From 83112668622049ad14a0623ecb2bde42eb47c8be Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jason Raitz <raitz@berkeley.edu>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:22:05 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] updated write_search_results_to_file - adds an optional
 output_dir parameter to overide the default

---
 CHANGELOG.md          |  6 ++++++
 README.md             |  7 +++++++
 tind_client/client.py | 10 ++++++----
 3 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 847470b..7a34b7d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [0.2.3]
+
+### Added
+- parameter to client.write_search_results_to_file() to specify an output directory for the file, with fallback to default_storage_dir if not provided
+- also uses PATH
+
 ## [0.2.2]
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5926422..2753778 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@ pymarc_results = client.search("collection:'Disabled Students Program Photos'",
 
 # search Tind with a query and write results to an XML file in the default storage directory
 records_written = client.write_search_results_to_file("Old Emperor Norton", "full_norton_results.xml")
+
+# write search results to a specific directory
+records_written = client.write_search_results_to_file(
+	"Old Emperor Norton",
+	"full_norton_results.xml",
+	output_dir="/path/to/some/directory"
+)
 ```
 
 ## Running tests
diff --git a/tind_client/client.py b/tind_client/client.py
index f044520..77b9883 100644
--- a/tind_client/client.py
+++ b/tind_client/client.py
@@ -178,12 +178,14 @@ def search(self, query: str, result_format: str = "xml") -> list[Any]:
         return recs
 
     def write_search_results_to_file(
-        self, query: str = "", output_file_name: str = "tind.xml"
+        self, query: str = "", output_file_name: str = "tind.xml", output_dir: str = ""
     ) -> int:
         """Search TIND and stream results to an XML file.
 
         :param str query: A TIND search query string.
         :param str output_file_name: filename for the output XML file.
+        :param str output_dir: Directory in which to save the file.
+                               Falls back to ``default_storage_dir`` when empty.
         :returns int: The number of records written to the file.
         """
 
@@ -192,9 +194,9 @@ def write_search_results_to_file(
             return 0
 
         recs_written = 0
-        output_path = os.path.join(self.default_storage_dir, output_file_name)
+        output_path = Path(output_dir or self.default_storage_dir) / output_file_name
         try:
-            with open(output_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            with output_path.open("w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
                 f.write(f'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<collection xmlns="{NS}">\n')
                 for record in self._iter_xml_records(query):
                     record_xml = E.tostring(record, encoding="unicode")
@@ -206,7 +208,7 @@ def write_search_results_to_file(
                     raise TINDError(f"Matched {total_hits} tind ids, but API did not return any.")
                 f.write("</collection>\n")
         except Exception:
-            Path(output_path).unlink(missing_ok=True)
+            output_path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
             raise
 
         if recs_written != total_hits: