophic error. bail.
raise SystemExit(e)
As Christian pointed out:
If you want http errors (e.g. 401 Unauthorized) to raise exceptions, you can call Response.raise_for_status. That will raise an HTTPError, if the response was an http error.
An example:
try:
r = requests.get('http://www.google.com/nothere')
r.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as err:
raise SystemExit(err)
Will print:
404 Client Error: Not Found for url: http://www.google.com/nothere

One additional suggestion to be explicit. It seems best to go from specific to general down the stack of errors to get the desired error to be caught, so the specific ones don't get masked by the general one.
url='http://www.google.com/blahblah'
try:
r = requests.get(url,timeout=3)
r.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as errh:
print ("Http Error:",errh)
except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as errc:
print ("Error Connecting:",errc)
except requests.exceptions.Timeout as errt:
print ("Timeout Error:",errt)
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as err:
print ("OOps: Something Else",err)
Http Error: 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: http://www.google.com/blahblah
vs
url='http://www.google.com/blahblah'
try:
r = requests.get(url,timeout=3)
r.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as err:
print ("OOps: Something Else",err)
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as errh:
print ("Http Error:",errh)
except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as errc:
print ("Error Connecting:",errc)
except requests.exceptions.Timeout as errt:
print ("Timeout Error:",errt)
OOps: Something Else 404 Client Error: Not Found for url: http://www.google.com/blahblah

Exception object also contains original response e.response, that could be useful if need to see error body in response from the server. For example:
try:
r = requests.post('somerestapi.com/post-here', data={'birthday': '9/9/3999'})
r.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
print (e.response.text)

