Stability of format of direct message and follower emails?

[Alan Holding (brokendrum70)]

Hello,

This is my first discussion post, so apologies if this has been
answered somewhere else. (I did a search but couldn't find anything
that seemed to be about this.)

To cut down on the number of API calls our application makes, we've
written routines that extract relevant information from the emails
that are sent by Twitter when a user follows the Twitter account our
app is using, and when a user direct messages that account.

Basically, if the current format / structure of the emails was to
change (specifically the sender email address, the X-twitter header
stuff and the body text of direct message emails), our application
would enter a world of hurt.

So, is the current format / structure of emails fixed?

Thanks for your time.

Best,
Alan.

[Alex Payne]

The headers will remain, but the body text may change at any time.

--
Alex Payne - API Lead, Twitter, Inc.
http://twitter.com/al3x

[Alan Holding (brokendrum70)]

On Dec 1, 10:19 pm, "Alex Payne" <a...@twitter.com> wrote:
> The headers will remain, but the body text may change at any time.

Thanks, Alex. Will there be any warning of a change to the body text,
or would I be best applying for whitelisting and hitting the API to
check for new followers / direct messages? (Which is something I
really don't want to do unless we get the OK.)

Thanks for your time,
Alan.

[Alex Payne]

Unfortunately, I'm not always made aware in advance when changes to
language on the site and in emails are made. Whitelisting is one
option, or let us know what other headers you'd need so that you don't
have to parse the emails at all.

--

[Alan Holding (brokendrum70)]

On Dec 2, 6:10 am, "Alex Payne" <a...@twitter.com> wrote:
> ...or let us know what other headers you'd need so that you don't

> have to parse the emails at all.

The only infomation the app currently needs is whatever is in the
header X-Twittersenderscreenname and the actual text of the tweet,
which is extracted from the body of the email.

I could ask for the body text to be placed in an X-Twitter header, but
that would probably be very silly.

I think we would be better applying for whitelisting, though I'll read
up on that process first to ensure I can give you as much information
as you want.

Thanks for your time,
Alan.

http://twitter.com/brokendrum70