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The King is dead, long live the new King! (API switched ownerships!)

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CCP Prism X
C C P
C C P Alliance
#1 - 2013-02-28 16:25:23 UTC  |  Edited by: CCP Logibro
Hey kids!

Once again the EVE API project has switched ownership and is now back in my gentle embrace.
Cool*Fanfare*Cool


But I'm a very important man with many important projects on my important desk that I do for important people all over the important world. So, I've managed (decided) to rope another new programmer member of my team into the project. His name is CCP Nimbus and I'll poke at him after posting this and make him introduce himself here so you know who to beat with a stick.

So as any perceptive API consumer has noticed by now, the service is somewhat of a mess. This is largely due to how badly it scales for many different and annoying technical reasons. Another team has been taking a very close look at these issues and after the proper handover of the project we will continue to take a look them. We hope to provide you with a more stable service, that is less error prone and doesn't bork out so often, by the next release.

But annoying scaling issues aren't the only issues we are aware of. There are multiple API calls which lack important elements in their return XML pages. Most notable of these missing elements are the typeIDs for calls that can return multiple types of owners (character, corporation, alliance). These calls force applications to make extra owner type specific calls to figure out what kind of owner they are dealing with. This is bad not only because it's increased chatter but also because it causes errors that we could easily not have. There's also still some pre-distributed cache legacy issues that we need to look at, like the KillMail calls just giving you an error all the time, except once, every hour, for one application using that specific key.

Then there are some internal problems which prevent most developers from actually developing new API calls alongside their features. We'll try to fix that up.. but there's not much you guys can do to help us with that. Blink

I'm going to sticky this topic here. If you have any suggestions for something you think we should look at, feel free to provide them here. I'll probably go over it every now and then and delete all the posts. Make some list of stuff I add to the backlog and maybe give you a progress report if I find the fountain of time and suddenly have all the time in the world to work on everything I´ve ever wanted. Blink

CCP Prism X

Programmer on Team Gridlock & Expert Ranter
CCP Prism X
C C P
C C P Alliance
#2 - 2013-02-28 16:25:41 UTC  |  Edited by: CCP Prism X
TODO List:
Tech:
Short form for keyID and vCode
Authentication through HTTP headers
Proper response HTTP Status Codes (Done)

Missing Data
FactionID missing from
- eve\CharacterInfo
- char\CharacterSheet
- corp\CorporationSheet (Done)
- eve\AllianceList
- account\Characters
AllianceID missing from
- account\Characters
Merc \ Pilot info
- eve\CharacterInfo
- char\CharacterSheet
Factional Warfare Calls
- Talk to Thunk
Sovereignty Data
- Indices and such (Not sure Design is cool with that)

Missing Calls
Blueprint Data


WONTDO List:
Planetary Interaction API - Data schema simply incompatible with API.

CCP Prism X

Programmer on Team Gridlock & Expert Ranter
Squizz Caphinator
The Wormhole Police
#3 - 2013-02-28 16:33:20 UTC  |  Edited by: Squizz Caphinator
Long live the King!

CCP Prism X wrote:
There's also still some pre-distributed cache legacy issues that we need to look at, like the KillMail calls just giving you an error all the time, except once, every hour, for one application using that specific key.


Me love you long time when you get this fixed

Various projects I enjoy putting my free time into:

https://zkillboard.com | https://evewho.com
Karbowiak
State War Academy
Caldari State
#4 - 2013-02-28 16:33:29 UTC  |  Edited by: Karbowiak
WOOOOOOO \o/

edit://

All hail the Prism and, uh, the Nimbus?!
I assume we'll be seeing CCP Nimbus on IRC aswell? Big smile

In any case, here is a quick list of stuff that should probably be given highest priority:

#1 Cache
#2 ?
#3 ...
#4 profit!

Lol
CCP Prism X
C C P
C C P Alliance
#5 - 2013-02-28 16:44:38 UTC  |  Edited by: CCP Prism X
Karbowiak wrote:
I assume we'll be seeing CCP Nimbus on IRC aswell? Big smile

I don't know man. He just managed to forget his forum password and lock his account from the forums.. so maybe IRC is a bit too much to hope for P

Sorry Nimbus, I <3 ya, bro. Blink

CCP Prism X

Programmer on Team Gridlock & Expert Ranter
Hoarr
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#6 - 2013-02-28 16:47:45 UTC
Karbowiak wrote:
WOOOOOOO \o/

edit://

All hail the Prism and, uh, the Nimbus?!
I assume we'll be seeing CCP Nimbus on IRC aswell? Big smile

In any case, here is a quick list of stuff that should probably be given highest priority:

#1 Cache
#2 ?
#3 ...
#4 profit!

Lol




Horrible, but well played.
Karbowiak
State War Academy
Caldari State
#7 - 2013-02-28 17:03:43 UTC
CCP Prism X wrote:
Karbowiak wrote:
I assume we'll be seeing CCP Nimbus on IRC aswell? Big smile

I don't know man. He just managed to forget his forum password and lock his account from the forums.. so maybe IRC is a bit too much to hope for P

Sorry Nimbus, I <3 ya, bro. Blink


Sounds like he derped Lol

In any case, i (and surely others) look forward to getting acquainted with him Smile
Unforgiven Storm
Eternity INC.
Goonswarm Federation
#8 - 2013-02-28 17:10:03 UTC
Are you only accepting items to put in the API backlog about errors or you are accepting new API data requests?

I have a couple of things I would like to see in the API about planet interaction, if you have the time and are accepting new requests, I would like to give you some items for you to put in your backlog.