Here's a generic way to do things which at least means that you don't have to surround each and every requests call with try ... except:
Basic version
# see the docs: if you set no timeout the call never times out! A tuple means "max
# connect time" and "max read time"
DEFAULT_REQUESTS_TIMEOUT = (5, 15) # for example
def log_exception(e, verb, url, kwargs):
# the reason for making this a separate function will become apparent
raw_tb = traceback.extract_stack()
if 'data' in kwargs and len(kwargs['data']) > 500: # anticipate giant data string
kwargs['data'] = f'{kwargs["data"][:500]}...'
msg = f'BaseException raised: {e.__class__.__module__}.{e.__class__.__qualname__}: {e}\n' \
+ f'verb {verb}, url {url}, kwargs {kwargs}\n\n' \
+ 'Stack trace:\n' + ''.join(traceback.format_list(raw_tb[:-2]))
logger.error(msg)
def requests_call(verb, url, **kwargs):
response = None
exception = None
try:
if 'timeout' not in kwargs:
kwargs['timeout'] = DEFAULT_REQUESTS_TIMEOUT
response = requests.request(verb, url, **kwargs)
except BaseException as e:
log_exception(e, verb, url, kwargs)
exception = e
return (response, exception)
NB
Be aware of ConnectionError which is a builtin, nothing to do with the class requests.ConnectionError*. I assume the latter is more common in this context but have no real idea...
When examining a non-None returned exception, requests.RequestException, the superclass of all the requests exceptions (including requests.ConnectionError), is not "requests.exceptions.RequestException" according to the docs. Maybe it has changed since the accepted answer.**
Obviously this assumes a logger has been configured. Calling logger.exception in the except block might seem a good idea but that would only give the stack within this method! Instead, get the trace leading up to the call to this method. Then log (with details of the exception, and of the call which caused the problem)
*I looked at the source code: requests.ConnectionError subclasses the single class requests.RequestException, which subclasses the single class IOError (builtin)
**However at the bottom of this page you find "requests.exceptions.RequestException" at the time of writing (2022-02)... but it links to the above page: confusing.
Usage is very simple:
search_response, exception = utilities.requests_call('get',
f'http://localhost:9200/my_index/_search?q={search_string}')
First you check the response: if it's None something funny has happened and you will have an exception which has to be acted on in some way depending on context (and on the exception). In Gui applications (PyQt5) I usually implement a "visual log" to give some output to the user (and also log simultaneously to the log file), but messages added there should be non-technical. So something like this might typically follow:
if search_response == None:
# you might check here for (e.g.) a requests.Timeout, tailoring the message
# accordingly, as the kind of error anyone might be expected to understand
msg = f'No response searching on |{search_string}|. See log'
MainWindow.the().visual_log(msg, log_level=logging.ERROR)
return
response_json = search_response.json()
if search_response.status_code != 200: # NB 201 ("created") may be acceptable sometimes...
msg = f'Bad response searching on |{search_string}|. See log'
MainWindow.the().visual_log(msg, log_level=logging.ERROR)
# usually response_json will give full details about the problem
log_msg = f'search on |{search_string}| bad response\n{json.dumps(response_json, indent=4)}'
logger.error(log_msg)
return
# now examine the keys and values in response_json: these may of course
# indicate an error of some kind even though the response returned OK (status 200)...
Given that the stack trace is logged automatically you often need no more than that...
Advanced version when json object returned
(... potentially sparing a great deal of boilerplate!)
To cross the Ts, when a json object is expected to be returned:
If, as above, an exception gives your non-technical user a message "No response", and a non-200 status "Bad response", I suggest that
a missing expected key in the response's JSON structure should give rise to a message "Anomalous response"
an out-of-range or strange value to a message "Unexpected response"
and the presence of a key such as "error" or "errors", with value True or whatever, to a message "Error response"
These may or may not prevent the code from continuing.
... and in fact to my mind it is worth making the process even more generic. These next functions, for me, typically cut down 20 lines of code using the above requests_call to about 3, and make most of your handling and your log messages standardised. More than a handful of requests calls in your project and the code gets a lot nicer and less bloated:
def log_response_error(response_type, call_name, deliverable, verb, url, **kwargs):
# NB this function can also be used independently
if response_type == 'No': # exception was raised (and logged)
if isinstance(deliverable, requests.Timeout):
MainWindow.the().visual_log(f'Time out of {call_name} before response received!', logging.ERROR)
return
else:
if isinstance(deliverable, BaseException):
# NB if response.json() raises an exception we end up here
log_exception(deliverable, verb, url, kwargs)
else:
# if we get here no exception has been raised, so no stack trace has yet been logged.
# a response has been returned, but is either "Bad" or "Anomalous"
response_json = deliverable.json()
raw_tb = traceback.extract_stack()
if 'data' in kwargs and len(kwargs['data']) > 500: # anticipate giant data string
kwargs['data'] = f'{kwargs["data"][:500]}...'
added_message = ''
if hasattr(deliverable, 'added_message'):
added_message = deliverable.added_message + '\n'
del deliverable.added_message
call_and_response_details = f'{response_type} response\n{added_message}' \
+ f'verb {verb}, url {url}, kwargs {kwargs}\nresponse:\n{json.dumps(response_json, indent=4)}'
logger.error(f'{call_and_response_details}\nStack trace: {"".join(traceback.format_list(raw_tb[:-1]))}')
