sqlalchemy insert - string argument without an encoding - python-3.x

Question

The code below worked when using Python 2.7, but raises a StatementError when using Python 3.5. I haven't found a good explanation for this online yet.
Why doesn't sqlalchemy accept simple Python 3 string objects in this situation? Is there a better way to insert rows into a table?
from sqlalchemy import Table, MetaData, create_engine
import json
def add_site(site_id):
engine = create_engine('mysql+pymysql://root:password#localhost/database_name', encoding='utf8', convert_unicode=True)
metadata = MetaData()
conn = engine.connect()
table_name = Table('table_name', metadata, autoload=True, autoload_with=engine)
site_name = 'Buffalo, NY'
p_profile = {"0": 300, "1": 500, "2": 100}
conn.execute(table_name.insert().values(updated=True,
site_name=site_name,
site_id=site_id,
p_profile=json.dumps(p_profile)))
add_site(121)
EDIT The table was previously created with this function:
def create_table():
engine = create_engine('mysql+pymysql://root:password#localhost/database_name')
metadata = MetaData()
# Create table for updating sites.
table_name = Table('table_name', metadata,
Column('id', Integer, Sequence('user_id_seq'), primary_key=True),
Column('updated', Boolean),
Column('site_name', BLOB),
Column('site_id', SMALLINT),
Column('p_profile', BLOB))
metadata.create_all(engine)
EDIT Full error:
>>> scd.add_site(121)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py", line 1073, in _execute_context
context = constructor(dialect, self, conn, *args)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py", line 610, in _init_compiled
for key in compiled_params
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py", line 610, in <genexpr>
for key in compiled_params
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/sql/sqltypes.py", line 834, in process
return DBAPIBinary(value)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/pymysql/__init__.py", line 79, in Binary
return bytes(x)
TypeError: string argument without an encoding
The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "/home/user1/Desktop/server_algorithm/database_tools.py", line 194, in add_site
failed_acks=json.dumps(p_profile)))
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py", line 914, in execute
return meth(self, multiparams, params)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/sql/elements.py", line 323, in _execute_on_connection
return connection._execute_clauseelement(self, multiparams, params)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py", line 1010, in _execute_clauseelement
compiled_sql, distilled_params
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py", line 1078, in _execute_context
None, None)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py", line 1341, in _handle_dbapi_exception
exc_info
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/util/compat.py", line 202, in raise_from_cause
reraise(type(exception), exception, tb=exc_tb, cause=cause)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/util/compat.py", line 185, in reraise
raise value.with_traceback(tb)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/base.py", line 1073, in _execute_context
context = constructor(dialect, self, conn, *args)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py", line 610, in _init_compiled
for key in compiled_params
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/default.py", line 610, in <genexpr>
for key in compiled_params
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/sqlalchemy/sql/sqltypes.py", line 834, in process
return DBAPIBinary(value)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.5/dist-packages/pymysql/__init__.py", line 79, in Binary
return bytes(x)
sqlalchemy.exc.StatementError: (builtins.TypeError) string argument without an encoding [SQL: 'INSERT INTO table_name (updated, site_name, site_id, p_profile) VALUES (%(updated)s, %(site_name)s, %(site_id)s, %(p_profile)s)']

Answer 1

As univerio mentioned, the solution was to encode the string as follows:
conn.execute(table_name.insert().values(updated=True,
site_name=site_name,
site_id=site_id,
p_profile=bytes(json.dumps(p_profile), 'utf8')))
BLOBs require binary data, so we need bytes in Python 3 and str in Python 2, since Python 2 strings are sequences of bytes.
If we want to use Python 3 str, we need to use TEXT instead of BLOB.

Answer 2

You simply just need to convert your string to a byte string ex:
site_name=str.encode(site_name),
site_id=site_id,
p_profile=json.dumps(p_profile)))```
or
```site_name = b'Buffalo, NY'```