NationStates API (nationdata/regiondata)

[DWAsnia]

I have a question about this. After trying to do this, I ended up getting this.

Code: Select all

<NATION id="controlled_interests">
<ENDORSEMENTS>
pappyusmc,valknot,great_kleomentia,polvinstrad,oplitia,alecabeta,mouni,the_rubber_duck_empire
</ENDORSEMENTS>
<REGION>Madrigal</REGION>
<FIRSTLOGIN>1375931535</FIRSTLOGIN>
<LASTLOGIN>1396018287</LASTLOGIN>
</NATION>

Most of this makes sense to me. But what i dont understand is how to read the login part.

The login is the timestamp when they first logged in. The second one is when their last login was. As I interpret it, the First login is the found date.

[Dremaur]

But how would you interpret it. Like I don't get what a timestamp is. Bear with me. I'm trying to learn code.

[DWAsnia]

But how would you interpret it. Like I don't get what a timestamp is. Bear with me. I'm trying to learn code.

The timestamp is how many seconds have passed since January 1st, 1960.

Some reading on it.

[Dremaur]

But how would you interpret it. Like I don't get what a timestamp is. Bear with me. I'm trying to learn code.

The timestamp is how many seconds have passed since January 1st, 1960.

Some reading on it.

Seems confusing But what i am trying to do is find how long this guy has been innactive.

[DWAsnia]

The timestamp is how many seconds have passed since January 1st, 1960.

Some reading on it.

Seems confusing But what i am trying to do is find how long this guy has been innactive.

He was last on at Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:51:27 GMT. There are quite a few sites that allow you to convert UNIX to real time. This one, for example.

[Dremaur]

Seems confusing But what i am trying to do is find how long this guy has been innactive.

He was last on at Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:51:27 GMT. There are quite a few sites that allow you to convert UNIX to real time. This one, for example.

that web site answers it for me.

[The Blaatschapen]

But how would you interpret it. Like I don't get what a timestamp is. Bear with me. I'm trying to learn code.

The timestamp is how many seconds have passed since January 1st, 1960.

Some reading on it.

Ummm, you mean January 1st, 1970.

[DWAsnia]

The timestamp is how many seconds have passed since January 1st, 1960.

Some reading on it.

Ummm, you mean January 1st, 1970.

Oops, typo

[Nephmir]

How do you get the API telegrams to send to new nations automatically (without NS++ or telegram stamps)? Yes, I know how to send them individually, and I know it'll only work when I'm logged in, but how do I send one to deliver automatically?

[Shadow Afforess]

How do you get the API telegrams to send to new nations automatically (without NS++ or telegram stamps)? Yes, I know how to send them individually, and I know it'll only work when I'm logged in, but how do I send one to deliver automatically?

Generally you write some kind of a program to use the api key, telegram id, and have the program check for new nations to send to. API's exist for software to use, hence the name "Application Programming Interface".

[Nephmir]

So I have to write my own program?

[Pining for the Fjords]

I've never been able to figure this API stuff out. Could someone try their best to explain it for me? Thanks.

[Starrie]

https://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/ap ... +delvotes'

so the last entry in delvotes_for is currently

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<DELEGATE>
<NATION>the_reformed_knights_templar</NATION>
<VOTES>7</VOTES>
<TIMESTAMP>1</TIMESTAMP>
</DELEGATE>


what's up with the timestamp

[The Black Hat Guy]

So I have to write my own program?

I've never been able to figure this API stuff out. Could someone try their best to explain it for me? Thanks.

Yes, you must write your own program if you'd like to send telegrams automatically. That's the entire point of an API - to allow applications to access data automatically. Alternatively, you can use a program that someone else has made - Afforess has one available, as does Auralia, though he has ceased development and support so far as I'm aware.

Unfortunately, creating one's own program isn't really something that can be explained in a forum post. It requires knowledge of programming, and that's something you learn over time, not in a forum post. If you would like to learn to code (and I suggest you do - it's an incredibly useful skill), CodeCademy is a great resource. Take the Python class, then move into the API section, which will teach you almost exactly the skills you'll need to use the NationStates API. It'll take a few hours at least, but it's definitely worth it, not just for NS.

