examples

Ohloh API Examples

Some basic Ohloh API samples to help you get started. For information on the Ohloh API, please see the documentation. The Ohloh API has some restrictions, so please review the complete Terms of Use before you begin.

Examples are available in:

• BASH

  Uses curl to pull an Account from Ohloh and openssl to create MD5 hex of the email address. A simple sed hack parses the XML response into name:value pairs. The example demonstrates data retrieval using email address lookup. Pass your API key and the email address of the Account you are requsting as parameters to the script:

  ./account_sample.sh YOUR_API_KEY_HERE [email protected]

  The script isn’t very robust — sed is not the world’s best XML parser — but it does return a non-zero exit code if the record is not found or some other problem occurs.

• Ruby

  Performs the same email-based account lookup, but uses more rigorous error handling and parsing to create a structured XML document object. Using the REXML library, you can build a more robust interface to the Ohloh API.

  Execute the script by passing your API key and an email address as parameters:

  ruby account_sample.rb YOUR_API_KEY_HERE [email protected]

• Python

  Performs a similar account lookup on Ohloh. It requires urllib, hashlib and elementtree.

  Execute the script by passing your API key and an email address as parameters:

  ./account_sample.py YOUR_API_KEY_HERE [email protected]

  Many thanks to Thijs Triemstra for contributing this sample.

• Perl

  Performs a similar account lookup on Ohloh. It requires the LWP::Simple, Digest::MD5, and XML::Simple libraries.

  Execute the script by passing your API key and an email address as parameters:

  ./account_sample.pl YOUR_API_KEY_HERE [email protected]

  Many thanks to Yanick Champoux for contributing this sample.

• Java

  Uses Java’s networking capabilities to pull an Account from Ohloh. It demonstrates how to generate an MD5 hash of an email address to use as a lookup key, then uses DOM to parse the XML response.

  Pass your API key and the email address of the Account you are requesting as parameters:

  javac ApiExample.java

  java ApiExample YOUR_API_KEY_HERE [email protected]

• C++

  The C++ example is a bit more involved, because it must include code for networking, MD5 hashing, and XML parsing. The example includes source for some small libraries to create a self-contained program.

  The code was written for Visual Studio 2005, but it also compiles and runs on Mac OS X, and should work on Linux. Let us know if you encounter trouble on your platform.

  To build with Visual Studio 2005:

  • Open solution file ApiExample.cpp/build/vs2005/OhlohApiExample.sln
  • Right-click the solution and choose Build.

  To build on Linux or Mac OS X, cd to ApiExample.cpp and run the build script:

  ./compile.sh

  You can then run the executable called ApiExample and pass it your API key and an email address:

  ./bin/ApiExample YOUR_API_KEY_HERE [email protected]

  Many thanks to Lars ‘Levia’ Wesselius for providing the sample code in both C++ and Java!

• PHP

  Paul Scott has created a full-featured PHP class for accessing the Ohloh API, complete with documentation. You can find it at the PHP Classes website.

Your feedback on these examples will benefit everyone, and we’re eager for input on improvements.
We’d also appreciate help translating the samples into more languages.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].