NGW024

Using Web Services in your Gadget

Alan Lewis – eBay Technical Evangelist

 Hi

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 I lost my voice
earlier this morning

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 :-(

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 I have some cool
stuff to show you
though

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 :-)

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 So, I’ll give it
a try

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 Here
goes…

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Huh? What’s this presentation about???

• Web Services
– You may have heard of them
– Yes, they are actually useful
– No, you don’t have to use SOAP
– Lots of services are out there for you to use (finally)
• Gadgets
– Or Widgets
– Or Plugins
– Or Panels
– Definition: “mini-applications that let you perform common tasks and
provide you with fast access to information”
– Translation: They do cool stuff

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Why Should I Care?

• Gadgets are cool

• Web services offer lots of reusable data and functionality
• MIXing them up (nice plug) in your gadget saves you headaches
• Alternative to doing it this way – server side coding
– Need to scale your server to handle traffic from gadget
– Different skill set required
– Eww!!!

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So, what sorts of web services are out there?

• I’m so glad you asked… here is a totally random example:

eBay Web Services!!!

• Please permit me a short detour to summarize

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eBay Web Service Features

• Search
• Listing Items
• Transaction/Order Management
• My eBay
• eBay Stores
• Feedback Management
• Watch List
• Bidding (with signed agreement)
• In short, almost everything you can do
on the site

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Different Flavors of eBay Web Services

• SOAP
• XML (HTTP POST)
– Both support the same feature set (all calls)
– Calls go over HTTPS

• REST (HTTP GET)

– supports GetSearchResults call

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 Sample Call Request

XML API:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<GetSearchResultsRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
<RequesterCredentials>
<eBayAuthToken>ABC123</eBayAuthToken>
</RequesterCredentials>
<Query>iPod Nano</Query>
</GetSearchResultsRequest>

REST API

http://rest.api.ebay.com/restapi?CallName=GetSearchResults&RequestToken=ABC
123=&RequestUserId=alanlewis0&Query=iPod%20Nano&Schema=1

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Sample Call Response

XML API and REST API (same response)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<GetSearchResultsRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
…
<Item>
<ItemID>4036874357</ItemID>
…
<SellingStatus>
<BidCount>31</BidCount>
<CurrentPrice currencyID="USD">80.0</CurrentPrice>
</SellingStatus>
<Site>US</Site>
<Title>Used Apple iPod Nano MP3 Player Good Condition</Title>
…
</Item>
…
</GetSearchResultsRequest>
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And Now…

Demo

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Live.com

• Supports RSS feeds and Gadgets

• Gadgets are implemented in javascript + CSS
• Still alpha feel – emerging feature set and very buggy at times (especially
with CSS support)

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Design Philosophy

• Gadgets call for a fresh design approach

• Sort of like code for mobile devices
– Limited screen real-estate
– Limited functionality/APIs

• Except not
– Still coding for the browser– multiple windows/tabs, cross-browser issues
– Asynchronous interaction, more bandwidth

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Challenge 1: Security Restrictions

• Calls can’t go across domains

– If the gadget was served up from www.mydomain.com, can’t call api.ebay.com

• Live.com solution to this: proxy!

– Supports XML data (except XHTML) and RSS feeds
– Currently only supports HTTP GET (contrary to docs – support for POST will be
added in the future)
– Can’t proxy HTTPS yet, so only option for eBay is REST API

var r = Web.Network.createRequest(
Web.Network.Type.XML,
searchQuery,
{proxy:"generic"},
eBaySearchCallback);

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Challenge 2: Namespaces

• IE javascript engine can’t handle XML data in default namespaces

• Solution: Use ugly RegEx hack to remove namespace:
var rootText = response.responseText;
var re = /xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents"/g;
rootText = rootText.replace(re, "");
var responseWithoutNamespaces;
if (window.ActiveXObject) {
responseWithoutNamespaces = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
responseWithoutNamespaces.async="false";
responseWithoutNamespaces.loadXML(rootText);
}
else {
responseWithoutNamespaces =
document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
responseWithoutNamespaces.loadXML(rootText);
}

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And now…

• ANNOUNCING:
• The gadget is open sourced
• Commercial software-friendly open source license: CDDL
• Yeah!
• http://searchgadget.codebase.ebay.com

• Lets go check it out…

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Now More Code

• Here is the code, in-depth

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Other Web Services

• Lots to choose from: www.programmableweb.com

• REST is very popular, but has limitations
• RSS feeds are web services too

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Building Commercial Apps

• One issue to keep in mind is many Web services out there force non-
commercial use
• Shameless plug: that’s not the case with eBay Web services
• One way to make money with your Gadget is to use an affiliate program like
eBay’s:
http://developer.ebay.com/affiliates

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Other Gadget/Widget Platforms

• Vista Sidebar
– Bundled with Vista, but limited capabilities (thusfar)
• Yahoo! Widget Engine (Konfabulator)
– Multi-platform support, integration with Desktop still clumsy
• Apple Dashboard
– Best desktop integration, but only for OSX
• Google Desktop – (Sidebar)
– Information-rich widgets, but harder to build, bundled with a product IT
departments hate
• Google Personalized Home Page
– Sorta like live.com – less functionality but better visibility

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 Learn More Stuff

• More on eBay Web Services: http://developer.ebay.com

Its totally free!
• eBay Developers Conference, baby!
June 10-12, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
• Live.com eBay Gadget available in the Gallery:
microsoftgadgets.com
• Open sourced at: http://searchgadget.codebase.ebay.com
• Sanaz Ahari’s presentation immediately following this one, in C/D

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