def createRequest(request_type, request_obj=None, timestamp=None, as_mongo_obj=False, **kwargs):
"""
request_type: required, name (string) of request type, dbref to it's db entry, or a Type object
request_obj: optional, stored as is, could be a dict of collection parameters, or whatever
timestamp: datetime.datetime.now() if not provided
priority: optional, integer priority level
anything else (priority, sample_id) can either be embedded in the
request_object or passed in as keyword args to get saved at the
top level.
"""
if isinstance(request_type, unicode) or isinstance(request_type, str):
request_type = type_from_name(request_type, as_mongo_obj=True)
print('rt:[{0}]'.format(request_type))
# elif not isinstance(request_type, Request):
# raise ValueError('wrong type {0}'.format(request_type.__class__))
kwargs['request_type'] = request_type
kwargs['timestamp'] = timestamp
kwargs['request_obj'] = request_obj
r = Request(**kwargs)
r.save()
if as_mongo_obj:
return r
return r.to_mongo()
