Spock API, Version 2, May 2008
The Spock API is a standards-based method for obtaining Spock people search results. The Spock API is read-only, and returns results in XML over HTTP (REST). Results can include text, URLs, and pictures. You can search by name, tags, or for specific profile IDs.
The previous version 1 of the API is deprecated. In version 2 we merged profile.xml and search.xml into one call, and removed some crufty options.
Use
To execute a query the API must be supplied with an API Key and any non-required fields can be left blank. Allowed fields for use in generating a query are provided in the tables below.
Inputs
| Field | Definition | Values | Default |
|---|
api_key (required) | Provided by Spock. | String | N/A |
id | Spock IDs of the people to display, or to constrain the search to. | Comma-separated list of strings, maximum of 10 | No filter |
query | Freeform query string. | String | No filter |
name_query | Limit search results to individuals with a specific name. | String | No filter |
tag_query | Limit search results to individuals with a specific tag or set of tags. | String | No filter |
location_query | Limit search results by location. | String | No filter |
age_low | Limits search results to exclude individuals below a certain age. | Integer in [13, 80] | No filter |
age_high | Limits search results to exclude individuals above a certain age. | Integer in [13, 80] | No filter |
gender | Limits search results based on gender. | m (male), f (female) | No filter |
require_picture | Indicates if pictures are required for results. | 1 (Yes) or 0 (No) | 0 |
source | Limits search results to individuals of this source. | String in [fstr, hi5, lspc, mspc, wiki, celebrity, business, long_tail] | No filter |
limit | Limits the number of results returned. | Integer in [1, 10] | 10 |
offset | Determines which result to begin with (zero-based). E.g., setting offset to 2 would exclude the first two results. | Integer in [0, 100] | 0 |
show_age | Show birth and death dates, if available. | 1 (Yes) or 0 (No) | 0 |
show_blurb | Determines if the bio is returned. | 1 (Yes) or 0 (No) | 0 |
show_gender | Determines if the gender is returned. | 1 (Yes) or 0 (No) | 0 |
show_location | Determines if the location is returned. | 1 (Yes) or 0 (No) | 0 |
show_names | Determines whether to return the top-voted name. | 1 (Yes) or 0 (No) | 0 |
show_picture | Determines whether to return the top-voted picture. | 1 (Yes) or 0 (No) | 0 |
show_related_people | Determines number of related people returned in descending vote score order. | Integer in [0, 4] | 0 |
show_tags | Determines number of tags returned in descending vote score order. | Integer in [0, 7] | 0 |
show_websites | Determines number of websites returned in descending vote score order. | Integer in [0, 10] | 0 |
Example
This example API call searches for "spock team". Ignore the sig parameter; it is only used in example API calls.
http://www.spock.com/api/2/search.xml?api_key=115c5ab1fb7dec3a8ce457fee8e6f0eb&a mp;query=spock-team&show_blurb=1&show_gender=1&show_names=4&show _picture=1&show_related_people=10&show_tags=10&show_websites=10& sig=4a9451360bcbaee8e4efced7bdcf243eQuery Builder
Build your own API query using the Query Builder.
Code Samples
This sample code does a search using the Spock API and prints out Spock ID/URLs and blurbs: