API | John Hobbs on coding, Omaha, and life in general

Thursday Quote: Kenneth Reitz

February 16, 2012 » Geek

“The API is all that matters. Everything else is secondary.”

Charting Weight Change With Google Visualizations

July 5, 2010 » Consume, Geek, Life

I started trying to lose weight a while back, since we both know I’m a bit heavy and sitting in front of a computer isn’t going to lose the weight for me.

Naturally, it’s important that I incorporate technology into my weight loss somehow, right? So I decided to give the Google Visualizations API a spin.

I worked up a quick data format and a method to pop the data out. Nothing fancy, just a fixed width flat file. This doesn’t deserve a database.

1 2	2010-06-30 235.4 2010-06-29 236.8

Easy to read, easy to edit, and easy to consume. Every morning I just hop on the server, add the day’s weight and log off.

<?php
  // Get the max days back we want to look.
  $max_days = 7;
  if( isset( $_REQUEST['days'] ) and ! empty( $_REQUEST['days'] ) )
    $max_days = intval( $_REQUEST['days'] );
 
  $i = 0;
  $lines = array();
 
  $fh = fopen( 'data.txt', 'r' );
  while( ! feof( $fh ) and ++$i <= $max_days ) {
    $line = fgets( $fh );
    if( empty( $line ) ) { continue; }
    array_unshift( $lines, $line );
  }
  fclose( $fh );

Now I just needed to represent it. The API is very object oriented and easy to work with. I wish there was a less verbose way of presenting the data, but you can’t have everything.

Actually, there may be a better way, I just didn’t come across it while speed reading the docs.

function drawChart() {
  var data = new google.visualization.DataTable();
  data.addColumn( 'string', 'Date' );
  data.addColumn( 'number', 'Weight' );
 
  data.addRows( <?php echo count( $lines ); ?> );
 
  <?php
    $i = 0;
    foreach( $lines as $line ):
  ?>
  data.setValue(
    <?php echo $i; ?>,
    0,
    '<?php echo substr( $line, 0, 10 ); ?>'
  );
 
  data.setValue(
    <?php echo $i; ?>,
    1,
    <?php echo floatval( substr( $line, 11 ) ); ?>
  );
  <?php
    ++$i;
    endforeach;
  ?>
 
  var chart_div = document.getElementById( 'chart_div' );
  var chart = new google.visualization.LineChart( chart_div );
  chart.draw(
    data,
    {
      width: 800,
      height: 600,
      title: 'Weight Over Time'
    }
  );
}

And there you have it, fancy charting in no time.

See it in action at http://static.velvetcache.org/weight.php

Get the full source at http://gist.github.com/459148.

Tags: API, Charts, Google, Health, JavaScript, PHP, Programming, Weight

Use xmllint to Pretty Print API Output

June 10, 2010 » Geek

I’ve been messing with the Foursquare API and I was getting frustrated by it’s unreadable output. Too much XML, not enough whitespace!

