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Wowhead API?
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Post by
571215
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Wanderingfox
Eventually... It's pretty low on the totem pole of 'stuff to get done' though iirc.
Post by
Incendium
You mean something like
this
?
Post by
Wanderingfox
That's not really an API and it doesn't cover the entirety of Wowhead's data :P
Post by
Gnub
That's not really an API and it doesn't cover the entirety of Wowhead's data :P
It actually
pretty much is
.
I wonder however, what data doesn't it cover, that is on Wowhead? :P
Post by
Wanderingfox
Except that it's not fully implemented. It's provided as is, and only works on a small subset of links, and even then it responds erratically. There's no documentation, no support, and is limited in it's use as far as developing actual applications are concerned (there's no way to get an xml formatted list from a search query without transforming the html output for example).
edit:
To answer your second question, it only works with items, and even then only specific items. It won't find multiple items with the same name, items that contain random enchant properties (like the JC crafted rings), or return an xml result when multiple items match the query given (it returns only the first). It also does not return any of the comment information. Lastly, it does not work on: quests, achievements, spells, or profiles at all.
Post by
571215
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Gnub
I see, Wanderingfox. Good catch.
Post by
pelf
The resulting response to this question is always that they're worried about making it easier than it already is* for people to scrape Wowhead's database.
*WOWDB
Post by
Jakobud
There are lots of threads about any type of Wowhead API access. A client of mine has recently started figuring out a similar approach to designing an API, so I posted the question on Stackoverflow and got some good answers and suggestions:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4425877/design-an-api-for-a-web-service-without-selling-the-farm/4426065#4426065
If you were to provide a wowhead api, here are some key points:
Don't just allow anyone with an email address to use the API. Put a signup process in place for it. This way you will know who is signing up for it and what they intend to do with it.
Assign API keys to people who want to use it. That way, you can see who is pulling what from the database.
Throttle usage - Since you know who is pulling data, you can also limit the number of queries per hour or something like that.
With assigned API keys you will be able to easily tell if someone is mining the database and cut them off
Put a formal license agreement or TOS in place that requires anyone who uses to API to conform to certain rules. For example, perhaps any webpage that displays information from the wowhead API is required to have a wowhead logo or image on it with links back to wowhead.com so that it is obvious where the data is coming from. Anyone who does not conform to the rules has their API key revoked. I'm not sure how hard this would be to police.
There are a lot of web services out there that successfully deploy API's to developers without giving up all of their valuable database information. Just gotta figure out how everyone else does it and follow along.
Post by
Erorus
Jakobud: and after all that work making a formal API, how does that make Wowhead any more money?
Wowhead's dev team has limited resources (as do all). They have 100 things on their to-do list, and 75 of those can make the site better, which increases page hits, which pleases advertisers, which makes more money. 25 of those things are neat things, but probably don't increase page hits. So if you're on a dev team, and you can make neat stuff that brings in bucks or neat stuff that doesn't, doncha think they'll make neat stuff that keeps them employed?
If you want a proper API, along with your "here's how" you should include a "here's why."
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