GET DM events endpoint: events array is empty when it shouldn't be

[fabien_dmlo]

Hi,

When querying the GET direct_messages/events/list endpoint, for some twitter accounts using our application (most of them are not impacted though) we receive an empty events array even if the account received/sent some messages during the past 30 days.
In addition to that, we still receive a next_cursor even though the events array is empty, which makes us hit the rate limiting because we keep asking for the next page (we usually have a mechanism stopping the requests once we fetched 500 DMs, but in this case we keep making new requests fetching only an empty array).
This behavior started on Aug 18, 2018, around 7:45 AM (UTC +2)

Here’s what a request looks like:

$ curl -X GET \
  'https://api.twitter.com/1.1/direct_messages/events/list.json?count=50&cursor=MTAzMTY0MDM0Nzg2NzI3MTE3NA' \
  -H 'Authorization: OAuth oauth_consumer_key=\"[REDACTED]\", oauth_nonce=\"[REDACTED]\", oauth_signature=\"[REDACTED]\", oauth_signature_method=\"HMAC-SHA1\", oauth_timestamp=\"1534853815\", oauth_token=\"[REDACTED]\", oauth_version=\"1.0\"' 

{
  "events": [],
  "next_cursor": "MTAzMTYzOTA2NDU4NjQ2NTI4NA"
}

When we make another query for the next page using next_cursor, we get a similar response.

1. Is it normal to have a next cursor even though the API returns an empty array? If so, we’ll submit a PR to the library we’re using to stop iterating on cursors if the previous response was an empty array.
2. Could you please have a look at the requests we’re making which are returning an empty event array even though some DMs were sent and received recently? I’d be glad to provide you more information about the twitter accounts concerned privately.

Thanks!

[fabien_dmlo]

Hello,

I’m bumping this issue.

The bug is still occurring. It might be linked to a specific DM because on one of the accounts where it’s happening, I can fetch several pages up to Aug, 18 12:24:55 (UTC +2), so not that long after the problem arose.
I’ll hapilly provide more informations about the account and the queries privately if needed.

I’m not sure here’s place where bugs should be reported, so feel free to correct me

Thanks!

[Aurelia]

Hi Fabien,

Thanks for raising this issue with us. We are aware that this happens sometimes (getting an empty events field with a next_cursor) and we are looking into this issue. However, it is unlikely that this bug will be fixed in the short term.

For the time being, we suggest that when the answer contains a next_cursor field, you use it to continue paging through the results, as one of the following pages may contain some data. However, please be aware that each request will count toward your rate limit.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

[fabien_dmlo]

OK, thanks for the answer

[siwalik]

Well this bug has been there ever since events list api was released but although this might seem unfair and frustrating, you cannot complain because they have mentioned it in their documentation that events array can be empty at times!

Also if you’re passing extra params with your request like count(which tells you the no. of DMs to fetch), passing 50 doesn’t guarantee that you will receive 50 DM every time. 50 is just the max you might get.

[LeBraat]