jmhobbs@katya:~$ curl -l http://api.foursquare.com/v1/venues?geolat=41.243385\&geolong=-96.017697
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<venues><group type="Nearby"><venue><id>170922</id><name>Peter Kiewit Institute</name><primarycategory><id>79037</id><fullpathname>College &amp; Education:University</fullpathname><nodename>University</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/education/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>1110 South 67th Street</address><crossstreet>at Pacific St</crossstreet><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68182</zip><geolat>41.2436984</geolat><geolong>-96.0146702</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><phone>4025543333</phone><twitter>PKI</twitter><distance>255</distance></venue><venue><id>345883</id><name>Liv Lounge</name><primarycategory><id>79168</id><fullpathname>Nightlife:Lounge</fullpathname><nodename>Lounge</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/nightlife/lounge.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>2279 S 67th St</address><crossstreet>at Center St</crossstreet><city>Omaha</city><state>Nebraska</state><zip>68106</zip><geolat>41.2436984</geolat><geolong>-96.0146702</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><distance>255</distance></venue><venue><id>245578</id><name>Walmart</name><primarycategory><id>79221</id><fullpathname>Shops:Department Store</fullpathname><nodename>Department Store</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/shops/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>1606 S 72nd St</address><crossstreet>at Pine St</crossstreet><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68124</zip><geolat>41.2440158</geolat><geolong>-96.0241158</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><phone>4023939560</phone><distance>541</distance></venue><venue><id>254875</id><name>Aksarben Village</name><primarycategory><id>79196</id><fullpathname>Parks &amp; Outdoors:Plaza / Square</fullpathname><nodename>Plaza / Square</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/parks_outdoors/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>6600 Shirley St</address><crossstreet>at Center St</crossstreet><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68106</zip><geolat>41.2414632</geolat><geolong>-96.0120519</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><distance>518</distance></venue><venue><id>170916</id><name>Scott Technology Center</name><primarycategory><id>79115</id><fullpathname>Home / Work / Other:Corporate / Office</fullpathname><nodename>Corporate / Office</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/building/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>6825 Pine Street</address><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68106</zip><geolat>41.243385</geolat><geolong>-96.017697</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><phone>4025026000</phone><distance>0</distance></venue><venue><id>2468550</id><name>Juice Stop</name><primarycategory><id>79071</id><fullpathname>Food:Juice Bar</fullpathname><nodename>Juice Bar</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/food/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>2119 S 67th St</address><crossstreet>Shirley St</crossstreet><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68106</zip><geolat>41.2403021</geolat><geolong>-96.0146607</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><phone>4029343870</phone><distance>427</distance></venue><venue><id>199022</id><name>Scott Conference Center</name><primarycategory><id>96353</id><fullpathname>Home / Work / Other:Event Space</fullpathname><nodename>Event Space</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/building/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>6450 Pine Street</address><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><geolat>41.244514</geolat><geolong>-96.013489</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><distance>373</distance></venue><venue><id>772128</id><name>Courtyard Aksarben VIllage</name><primarycategory><id>79273</id><fullpathname>Travel:Hotel</fullpathname><nodename>Hotel</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/travel/hotel.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>1625 S 67th St</address><crossstreet>at Pine St</crossstreet><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68106</zip><geolat>41.243304</geolat><geolong>-96.014349</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><phone>4029514300</phone><distance>280</distance></venue><venue><id>247344</id><name>Wohlner's Market</name><primarycategory><id>96359</id><fullpathname>Shops:Food &amp; Drink:Gourmet</fullpathname><nodename>Gourmet</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/shops/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>2289 S 67th St</address><crossstreet>at Center St</crossstreet><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68106</zip><geolat>41.23806024488222</geolat><geolong>-96.0138988494873</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><phone>4025516875</phone><distance>672</distance></venue><venue><id>2564306</id><name>First Data</name><primarycategory><id>79115</id><fullpathname>Home / Work / Other:Corporate / Office</fullpathname><nodename>Corporate / Office</nodename><iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/building/default.png</iconurl></primarycategory><address>6855 Pacific Street</address><city>Omaha</city><state>NE</state><zip>68106</zip><geolat>41.2487029</geolat><geolong>-96.0192553</geolong><stats><herenow>0</herenow></stats><distance>606</distance></venue></group></venues>
jmhobbs@katya:~$

How can we rectify this situation? xmllint! This is part of libxml and should exist on most systems.

jmhobbs@katya:~$ curl -l http://api.foursquare.com/v1/venues?geolat=41.243385\&geolong=-96.017697 | xmllint --format -
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
101  5265  101  5265    0     0  13778      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 29914
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<venues>
  <group type="Nearby">
    <venue>
      <id>170922</id>
      <name>Peter Kiewit Institute</name>
      <primarycategory>
        <id>79037</id>
        <fullpathname>College &amp; Education:University</fullpathname>
        <nodename>University</nodename>
        <iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/education/default.png</iconurl>
      </primarycategory>
      <address>1110 South 67th Street</address>
      <crossstreet>at Pacific St</crossstreet>
      <city>Omaha</city>
      <state>NE</state>
      <zip>68182</zip>
      <geolat>41.2436984</geolat>
      <geolong>-96.0146702</geolong>
      <stats>
        <herenow>0</herenow>
      </stats>
      <phone>4025543333</phone>
      <twitter>PKI</twitter>
      <distance>255</distance>
    </venue>
... snip ...
    <venue>
      <id>2564306</id>
      <name>First Data</name>
      <primarycategory>
        <id>79115</id>
        <fullpathname>Home / Work / Other:Corporate / Office</fullpathname>
        <nodename>Corporate / Office</nodename>
        <iconurl>http://foursquare.com/img/categories/building/default.png</iconurl>
      </primarycategory>
      <address>6855 Pacific Street</address>
      <city>Omaha</city>
      <state>NE</state>
      <zip>68106</zip>
      <geolat>41.2487029</geolat>
      <geolong>-96.0192553</geolong>
      <stats>
        <herenow>0</herenow>
      </stats>
      <distance>606</distance>
    </venue>
  </group>
</venues>
jmhobbs@katya:~$

So there you go, a handy trick of the day for you.
In case you missed it the short form is:
curl -l [url] | xmllint --format -

Tags: API, Formatting, Foursquare, Programming, XML

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Thursday Quote: Kenneth Reitz

Charting Weight Change With Google Visualizations

Use xmllint to Pretty Print API Output