I'm building an Algolia index to search through user-created communities on my site.
Just like for subreddits, the name of the communities can't contain spaces and are therefore often written by users in camelCase.
Here is an example of an object in my index:
{
"name": "headphoneAdvice",
"description": "This community is dedicated to enthusiasts and newcomers. We are all about making the right decision when purchasing new headphones."
}
Both name and description are set to be searchable attributes and i'm currently using these ranking rules :
["typo","geo","words","filters","proximity","attribute","exact","custom"]
However, this does not seem to work well with the camelCase name. For example, if I type "advice" in the search, the object above with "name": "headphonesAdvice" isn't found.
I'm guessing this is because words in camelCase are considered single words and thus do not match.
I've looked online for rules that allow indexing of camelCase attributes but couldn't find anything really.
Any ideas?
Cheers!
After asking around, found that someone at algolia thought of this and added https://www.algolia.com/doc/api-reference/api-parameters/camelCaseAttributes/ kudos!
I'm trying to retrieve aggregate daily heart rate summary data using the Google Fit REST API, but I'm struggling because either I'm missing something or the documentation seems to be very incomplete. I've successfully managed to retrieve aggregate daily step count by following one of the few available examples:
Request URL
https://www.googleapis.com/fitness/v1/users/me/dataset:aggregate
Request body
{
"aggregateBy": [{
"dataTypeName": "com.google.step_count.delta",
"dataSourceId": "derived:com.google.step_count.delta:com.google.android.gms:estimated_steps"
}],
"bucketByTime": { "durationMillis": 86400000 },
"startTimeMillis": 1438705622000,
"endTimeMillis": 1439310422000
}
I can't find any example for reading heart rate, so I'm trying to modify this for heart rate. I found this list of data types where it has this data type: com.google.heart_rate.summary but there isn't any information on what the dataSourceId should be. I tried just omitting it but I get this error:
no default datasource found for: com.google.heart_rate.summary
Does anybody know what I need to use for dataSourceId, or have a link to any decent documentation on data sources?
For resting heart rate, I use this:
"derived:com.google.heart_rate.bpm:com.google.android.gms:resting_heart_rate<-merge_heart_rate_bpm"
For heart rate or BPM, I use this:
"derived:com.google.heart_rate.bpm:com.google.android.gms:merge_heart_rate_bpm"
For completeness, I have included the datasources that I am using below for various readings:
DATA_SOURCE = {
"steps": "derived:com.google.step_count.delta:com.google.android.gms:merge_step_deltas",
"dist": "derived:com.google.distance.delta:com.google.android.gms:from_steps<-merge_step_deltas",
"bpm": "derived:com.google.heart_rate.bpm:com.google.android.gms:merge_heart_rate_bpm",
"rhr": "derived:com.google.heart_rate.bpm:com.google.android.gms:resting_heart_rate<-merge_heart_rate_bpm",
"sleep" : "derived:com.google.sleep.segment:com.google.android.gms:sleep_from_activity<-raw:com.google.activity.segment:com.heytap.wearable.health:stream_sleep",
"cal" : "derived:com.google.calories.expended:com.google.android.gms:from_activities",
"move": "derived:com.google.active_minutes:com.google.android.gms:from_steps<-estimated_steps",
"points" : "derived:com.google.heart_minutes:com.google.android.gms:merge_heart_minutes",
"weight" : "derived:com.google.weight:com.google.android.gms:merge_weight"
}
Depending on the datasource, sometimes it will provide an array of points. You can then choose to take sum, mean, median, etc of all points in the array accordingly.
You can list the data sources available for a given data type, for example :
Method
GET
Request URL
https://www.googleapis.com/fitness/v1/users/me/dataSources?dataTypeName=com.google.heart_rate.summary
Depending on what you're trying to achieve, you'll probably find a source either for com.google.heart_rate.summary or com.google.heart_rate.bpm to meet your needs, including merged sources.
I am working on Schema.org Resort schema for a ton of resorts on a travel website and am trying to find the most efficient ways of filling out the schema with regards to amenities.