MainWindow.the().visual_log(f'{response_type} response {call_name}. See log.', logging.ERROR)
def check_keys(req_dict_structure, response_dict_structure, response):
# so this function is about checking the keys in the returned json object...
# NB both structures MUST be dicts
if not isinstance(req_dict_structure, dict):
response.added_message = f'req_dict_structure not dict: {type(req_dict_structure)}\n'
return False
if not isinstance(response_dict_structure, dict):
response.added_message = f'response_dict_structure not dict: {type(response_dict_structure)}\n'
return False
for dict_key in req_dict_structure.keys():
if dict_key not in response_dict_structure:
response.added_message = f'key |{dict_key}| missing\n'
return False
req_value = req_dict_structure[dict_key]
response_value = response_dict_structure[dict_key]
if isinstance(req_value, dict):
# if the response at this point is a list apply the req_value dict to each element:
# failure in just one such element leads to "Anomalous response"...
if isinstance(response_value, list):
for resp_list_element in response_value:
if not check_keys(req_value, resp_list_element, response):
return False
elif not check_keys(req_value, response_value, response): # any other response value must be a dict (tested in next level of recursion)
return False
elif isinstance(req_value, list):
if not isinstance(response_value, list): # if the req_value is a list the reponse must be one
response.added_message = f'key |{dict_key}| not list: {type(response_value)}\n'
return False
# it is OK for the value to be a list, but these must be strings (keys) or dicts
for req_list_element, resp_list_element in zip(req_value, response_value):
if isinstance(req_list_element, dict):
if not check_keys(req_list_element, resp_list_element, response):
return False
if not isinstance(req_list_element, str):
response.added_message = f'req_list_element not string: {type(req_list_element)}\n'
return False
if req_list_element not in response_value:
response.added_message = f'key |{req_list_element}| missing from response list\n'
return False
# put None as a dummy value (otherwise something like {'my_key'} will be seen as a set, not a dict
elif req_value != None:
response.added_message = f'required value of key |{dict_key}| must be None (dummy), dict or list: {type(req_value)}\n'
return False
return True
def process_json_requests_call(verb, url, **kwargs):
# "call_name" is a mandatory kwarg
if 'call_name' not in kwargs:
raise Exception('kwarg "call_name" not supplied!')
call_name = kwargs['call_name']
del kwargs['call_name']
required_keys = {}
if 'required_keys' in kwargs:
required_keys = kwargs['required_keys']
del kwargs['required_keys']
acceptable_statuses = [200]
if 'acceptable_statuses' in kwargs:
acceptable_statuses = kwargs['acceptable_statuses']
del kwargs['acceptable_statuses']
exception_handler = log_response_error
if 'exception_handler' in kwargs:
exception_handler = kwargs['exception_handler']
del kwargs['exception_handler']
response, exception = requests_call(verb, url, **kwargs)
if response == None:
exception_handler('No', call_name, exception, verb, url, **kwargs)
return (False, exception)
try:
response_json = response.json()
except BaseException as e:
logger.error(f'response.status_code {response.status_code} but calling json() raised exception')
# an exception raised at this point can't truthfully lead to a "No response" message... so say "bad"
exception_handler('Bad', call_name, e, verb, url, **kwargs)
return (False, response)
status_ok = response.status_code in acceptable_statuses
if not status_ok:
response.added_message = f'status code was {response.status_code}'
log_response_error('Bad', call_name, response, verb, url, **kwargs)
return (False, response)
check_result = check_keys(required_keys, response_json, response)
if not check_result:
log_response_error('Anomalous', call_name, response, verb, url, **kwargs)
return (check_result, response)
Example call (NB with this version, the "deliverable" is either an exception or a response which delivers a json structure):
success, deliverable = utilities.process_json_requests_call('get',
f'{ES_URL}{INDEX_NAME}/_doc/1',
call_name=f'checking index {INDEX_NAME}',
required_keys={'_source':{'status_text': None}})
if not success: return False
# here, we know the deliverable is a response, not an exception
# we also don't need to check for the keys being present:
# the generic code has checked that all expected keys are present
index_status = deliverable.json()['_source']['status_text']
if index_status != 'successfully completed':
# ... i.e. an example of a 200 response, but an error nonetheless
msg = f'Error response: ES index {INDEX_NAME} does not seem to have been built OK: cannot search'
MainWindow.the().visual_log(msg)
logger.error(f'index |{INDEX_NAME}|: deliverable.json() {json.dumps(deliverable.json(), indent=4)}')
return False
So the "visual log" message seen by the user in the case of missing key "status_text", for example, would be "Anomalous response checking index XYZ. See log." (and the log would give a more detailed technical message, constructed automatically, including the stack trace but also details of the missing key in question).
NB
mandatory kwarg: call_name; optional kwargs: required_keys, acceptable_statuses, exception_handler.
the required_keys dict can be nested to any depth
finer-grained exception-handling can be accomplished by including a function exception_handler in kwargs (though don't forget that requests_call will have logged the call details, the exception type and __str__, and the stack trace).
in the above I also implement a check on key "data" in any kwargs which may be logged. This is because a bulk operation (e.g. to populate an index in the case of Elasticsearch) can consist of enormous strings. So curtail to the first 500 characters, for example.
PS Yes, I do know about the elasticsearch Python module (a "thin wrapper" around requests). All the above is for illustration purposes.

