Add built-in pager to simplify paging

README.md

@@ -193,57 +193,23 @@ PyAlex, although cursor paging seems to be easier to implement and less error-pr
 
 ##### Basic paging
 
-See limitations of [basic paging](https://docs.openalex.org/api#basic-paging) in the OpenAlex documentation.
-
-```python
-from pyalex import Authors
-
-# example query
-query = Authors().search_filter(display_name="einstein")
-
-# set the page
-page = 1
-
-# store the results
-results = []
-
-# loop till page is None
-while page is not None:
-
-    # get the results
-    r, m = query.get(return_meta=True, per_page=200, page=page)
-
-    # results
-    results.append(r)
-
-    page = m["page"] + 1 if page is not None else None
-```
+See limitations of [basic paging]
+(https://docs.openalex.org/api#basic-paging) in the OpenAlex documentation.
+It's relatively easy to implement basic paging with PyAlex, however it is
+advised to use the built-in pager based on cursor paging.
 
 ##### Cursor paging
 
+Use `paginate()` for paging results. By default, `paginate`s argument `n_max`
+is set to 10000. Use `None` to retrieve all results.
+
 ```python
 from pyalex import Authors
 
-# example query
-query = Authors().search_filter(display_name="einstein")
-
-# set the next_cursor (to *)
-next_cursor = "*"
-
-# store the results
-results = []
-
-# loop till next_cursor is None
-while next_cursor is not None:
-
-    # get the results
-    r, m = query.get(return_meta=True, per_page=200, cursor=next_cursor)
-
-    # results
-    results.extend(r)
+pager = Authors().search_filter(display_name="einstein").paginate(per_page=200)
 
-    # set the next cursor
-    next_cursor = m["next_cursor"]
+for page in pager:
+    print(len(page))
 ```
 
 ### Get N-grams

pyalex/api.py

@@ -93,6 +93,38 @@ class Concept(OpenAlexEntity):
     pass
 
 
+class CursorPaginator(object):
+    def __init__(self, alex_class=None, per_page=None, cursor="*", n_max=None):
+
+        self.alex_class = alex_class
+        self.per_page = per_page
+        self.cursor = cursor
+        self.n_max = n_max
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+
+        self.n = 0
+
+        return self
+
+    def __next__(self):
+
+        if self.n_max and self.n >= self.n_max:
+            raise StopIteration
+
+        r, m = self.alex_class.get(
+            return_meta=True, per_page=self.per_page, cursor=self.cursor
+        )
+
+        if m["next_cursor"] is None:
+            raise StopIteration
+
+        self.n = self.n + len(r)
+        self.cursor = m["next_cursor"]
+
+        return r
+
+
 class BaseOpenAlex(object):
 
     """Base class for OpenAlex objects."""
@@ -153,6 +185,10 @@ def get(self, return_meta=False, page=None, per_page=None, cursor=None):
         else:
             return results
 
+    def paginate(self, per_page=None, cursor="*", n_max=10000):
+
+        return CursorPaginator(self, per_page=per_page, cursor=cursor, n_max=n_max)
+
     def random(self):
 
         return self.__getitem__("random")

tests/test_pyalex.py

@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ def test_search_filter():
     assert r["meta"]["count"] == m["count"]
 
 
-def test_cursor_paging():
+def test_cursor_by_hand():
 
     # example query
     query = Authors().search_filter(display_name="einstein")
@@ -170,8 +170,6 @@ def test_cursor_paging():
     # loop till next_cursor is None
     while next_cursor is not None:
 
-        print(next_cursor)
-
         # get the results
         r, m = query.get(return_meta=True, per_page=200, cursor=next_cursor)
 
@@ -184,6 +182,72 @@ def test_cursor_paging():
     assert len(results) > 200
 
 
+def test_basic_paging():
+
+    # example query
+    query = Authors().search_filter(display_name="einstein")
+
+    # set the page
+    page = 1
+
+    # store the results
+    results = []
+
+    # loop till page is None
+    while page is not None:
+
+        # get the results
+        r, m = query.get(return_meta=True, per_page=200, page=page)
+
+        # results
+        results.extend(r)
+        page = None if len(r) == 0 else m["page"] + 1
+
+    assert len(results) > 200
+
+
+def test_cursor_paging():
+
+    # example query
+    pager = Authors().search_filter(display_name="einstein").paginate(per_page=200)
+
+    for page in pager:
+
+        assert len(page) >= 1 and len(page) <= 200
+
+
+def test_cursor_paging_n_max():
+
+    # example query
+    pager = (
+        Authors()
+        .search_filter(display_name="einstein")
+        .paginate(per_page=200, n_max=400)
+    )
+
+    n = 0
+    for page in pager:
+
+        n = n + len(page)
+
+    assert n == 400
+
+
+def test_cursor_paging_n_max_none():
+
+    # example query
+    pager = (
+        Authors()
+        .search_filter(display_name="einstein")
+        .paginate(per_page=200, n_max=None)
+    )
+
+    n = 0
+    for page in pager:
+
+        n = n + len(page)
+
+
 def test_referenced_works():
 
     # the work to extract the referenced works of