The current code looks something like this:
"amenityFeature": [
{
"#type":"http://schema.org/LocationFeatureSpecification",
"name":"Spa",
"value":"true"
},
{
"#type":"http://schema.org/LocationFeatureSpecification",
"name":"Internet Access",
"value":"true"
},
{
"#type":"http://schema.org/LocationFeatureSpecification",
"name":"Tennis Courts",
"value":"true"
}
]
My question is, can I write it like this instead to shorten lines of code:
{
"#type":"http://schema.org/LocationFeatureSpecification",
"name":[
"Spa", "Internet Access", "Tennis Courts"
],
"value":"true"
}
When I test it in Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool, it doesn’t give any errors. Here is what it looks like in the SDTT when I write it the short way:
And here is what it looks like if I do it the first/long way:
If I do it the short way, I want to make sure all those items are getting listed as amenities and not just different names for the same amenity. Otherwise, I'll go the long route.
No, each LocationFeatureSpecification represents one feature:
Specifies a location feature by providing a structured value representing a feature of an accommodation as a property-value pair of varying degrees of formality.
Your second snippet would represent one feature with multiple names.
I want to search for places such as "Apple Store", "Italian Restaurant" etc. and also for address such as "5th Ave, New York, NY, United States".
How can I search for places and set MKPlacemark for each place I find?
If you are worried about requests limit for Google Maps API, you can use some of open source maps API instead perhaps, like Nominatim API , look at http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Nominatim
From iOS 6.1 Apple introduced a new search API - MKLocalSearch. You create a MKLocalSearchRequest using string and region to search in (the region is just a hint for the search, it doesn't guarantee results will fall within this region) and use this request to initialise a MKLocalSearch, which asynchronously gives you the results in an MKLocalSearchResponse object. It was only introduced in january, so it has it's issues at this stage - you only ever get 10 results per search, plus some of the results are strange, but it's definitely worth checking out. There's also no way to specify the type of object (town/business/landmark etc.) you're searching for, which is a shame. Here's a cool tutorial. Note that the more precise the region you supply the better the results.
I'm looking for a reasonable way to represent searches as a RESTful URLs.
The setup: I have two models, Cars and Garages, where Cars can be in Garages. So my urls look like:
/car/xxxx
xxx == car id
returns car with given id
/garage/yyy
yyy = garage id
returns garage with given id
A Car can exist on its own (hence the /car), or it can exist in a garage. What's the right way to represent, say, all the cars in a given garage? Something like:
/garage/yyy/cars ?
How about the union of cars in garage yyy and zzz?
What's the right way to represent a search for cars with certain attributes? Say: show me all blue sedans with 4 doors :
/car/search?color=blue&type=sedan&doors=4
or should it be /cars instead?
The use of "search" seems inappropriate there - what's a better way / term? Should it just be:
/cars/?color=blue&type=sedan&doors=4
Should the search parameters be part of the PATHINFO or QUERYSTRING?
In short, I'm looking for guidance for cross-model REST url design, and for search.
[Update] I like Justin's answer, but he doesn't cover the multi-field search case:
/cars/color:blue/type:sedan/doors:4
or something like that. How do we go from
/cars/color/blue
to the multiple field case?
For the searching, use querystrings. This is perfectly RESTful:
/cars?color=blue&type=sedan&doors=4
An advantage to regular querystrings is that they are standard and widely understood and that they can be generated from form-get.
The RESTful pretty URL design is about displaying a resource based on a structure (directory-like structure, date: articles/2005/5/13, object and it's attributes,..), the slash / indicates hierarchical structure, use the -id instead.
Hierarchical structure
I would personaly prefer:
/garage-id/cars/car-id
/cars/car-id #for cars not in garages
If a user removes the /car-id part, it brings the cars preview - intuitive. User exactly knows where in the tree he is, what is he looking at. He knows from the first look, that garages and cars are in relation. /car-id also denotes that it belongs together unlike /car/id.
Searching
The searchquery is OK as it is, there is only your preference, what should be taken into account. The funny part comes when joining searches (see below).
/cars?color=blue;type=sedan #most prefered by me
/cars;color-blue+doors-4+type-sedan #looks good when using car-id
/cars?color=blue&doors=4&type=sedan #also possible, but & blends in with text
Or basically anything what isn't a slash as explained above.
