This is a presentation on Google's AJAX APIs that I gave to the Silicon Valley Google Technology User Group

1. Using the Google AJAX APIs
Chris Schalk
10/1/2008

2. Agenda
• The core Google AJAX APIs
– Google AJAX Search API
– Google AJAX Feed API
– Google AJAX Language API
• Demo review: Some cool externally developed demos
• AjaxSearch Java Demo
• How the AJAX APIs are more than fluff to spice up a
Web page: Examining an application built w/ the APIs
– Utilize the Raw AJAX APIs and advanced features
– Show how Reader and Google CSE are utilized
– How to wrap the application as a gadget
2 (c)2008 Google

3. Agenda
• The core Google AJAX APIs
– Google AJAX Search API
– Google AJAX Feed API
– Google AJAX Language API
• Demo review: Some cool externally developed demos
• AjaxSearch Java Demo
• How the AJAX APIs are more than fluff to spice up a
Web page: Examining an application built w/ the APIs
– Utilize the Raw AJAX APIs and advanced features
– Show how Reader and Google CSE are utilized
– How to wrap the application as a gadget
3 (c)2008 Google

4. The Basic Building Blocks
• HTML/DOM
• CSS
• Javascript
• Tools
– Editor
– Debugger - Firebug
– Performance - YSlow
• The Google AJAX Apis
– Search
– Feed
– Language
• Google Reader (www.google.com/reader)
• Google Custom Search Engines (www.google.com/cse)
• iGoogle
4 (c)2008 Google

5. Google AJAX APIs
Delivering the Web to Your Applications (Search, Feeds, Language)
• RESTful data access layer
–JSON/JSON-P
AJAX APIs • JavaScript Runtime
–Designed for ease of use
• JavaScript Controls and UI elements
–Custom integration and styling
5 (c)2008 Google

6. Google AJAX APIs Background
• Comprehensive access to Google Systems (Search, Feeds,
Language)
• End to end API stack:
– Data Access via JavaScript Methods and REST
– Built in Native UI and Large Suite of Advanced Controls
• Large, diverse customer base
– Sites: Long Tail and Short Tail Sites (100 pv/d – 10m+ pv/d)
– Developers: Pro Web Developers – Scripters – Bloggers
• High Speed, Low Latency, Globally Available
6 (c)2008 Google

7. Google AJAX APIs Architecture
JavaScript Controls and UI elements
JavaScript Runtime Layer
AJAX
RESTful Data Access Layer APIs
7 (c)2008 Google

8. Google AJAX APIs Architecture
JavaScript Controls and UI elements
JavaScript Runtime Layer
AJAX
RESTful Data Access Layer APIs
8 (c)2008 Google

9. Google AJAX APIs Architecture
AJAX
RESTful Data Access Layer
APIs
• Command Line Access
• Server-to-Server Access
• Non-JavaScript
• JSON output
9 (c)2008 Google

10. Google AJAX APIs Architecture
JavaScript Runtime Layer
AJAX
APIs
• Low level JavaScript Access
• Allows for maximum UI flexibility
• Requires custom coding
• JSON parsing not needed
10 (c)2008 Google

11. Google AJAX APIs Architecture
JavaScript Controls and UI elements
AJAX
APIs
• Minimal JavaScript needed
• Least code required
• No custom coding needed
• UI control renders itself
11 (c)2008 Google

12. Google AJAX Search API
Multiple Search types available:
– Web
– Video
– News
– Image
– Local
– Book
– Blog
– Patent
12 (c)2008 Google

13. Demo - Trying out the AJAX Search API
13

14. Google AJAX Feed API
• Load
• Find
• Lookup
14 (c)2008 Google

15. Demo - Using the Ajax Feed API
1. Basic stuff
2. Mashup with Google Maps and Flickr
15

16. Google AJAX Language API
• Translation
• Language Detection
16 (c)2008 Google

17. Demo - Using the AJAX Language
Translation API
17

18. Agenda
• The core Google AJAX APIs
– Google AJAX Search API
– Google AJAX Feed API
– Google AJAX Language API
• Demo review: Some cool externally developed demos
• AjaxSearch Java Demo
• How the AJAX APIs are more than fluff to spice up a
Web page: Examining an application built w/ the APIs
– Utilize the Raw AJAX APIs and advanced features
– Show how Reader and Google CSE are utilized
– How to wrap the application as a gadget
18 (c)2008 Google

