Raise TypeError in kafka.producer.send_messages if any msg is not a str (or subclass); document

README.md

@@ -42,9 +42,14 @@ kafka = KafkaClient("localhost:9092")
 
 # To send messages synchronously
 producer = SimpleProducer(kafka)
+
+# Note that the application is responsible for encoding messages to type str
 producer.send_messages("my-topic", "some message")
 producer.send_messages("my-topic", "this method", "is variadic")
 
+# Send unicode message
+producer.send_messages("my-topic", u'你怎么样?'.encode('utf-8'))
+
 # To send messages asynchronously
 producer = SimpleProducer(kafka, async=True)
 producer.send_messages("my-topic", "async message")
@@ -78,6 +83,8 @@ producer = SimpleProducer(kafka, batch_send=True,
 # To consume messages
 consumer = SimpleConsumer(kafka, "my-group", "my-topic")
 for message in consumer:
+    # message is raw byte string -- decode if necessary!
+    # e.g., for unicode: `message.decode('utf-8')`
     print(message)
 
 kafka.close()

kafka/producer.py

@@ -148,7 +148,28 @@ class Producer(object):
     def send_messages(self, topic, partition, *msg):
         """
         Helper method to send produce requests
+        @param: topic, name of topic for produce request -- type str
+        @param: partition, partition number for produce request -- type int
+        @param: *msg, one or more message payloads -- type str
+        @returns: ResponseRequest returned by server
+        raises on error
+
+        Note that msg type *must* be encoded to str by user.
+        Passing unicode message will not work, for example
+        you should encode before calling send_messages via
+        something like `unicode_message.encode('utf-8')`
+
+        All messages produced via this method will set the message 'key' to Null
         """
+
+        # Guarantee that msg is actually a list or tuple (should always be true)
+        if not isinstance(msg, (list, tuple)):
+            raise TypeError("msg is not a list or tuple!")
+
+        # Raise TypeError if any message is not encoded as a str
+        if any(not isinstance(m, str) for m in msg):
+            raise TypeError("all produce message payloads must be type str")
+
         if self.async:
             for m in msg:
                 self.queue.put((TopicAndPartition(topic, partition), m))