Proofile

Proofile API

Introduction

Proofile's application programming interface is separated into two parts, one for retrieving information, and one for setting information. Standard HTTP methods are used: GET to retrieve and POST to update or create. The API is designed to be very easy to use. Simple requests to a URL will return the requested information in your preferred format (JSON, XML, serialized PHP or CSV).

By using the API you automatically accept the terms of service and privacy policy. Client applications are encouraged to link back to proofile.org, and to clearly denote where the data comes from.

API Conventions

Referencing Users

Users may be referenced by a few different attributes, which are added right after http://api.proofile.org/ in the API call. The user will only be found if the appropriate "data export" value has been set to at least "searchable". Don't forget to replace the {variables} with the correct value. This method of targetting users is available for all API calls that only reference one single user and will not be repeated for the other API calls.

/userid/{userid}/

Finds a user by proofile.org id. This id must be a valid positive integer value.

/username/{username}/

Finds a user by user-name.

/email/{email}/

Finds a user by email address. The email address must be url-encoded.

/email_sha1/{sha1}/

Finds a user by the mbox_sha1sum [sha1("mailto:some@mail.address")] value of the users email address.

/email_md5/{md5}/

Finds a user by the md5 checksum [md5("some@mail.address")] of the users email address.

/openid/
example: http://api.proofile.org/openid/avatar/available?openid=http://uweiss.myopenid.com/

Finds a user by OpenID. The OpenID must appended to the query by adding "?openid=http://your.openid.net/".

Return Types

Most calls return types may be specified by appending the type after the last attribute. The available and default return type is always documented in the API documentation. If no return type is added, the default type is returned.

/csv

Returns the result in CSV (comma separated value) format.

/json

Returns the result in JSON format.

/xml

Returns the result in XML format.

/php

Returns the result in PHP serialized format. Can be unserialized using unserialized

/dump

Returns a dump of the variable in a visual representation.

Visibility

This API respects the user's data export visibility only! This means that for a search API call all fields with searchable or export will be returned. Regular API calls will return information that has been set to export. Please respect the user's privacy settings and only visually display data with export_u value of 3, if available.