How to use the shodan.exception.WebAPIError function in shodan

'shodan': self.base_url,
            'exploits': self.base_exploits_url,
        }.get(service, 'shodan')

        # Send the request
        try:
            data = urlopen(base_url + function + '?' + urlencode(params)).read().decode('utf-8')
        except:
            raise WebAPIError('Unable to connect to Shodan')
        
        # Parse the text from JSON to a dict
        data = loads(data)
        
        # Raise an exception if an error occurred
        if data.get('error', None):
            raise WebAPIError(data['error'])
        
        # Return the data
        return data

"""
        # Add the API key parameter automatically
        params['key'] = self.api_key
        
        # Determine the base_url based on which service we're interacting with
        base_url = {
            'shodan': self.base_url,
            'exploits': self.base_exploits_url,
        }.get(service, 'shodan')

        # Send the request
        try:
            data = urlopen(base_url + function + '?' + urlencode(params)).read().decode('utf-8')
        except:
            raise WebAPIError('Unable to connect to Shodan')
        
        # Parse the text from JSON to a dict
        data = loads(data)
        
        # Raise an exception if an error occurred
        if data.get('error', None):
            raise WebAPIError(data['error'])
        
        # Return the data
        return data