Google Directions API, reduce XML output size - google-maps

I'm using the Google Directions API specified here
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/directions/
it's working good, but the XML returned is a bit large, I don't need all the data they give.
the questions is, can I ask for a specific set of results?!
in my case, I want in "step" only "start_location" and "html_instructions".

You can't set a filter on resultset like you have mentioned above. If XML's size is too large , you can use JSON instead. Google recommends to use JSON format:
We recommend that you use json as the preferred output flag unless
your service requires xml for some reason. Processing XML trees
requires some care, so that you reference proper nodes and elements.
Reference: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/directions/#XML

Related

Validate request payloads and responses against a given OpenApi/Swagger specification

We have an HTTP API which is written with the hug framework for Python but this is not set in stone and could be replaced with something else in the future.
Next to it, we have manually written an OpenApi/Swagger 2.0 specification file in YAML for that API in order to provide interactive documentation. However, both are not connected to each other by any of the tooling from the Swagger ecosystem - when we make changes in the API, we make the same changes in the specification and vice versa (which is not ideal but we might improve on this later).
Now, for the sake of integration testing, we would like to take a few static requests and their payloads (JSON and multipart/form-data) as well es responses (JSON) and validate if they fit the models from our specification file.
What could be an easy way to achieve this? I am open to any technology or programming language as long as complexity stays reasonable.
For Open Api 3 documents, my colleagues and I had the same requirement and ended up writing our own command-line tooling to achieve this, I've open sourced it here: https://github.com/hevans90/oa3-api-defender
It will dynamically call any endpoints specified in the paths array of a specification, currently supporting GET, DELETE, POST, PATCH, PUT requests. It will dynamically create requests based on example values provided in the spec.
Query & Path example parameter values will be included in generated requests. Request bodies (in POSTs for example) are dynamically generated from example values in the requestBody object, in the spec.
To provide valid examples in your spec, see this article

Returning MarkLogic EVAL REST service output as JSON

I am working on a demo using MarkLogic to store emails exported from Outlook as XML, so that they stay searchable and accessible when I move away from Outlook.
I am using an AngularJS front-end calling either the native MarkLogic REST services of own REST services written in JAVA using Jersey.
MarkLogic SEARCH REST service works very well to get back a list of references to documents based on various search criteria, but I also want to display information stored inside the found documents.
I would like to avoid multiple REST calls and to get back only the needed information, so I am trying to use the EVAL REST service to run an xQuery.
It works well to get XML back (inside a multipart/mixed message) but I don't seem to be able to get JSON instead which would be much more convenient and is very easy with most other MarkLogic REST services.
I could use "json:transform-to-json()" in my xQuery or transform the XML to JSON in my JAVA code, but that does not look very elegant to me.
Is there a more efficient method to get where I am trying to go ?
First, json:transform-to-json seems plenty elegant to me. But of course it's not always the right answer.
I see three options you haven't mentioned.
server-side transforms - REST search supports server-side transforms which transform each document when you perform a bulk read by query. Those server-side transforms could generate any json you need.
search extract-document-data - this the simplest way to extract portions of documents. But it seems best if your documents are json to match your json response. Otherwise you get xml in your json response . . . unless you're ok with that.
custom search snippets - another very powerful way to customize what search returns
All of these options don't require the privileges that eval requires, which is a very good thing. Since eval allows execution of arbitrary code on your server, it requires special privileges and should be used with great care. Two other options before you use eval are (1) custom xquery installed in an http server, and (2) REST extensions.
The answers from Sam are what I would suggest. Specifically I would set a search option for search-extract-document-data (This is a search API option. If you are posting the request, then you can add the option in the XML you post back. If you are using GET, then you need to register the option ahead of time and call it. Relevant URLs to assist:
https://docs.marklogic.com/guide/rest-dev/search#id_48838
https://docs.marklogic.com/guide/search-dev/appendixa#id_44222
As for json.. ML8 will transform content. Use the accept-header or just add format=json to your results...
Example - xml which is what my content is stored as:
http://localhost:8000/v1/search?q=watermellon
...
<search:result index="1" uri="/sample/collections/1.xml" path="fn:doc("/sample/collections/1.xml")" score="34816" confidence="0.5982239" fitness="0.6966695" href="/v1/documents?uri=%2Fsample%2Fcollections%2F1.xml" mimetype="application/xml" format="xml">
<search:snippet>
<search:match path="fn:doc("/sample/collections/1.xml")/x">
<search:highlight>watermellon</search:highlight>
</search:match>
</search:snippet>
</search:result>
...
Example - json which is what my content is stored as:
http://localhost:8000/v1/search?q=watermellon&format=json
...
"index":1,
"uri":"/sample/collections/1.xml",
"path":"fn:doc(\"/sample/collections/1.xml\")",
"score":34816,
"confidence":0.5982239,
"fitness":0.6966695,
"href":"/v1/documents?uri=%2Fsample%2Fcollections%2F1.xml",
"mimetype":"application/xml",
"format":"xml",
"matches":[
{
"path":"fn:doc(\"/sample/collections/1.xml\")/x",
"match-text":[
{
"highlight":"watermellon"
}
]
}
]
}
...
For real heavy-lifting, you can use server-side transforms as in Sam's description. One note about this. Server-side transformations are not part of the search API, but part of the REST API. Just mentioning it so you have some idea of which tool you are using in each case..

