Super simple python script that uses boto to connect to amazon mturk. If you use the sandbox, you'll see a balance of $10,000! Otherwise, you'll see your normal balance.

mturk_boto_intro.py

import boto.mturk.connection

sandbox_host = 'mechanicalturk.sandbox.amazonaws.com'
real_host = 'mechanicalturk.amazonaws.com'

mturk = boto.mturk.connection.MTurkConnection(
    aws_access_key_id = 'XXX',
    aws_secret_access_key = 'XXX',
    host = sandbox_host,
    debug = 1 # debug = 2 prints out all requests. but we'll just keep it at 1
)

print boto.Version
print mturk.get_account_balance()

mturk_external_hit.py

import boto.mturk.connection
import boto.mturk.question

sandbox_host = 'mechanicalturk.sandbox.amazonaws.com'
real_host = 'mechanicalturk.amazonaws.com'

mturk = boto.mturk.connection.MTurkConnection(
    aws_access_key_id = 'XXX',
    aws_secret_access_key = 'XXX',
    host = sandbox_host,
    debug = 1 # debug = 2 prints out all requests. but we'll just keep it at 1
)

print boto.Version
print mturk.get_account_balance()


URL = "https://the-url-of-my-external-hit"
title = "A special hit!"
description = "The more verbose description of the job!"
keywords = ["cats", "dogs", "rabbits"]
frame_height = 500 # the height of the iframe holding the external hit
amount = .05


questionform = boto.mturk.question.ExternalQuestion( URL, frame_height )

create_hit_result = mturk.create_hit(
    title = title,
    description = description,
    keywords = keywords,
    question = questionform,
    reward = boto.mturk.price.Price( amount = amount),
    response_groups = ( 'Minimal', 'HITDetail' ), # I don't know what response groups are
    )

HIT = create_hit_result[0]
assert create_hit_result.status

print '[create_hit( %s, $%s ): %s]' % ( URL, amount, HIT.HITId )

sample_task_with_submit.html

<!-- This is a django page so turk_submit_url is a variable I made in my view that got turkSubmitTo from the GET request. Also, the hidden user_id input gets updated with some javascript when the page loads and the task starts up. -->

<h4>Thanks for working on this task!</h4>
<form id="mturk_form" method="post" action="{{turk_submit_url}}/externalSubmit">
    <input type="hidden" name="user_id" id="user_id" />
    <input type="hidden" name="assignmentId" value="{{assignmentId}}" />
    <textarea name="feedback" rows=10 cols=60 placeholder="Enter any feedback you have about the task here"></textarea>
    <br /><br />
    <button class="btn btn-success" type="submit" value="Submit">Finish and Submit HIT</button>
</form>

there is no longer a manage individual hits button - how can we see individual hits?