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  • Publishing Data From An External API1

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    Vinicius Minatogawa
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    For this example we'll use the Google Books API. For a public API such as this that does not require private authentication, a better approach may be to make the API call client side and insert the documents into the client. In the case where the API requires private authentication or perhaps we need to decorate the document with some other server side data, the publication method demonstrated here is the approach to take.

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    Publishing Data From an External API1

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    For this example we'll use the Google Books API. For a public API such as this that does not require private authentication, a better approach may be to make the API call client side and insert the documents into the client. In the case where the API requires private authentication or perhaps we need to decorate the document with some other server side data, the publication method demonstrated here is the approach to take.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    10 views10 pages

    Publishing Data From An External API1

    Uploaded by

    Vinicius Minatogawa
    For this example we'll use the Google Books API. For a public API such as this that does not require private authentication, a better approach may be to make the API call client side and insert the documents into the client. In the case where the API requires private authentication or perhaps we need to decorate the document with some other server side data, the publication method demonstrated here is the approach to take.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 10

    3/26/2015

    Publishing data from an external API

    METEORCAPTURE
    Follow@dburles

    HOME

    SUBSCRIBE

    Publishing data
    from an external
    API
    16 SEPTEMBER 2014

    Publishing anything pt. 2


    Continuing on from the previous article (see
    Publishing anything) where we covered publishing
    a very simple set of static data, we'll now take a
    look at publishing data that we request from an
    external API.
    For this example we'll use the Google Books API.
    Just to note; with a public API such as this that does
    not require private authentication, a better
    approach may be to make the API call client side
    and simply insert the documents into the client
    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

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    Publishing data from an external API

    side collection.
    In the case where the API requires private
    authentication or perhaps we need to decorate the
    document with some other server side data, the
    publication method demonstrated here is the
    approach to take.
    We're using a public API here simply for
    demonstration.

    Client
    Let's start off once again with the client side code

    Templates
    <body>
    <form>
    <input type="text" name="query">
    <input type="submit" value="Search">
    </form>

    {{#if searching}}
    <p>Searching...</p>
    {{else}}

    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

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    Publishing data from an external API

    {{#if books.count}}
    <hr>
    <table>
    {{#each books}}
    {{> book}}
    {{/each}}
    </table>
    {{/if}}
    {{/if}}
    </body>

    <template name="book">
    <tr>
    <td class="image"><img src="{{thumb}}"></td>
    <td>
    <a href="{{link}}" target="_blank">{{title}}</a>
    <p>{{{snippet}}}</p>
    </td>
    </tr>
    </template>

    Javascript
    Books = new Mongo.Collection('books');

    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

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    Publishing data from an external API

    Session.setDefault('searching', false);

    Tracker.autorun(function() {
    if (Session.get('query')) {
    var searchHandle = Meteor.subscribe('booksSearch',
    Session.get('query'));
    Session.set('searching', ! searchHandle.ready());
    }
    });

    Template.body.events({
    'submit form': function(event, template) {
    event.preventDefault();
    var query = template.$('input[type=text]').val();
    if (query)
    Session.set('query', query);
    }
    });

    Template.body.helpers({
    books: function() {
    return Books.find();
    },
    searching: function() {
    return Session.get('searching');
    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

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    Publishing data from an external API

    }
    });

    The important parts of what we're doing here are:


    Creating a client side collection called books
    Setting a Session variable once the form is submit
    Subscribing to our publication called booksSearch
    within an autorun and passing in the Session value
    We've also added a helper called loading which
    watches the subscription handle's ready method.
    This is to indicate when the search results are
    loading

    Server
    Now let's take a look at what's going on over on the
    server. This is where the interesting stuff happens.

    Meteor.publish('booksSearch', function(query) {
    var self = this;
    try {
    var response =
    HTTP.get('https://www.googleapis.com/books/v1/volumes', {
    params: {

    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

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    q: query
    }
    });

    _.each(response.data.items, function(item) {
    var doc = {
    thumb: item.volumeInfo.imageLinks.smallThumbnail,
    title: item.volumeInfo.title,
    link: item.volumeInfo.infoLink,
    snippet: item.searchInfo &&
    item.searchInfo.textSnippet
    };

    self.added('books', Random.id(), doc);


    });

    self.ready();

    } catch(error) {
    console.log(error);
    }
    });

    Our booksSearch publication has been set up to


    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

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    Publishing data from an external API

    take an argument ( query) which we'll use to pass


    through to the HTTP request.
    In order to communicate with the Google Books
    API, we're using Meteor's HTTP package. On the
    server we can run it synchronously if we don't pass
    in a callback function. Which is exactly what we're
    doing here.
    The first step is making the request and assigning
    the response to a variable called, well, response.
    Next we're iterating over the resultset, taking what
    we need and assigning it to doc, then calling
    self.added for each.