The formula: /cars[?;]color[=-:]blue[,;+&], though I wouldn't use the & sign as it is unrecognizable from the text at first glance if that's your thing.
** Did you know that passing JSON object in URI is RESTful? **
Lists of options
/cars?color=black,blue,red;doors=3,5;type=sedan #most prefered by me
/cars?color:black:blue:red;doors:3:5;type:sedan
/cars?color(black,blue,red);doors(3,5);type(sedan) #does not look bad at all
/cars?color:(black,blue,red);doors:(3,5);type:sedan #little difference
possible features?
Negate search strings (!)
To search any cars, but not black and red:
?color=!black,!red
color:(!black,!red)
Joined searches
Search red or blue or black cars with 3 doors in garages id 1..20 or 101..103 or 999 but not 5
/garage[id=1-20,101-103,999,!5]/cars[color=red,blue,black;doors=3]
You can then construct more complex search queries. (Look at CSS3 attribute matching for the idea of matching substrings. E.g. searching users containing "bar" user*=bar.)
Conclusion
Anyway, this might be the most important part for you, because you can do it however you like after all, just keep in mind that RESTful URI represents a structure which is easily understood e.g. directory-like /directory/file, /collection/node/item, dates /articles/{year}/{month}/{day}.. And when you omit any of last segments, you immediately know what you get.
So.., all these characters are allowed unencoded:
unreserved: a-zA-Z0-9_.-~
Typically allowed both encoded and not, both uses are then equivalent.
special characters: $-_.+!*'(),
reserved: ;/?:#=&
May be used unencoded for the purpose they represent, otherwise they must be encoded.
unsafe: <>"#%{}|^~[]`
Why unsafe and why should rather be encoded: RFC 1738 see 2.2
Also see RFC 1738#page-20 for more character classes.
RFC 3986 see 2.2
Despite of what I previously said, here is a common distinction of delimeters, meaning that some "are" more important than others.
generic delimeters: :/?#[]#
sub-delimeters: !$&'()*+,;=
More reading:
Hierarchy: see 2.3, see 1.2.3
url path parameter syntax
CSS3 attribute matching
IBM: RESTful Web services - The basics
Note: RFC 1738 was updated by RFC 3986
Although having the parameters in the path has some advantages, there are, IMO, some outweighing factors.
Not all characters needed for a search query are permitted in a URL. Most punctuation and Unicode characters would need to be URL encoded as a query string parameter. I'm wrestling with the same problem. I would like to use XPath in the URL, but not all XPath syntax is compatible with a URI path. So for simple paths, /cars/doors/driver/lock/combination would be appropriate to locate the 'combination' element in the driver's door XML document. But /car/doors[id='driver' and lock/combination='1234'] is not so friendly.
There is a difference between filtering a resource based on one of its attributes and specifying a resource.
For example, since
/cars/colors returns a list of all colors for all cars (the resource returned is a collection of color objects)
/cars/colors/red,blue,green would return a list of color objects that are red, blue or green, not a collection of cars.
To return cars, the path would be
/cars?color=red,blue,green or /cars/search?color=red,blue,green
Parameters in the path are more difficult to read because name/value pairs are not isolated from the rest of the path, which is not name/value pairs.
One last comment. I prefer /garages/yyy/cars (always plural) to /garage/yyy/cars (perhaps it was a typo in the original answer) because it avoids changing the path between singular and plural. For words with an added 's', the change is not so bad, but changing /person/yyy/friends to /people/yyy seems cumbersome.
To expand on Peter's answer - you could make Search a first-class resource:
POST /searches # create a new search
GET /searches # list all searches (admin)
GET /searches/{id} # show the results of a previously-run search
DELETE /searches/{id} # delete a search (admin)
The Search resource would have fields for color, make model, garaged status, etc and could be specified in XML, JSON, or any other format. Like the Car and Garage resource, you could restrict access to Searches based on authentication. Users who frequently run the same Searches can store them in their profiles so that they don't need to be re-created. The URLs will be short enough that in many cases they can be easily traded via email. These stored Searches can be the basis of custom RSS feeds, and so on.
