--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/check_remote.py	Tue Oct 19 15:57:14 2021 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import json
+
+import requests
+
+URL = "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/portal/api/search"
+
+
+def check_remote_entry(entry_type, query_dict, out_format='json'):
+    '''
+    Checks if an entry with that alias exists in the ENA repos
+    entry_type = [study | sample | experiment | run]
+    '''
+    assert entry_type in ['study', 'sample', 'experiment', 'run']
+    params_dict = {}
+    query_str = ' AND '.join(['%s=%s' % (key, value) for (key, value) in query_dict.items()])
+    params_dict['query'] = query_str
+    params_dict['result'] = 'read_' + entry_type
+    params_dict['fields'] = entry_type + '_alias'
+    params_dict['format'] = out_format
+    response = requests.post(URL, data=params_dict)
+    if response.content != b'':
+        return json.loads(response.content)
+    return []