Search and Filter API: Overview

2005/3/27

Search and Filter API: Overview

WWW authorization is required to see non public entries and to view search results as XML and to get more than 20 results (default).

Filtering/search is accessed by HTTP GET to special URL that returns results as XML.

Filtering API

/action=search&view=xml&start={startIndex}&num={count}[&type={types of entries}]

Search API

/action=search&view=xml&q={searchTerms}&start={startIndex}&num={count}[&type={types of entries}]

Parameters:

  • REQUIRED: view=xml
  • OPTIONAL: q={searchTerms}
    If present chnages from Filtering (default) to Searching and will return list of matching entries sorted by relevance (otherwise entries are sorted by creation time).
  • OPTIONAL: start={startIndex} - position to start displaying results from [default=0]
  • OPTIONAL: num={count}: maximum anumber of entries returned [default=20]
  • NOT IMPLEMENTED: type= : what is returned: entry, topic, "topic entry" (default)

Search terms are currently for full text query, minimum size of word is 3 letter, and for full text search returned entries may be from friend spaces and not just current one

Returns a special feed with search results (s:summary is present in searchTerms and s:content otherwise:

<s:feed>
  <s:entry>
    <a:title>...</a:title>
    <a:link rel="alternate" href="entry-URL" />
  </s:entry>
  ...
</s:feed>