The Application Programming Interface has been designed for easy access to data contained in all the HelpWorld.. sites. It is the same for each site.

 

You can use the API to request very specific information about users, posts, their friends, and so on. We'll be adding new features to this API as time permits. The API is implemented over standard HTTP requests. This allows integration with just about any application that can connect to the web. The API accepts REST requests, and responses are, for the moment, in XML format.

 

Thank you for interacting with and using this API. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please use this forum or if you have any special request please contact us.

 

public_talk

Returns  the 100 most recent posts in public talk in structured XML:

URL: http://www.helpworldpeace.com/status/public_talk

Example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss>
<channel>
<from>http://www.helpworldpeace.com</from> <link>http://www.helpworldpeace.com/status/public_talk/</link>
<description>Bippr talk from everyone!</description>
<items>
  <item>
  <title>test</title>
  <author>greg</author>
  <link>87c1ee096faae797</link>
  </item>
</items>
</channel>
</rss> 

 

 

friend_talk

It's also possible to request another user's talk via the user parameter which specifies the screen name.

Ex: http://www.helpworldpeace.com/status/friend_talk/?user=greg

 

write

The Write API is a very simple HTTP interface. To create a post, send a POST request to http://www.helpworldpeace.com/status/write with the following parameters:

• username - your account's username.
• password - your account's password.
• generator (optional) - short description of the application making the request - for your own use.

 

Return values

We return standard HTTP status codes for each request, plus a plaintext response.

• 200 Created - Success! The newly created post's ID is returned.
• 403 Forbidden - Your email address or password were incorrect.
• 400 Bad Request - There was at least one error while trying to save your post. Errors are sent in plain text, one per line.

 

Sample PHP code

// Authorization info
$username = 'greg';
$password = 'secret';

// Data for new record
$post_title = 'The post title';
$post_body = 'This is the body of the post.';

// Prepare POST request
$request_data = http_build_query(
array(
'username' => $username,
'password' => $password,
'description' => $post_body,
'generator' => 'API example'
)
);

// Send the POST request (with cURL)
$c = curl_init('http://www.helpworldpeace.com/status/write/index.php');
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $request_data);
curl_setopt($c, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$result = curl_exec($c);
$status = curl_getinfo($c, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($c);

// Check for success
if ($status == 200) {
echo "Success! The new post ID is $result.\n";
} else if ($status == 403) {
echo 'Bad username or password';
} else {
echo "Error: $result\n";
}

Suggestions are very welcome. 

 

The site is run by London South Bank University Business Lecturer Greg Tallent.

 

London South Bank University
103 Borough Road
London SE1 0AA

Tel: +44 20 7815 7744