Skip to content | Skip to navigation
Through the Triskweline API, scripts and applications to automatically retrieve content from this site.
Disclaimer: I implemented the API upon a personal request from a friend of mine. It could always subject to change or removal, especially if people go overboard and cause too much traffic with it. I don't guarantee anything.
All posts on Netalive.org are copyright of their respective authors.
If you display content retrieved through the API on websites, please leave a note somewhere on the screen indicating its origin. A link to Netalive.org would be nice.
Before you can start to use the API you must receive your API key. The key identifies you when making requests to the API, and is used to meter your daily traffic contingent of currently 10 MB per day.
Save the key away and keep it secret. You are responsible for everything that will done with your key.
This document describes API usage through XML-RPC. Alternative (easier and faster, but less standardized) REST-ish protocols are available here.
My advice is to use XML-RPC if you've already used the protocol or want to get into it. If you're looking for a quick hack, you should at least look at the alternatives.
XML-RPC is described as a Remote Procedure Calling protocol that works over the Internet. The following links will be helpful:
Post all your method calls to http://www.netalive.org/api.
Every method from this API is being called with one parameter, a <struct> of name/value pairs.
This calls the method trisk.getRecentPosts with the parameters since = "2003-01-15 13:26:00" and fromForums = "programming":
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodCall>
<methodName>trisk.getRecentPosts</methodName>
<params>
<param>
<struct>
<member>
<name>since</name>
<value><dateTime.iso8601>2003-01-15 13:26:00</dateTime.iso8601></value>
</member>
<member>
<name>fromForums</name>
<value><string>programming</string></value>
</member>
</struct>
</param>
</params>
</methodCall>
Every method returns a table-like structure, implemented as an <array> of <array>s. The first row of that table (the first field in the outer array) is the table header and contains the names of the values in the rows below:
name |
pocket money |
pet |
---|---|---|
Mary |
5 |
lamb |
Jake |
2 |
cat |
This table is represented through the following XML-RPC response:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<methodResponse>
<params>
<param>
<value>
<array>
<data>
<value>
<array>
<data>
<value>name</value>
<value>pocket money</value>
<value>pet</value>
</data>
</array>
</value>
<value>
<array>
<data>
<value>Mary</value>
<value>5</value>
<value>lamb</value>
</data>
</array>
</value>
<value>
<array>
<data>
<value>Jake</value>
<value>2</value>
<value>cat</value>
</data>
</array>
</value>
</data>
</array>
</value>
</param>
</params>
</methodResponse>
Returns author, subject, full text, etc. of one or more posts.
parameter |
description |
type |
required |
---|---|---|---|
key |
your API key |
string |
yes |
ids |
a comma-seperated list of post IDs |
string |
yes |
stripStyle |
If set to 1, strips all Pocket HTML tags from the post body. |
boolean |
no, default is 0 |
column |
description |
type |
---|---|---|
id |
the post ID |
int |
forum |
the post's forum |
string |
parents |
A list of the post's parents in the post's topic thread. The first element in the list is the oldest parent (the topic post). Example value:
If a post has no parents, it is a topic post. |
string |
date |
date of post, format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS |
dateTime.iso8601 |
author |
author of post |
string |
subject |
subject of post |
string |
body |
full text of post |
string |
rating |
Post rating in percent and the number of raters, seperated by a pipe symbol ("|"). |
string |
Returns a list of all posts in a topic thread, in reverse chronological order. Returns a fault if id is not a topic post.
parameter |
description |
type |
required |
---|---|---|---|
key |
your API key |
string |
yes |
id |
ID of the topic post (the first post in the topic) |
int |
yes |
limit |
the maximum number of posts you would like to receive |
int |
no, default is no limit |
column |
description |
type |
---|---|---|
id |
the post ID |
int |
parents |
parents of the post (format see trisk.getPosts) |
string |
Returns a list of all recent posts in a topic thread. Returns a fault with faultCode = 0 if no matching posts exist.
Please do not call this method more than once every 30 minutes. Calling this method will debit a general "fee" of 1 KB from your daily traffic contingent in order to discourage hammering.
parameter |
description |
type |
required |
---|---|---|---|
key |
your API key |
string |
yes |
since |
The list will only include posts younger than this date. This should be the date of your last request, or whatever seems wise to you. Format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS |
dateTime.iso8601 |
yes |
limit |
the maximum number of posts you would like to receive |
int |
no, default is 20, maximum is 100 |
fromForums |
A comma-seperated list of forum IDs. Use this only if you want to limit the query to a specific set of forums. |
string |
no, default is all forums |
fromAuthors |
A comma-seperated list of author names. Use this only if you want to limit the query to a specific set of authors. |
string |
no, default is all authors |
noReplies |
Setting this to 1 will only return topic posts but no replies. |
boolean |
no, default is 0 |
column |
description |
type |
---|---|---|
date |
date of post, format is YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS |
dateTime.iso8601 |
id |
the post ID |
int |
forum |
the post's forum |
string |
author |
author of post |
string |
rating |
Post rating in percent and the number of raters, seperated by a pipe symbol ("|"). |
string |
If there's a fatal error, a method will return a XML-RPC fault with faultCode = 1.
Triskweline API © 2003 by Henning Koch.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and these paragraphs are included on all such copies and derivative works.
This document may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to Netalive.org, PAWS or Triskweline.
This copyright notice was taken and modified from UserLand Software's XML-RPC specification.