API returns less hits than web site

[Mathias Weyland]

Hello

I'm working on a BOM tool that extracts BOM fields from a schematic file and queries octopart to find the cheapest option given a set of requirements. For example, I can specify

CAP MLCC 1uF 10% ≥X5R 16V [0603]

and the tool picks the cheapest option for me. Somehow though the API returns less hits than the web site. For the above cap, the API only returns 4 hits from digikey where the web site yields 101. I'm providing a simpler example with less parameters below where the numbers don't add up either.

 curl -G http://octopart.com/api/v3/parts/search -d apikey=KEY -d pretty_print=true -d 'filter[fields][category_uids]=f6473b4dcf9d2d80' -d 'filter[fields][offers.seller.name]=Digi-Key' -d 'filter[fields][specs.case_package.value]=0603' -d 'filter[fields][specs.capacitance_tolerance.value]=±10%'

reports 5867 hits. Searching for the same on the web site (a MLCC sold by digikey in a 0603 package with a tolerance of 10%) I get 6783 results. I wonder why this is.

Regards and thank you

Matt

[ji...@octopart.com]

Hi Mathias,
We recently made large data improvements across our part collection. Those changes are visible now on the website but have not yet been propagated to the API. For the time being the API will often return fewer results with less specs for the same search.
Hope that helps!
Jimmy

[Mathias Weyland]

Hi Jimmy

Thank you for your quick response. This is somewhat strange as I started the project last year and I could swear that there were far more results back then than there are now. The project was on hold for a few months and of course I have nothing to back up my claim, so I guess I'll just have to wait until things will be propagated to the API. Do you have any rough estimate on when this might happen?

Big thanks and regards

Matt

[ji...@octopart.com]

Hi Matt,
We don't have any immediate plans to update the API. The API and website query the same pool of parts, but when you filter by specs, the parts you get back will be different becaues the API is filtering by the old specs and the website is filtering by the new specs. We're sorry that this impacts your project and I've let the team know that you'd like to be able to use the new specs.

Jimmy