BOSSMan -- Gem for interaction with the Yahoo BOSS web service

Description

BOSSMan can be used to perform image, web and news searches against Yahoo's index. For more information about BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) please refer to http://developer.yahoo.com/search/boss/.

This is an older project - I'd encourage you to look at the great HTTParty (http://github.com/jnunemaker/httparty) library if you need to quickly and easily access any kind of HTTP resource.

Bugs, Features, Feedback

Tickets can be submitted by via GitHub issues.

Example Usage

Setup

require 'bossman'
include BOSSMan

BOSSMan.application_id = [Your Application ID]

Web

boss = Search.web("prospect park", :count => 5, :filter => "-hate")

puts "Matches:"
puts

boss.results.each { |result| puts "#{result.title} [#{result.url}]" }

=> Matches:

<b>Prospect</b> <b>Park</b> Alliance [http://www.prospectpark.org/]
<b>Prospect</b> <b>Park</b> (Brooklyn) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_Park_(Brooklyn)]
About <b>Prospect</b> <b>Park</b> [http://www.prospectpark.org/about]
<b>Prospect</b> <b>Park</b> Zoo [http://www.prospectparkzoo.com/]
<b>Prospect</b> <b>Park</b> [http://www.prospectpark.net/]

News

boss = Search.news("brooklyn new york", :age => "1h")
puts boss.results.first.title
puts "-" * 80
puts boss.results.first.abstract

=> Brooklyn Park Helps Homeless
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When people lose their homes, they often turn to shelters as a last resort. Now, the City of Broo...

Images

boss = Search.images("brooklyn dumbo", :dimensions => "large")
boss.results.map { |result| result.url }

=> ["http://static.flickr.com/71/216529430_bf36a6c40b.jpg", "http://static.flickr.com/3215/2771873360_7cf2d7e572.jpg", "http://static.flickr.com/149/360481219_3ab59470cc.jpg", "http://static.flickr.com/3136/2768629082_bc0dcb76a3.jpg", "http://www.wirednewyork.com/brooklyn/dumbo/dumbo_brooklyn_bridge_3march02.jpg", "http://www.wirednewyork.com/brooklyn/dumbo/dumbo_brooklyn_bridge_plymouth_4july03.jpg", "http://static.flickr.com/3611/3538565901_f81eb52825.jpg", "http://static.flickr.com/2145/3539377152_1fd629db12.jpg", "http://static.flickr.com/2082/2340123052_fb8afe43b6.jpg", "http://static.flickr.com/3617/3508763096_ec8c53c061.jpg"]

Spelling

boss = Search.spelling("Diabretes")
boss.suggestion 

=> Diabetes

BOSS Site Explorer

links = Search.se_inlink("www.wnyc.com")
  links.results.map { |result| result.url }

  => ["http://www.wnyc.org/", "http://www.onthemedia.org/", "http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/", "http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/actor-heath-ledger-is-found-dead", "http://www.streetsblog.org/", "http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/", "http://www.notmuch.com/", "http://www.williams-syndrome.org/", "http://www.manhattancc.org/", "http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/"]

se_pagedata will return a list of pages underneath a given subdomain:

pages = Search.se_inlink("www.webmd.com")
pages.results.map { |result| result.url }

=> ["http://www.webmd.com/", "http://www.webmd.com/allergies", "http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/temporomandibular-disorders", "http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/dental-crowns", "http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/dental-health-bridges", "http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/dental-implants", "http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/canker-sores", "http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/teeth-grinding-bruxism", "http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/gingivitis-periodontal-disease", "http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/plaque-and-your-teeth"]

Output Properties

Common

  • search.responsecode : HTTP response code
  • search.nextpage : REST URL to next page of search results
  • search.count : Number of search results contained in response
  • search.start : Search result from which output starts
  • search.totalhits : De-duplicated total number of results search yielded
  • search.deephits : Total number of results search yielded
  • search.results[].clickurl : Tracking URL of result; must be used in user-facing anchor tags by BOSS TOU
  • search.results[].url : URL of result
  • search.results[].title : Title of item
  • search.results[].abstract : Description of item

Web

  • search.results[].dispurl : Display URL of result
  • search.results[].size : Size of result in bytes
  • search.results[].date : Date result was indexed

News

  • search.results[].language : Language of news story
  • search.results[].date : Last publication date of news story
  • search.results[].time : Last publication time of news story
  • search.results[].source : Source of news story
  • search.results[].sourceurl : URL of source publication

Images

  • search.results[].filename : Filename of image
  • search.results[].size : Size of image
  • search.results[].format : Format of image
  • search.results[].height : Height of full-size image
  • search.results[].date : Last modification date of image (yyyy/mm/dd)
  • search.results[].mimetype : MIME type of image
  • search.results[].refererclickurl : Link to page where image was found
  • search.results[].refererurl : Link to page where image was found
  • search.results[].width : Width of full-size image
  • search.results[].thumbnail_url : URL of thumbnail image
  • search.results[].thumbnail_height : Height of thumbnail image
  • search.results[].thumbnail_width : Width of thumbnail image

Spelling

  • search.suggestion : Returns spelling suggestion from BOSS

Other formats

Result sets can be dumped as JSON, XML and YAML by use of to_json, to_xml, to_yaml respectively.

  • search.to_xml : dumps XML of the result set
  • search.to_json : dumps JSON of the result set
  • search.to_yaml : dumps YAML of the result set
  • search.results[3].to_xml : dumps XML of one search result
  • search.results[3].to_json : dumps JSON of one search result
  • search.results[3].to_yaml : dumps YAML of one search result

Installation

jp@populuxe:~/code/ruby$ gem install gemcutter
jp@populuxe:~/code/ruby$ gem tumble
jp@populuxe:~/code/ruby$ gem install bossman

Requirements

  • FakeWeb = 1.2.6
  • RSpec >= 1.2.9
  • Active Support >= 2.1

LICENSE:

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2009 Jay Pignata

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.