LC8 - Stumbling into JSON

[Devin Asay]

> On Jun 14, 2016, at 7:38 AM, Graham Samuel <livfoss at mac.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks Mike, and thanks to everyone else who explained. My query about ‘result’ and ‘value’ wasn’t about arrays as such, it was about the use of those particular labels in that context - the answer is (I suppose) that one has to know the spec of the JSON that is being used in order  to know what the JSON output looks like (and indeed what the function does). 
> 
> I have no idea how the LC people found the JSON-outputting BMI calculation but I suppose they just Googled it like everyone else. Obviously it would be nice to be more familiar with sources of such functions (that’s what they are really, isn’t it? Just web-based functions that output JSON). I guess I will gradually become more familiar with that world, since it seems immensely useful, provided of course one can believe that any given function is trustworthy.

Graham,

They are more properly called web services, and are accessible through published web service APIs. There are some web sites that act as “clearing houses” of sorts to publicize these APIs. See, for example:

http://www.programmableweb.com
http://apis.io

There is a fellow named Kin Lane who publishesa great site all about web APIs:

http://apievangelist.com

I created a lesson outline for my class on this topic:

http://livecode.byu.edu/internet/webServicesIntro.php

As you’ll see it’s a whole new world of functionality, and so simple to access through LiveCode, using GET and PUT requests.

Enjoy!

Devin


Devin Asay
Office of Digital Humanities
Brigham Young University