    Finally, to let the subscriber know that we're all


    ready, self.ready().

    Example app
    https://github.com/dburles/meteor-capturepubsub2
    Check out the example application on GitHub.
    http://meteorpad.com/pad/YWbRFASEfC3NQgfN8
    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

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    Publishing data from an external API

    Play around with the live app running on


    MeteorPad.

    David Burles

    Share this post

    Freelance Meteor Consultant & Developer. Hosts

    Meteor Melbourne.

    Melbourne, Australia

    13Comments

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    Jointhediscussion
    bsbechtel 3monthsago

    Thisisgreat.Thanksforwritingthis!
    1

    Reply Share

    MorganJackson 6monthsago

    GreatArticleDave!
    1

    Reply Share

    DavidBurles

    Mod >MorganJackson

    6monthsago

    ThanksMorgan!

    Reply Share

    StuartMitchell 6monthsago

    NicearticleDave!Easytofollowandnottoolong.Imightevenrollupmy
    sleevesandgiveitagowiththediscogsAPIsoIcanfinallycatalogueallmy
    oldvinyl:D
    1

    Reply Share

    LucianoGuasco 6monthsago

    VerynicearticleDavid.
    FeelingtemptedtorefactormanyMeteor.methodscallingAPIstosomething
    similarlikethis.
    Definitelywiththisapproach,thepyramidofcallbacksisreducedoratleast
    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

    8/10

    3/26/2015

    Publishing data from an external API

    Definitelywiththisapproach,thepyramidofcallbacksisreducedoratleast
    removedfromtemplateslogic.
    1

    Reply Share

    CasperSrensen 12daysago

    HeyDavid,
    Greattutorial!Iwentaheadandactuallygotitimplementedwith
    themoviedb.orgtofetchalistoftvshowsinsteadofthebooks.Hopetosee
    somemoreofthisstuffinthefuture,welldone!:)

    Reply Share

    DavidBurles

    Mod >CasperSrensen

    11daysago

    That'sgreat,thanks!

    Reply Share

    WidaSkyDev amonthago

    Nicearticledave!!thank's

    Reply Share

    greg amonthago

    HowwouldIuseatwitterstreamapiinthesamefashion.Tosearchfortweets.

    Reply Share

    DavidBurles

    Mod >greg

    amonthago

    Goodquestion,unfortunatelyI'mnotfamiliarenoughwiththetwitter
    APItobeabletoanswerthatonesorry!

    Reply Share

    KarlPokus 6monthsago

    Toobadmeteorpadisreeallyslow.

    Reply Share

    DavidBurles

    Mod >KarlPokus

    6monthsago

    YeahIknow!,it'sgreatwhenit'sworkingthough:)

    Reply Share

    KarlPokus>DavidBurles 6monthsago

    Absolutely!Acodepen.ioforMeteorisawesomebutthelagis
    abitannoying.Hopefullyitwillgetbetter.
    1

    Reply Share

    WHAT'STHIS?

    ALSOONMETEORCAPTURE

    Understandingspacebars

    Random

    16comments9monthsago

    3comments7monthsago

    imslavkoIwouldaddthat
    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

    LucianoGuascoDavid,you
    9/10

    3/26/2015

    imslavkoIwouldaddthat

    Publishing data from an external API

    observingacursorismorepreferable
    toreturningafetchedarray:Blazehas
    anoptimizationforcursorswhenit

    LucianoGuascoDavid,you

    alwaysappearwhenIneedyou.
    Happynewyearmate:)

    Publishinganything

    Joiningontheclient

    11comments6monthsago

    3comments9monthsago

    AvatarDavidBurlesHeyJosh,itwasone

    AvatarDominiquePerettiHey,IthinkI

    Meteor Capture 2015

    http://meteorcapture.com/publishing-data-from-an-external-api/

    Proudly published with Ghost

    10/10

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