We’re getting ready to release the new version of Full-Text RSS, our tool to extract article content from web pages and transform partial web feeds into full-text feeds.
One of the big changes in this release is a new endpoint to make article extraction from regular web pages easier for developers. Although we’ve supported JSON output for a while, it has always been a JSON representation of our regular RSS output, which can be quite cumbersome. If you’re a developer, using our new endpoint for article extraction should be a lot easier.
To give you an example, here’s the JSON produced using the new endpoint (the input URL was a Chomsky article):
Try it out
If you’re curious, have a look at our new Mashape API listing. You’ll find the request parameters you can use with the new endpoint, including the ability to pass in HTML directly. We’ve also included sample output, so you’ll get an idea of what kind of responses you’ll receive.
In addition to the nice API documentation, you can also test the new version within Mashape without having to write any code. Simply fill in the parameter fields and click ‘Test Endpoint’. (You’ll have to sign up for the free plan on Mashape to do this.)
If you’re happy with the test results, you can start writing code. You’ll find that Mashape has already generated code to get you started, pre-filled with our endpoint URL and request parameters. Not only that, they’ve got the same code in Java, Node, PHP, Python, Objective-C, Ruby and .NET.
The Mashape code relies on their own open source HTTP client, so it’s not tied to their service. If you ever decide to host your own copy of Full-Text RSS (it’s free software), you’ll be able to change the base URL to point to your own copy.
We’ll have more information about the new version of Full-Text RSS in another blog post.