sqworl api docs

The Sqworl API allows fetching data about Sqworl Users, Groups and therefore Links. It also allows for creating new Sqworl groups/links as well as adding new links to existing groups remotely.

Developers can now use Sqworl data and even create groups and add links from their own website or application. Feel free to create Sqworl browser extensions, iPhone apps, Wordpress plug-ins and much much more.

To get your API Key, go to your Sqworl Account Settings.

Note: While in beta, creating groups and adding links are limited to 50 per day. If you need more API Calls, email help@sqworl.com and (if you're not a spammer) I'll raise it right away. All requests are user/API Key specific.

API Methods:
Fetch a User's Groups
Fetch Specific Group Data
Create a Group w/ URLs
Add URLs
Check API Stats

Code Examples:
PHP Display Groups

API Example: Fetch a User's Groups

URL String:

http://sqworl.com/api/api.php?key=API_KEY&type=user&usrname=ANY_SQWORL_USERNAME

Parameters:

API Key	required
Type	required
User Name	required


Results:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:sqworl="http://sqworl.com" version="2.0">
<channel> 
  <title>Sqworl User Request</title>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <description>Sqworl User Request</description>
  <link>http://sqworl.com/</link>
  <sqworl_user>calebrown</sqworl_user>
  <sqworl_groupCount>2</sqworl_groupCount>

    <item>
    <title>Tech Sites</title>
    <link>http://sqworl.com/bd847a</link>
    <description>A collection of tech sites I dig.</description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00_00_00 -0400</pubDate>
    <sqworl_groupCount>672</sqworl_groupCount>
    </item>
    
    <item>
    <title>Food Blogs</title>
    <link>http://sqworl.com/20323a</link>
    <description>My collection of great food blogs</description>
    <pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21_45_39 -0400</pubDate>
    <sqworl_groupCount>86</sqworl_groupCount>
    </item>
    
</channel>
</rss>

API Example: Fetch Specific Group Data

URL String:

http://sqworl.com/api/api.php?key=API_KEY&type=getgroup&group_id=ANY_GROUP_ID

Parameters:

API Key	required
Type	required
Group ID	required


Results:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:sqworl="http://sqworl.com" version="2.0">
<channel> 
  <title>Clif Bar Recipe</title>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <description>My quest for the perfect Clif bar recipe.</description>
  <link>http://sqworl.com/</link>
  <sqworl_user>calebrown</sqworl_user>
  <sqworl_linkTotal>3</sqworl_linkTotal>

    <item>
    <title>scottdavisanderson</title>
    <link>http://bit.ly/DMr6V</link>
    <description>no bake Clif Bar recipe</description>
    <sqworl_thumbnail>http://sqworl.com/full_img/6923.jpg</sqworl_thumbnail>
    </item>

    <item>
    <title>ellenskitchen</title>
    <link>http://www.ellenskitchen.com/recipebox/powrec.html</link>
    <description>A few different power bar recipes</description>
    <sqworl_thumbnail>http://sqworl.com/full_img/6926.jpg</sqworl_thumbnail>
    </item>

    <item>
    <title>foodnetwork</title>
    <link>http://tinyurl.com/3rgnpb</link>
    <description>Alton Brown power bar (not clif specific)</description>
    <sqworl_thumbnail>http://sqworl.com/full_img/6928.jpg</sqworl_thumbnail>
    </item>

</channel>
</rss>

API Example: Create a Group (w/ optional URLs)

URL String:

http://sqworl.com/api/api.php?key=API_KEY&type=group&title=My Favorite Search Engines&desc=A few popular search engines&url1=http://www.google.com/&desc1=Google

Parameters:

API Key	required
Type	required
Title	required
Desc	optional
URL1	optional
Desc1	optional
URL2	optional
Desc2	optional
URL3	optional
Desc3	optional


Results:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:sqworl="http://sqworl.com" version="2.0">
<channel> 
  <title>Sqworl Group Success</title>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <description>API Success</description>
  <link>http://sqworl.com/srk8ua<link>
  <sqworl_groupTitle>My Favorite Search Engines</sqworl_groupTitle>
  <sqworl_key>srk8ua</sqworl_key>

    <item>
    <title>google</title>
    <link>http://www.google.com/<link>
    <description>Google</description>
    </item>

</channel>
</rss>

API Example: Add URLs to Specific Group (up to 5 at a time)

URL String:

http://sqworl.com/api/api.php?key=API_KEY&type=add&group=GROUP_ID_YOU_OWN&url1=http://amazon.com &desc1=Amazon&url2=http://ebay.com&desc2=auction site

Parameters:

API Key	required
Type	required
Group	required
URL1	required
Desc1	optional
URL2	optional
Desc2	optional
URL3	optional
Desc3	optional
URL4	optional
Desc4	optional
URL5	optional
Desc5	optional


Results:



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:sqworl="http://sqworl.com" version="2.0">
<channel> 
  <title>Sqworl Group Success</title>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <description>API Success</description>
  <link>http://sqworl.com/xxxxxx</link>
  <sqworl_key>xxxxxx</sqworl_key>

    <item>
    <title>amazon</title>
    <link>http://amazon.com/</link>
    <description>Amazon</description>
    </item>

    <item>
    <title>ebay</title>
    <link>http://ebay.com</link>
    <description>auction site</description>
    </item>
    
</channel>
</rss>

API Example: Check Your API Stats

URL String:

http://sqworl.com/api/api.php?key=API_KEY&type=userdata

Parameters:

API Key	required
Type	required


Results:



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:sqworl="http://sqworl.com" version="2.0">
<channel> 
  <title>Sqworl API User Info</title>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <description>Data about your API Usage</description>
  <link>http://sqworl.com/</link>
  <sqworl_APICallsLeftToday>97</sqworl_APICallsLeftToday>
  <sqworl_GroupsAddedToday>1</sqworl_GroupsAddedToday>
  <sqworl_LinksAddedToday>2</sqworl_LinksAddedToday>
  <sqworl_TotalGroupsAddedFromAPI>5</sqworl_TotalGroupsAddedFromAPI>
  <sqworl_TotalLinksAddedFromAPI>20</sqworl_TotalLinksAddedFromAPI>
</channel>
</rss>

Code Example: Display and Style your Groups

This PHP example uses simplexml_load_file to fetch the feed. This is a PHP5 function. If your PHP server doesn't allow simplexml_load_file, or you're using an older version of PHP, cURL could be used instead.

Also, this is simply an example that shows how easily the API result can be parsed, not necessarily best practice. If an API request result can be cached, it probably should be.



<?php
// Load and parse the feed 
$rss =  simplexml_load_file('http://sqworl.com/api/api.php?key=YOUR_KEY&type=user&usrname=calebrown');
?>
<html xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
  <title>My Sqworl Groups</title>
  <style type="text/css">
  #sqworlgroups {
  background-color:#ddd;
  width:350px;
  text-align:left;
  border-width: 2px;
  border-top-style:solid;
  border-top-color:#CCCCCC;
  }
  </style>

</head>
<body>
<h2>My Sqworl Groups</h2>
<?php
// Now we'll loop through the groups and display them as we please
foreach ($rss->channel->item as $item) {
  echo '<p><div id="sqworlgroups"><strong><a href="' . $item->link . '">' . $item->title . '</a></strong>';
  echo '<br />' . $item->description. '<br />';
  echo '(This group has '.$item->sqworl_groupCount.' views)</div></p>';
}
?>
</body>
</html>

Output: