How To - Collect Messages
From The Socknet
When a provider is prepared to collect a message it must contact the message's host. This requirement, as opposed to a system in which entire messages are forwarded, protects the accuracy of the message.
Contents |
The Specification
Collecting from friends and fully-integrated services
Collecting from a user or a fully-integrated service is done by calling the get_message function on the user or service and including the id in the request.
Collecting from non-integrated or partially-integrated services
Collecting from a non-integrated or partially-integrated service is done by calling the URL given in the guid.
The result is treated differently depending on whether it is JSON.
JSON Formatted Service Messages
The result of a call to the guid URL is preferably in JSON.
Example:
HTTP GET http://service.com/messages/UserA/20395
->
{ message: "David posted a <a href=...>photo</a>.",
created: ... HTTP Date ...
edited: ... HTTP Date ...
}
If the response is has the same fields as a response from get_message it may be treated as a response from get_message.
Other Service Message Formats
If a call to a guid URL returns an HTTP Content-type other than "application/json" (or the JSON doesn't contain fields from this specification), then it is not Socknet data and has different rules.
If the content is HTML, then it may contain a link element containing an alternate guid URL that leads to a JSON formatted version. See Sharing.
If no alternative GUID is present or the content is not HTML, the message should be shown in a manner best fitting the Content-type. For example, if the content is an image or a music track, there are obvious ways to show it on a web page. If the content is a word processor document or spreadsheet, then a link is the best option, perhaps accompanied by a relevant icon.
Considerations
Any page that returns JSON is required by JSON standards to report the Content-type as application/json. It's a good idea to be strict about this. Help us all by requiring that developers follow this simple rule.