Related

I am a newbie in python and django. Trying to setup django to work with Dropbox but keep getting error "'BadRequestException' object has no attribute 'get'". Here is my code.
def get_dropbox_auth_flow(web_app_session):
APP_KEY= '****'
APP_SECRET = '****'
redirect_uri = "http://localhost:8000/dropbox"
return DropboxOAuth2Flow(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET, redirect_uri, web_app_session, "dropbox-auth-csrf-token")
# URL handler for /dropbox-auth-start
def dropbox_auth_start(request):
authorize_url = get_dropbox_auth_flow(request.session).start()
return HttpResponseRedirect(authorize_url)
# URL handler for /dropbox-auth-finish
def dropbox_auth_finish(request):
try:
access_token, user_id, url_state = get_dropbox_auth_flow(request.session).finish(request.GET)
# oauth_result = get_dropbox_auth_flow(request.session).finish(request.query_params)
except oauth.BadRequestException as e:
return e
except oauth.BadStateException as e:
# Start the auth flow again.
return HttpResponseRedirect("http://localhost:8000/dropbox_auth_start")
except oauth.CsrfException as e:
return HttpResponseForbidden()
except oauth.NotApprovedException as e:
raise e
except oauth.ProviderException as e:
raise e
I am following the documentation here
Adding traceback here

For all the other exceptions, you raise e, but for BadRequestException you return it - hence the error.
Note that all this is a very strange thing to do. There's no point catching exceptions only to re-raise them. You should only catch the ones that you actually want to deal with, ie BadStateException and CsrfException; you should remove the other blocks altogether and let them be caught upstream.

I have a simple function (in python 3) to take a url and attempt to resolve it: printing an error code if there is one (e.g. 404) or resolve one of the shortened urls to its full url. My urls are in one column of a csv files and the output is saved in the next column. The problem arises where the program encounters a url where the server takes too long to respond- the program just crashes. Is there a simple way to force urllib to print an error code if the server is taking too long. I looked into Timeout on a function call but that looks a little too complicated as i am just starting out. Any suggestions?
i.e. (COL A) shorturl (COL B) http://deals.ebay.com/500276625
def urlparse(urlColumnElem):
try:
conn = urllib.request.urlopen(urlColumnElem)
except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
return (e.code)
except urllib.error.URLError as e:
return ('URL_Error')
else:
redirect=conn.geturl()
#check redirect
if(redirect == urlColumnElem):
#print ("same: ")
#print(redirect)
return (redirect)
else:
#print("Not the same url ")
return(redirect)
EDIT: if anyone gets the http.client.disconnected error (like me), see this question/answer http.client.RemoteDisconnected error while reading/parsing a list of URL's

Have a look at the docs:
urllib.request.urlopen(url, data=None[, timeout])
The optional timeout parameter specifies a timeout in seconds for blocking operations like the connection attempt (if not specified, the global default timeout setting will be used).
You can set a realistic timeout (in seconds) for your process:
conn = urllib.request.urlopen(urlColumnElem, timeout=realistic_timeout_in_seconds)
and in order for your code to stop crushing, move everything inside the try except block:
import socket
def urlparse(urlColumnElem):
try:
conn = urllib.request.urlopen(
urlColumnElem,
timeout=realistic_timeout_in_seconds
)
redirect=conn.geturl()
#check redirect
if(redirect == urlColumnElem):
#print ("same: ")
#print(redirect)
return (redirect)
else:
#print("Not the same url ")
return(redirect)
except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
return (e.code)
except urllib.error.URLError as e:
return ('URL_Error')
except socket.timeout as e:
return ('Connection timeout')
Now if a timeout occurs, you will catch the exception and the program will not crush.
Good luck :)

First, there is a timeout parameter than can be used to control the time allowed for urlopen. Next an timeout in urlopen should just throw an exception, more precisely a socket.timeout. If you do not want it to abort the program, you just have to catch it:
def urlparse(urlColumnElem, timeout=5): # allow 5 seconds by default
try:
conn = urllib.request.urlopen(urlColumnElem, timeout = timeout)
except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
return (e.code)
except urllib.error.URLError as e:
return ('URL_Error')
except socket.timeout:
return ('Timeout')
else:
...

I have been fiddling around with raising exceptions for Google Big Query. I finally figured out how to make it work in the way it should work, but I don't really understand why it works. I am looking to gain a better understanding what is going on in my code. I have already scoured Stack Overflow and nothing seems to help.
Here is my view:
#api_view(['POST'])
def delete_table(request): # Deletes table from Big Query
project_id = request.POST.getlist('data[]')[0]
dataset_id = request.POST.getlist('data[]')[1]
table_id = request.POST.getlist('data[]')[2]
bq = BigQuery(project_id) # Instantiates BQ instance specific to project id
try:
bq.deleteTable(dataset_id, table_id) # Calls deleteTable method from BQ instance
except Exception, res:
logger.debug(res)
return Response('')
Here is my delete method in my Big Query controller:
def deleteTable(self, datasetId, tableId):
try:
response, content = \
self.http_auth.request("https://www.googleapis.com/bigquery/v2/projects/%s/datasets/%s/tables/%s" % (self.PROJECT_ID, datasetId, tableId), "delete")
content = json.loads(content)
message = content['error']['message']
raise Exception, message
except:
if response.status < 300:
message = tableId + " Was Deleted."
raise Exception, message
else:
raise Exception, message
I understand that the view is catching a raised error from the bqcontroller, I don't understand how the errors are being raised in the bqcontroller. Could someone please shed some light?

As the code is, there is no real reason for the try because at the end of the try block you always raise an exception, so you always go to the except block. So each time the code runs, it goes through the try, then hits the exception so goes to the except block where it raises an exception no matter which branch of the if/else statement you go to.
This code here does the same thing, it's just a little cleaner (less duplication) so you can see where the exceptions are being raised
def deleteTable(self, datasetId, tableId):
GOOG_API_ENDPOINT = 'https://www.googleapis.com/bigquery/v2/projects/{}/datasets/{}/tables/{}'
url = GOOG_API_ENDPOINT.format(self.PROJECT_ID, datasetId, tableId)
response, json_content = self.http_auth.request(url, "delete")
content = json.loads(json_content) # don't reassign same variable name
if response.status < 300:
message = tableId + " Was Deleted."
raise Exception, message # exception raised here or in else below
else:
message = content.get('error', {}).get('message')
raise Exception, message
Although I wouldn't raise a generic Exception, I'd use one of the built-ins or define your own

I would like to improve my coding style with a more robust grasp of try, except and raise in designing API, and less verbose code.
I have nested functions, and when one catches an execption, I am passing the exception to the other one and so on.
But like this, I could propagate multiple checks of a same error.
I am referring to:
[Using try vs if in python
for considering cost of try operation.
How would you handle an error only once across nested functions ?
E.g.
I have a function f(key) doing some operations on key; result is
passed to other functions g(), h()
if result comply with
expected data structure, g() .. h() will manipulate and return
updated result
a decorator will return final result or return the
first error that was met, that is pointing out in which method it was raised (f(),g() or h()).
I am doing something like this:
def f(key):
try:
#do something
return {'data' : 'data_structure'}
except:
return {'error': 'there is an error'}
#application.route('/')
def api_f(key):
data = f(k)
try:
# do something on data
return jsonify(data)
except:
return jsonify({'error':'error in key'})