Unforgiven Storm for CSM 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13. (If I don't get in in the next 5 years I will quit trying) :-)
CCP Nimbus
C C P
C C P Alliance
#9 - 2013-02-28 17:47:00 UTC
Hello, I am apparently not so good with computer Sad

Please don't beat me with sticks (or anything, really) just yet... I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this stuff, and yeah, I should be in IRC - assuming I don't do anything stupid with that, too.

<3

CCP Nimbus | Software Engineer | EVE: Valkyrie
fukier
Gallente Federation
#10 - 2013-02-28 17:53:10 UTC
CCP Nimbus wrote:
Hello, I am apparently not so good with computer Sad

Please don't beat me with sticks (or anything, really) just yet... I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this stuff, and yeah, I should be in IRC - assuming I don't do anything stupid with that, too.

<3



i wont hit y ou with a stick but will assault you with shtick
At the end of the game both the pawn and the Queen go in the same box.
Hannott Thanos
Squadron 15
#11 - 2013-02-28 18:41:53 UTC
CCP Nimbus wrote:
Hello, I am apparently not so good with computer Sad

Please don't beat me with sticks (or anything, really) just yet... I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this stuff, and yeah, I should be in IRC - assuming I don't do anything stupid with that, too.

<3

You know, if you type your password into the IRC client, it shows up for other users as stars. Like my password is *******. Cool, eh?

while (CurrentSelectedTarget.Status == ShipStatus.Alive) {

     _myShip.FireAllGuns(CurrentSelectedTarget);

}
Marcel Devereux
Aideron Robotics
Aideron Robotics.
#12 - 2013-02-28 22:17:04 UTC
My small little feature requests.


  • Add factionID to the eve/CharacterInfo, char/CharacterSheet, corp/CorporationSheet, and /eve/AllianceList feeds.
  • Add alliance{ID,Name} and faction{ID,Name} to the /account/Characters feed.
  • Add "characterTypeID" to the eve/CharacterInfo and char/CharacterSheet denoting whether or not the character is a capsuleer or merc.
Marcel Devereux
Aideron Robotics
Aideron Robotics.
#13 - 2013-03-01 00:15:36 UTC
And for reference this is what I requested to be added to CREST:

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2613833#post2613833
Tonto Auri
Vhero' Multipurpose Corp
#14 - 2013-03-01 00:54:07 UTC
Oh, you want suggestions? But nothing changed yet.
1. Combine API key ID and vCode in a single string. Like "KeyID:vCode". I'm *** tired of teaching people to copy both parts for me each time. Literally. It's a stupid work to split a string into parts, and computers are very good at doing stupid work for people.
2. Read standards for protocol you're building upon, already, and obey them. Not because I'm telling you to, but because benefits of following an existing standard are many, and drawbacks for breaking it are the worst. When you say "I'm using HTTP(S)", and return code in 2xx range - people expect it to be confirmation code for a successful operation...
3. Make some better authentication mechanics, than presenting API key in request parameters. HTTP header would be fine by me. I could use PHP stream contexts then, at least.
4. API-independent caching would be trivial if there's a header tag for API key. You naturally authenticate clients by their API tags without even knowing what they mean.

Two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. -- Harlan Ellison
Opaque Intent
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#15 - 2013-03-01 05:25:23 UTC
A way to query blueprint attributes found in personal and corp AssetList calls.
Ydnari
Estrale Frontiers
#16 - 2013-03-01 17:41:47 UTC
This is good news, look forward to seeing the API getting some love.

One suggestion on top of the other already posted, Assets API could do with a timestamp in the data showing when the data was generated, so if you've got a cached version then you can tell how stale it is.

--
Somerset Mahm
Cognitive Distortion
#17 - 2013-03-03 13:06:49 UTC
I ♥ PrismX

SOMER Blink Microlotteries that finish in minutes! Running for over 2 years :)
Captain Thunk
Explode. Now. Please.
Alliance. Now. Please.
#18 - 2013-03-04 04:56:52 UTC
Welcome back PrismX

The factional warfare statistics pages are some of the worst offenders for requiring more api calls to make meaningful data. It's a while since I looked at them, but I made a page for a friend last year or the year before and it takes literally hundreds of api calls to get data that means anything to anyone - I mean the pilots name, corp and alliance. I can't remember the specifics but I'm happy to explain in detail if you need it.

OutpostList - I only ever get "General Error: Scotty the docking manager heard you were talking **** about him behind his back and refuses to service your request." as a reply, I use legacy keys if that's a factor - if it is, I'm assuming thats a bug that can be easily rectfied

Notifications - I've updated the wiki list: http://wiki.eve-id.net/APIv2_Char_Notifications_XML - which is uptodate at the time of posting, even I will do something communal every now and then, however what would be really awesome would be some notifications for i-hub/station/Pos reinforced timers. We have notifications for PoCos, but if we had the others we can organise automatic OP Timer posting on our forums (at least defensive ones)
Risingson
#19 - 2013-03-04 11:31:18 UTC
long live the api =)
an ongoing Incursions + staging sys + maybe solarsystem state api would be awesome
fw solarsystem state api would be awesome aswell
Karbowiak
State War Academy
Caldari State
#20 - 2013-03-07 09:19:49 UTC
CCP Nimbus wrote:
Hello, I am apparently not so good with computer Sad

Please don't beat me with sticks (or anything, really) just yet... I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this stuff, and yeah, I should be in IRC - assuming I don't do anything stupid with that, too.

<3


It has now been a week!

No Nimbus in sight on IRC, this saddens me deeply Sad
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