What is JSONC? Are JSONC and JSON-C different?

Recently came across the term JSONC in a YouTube API. I browsed the Web, but found nothing much about it. Can someone explain whether these two are the same or different?
There is also jsonc aka "JSON with comments", created by Microsoft and used by Visual Studio Code. The logic for it can be found here, alas without exhaustive specification (though I'd like to be proven wrong on this).
On top of that there is this project with an actual specification which is also called jsonc, but also does far more than just adding comments.
While there definitely is a use for these technologies, some critical thinking is advised. JSON containing comments is not JSON.
JSON-C seems to just be a variation of JSON mainly targeted at C development. I.e., from the open source docs, "JSON-C implements a reference counting object model that allows you to easily construct JSON objects in C, output them as JSON formatted strings and parse JSON formatted strings back into the C representation of JSON objects."ref^1
From the YouTube API perspective (specifically, version 2, not the new version 3), The JSON-C response is just a condensed version of the JSON response (removing "duplicate, irrelevant or easily calculated values").ref^2
Why would the JSON response have "duplicate, irrelevant or easily calculated values" values anyway? Because it is converting the original ATOM XML format directly to JSON in a loseless conversion. You can find out more details here.
However, I would suggest using version 3 of the YouTube Data API. It is much easier to use. =)
JSONC is an open-source, Javascript API created by Tomás Corral Casas for reducing the size of the amount of JSON data that is transported between clients and servers. It uses two different approaches to achieve this, JSONC.compress and JSONC.pack. More information can be found on the JSONC Github page:
https://github.com/tcorral/JSONC

Best practices to produce JSON from NotesViews or DocumentCollections

I'm working on a custom control that will be fed by JSON content and I'm trying to find the best approach to produce and consume it.
Let say the JSON could be from:
Notes View (all documents)
Notes View (subset of documents based on a category or filter)
Notes Document Collection (from database.Search or database.FTSearch)
What I have on my mind is to define some Custom Properties where I can define:
URL that produces the JSON
Object
etc.
So far I'm considering:
REST Service control from ExtLib
XAgent that produces JSON
Domino URL ?ReadViewEntries and OutputFormat=JSON
Does anyone knows if the JSON object loaded in memory has a size limit?
Any suggestion will be appreciated.
Definitely go for the REST Service control from the Extension Library, offers by far the best combination of flexibility vs performance vs development time.
Matt
What about creating the JSON in the view itself and then just read the column values? http://www.eknori.de/2011-07-23/formula-magic/
If you want to parse the json object using ssjs, you can fetch it using an URLConnection and put the resulting object into a repeat control using the eval statement.

How to get Google Maps Public Transit Directions by HTTP server-side request

I use such urls like:
http://maps.google.com/?saddr=546%206th%20Avenue,%20New%20York,%20NY%2010011%20(Sixth%20Avenue,%20New%20York)&daddr=W%20103rd%20St,%20New%20York,%20NY%20&dirflg=r
But it returns full html page. Does anybody know how to get such info in json or xml or any parsable format?
I need public transit.
You just add &output=json to the end of the url.
I'd like to extend Mathias's answer a little bit.
There's no official Google Transit API at the momemnt. Transits are provided by agencies, and most of Transits are not public. So, Google is not allowed to open them as API.
You may try to consume the "unofficial" data using your link + "&output=json".
However, the result won't be a valid JSON. Instead, that's something, that can be easily converted to a JavaScript object. (The differences are: there is no quotes around property names,
the strings are not properly encoded etc.)
Imagine you got this JavaScript object. However, it won't allow you to easily get the structured route details. Object's properties contain the route points coordinates, but no descriptions. The only place where the descriptions may be found is 'panel' property, which contains a chunk of HTML text (you may find a link to the sample of HTML in my blog post)
So, you'll have to convert this HTML into XML (X-HTML) and then build the parser of this XML to get the essence data of a trip.
Seems like a bit of overkill to me. Having in mind, that "unofficial" API may change in the future, including slight changes in 'panel' HTML structure that will kill your parser.
#MathiasLin, how did you overcome this?
Google Maps Javascript v3 and the Directions Web Service now has this capability as per :
https://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.in/2012/06/public-transit-routing-and-layer-now.html
Update:
Latest server side API docs:
https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/directions/get-directions
Re choosing public transport - it seems that it defaults to public transport now (at least when I use it).
Changing the last URL parameter, dirflg=r, into dirflg=w switches the directions to walking mode.
Plus see:
Walking, bicycle and public transport directions with time required in each mode , iPhone
for more detail about the parameters.
Google direction API response is in HTML, JSON format please check https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/directions?hl=lv
& section 'The DirectionsResult Object'