IMO try/except is the best way to go for this use case. Whenever you want to handle an exceptional case, put in a try/except. If you can’t (or don’t want to) handle the exception in some sane way, let it bubble up to be handled further up the stack. Of course there are various reasons to take different approaches (e.g. you don’t really care about an error and can return something else without disrupting normal operation; you expect “exceptional” cases to happen more often than not; etc.), but here try/except seems to make the most sense:
In your example, it’d be best to leave the try/except out of f() unless you want to…
raise a different error (be careful with this, as this will reset your stack trace):
try:
### Do some stuff
except:
raise CustomError('Bad things')
do some error handling (e.g. logging; cleanup; etc.):
try:
### Do some stuff
except:
logger.exception('Bad things')
cleanup()
### Re-raise the same error
raise
Otherwise, just let the error bubble up.
Subsequent functions (e.g. g(); h()) would operate the same way. In your case, you’d probably want to have some jsonify helper function that jsonifies when possible but also handles non-json data:
def handle_json(data):
try:
return json.dumps(data)
except TypeError, e:
logger.exception('Could not decode json from %s: %s', data, e)
# Could also re-raise the same error
raise CustomJSONError('Bad things')
Then, you would have handler(s) further up the stack to handle either the original error or the custom error, ending with a global handler that can handle any error. In my Flask application, I created custom error classes that my global handler is able to parse and do something with. Of course, the global handler is configured to handle unexpected errors as well.
For instance, I might have a base class for all http errors…
### Not to be raised directly; raise sub-class instances instead
class BaseHTTPError(Exception):
def __init__(self, message=None, payload=None):
Exception.__init__(self)
if message is not None:
self.message = message
else:
self.message = self.default_message
self.payload = payload
def to_dict(self):
"""
Call this in the the error handler to serialize the
error for the json-encoded http response body.
"""
payload = dict(self.payload or ())
payload['message'] = self.message
payload['code'] = self.code
return payload
…which is extended for various http errors:
class NotFoundError(BaseHTTPError):
code = 404
default_message = 'Resource not found'
class BadRequestError(BaseHTTPError):
code = 400
default_message = 'Bad Request'
class NotFoundError(BaseHTTPError):
code = 500
default_message = 'Internal Server Error'
### Whatever other http errors you want
And my global handler looks like this (I am using flask_restful, so this gets defined as a method on my extended flask_restful.Api class):
class RestAPI(flask_restful.Api):
def handle_error(self, e):
code = getattr(e, 'code', 500)
message = getattr(e, 'message', 'Internal Server Error')
to_dict = getattr(e, 'to_dict', None)
if code == 500:
logger.exception(e)
if to_dict:
data = to_dict()
else:
data = {'code': code, 'message': message}
return self.make_response(data, code)
With flask_restful, you may also just define your error classes and pass them as a dictionary to the flask_restful.Api constructor, but I prefer the flexibility of defining my own handler that can add payload data dynamically. flask_restful automatically passes any unhandled errors to handle_error. As such, this is the only place I’ve needed to convert the error to json data because that is what flask_restful needs in order to return an https status and payload to the client. Notice that even if the error type is unknown (e.g. to_dict not defined), I can return a sane http status and payload to the client without having had to convert errors lower down the stack.
Again, there are reasons to convert errors to some useful return value at other places in your app, but for the above, try/except works well.

In python 2.6.6, how can I capture the error message of an exception.
IE:
response_dict = {} # contains info to response under a django view.
try:
plan.save()
response_dict.update({'plan_id': plan.id})
except IntegrityError, e: #contains my own custom exception raising with custom messages.
response_dict.update({'error': e})
return HttpResponse(json.dumps(response_dict), mimetype="application/json")
This doesnt seem to work. I get:
IntegrityError('Conflicts are not allowed.',) is not JSON serializable

Pass it through str() first.
response_dict.update({'error': str(e)})
Also note that certain exception classes may have specific attributes that give the exact error.

Everything about str is correct, yet another answer: an Exception instance has message attribute, and you may want to use it (if your customized IntegrityError doesn't do something special):
except IntegrityError, e: #contains my own custom exception raising with custom messages.
response_dict.update({'error': e.message})

You should use unicode instead of string if you are going to translate your application.
BTW, Im case you're using json because of an Ajax request, I suggest you to send errors back with HttpResponseServerError rather than HttpResponse:
from django.http import HttpResponse, HttpResponseServerError
response_dict = {} # contains info to response under a django view.
try:
plan.save()
response_dict.update({'plan_id': plan.id})
except IntegrityError, e: #contains my own custom exception raising with custom messages.
return HttpResponseServerError(unicode(e))
return HttpResponse(json.dumps(response_dict), mimetype="application/json")
and then manage errors in your Ajax procedure.
If you wish I can post some sample code.

Suppose you raise error like this
raise someError("some error message")
and 'e' is catched error instance
str(e) returns:
[ErrorDetail(string='some error message', code='invalid')]
but if you want "some error message" only
e.detail
will gives you that (actually gives you a list of str which includes "some error message")

This works for me:
def getExceptionMessageFromResponse( oResponse ):
#
'''
exception message is burried in the response object,
here is my struggle to get it out
'''
#
l = oResponse.__dict__['context']
#
oLast = l[-1]
#
dLast = oLast.dicts[-1]
#
return dLast.get( 'exception' )