There are many possibilities for using Searches when you think of them as resources.
The idea is explained in more detail in this Railscast.
Justin's answer is probably the way to go, although in some applications it might make sense to consider a particular search as a resource in its own right, such as if you want to support named saved searches:
/search/{searchQuery}
or
/search/{savedSearchName}
I use two approaches to implement searches.
1) Simplest case, to query associated elements, and for navigation.
/cars?q.garage.id.eq=1
This means, query cars that have garage ID equal to 1.
It is also possible to create more complex searches:
/cars?q.garage.street.eq=FirstStreet&q.color.ne=red&offset=300&max=100
Cars in all garages in FirstStreet that are not red (3rd page, 100 elements per page).
2) Complex queries are considered as regular resources that are created and can be recovered.
POST /searches => Create
GET /searches/1 => Recover search
GET /searches/1?offset=300&max=100 => pagination in search
The POST body for search creation is as follows:
{
"$class":"test.Car",
"$q":{
"$eq" : { "color" : "red" },
"garage" : {
"$ne" : { "street" : "FirstStreet" }
}
}
}
It is based in Grails (criteria DSL): http://grails.org/doc/2.4.3/ref/Domain%20Classes/createCriteria.html
This is not REST. You cannot define URIs for resources inside your API. Resource navigation must be hypertext-driven. It's fine if you want pretty URIs and heavy amounts of coupling, but just do not call it REST, because it directly violates the constraints of RESTful architecture.
See this article by the inventor of REST.
In addition i would also suggest:
/cars/search/all{?color,model,year}
/cars/search/by-parameters{?color,model,year}
/cars/search/by-vendor{?vendor}
Here, Search is considered as a child resource of Cars resource.
There are a lot of good options for your case here. Still you should considering using the POST body.
The query string is perfect for your example, but if you have something more complicated, e.g. an arbitrary long list of items or boolean conditionals, you might want to define the post as a document, that the client sends over POST.
This allows a more flexible description of the search, as well as avoids the Server URL length limit.
RESTful does not recommend using verbs in URL's /cars/search is not restful. The right way to filter/search/paginate your API's is through Query Parameters. However there might be cases when you have to break the norm. For example, if you are searching across multiple resources, then you have to use something like /search?q=query
You can go through http://saipraveenblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/rest-api-best-practices/ to understand the best practices for designing RESTful API's
Though I like Justin's response, I feel it more accurately represents a filter rather than a search. What if I want to know about cars with names that start with cam?
The way I see it, you could build it into the way you handle specific resources:
/cars/cam*
Or, you could simply add it into the filter:
/cars/doors/4/name/cam*/colors/red,blue,green
Personally, I prefer the latter, however I am by no means an expert on REST (having first heard of it only 2 or so weeks ago...)
My advice would be this:
/garages
Returns list of garages (think JSON array here)
/garages/yyy
Returns specific garage
/garage/yyy/cars
Returns list of cars in garage
/garages/cars
Returns list of all cars in all garages (may not be practical of course)
/cars
Returns list of all cars
/cars/xxx
Returns specific car
/cars/colors
Returns lists of all posible colors for cars
/cars/colors/red,blue,green
Returns list of cars of the specific colors (yes commas are allowed :) )
Edit:
/cars/colors/red,blue,green/doors/2
Returns list of all red,blue, and green cars with 2 doors.
/cars/type/hatchback,coupe/colors/red,blue,green/
Same idea as the above but a lil more intuitive.
/cars/colors/red,blue,green/doors/two-door,four-door
All cars that are red, blue, green and have either two or four doors.
Hopefully that gives you the idea. Essentially your Rest API should be easily discoverable and should enable you to browse through your data. Another advantage with using URLs and not query strings is that you are able to take advantage of the native caching mechanisms that exist on the web server for HTTP traffic.
Here's a link to a page describing the evils of query strings in REST: http://web.archive.org/web/20070815111413/http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?QueryStringsConsideredHarmful
I used Google's cache because the normal page wasn't working for me here's that link as well:
http://rest.blueoxen.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?QueryStringsConsideredHarmful