19. Some notable AJAX APIs Applications
Time - AJAX Search API (news)
http://www.time.com/time/politics
http://www.time.com/time/global_business/united-states
NYTimes - AJAX Feed API
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com
People - AJAX Feed API + gadgets
http://www.people.com/people/news/0,,,00.html
http://www.google.com/uds/gadgets/people_ads/people_ads.html
SnowCovered - AJAX Language API
http://www.snowcovered.com/Snowcovered2/
Walkscore - AJAX Search API (local) + Maps API
http://www.walkscore.com/get-score.php?street=1600+amphitheatre+parkway+94043&go=Go
http://www.walkscore.com/rankings/San_Francisco
Google Elections apps:
http://www.google.com/2008election/
http://www.google.com/2008election/convention.html
Background:
http://www.searchmashups.blogspot.com/
19 (c)2008 Google

20. Agenda
• The core Google AJAX APIs
– Google AJAX Search API
– Google AJAX Feed API
– Google AJAX Language API
• Demo review: Some cool externally developed demos
• AjaxSearch Java Demo
• How the AJAX APIs are more than fluff to spice up a
Web page: Examining an application built w/ the APIs
– Utilize the Raw AJAX APIs and advanced features
– Show how Reader and Google CSE are utilized
– How to wrap the application as a gadget
20 (c)2008 Google

21. Demo - Using AJAX Search with Java
21

22. Are the AJAX APIs just used to spice up Web pages?
Answer: No!
Let’s examine a real application built by
Google that use the Google AJAX APIs.
22 (c)2008 Google

23. Agenda
• The core Google AJAX APIs
– Google AJAX Search API
– Google AJAX Feed API
– Google AJAX Language API
• Demo review: Some cool externally developed demos
• AjaxSearch Java Demo
• How the AJAX APIs are more than fluff to spice up a
Web page: Examining an application built w/ the APIs
– Utilize the Raw AJAX APIs and advanced features
– Show how Reader and Google CSE are utilized
– How to wrap the application as a gadget
23 (c)2008 Google

24. The Official Google Blogs Application
24 (c)2008 Google

25. Demo - Checking out the Google Blogs
Application

26. What we saw
• The tag cloud view
• A detail entry/snippet view
• The hierarchical blog view
• Search control and results
• Translation capabilities
26 (c)2008 Google

27. How was this built?
• Building Blocks
– Google Reader (content feeds)
– Custom Search Engine
– AJAX APIs (Feed, Search, Language)
• Getting Started
– Build standalone HTML/CSS/JS
– google.load()
– google.setOnLoadCallback()
• Putting it all together
– Application details
• Making an iGoogle Gadget
– Wrapping things into iGoogle
27 (c)2008 Google

28. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Google Reader - www.google.com/reader
• Subscriptions
– Blog management
• Tags
– Grouping Subscriptions/Blogs
– Tag based pages
– Tag based feeds
• Tag Cloud
– All blogs top 20
• Hierarchical View
– All categorized blogs
28 (c)2008 Google

29. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Google Reader - www.google.com/reader
Tags and Categorization
29 (c)2008 Google

30. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Google Reader - www.google.com/reader
Tags and Sharing Feeds
30 (c)2008 Google

31. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Google Reader - www.google.com/reader
Tags and Sharing Feeds
31 (c)2008 Google

32. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Google Reader - www.google.com/reader
Tags and Sharing Feeds - Ads Verticals Example
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/X/label/Ads%20Verticals
32 (c)2008 Google

33. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Google Reader - www.google.com/reader
Tags and Sharing Feeds - Ads Verticals Feed
http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/X/label/Ads%20Verticals
33 (c)2008 Google

34. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Custom Search - www.google.com/cse
• CSE
– Custom Search Engine
– Better alternative than site restriction for large # of sites
– Enables search of all blogs
– All Google Blogs > 100 blogs
– Integrates directly with AJAX WebSearch
34 (c)2008 Google

35. Building The Application
Building Blocks - Custom Search - www.google.com/cse
35 (c)2008 Google

36. Building The Application
Building Blocks - The Google AJAX APIs
• Feed API
– Utilize Google Reader’s tag based feeds
– Mixed Format (XML and JSON) for tag cloud
– FeedControl for HTML generation
• Search API
– Blog or Web Search
– Customer Search Engine
– Why not Blog Search?
• Language API
– Detecting non-native languages
– Allow translation
36 (c)2008 Google

37. Building The Application
Getting Started - The HTML and CSS
<div id='container' class='container'>
<div id='tabs' class='tabs'>
<div id='categories' class='tabHeader tabActive'> Categories </div>
<div id='blogs' class='tabHeader tabInactive'> Blogs </div>
<div id='search' class='tabHeader tabInactive'> Search </div>
</div>
<div id='tabView' class='tabView'>
<div id='tabContentFrame' class='tabContentFrame'></div> </div>
<div id='feedView' class='feedView'>
<div id='feedContentView' class='feedContentView'></div>
</div>
<div id='searchView' class='searchView'></div>
</div>
37 (c)2008 Google