[Me or PHP]

Never mind, I figured it out.

/pages/region.xml returns a broken file, one has to use PHP's built in gzip decode on the gzip link to utilize the data dump.

[Glen-Rhodes]

The structures of the two files are completely different. There is an additional parent element you need to account for with the region dump.

Also, yes, it is probably too big for what you're doing. Why do you need data on all regions in the game?

[Me or PHP]

Never mind

[Glen-Rhodes]

I wrote the sample code you're using.

SimpleXML can handle it. But the way you're going about it is going to get your server rate-limited. You should only be downloading the dumps once a day. It's very possible that the API has already blocked you for a bit.

The problem you're having here is that your code isn't matching the dump's XML structure. Open the XML file and examine the structure, and then you'll be able to see how to access everything.

[Southern Ageena]

Code: Select all

<?php
   $file = 'http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/api.cgi?nation=testlandia';
   $xml = simplexml_load_file($file);
   
   // Type-casting to convert object to string, so that it can be stored. May not be necessary here, but it's always better safe than sorry.
   $population = (string) $xml->POPULATION;
   $civil_rights = (string) $xml->FREEDOMSCORES->CIVILRIGHTS;

   echo 'Population: ' . $population . '<br />Civil Rights: ' . $civil_rights;
   // Outputs:
   //   Population: 18245
   //   Civil Rights: 74
?>

Hi guys. Hopefully you can help me. I'm using this code but I'm also fetching the "LEADER" tag. However if I have a nation with a leader that has strange letters in its name (eg. Slavoj Žižek) nothing is outputted.

Any Ideas?

[NewTexas]

[violet], we can always tell when you change the API even if you do not post about it. We can almost guarantee our tool will break. It appears v4 converts all percentages in the feeds from integers to decimals. Interesting. What would be really nice is if you used actual numbers only (decimals or integers) versus putting a "%" in there and forcing us to strip it off to use it in calculations. But, that is not what we came to rant about.

We came to ask about API Versioning. It seems like you have made an effort to make previous versions backwardly compatible, however, all four versions all use the new decimal percentages. Is that really backward compatible?

http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/api ... landia&v=1
http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/api ... landia&v=2
http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/api ... landia&v=3
http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/api ... landia&v=4

[[violet]]

Haha, you are totally right, Big Tex. In this case I decided that since the change was so minor, and didn't involve a format change (it was sending a string value before and it's sending a string value now), it wasn't worth bumping the versioning. But clearly I was wrong. Let me look at it.

[[violet]]

New API Version: 5

Changes:

1. Outputs as UTF-8. This will also affect all Daily Dumps from now on.
2. Values under <PUBLICSECTOR>, <GOVT>, and <DEATHS> are displayed in the format "%.1f" (e.g. "21.1"), rather than "%d%%" (e.g. "21%"). Notice that's two differences: an extra decimal place, and no more percentage sign.

Examples: v4, v5.

API documentation

Note that going forward I will only be maintaining the three most recent API versions. If you depend on API version 1 or 2, it may stop working without notice.

[NewTexas]

WooHoo!

[Shadow Afforess]

New API Version: 5

Changes:

1. Outputs as UTF-8. This will also affect all Daily Dumps from now on.
2. Values under <PUBLICSECTOR>, <GOVT>, and <DEATHS> are displayed in the format "%.1f" (e.g. "21.1"), rather than "%d%%" (e.g. "21%"). Notice that's two differences: an extra decimal place, and no more percentage sign.

Examples: v4, v5.

API documentation

Note that going forward I will only be maintaining the three most recent API versions. If you depend on API version 1 or 2, it may stop working without notice.

I note PUBLICSECTOR still has a hideous percent sign and no decimals...

[[violet]]

Fixed bug causing percentage signs to display when requesting a nation API with no shards and explicitly specifying a version number of 5 or higher, and a separate bug causing incorrect formatting in API version 5 when looking up nations with a public sector of 100% or 0%.