Free information about APIs and Web Feeds http://e-articles.info/e/s/s/APIs-and-Web-Feeds/ en-us E-articles.info 2006 - 2009 What’s the best way to get started with your datafeed marketing? Have a datafeed party! What’s a datafeed party? As first reported in eBay Motors, a datafeed party does not refer to a party with vodka on the rocks, Sushi snacks, and square-dancing music. It refers to the process of sitting down and researching how many places you can send data feeds to sell in new marketplaces. So, have yourself a datafeed party and see how many new marketplaces you can find to sell your [items] with little additional effort... by Mike Miotke http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Developing-a-Datafeed-Strategy/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Developing-a-Datafeed-Strategy/ Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:33:17 GMT Websites are designed to be accessed by individuals, and as such tend to rely on the relatively slow speed of the user to avoid any performance bottlenecks. This technique fails miserably with APIs because they are going to be consumed by other servers with high-speed connections, often designed only with their own performance in mind (they won't cache your responses for you, and will instead make exactly the same request time and time again). Designing your API with performance in mind can help keep the server fast even when many requests are being made, and will help ensure that future hardware upgrades can accomplish their desired tasks... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Common-API-Performance-Techniques/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Common-API-Performance-Techniques/ Tue, 05 Sep 2006 01:41:22 GMT When interacting with web services, generally the choice of which method to use will be made for you. The majority of services operate in either REST or SOAP, not both (Amazon is a notable exception to this rule). When given the choice, however, there are several points to consider: Overhead — REST requests are relatively slim... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Introduction-to-Web-APIs-~-REST-vs-SOAP/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Introduction-to-Web-APIs-~-REST-vs-SOAP/ Wed, 30 Aug 2006 02:49:27 GMT You can think of feeds as small modules of information that can be plugged into existing websites, consumed by clients on their desktop, or consumed by aggregators to be presented by users with other feeds. Aggregators also offer searching functionality to users, allowing new users to locate your site and feed (a great reason to provide a feed in the first place). Websites such as Yahoo! produce web feeds... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/What-are-Feeds-~-RSS-and-ATOM-Feed-Specifications/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/What-are-Feeds-~-RSS-and-ATOM-Feed-Specifications/ Sun, 27 Aug 2006 03:57:32 GMT XML feeds provide a great resource of information, but their use is not without its own special considerations. Security and legal concerns go hand in hand whether you are producing or consuming feeds. Consider if you will the implications of going away for the weekend, only to discover that your aggregator has been attacked, your site is now displaying wildly inaccurate information provided by the attacker, and your legal department is fielding not-so-nice phone calls regarding the current content of your homepage... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Important-Considerations-When-Using-Feeds/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Important-Considerations-When-Using-Feeds/ Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:23:37 GMT The API server can generate a certificate and provide it to the client via a secure channel before any requests are made. This certificate is then used in the authentication process; this confirms the identity of both the client and server before requests are made. Although this method provides the greatest level of security (barring a dedicated VPN connection, which won't be covered here), it also has the most strenuous requirements on both sides: not all modules (say, NuSOAP) can handle client-side certificates... by Giulio Delgado http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Client-Side-Certificates/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Client-Side-Certificates/ Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:31:42 GMT There are two sides to this tale, the first is how to generate legitimate REST requests, and the second is how to handle the responses correctly. Generating Requests When it comes to generating the request, you have three main options. First, you can generate the request manually, using PHP's header functions... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-to-implement-the-REST-technology/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-to-implement-the-REST-technology/ Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:39:47 GMT Feeds have several advantages, primarily related to consumption, over traditional HTML formats. Many desktop applications are devoted to reading feeds at regular intervals, and many of the new batch of web browsers include features for reading feeds. These free the user from manually checking various sources (websites) for new information... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Why-Do-You-Need-to-Produce-Feeds/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Why-Do-You-Need-to-Produce-Feeds/ Tue, 15 Aug 2006 07:47:52 GMT Generally speaking, a REST request will involve sending a request to a special URL (similar to what you would see after filling out a form using the GET method), then receiving an XML document containing the server's response. The XML response is then parsed, and the desired information is extracted and acted upon. Each REST request generally has several common elements: Endpoint URL — The full address for the desired script... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-REST-Works/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-REST-Works/ Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:55:57 GMT A SOAP request will involve creating and populating a request envelope, which contains all the required information (as specified by the WSDL document), transmitting that envelope to the API server, and handling the response. A SOAP request generally contains all of the following elements: SOAP Envelope — With namespace inclusions. SOAP Body — Possibly defining additional namespaces... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-SOAP-Works/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-SOAP-Works/ Sat, 12 Aug 2006 09:23:15 GMT Configuring your web server to present the API over an SSL connection adds protection for both the request and response bodies, while requiring little to no additional coding for the API. Remember that the use of a server certificate only authenticates the server for the client, it does nothing to identify the client itself. It is best used layered with one of the previous two examples... by Giulio Delgado http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-SSL-~-API-related/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-SSL-~-API-related/ Sun, 30 Jul 2006 10:31:20 GMT The two primary architectures for APIs are REST and SOAP. When creating your API, you really have three options: REST, SOAP, or both. REST APIs are known for being easy and quick to develop for, but the entire request is sent in the clear regardless of the type of encryption used... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/REST-API-vs-SOAP-API-technology/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/REST-API-vs-SOAP-API-technology/ Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:39:25 GMT Like REST, implementing SOAP involves both generating requests and then handling the response. Whereas handling the SOAP response is similar to the REST result, generating the SOAP request is quite different. Generating Requests Unlike REST, it is rather uncommon to see requests generated manually, though it can still be done... by Emanuela Hedrick http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-to-implement-the-SOAP-technology/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/How-to-implement-the-SOAP-technology/ Tue, 25 Jul 2006 12:47:30 GMT Under an open API, absolutely no security or authentication methods are used. A query is received from the wild, and the system makes its best effort to respond to it appropriately. This has several advantages and disadvantages... by Giulio Delgado http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Open-API/ http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Open-API/ Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:55:35 GMT