Things Every Developer Should Know
Before you start implementing our API you should know the following:
1) You need a reseller account
To use the Lipperhey API you'll need an API key. The API key is created after you order a reseller account. You can lookup your personal API by logging on to your Lipperhey account and going to the reseller settings page. The API key is a short hexadecimal number that consists of 40 characters.
Example API key: 41c142137b945fcc6b0d8c843a6ad3e4b55482ce
2) The API is entirely HTTP-based
Sending and retrieving data from the Lipperhey API requires a GET request. API Methods that require a parameter will return an error if you do not make your request with the correct parameters.
3) API calls contain a method and parameters
An API call is completed by requesting a URL from your application or browser. The URL should contain a method and parameters. With a method you tell our API what it should do. Currently the following methods are available: list, add, refresh, delete, result, order and download
4) Results are provided in XML
The Lipperhey API returns results in XML. XML (EXtensible Markup Language) is the most common markup for data transmissions between all sorts of applications. The XML response is UTF-8 encoded. XML responses can be very easily read by various programming languages such as PHP, JavaScript and .NET.
<!--Lipperhey API Response-->
<response queries="9" time="22 ms" calls-left="9984">
<error/>
<websites offset="0" results="0"/>
</response>
5) You cannot make unlimited calls
Lipperhey API usage is rate limited. For every call we log the IP address that was used. Per IP you can do 10.000 calls per day. In everey response we indicate how many calls are left for that day.
<!--Lipperhey API Response-->
<response queries="9" time="22 ms" calls-left="9984">
<error/>
<websites offset="0" results="0"/>
</response>
6) Response always contains an error field
To prevent errors in your application, Lipperhey alway's returns an error field in it's XML response. If no errors occured, this field will be empty <errors/>. If your synthax is wrong or if Lipperhey encounterd an error the error field will contain a description of the error.
7) There are different API Versions available
From time to time Lipperhey will change and add or remove functionality. That's why Lipperhey has different versions. Once a version of the API is available the methods, paramenters and reponses will not change. New methods and changes will only be available in newer versions of the API. So once you have your Lipperhey API working you won't have to change it again.
You can recognize the version of the API you're using by the URL that you use to do an API call. Example: http://api.lipperhey.com/1.0/ is version 1.0
