Standardizing web querying - Using YQL for accessing and exposing APIs

Agenda

• Introduction to YQL• How to get started• What’s supported through YQL• Theme of the day – mim.yahoo.com• Lots of examples using mim API • Mashup using YQL• Introduction to more YQL goodies

-Server side javascript execution-YQL hosted storage

• Concluding remarks

..lets keep it interactive

YQL – Yahoo Query Language

• Enables you to access Internet data with SQL-like commands• YQL hides the complexity of Web service APIs by presenting data as

simple tables, rows, and columns.• YQL includes pre-defined tables for popular Yahoo! Web services such

as Flickr, Search, Geo and Mim.• YQL can access services on the Internet that output data in the

following formats: HTML, XML, JSON, RSS, Atom, and microformat.• Create fast mashups reducing latency, code

How to get started

• Explore the APIs - http://developer.yahoo.com/everything.html• Get a developer key - https://developer.apps.yahoo.com/wsregapp/• Read the documentation - http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/guide/• Visit the YQL Console - http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/console/

-The YQL Console enables you to run YQL statements interactively from your browser.

• Hack away..

Y! APIs supported by YQL

-Show tables-Flickr-Y! geo-Y! local search-Y! maps-Y! mim-Y! music-Y! MyBlogLog-Y! search-Y! social-Y! upcoming

External APIs supported by YQL

- Amazon ECS- AWS- Bit.ly- Comicvine- Craigslist- Del.icio.us- Dopplr- Facebook- Friendfeed- Github- Google (News, Search,

Translate)- Guardian

- IMDB- LastFm- MediaWikiAPI- Microsoft (Bing)- Twitter- Zillow

Through datatables.orgShow tables

Theme of the day – mim.yahoo.com

• Mim has an YQL based API for everything – reading, searching, updating, deleting and so on.-Profile information of mim users-Followers/following information-Query for users-Listing mim posts of a user-Popular posts-Search for posts- Inserting (posting to mim) through YQL

Reposting, commenting deleting

Getting information about self (logged in)

<query xmlns:yahoo="http://www.yahooapis.com/v1/base.rng" yahoo:count="1” yahoo:lang="en-US” yahoo:uri="http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?q=select+*+from+meme.info+where+owner_guid%3Dme">

<results> <meme> <guid>NKADUBBZPUQQG6GF6AHTDTABSQ</guid> <name>shreeni</name> <title>Shreeni&amp;#39;s Mim</title> <description/> <url>http://meme.yahoo.com/shreeni/</url> <avatar_url>http://a.com/b.jpeg</avatar_url> <language>en</language> <followers>18</followers> </meme> </results></query>

select * from meme.info where owner_guid=me

In JSON

{"query": { "count": "1", "created": "2009-11-19T10:33:11Z", "lang": "en-US", "updated": "2009-11-19T10:33:11Z", "uri": "http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/yql?q=select+*+from+meme.info+where+owner_guid

%3Dme", "results": { "meme": { "guid": "NKADUBBZPUQQG6GF6AHTDTABSQ", "name": "shreeni", "title": "Shreeni&#39;s Mim", "description": null, "url": "http://mim.yahoo.com/shreeni/", "avatar_url":

"http://d.yimg.com/gg/shreeni/avatars/7a0d55f7d0aab9e326a7906a110f8027d46bd49b.jpeg",

"language": "en", "followers": "18"}}}}

select * from meme.info where owner_guid=me

How to run YQL queries

•Convert to URL: http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql?q=<yql_query>&format=<json/xml>

•Use the YQL Console - http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/console/•Use a PHP SDK provided by Y! - http://developer.yahoo.com/social/sdk/#php

Selecting specific fields

<results> <meme> <title>Shreeni&amp;#39;s Mim</title> <url>http://mim.yahoo.com/shreeni/</url>

<avatar_url>http://d.yimg.com/gg/shreeni/avatars/7a0d55f7d0aab9e326a7906a110f8027d46bd49b.jpeg</avatar_url>

<language>en</language> </meme> </results>

select title, url, avatar_url, language from meme.info where name='shreeni'

Selecting specific fields (also Followers API)

<results> <meme>

<name>herry</name> </meme> <meme> <name>grahamhills</name> </meme> <meme> <name>fizzycitrus</name> </meme> </results>

select name from meme.followers where owner_guid = “NKADUBBZPUQQG6GF6AHTDTABSQ”

Sub-select and Limits

<results> <meme>

<name>herry</name> </meme> <meme> <name>grahamhills</name> </meme></results>

select name from meme.followers where owner_guid in (select guid from meme.info where name='shreeni’) limit 2

Functions

select name from meme.followers where owner_guid in (select guid from meme.info where name='shreeni') | sort(field="name", descending="true”)

Functions

- Sort- Tail- Truncate-Reverse-unique- Sanitize

Following API in mim

select name from meme.following where owner_guid in (select guid from meme.info where name='bangwinissimo')

Searching for people

select guid, name, title, language from meme.people where query="Fajar”

select guid, name, title, language from meme.people where query="Fajar" and language=”id"

Finding specific Posts of a mim user

select * from meme.posts where owner_guid in (select guid from meme.info where name='bangwinissimo')

select * from meme.posts where owner_guid in (select guid from meme.info where name='bangwinissimo') and type='text'

Popular Posts

select * from meme.popularselect * from meme.popular where locale="id"

Search in mim

SELECT * FROM meme.search WHERE query="jakarta”

Inserting/Deleting mim posts

INSERT INTO meme.user.posts (type, content) VALUES ("text", "This is a text post from YQL!”)

DELETE FROM meme.user.posts where pubid = "Nswwwmv"

Reposting, Commenting

INSERT INTO meme.user.posts (guid, pubid, comment) VALUES ("S5R44PGJRBLKNEE5GYSRQPTXLQ", "rGCOBCK", "this is the repost comment”)

INSERT INTO meme.user.comments (guid, pubid, comment) VALUES ("S5R44PGJRBLKNEE5GYSRQPTXLQ", "rGCOBCK", "meme rocks")

YQL Cheat Sheet

http://bit.ly/yql-cheat-sheet

Exposing own API through YQL

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <table xmlns="http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/schema/table.xsd"> <meta> <sampleQuery>select * from {table} where query=’q'</sampleQuery> </meta> <bindings> <select itemPath="results" produces="JSON" > <urls> <url env="all">http://query-url</url> </urls> <inputs> <key id=”q" type="xs:string" paramType="query" required="true" /> </inputs> </select> </bindings> </table>

Now access it through YQL

USE "http://definition-file.xml" AS mytable;SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE query="whatever”

Mashup - introduction

•Finding the Sunrise/Sunset time for Jakarta•Earthtools api for sunrise-sunset information

•XML based api•Needs latitude-longitude of the location

•Yahoo Geo API to convert location to latitute-longitude

•Would need 2 different API calls and effort from your side•Assuming Yahoo API was in JSON would have to deal with 2 formats

Solution – Exposing 3rd party API in YQL

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <table xmlns="http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/schema/table.xsd"> <meta> <author>Earthtools.org</author> <documentationURL>http://www.earthtools.org/</documentationURL> <sampleQuery>select * from {table} where lat='lat' and lon='lon' and day='day' and

month='month' </sampleQuery> </meta> <bindings> <select itemPath="sun" produces="XML" > <urls> <url env="all">http://www.earthtools.org/sun/{lat}/{lon}/{day}/{month}/99/1</url> </urls> <inputs> <key id="lat" type="xs:string" paramType="path" required="true" /><!– 3 others -->

</inputs> </select></bindings> </table>

Querying for the data

# Get the Lat Long information for Jakartaselect * from geo.places where text="Jakarta" limit 1;

# Now get the sunrise/sunset from earthtools using a # YQL queryUSE "http://rahukalamcalculator.appspot.com/yql/earthtools-definition.xml" AS earthtools;SELECT morning, evening FROM earthtools WHERE lat="1.365580" and lon="103.827713" and day="21" and month="11”

Combine the queries

# One awesome call!select * from mytable where (lat,lon) in (select centroid.latitude, centroid.longitude from geo.places where text="jakarta") and day="21" and month="11”

Mashup – solution highlights

•Exposed a third party API through YQL•Expressed business logic in Query – readable, maintainable•Used server side for the actual join•Less latency•Use the format you like

More goodies – YQL server side execution

•Executing JavaScript allows you to use conditional logic and to format data in a granular manner.

•Better data shaping and parsing•Better support for calling external Web service•Better support for adding, modifying, and deleting data using external Web

services•Lots of examples and detailed documentation at

http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/guide/yql-execute-examples.html

Server Side execution - example

<bindings> <select itemPath="" produces="XML"> <urls>

…</inputs>

<execute><![CDATA[ // Your javascript goes here. We will run it on our servers response.object = <item> <url>{request.url}</url> <a>{a}</a> <b>{b}</b> </item>; ]]></execute> </select> </bindings>

More goodies – YQL Hosted Storage

•Size Limit: You can have up to 1000 records, with each record being up to 100KB.

•Retention Limit: Records not read, updated, or executed at least once every thirty days may be removed.

•Record Format: Records must be in a text-based format. Examples include JavaScript code, XML files, Open Data Tables, or YQL environment files.

•Authentication for New Records: All connections to yql.storage.admin must be authorized using two-legged OAuth. Alternatively, you can create new records using the YQL console. However, connections to yql.storage do not require authentication.

Storing into YQL

# Just the valueinsert into yql.storage.admin (value) values ("example text content")

# Contents of a URLinsert into yql.storage.admin (name,url) values ("newrecord","http://hostingdomain.com/mytable.xml")

# response looks like <results> <inserted> <execute>store://35ad2c72-e353-41c4-9d21-4a7e5a1ec92</execute>

<select>store://08fd2c74-d393-48c4-9ee1-3bf7e5a1ec92</select> <update>store://3cc85a99-6a89-4600-ade1-f7f83ecc4b83</update> </inserted> </results>

Querying from hosted storage

# Uses select-idselect * from yql.storage where name="store://08fd2c74”

# Uses update-iddelete from yql.storage where name="store://3cc85a99”update yql.storage set value="new value" where name="store://3cc85a99”

# Use contents as env file (uses execute-id)use "store://35ad2c72" as mytable; select * from mytable;

# Use contents as JS for server side execute (uses execute-id)y.include('store://35ad2c72'); response.object = <success>{success}</success>;

Concluding remarks

•YQL is an extensible gateway to use APIs across and beyond Yahoo!•Allows standardization of APIs across the web•Familiar and concise language for expressing business and data logic •Powerful tool to build mashups•You can build upon existing APIs and expose third party APIs•Sound server side support, including javascript execution and storage to enable

easy development

Questions?

Thank You!

•http://developer.yahoo.com/yql•shreeni@yahoo-inc.com•http://tech.shreeni.info