API Updates for v1.1.5

[Ben Dodson]

Hey everyone,

v1.1.5 is on its way and so we have a few API updates I'd like to share with you today. These are all live as of now and I've put some test URLs in so you can see some of the changes.

Item status: '', 'LOCKED', or 'HIDDEN'

We've added a new property to all items returned by the API named 'status'. This will either be empty (in which case everything is normal), 'LOCKED', or 'HIDDEN'. If the item is 'HIDDEN' then we won't give you any information about who owns it or where it is dropped; you will not be able to see the item at all in the API. If the item is 'LOCKED', there will be a 'user_id' property along with it so you can see who owns the item. You'll learn more about LOCKED and HIDDEN items when v1.1.5 is released so this is more of a "heads up". For example:

• /itemtypes/507/number/677 - a LOCKED item in my pouch
  
• /itemtypes/477/number/4043 - a HIDDEN item dropped at Ben Dodson Apps (place_id: 710625)
  
• /itemtypes/477/number/3635 - a LOCKED item dropped at Ben Dodson Apps
  
• /places/710625/items - you'll see some LOCKED items here but you won't see Horse Lords 4043 which is HIDDEN
  
• /items/1049847 - this is a HIDDEN item. Notice you get no place or user info.
  
• /items/1049847/activity - good try. That'll just error (you can't see the activity of HIDDEN items)
  
• /users/1/pouch - you'll see both normal and LOCKED items here. HIDDEN items don't exist in the pouch.
  

The thing to watch out for (and the reason I bring this up now) is that an item could have both a user_id and a place_id whereas previously it was one of the other (user_id if in pouch, place_id if at a place). Depending on the way you coded, this may work fine but the rule should be "if there is a place_id it is at a place regardless of the user_id - if there is just a user_id it's in the pouch". If there are both, that means the item is locked by a player and dropped at a place.

I'm fairly confident that all endpoints have been covered but if you discover a way to see user or place information relating to a HIDDEN item, please let me know.

Users/#

We've updated this so that the 'account_type' property will now be 'normal', 'staff', or 'beekeeper'. We've removed the 'pro' option as there are no pro accounts anymore.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

[Mobijack]

Hi Ben,

This was really useful to have all the variations associated with Locked and Hidden items.  As a user who hides their location it was especially useful to have the Horselords 3635 locked and visible at a spot (as this is one I can't create without sharing my location).

Some of the items listed have since moved and in at least one case been mixed.  Can you provide a reference to another such item, (Locked and visible at a location) so that we can use it in general testing? (it would be good if an example of each was readily available, but I appreciate due to the nature of the game items are constantly moving).

Thank you,

Jonathan

@mobijack

[Ben Dodson]

No problem. I've created a new account so that the items below won't alter:

/items/1134114 - a LOCKED item (Spiders Web #498) in the WallaBeeAPI pouch (user_id: 7223)
/items/1134115 - a LOCKED item (Oathbreakers #865) dropped at Ben Dodson Apps (place_id: 710625) by WallaBeeAPI (user_id: 7223)
/items/1134116 - a HIDDEN item (Tiger Cub #5603) dropped at Ben Dodson Apps (place_id: 710625) by WallaBeeAPI (user_id: 7223)

The WallaBeeAPI account has neither the "hide location" or "hide profile" flags enabled.

Ben

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[Mobijack]

Hi Ben,

This work nicely. Neat Solution.

Thanks!

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[Tod Cole]

Ben,

You said "if you discover a way to see user or place information relating to a HIDDEN item, please let me know."  I know that v2 is coming and this will all change, but I am curious how you consider creating a wallabee link for the item (e.g. for Tiger Cub #5603 and item_id of 1134116, a wallabee URL can be generated of wallabee://items/1134116), which allows me to launch the item in wallabee and see all the public activity of the item.  In this case, I can see that it was purchased by WallaBeeAPI with no further public activity, which leads me to believe the item is currently locked and hidden (since it is not in a pouch).  ItemBrowser currently creates just such a link for "hidden" items.  In fairness, this wallabee URL does not expose user or place information, as it is also possible that this item was traded to a currently hidden user.  All I know is the last user to publicly hold it.

You gave the example:

• /items/1049847/activity - good try. That'll just error (you can't see the activity of HIDDEN items)

Which does error out in the API, but works with a wallabee URL

My recommendation (if anything, again, since v2 is coming) would be to allow the /items/1049847/activity to return any non-hidden activity.

Thanks,

Tod Cole

[Ben Dodson]

Hey Tod,

We changed the way the app works a little while ago so you can see all activity on an item (including from hidden profiles although they are anonymised) apart from the “drop” and “pickup” activities of hidden items. The reason for this isn’t so much to protect the identity of the player so much as their actual location which is why we allowed players to “hide” items in the first place (as otherwise it made it unfair on those that wanted to protect their location as you can’t drop or pickup without revealing that).

I’m not bothered that you can generate a URL to see the item and the activity we’ve hidden as you could do that through the app anyway. It is unlikely I’ll change the API to allow you to see the activity due to the upcoming changes we’ll be making.

Cheers,

Ben

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