New Features for API

[Jason Mott]

The following enhancements have gone live for the Social Actions API.

* Add result count as a data field in the API -- For the xml side there
are now two feed level fields oa:result_count and oa:page_count. For
json, a separate call can be made to extract this information. See the
API documentation for details:
http://socialactions.pbworks.com/API-Documentation

* Open Action fields available to Social Actions API -- the rss and json
feeds now return all Open Action fields, just as the Atom feed does.

* Build an administrative interface for adding/editing/deleting Social
Actions' 40+ action sources -- Not public facing, but done. Anyone
interested in the feature will have to refer to the source code. For the
most part it follows the standard Rails scaffold structure.

* XML and JSON feeds of currently supported action types and sites. You
can now dynamically query the API for the list of action type's name and
ids by using this url:
http://search.socialactions.com/action_types.json, and a list of stie's
name and ids using this url: http://search.socialactions.com/sites.json
(use .xml instead to get xml formats).

I have also implemented a plugin interface for varying Action Source
formats. Currently, all of our Action Sources are rss or atom with the
exception of Donors Choose. But now with the simple implementation of a
Ruby class which can retrieve and translate data to Open Actions, any
type of data available on the Internet can become part of the data
available through the Social Actions API.

--
Jason Mott
Worker-Owner
Software Engineer

Ronin Tech Collective, Inc.
28 Vernon St. Suite 326
Brattleboro, VT 05301
888.200.5074 x369
http://www.ronincollective.com

[Ehren Foss]

> I have also implemented a plugin interface for varying Action Source
> formats. Currently, all of our Action Sources are rss or atom with the
> exception of Donors Choose. But now with the simple implementation of a
> Ruby class which can retrieve and translate data to Open Actions, any
> type of data available on the Internet can become part of the data
> available through the Social Actions API.

All very fine work, but this one is particularly exciting.

[Peter Deitz]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for making these extensive feature enhancements ahead of the June
30th milestone.

We more or less hit all of the to-do items we had listed in the product
road-map for May / June 2009. That feels very good. I'm especially
excited about the administrative interface. Those of us who are less
technical can now add new feeds to our system without pestering Jason.

We have a number of new action sources coming down the pipe, including
WiserEarth, VolunteerMatch, Spot.us, Spark Program, TakePart, CauseCast,
All for Good, and others. The admin interface will be invaluable as we
expand on the number of action sources.

Even more crucially, the fact that Jason has created the plugins
interface will permit us to increase the quality of content as well as
the quantity of content. We will be creating (and could use help)
plugins for the Global Giving API, the Kiva API, the WiserEarth API, and
the All for Good API. By adding a plugin for these action sources, we
can leapfrog directly to rich information about the actions they
facilitate.

The richer information is going to help out many of the applications
that have already been developed, and create new use cases for the
Social Actions API.

I'm looking forward to this next phase in our aggregation. A huge sigh
of relief that we are now officially more than an RSS / Atom aggregation
of opportunities to make a difference.

Thanks Jason for all of your work over the last few weeks.

SA Dev, please let us know if you have any questions about these updates.

All the best,
Peter

Peter Deitz
Social Actions
Founder / Executive Director
http://www.socialactions.com

USA: 415-425-7482 | Canada: 514-824-3270

http://twitter.com/peterdeitz
http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdeitz
http://my.socialactions.com/profile/PeterDeitz

[Peter Deitz]

Hi Ehren,

I agree. The plugin interface is very significant. Thanks for seeing the
potential. :-)

All the best,
Peter

Peter Deitz
Social Actions
Founder / Executive Director
http://www.socialactions.com

USA: 415-425-7482 | Canada: 514-824-3270

http://twitter.com/peterdeitz
http://www.linkedin.com/in/peterdeitz
http://my.socialactions.com/profile/PeterDeitz