38. Building The Application
Getting Started - The HTML and CSS
Tabs
TabView
DetailView
SearchControl
38 (c)2008 Google

39. Building The Application
Getting Started - The Google AJAX APIs
• Bootstrapping the APIs and the application
<script src=quot;http://www.google.com/jsapiquot; type=quot;text/javascriptquot;>
</script>
<script type=quot;text/javascriptquot;>
google.load('feeds', '1');
google.load('search', '1');
google.load('language', '1');
google.setOnLoadCallback(ogbInit);
</script>
39 (c)2008 Google

40. Building The Application
Getting Started - The Google AJAX APIs
• Initializing the application
function ogbInit() {
initData();
hookUI();
bootTagWeights();
};
• Boot the top articles over all blogs using Google Reader Tag
– Reader tag ‘officialgoogleblogs-all’
– Utilize mixed format (XML and JSON) for source identifier
– Generate tag weights based on time and number of entries
40 (c)2008 Google

41. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API
• The top entries for tag cloud generation
function bootTagWeights() {
var url = urlFromLabel('officialgoogleblogs-all');
var feed = createFeed(url, google.feeds.Feed.MIXED_FORMAT);
feed.load(tagWeightsLoaded);
};
function createFeed(url, opt_format) {
var format = (opt_format || google.feeds.Feed.JSON_FORMAT);
var feed = new google.feeds.Feed(url);
feed.setResultFormat(format);
feed.setNumEntries(30);
return feed;
};
41 (c)2008 Google

42. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API
• tagWeightsLoaded callback
function tagWeightsLoaded(result) {
... // Pull out source from top blog entries..
var ns = 'http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom';
var entries = result.feed.entries;
for (var i=0; i <entries.length; i++) {
var e = entries[i];
var sns=google.feeds.getElementsByTagNameNS(e.xmlNode,ns,'source');
var ins= google.feeds.getElementsByTagNameNS(sns[0], ns, 'id');
var id = ins[0].firstChild.nodeValue; ...
}
...
};
42 (c)2008 Google

43. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API
• tagWeightsLoaded callback - source
43 (c)2008 Google

44. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API
• tagWeightsLoaded callback - source
44 (c)2008 Google

45. Building The Application
The Tag Cloud and Tag Selection
TagView
45 (c)2008 Google

46. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API
• Loading and Displaying the Blog Feeds
function ogbShowFeed(url) { showStatus('Loading...');
var feed = createFeed(url);
feed.load(function(result) { feedLoaded(result, url); });
};
function feedLoaded(result, url) { var entries = result.feed.entries;
for (var i=0; i <entries.length; i++) {
feedControl.createHtml(entries[i]);
if (entries[i].html) {
feedView.appendChild(entries[i].html);
}
}
};
46 (c)2008 Google

47. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API - FeedControl
• The FeedControl and HTML generation
• Change JSON entry into standardized HTML nodes
• HTML attached to the JSON entry
• Applicable CSS classes
function feedLoaded(result, url) {
var entries = result.feed.entries;
for (var i=0; i <entries.length; i++) {
feedControl.createHtml(entries[i]);
if (entries[i].html) {
feedView.appendChild(entries[i].html);
}
}
};
47 (c)2008 Google

48. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API - FeedControl
HTML
48 (c)2008 Google

49. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API - FeedControl
• Override the default CSS class rules
• Base Structure
<!-- One .gf-result per entry -->
<div class=quot;gf-resultquot;>
<!-- Hyperlinked Entry Title -->
<div class=quot;gf-titlequot;>
<a class=quot;gf-titlequot;></a>
</div>
<!-- Author (Only if entry.author is present -->
<div class=quot;gf-authorquot;></div>
<!-- Published Date (Only if entry.publishedDate is present -->
<div class=quot;gf-relativePublishedDatequot;></div>
<!-- Snippet entry.contentSnippet -->
<div class=quot;gf-snippetquot;></div>
</div>
49 (c)2008 Google

50. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Feed API - FeedControl
• Override the default CSS class rules
#feedContentView .gs-title {
text-decoration : none;
}
#feedContentView .gf-result, #feedContentView .gs-result {
padding-bottom : 8px;
width : 90%;
overflow : hidden;
}
#feedContentView .gf-title a, #feedContentView .gs-title a {
font-size : 16px;
color : #DD8800;
}
#feedContentView .gf-snippet, #feedContentView .gs-snippet {
color : #DDDDDD;
padding-left : 5px;
}
50 (c)2008 Google

51. Building The Application
The Blogs View
Blogs
51 (c)2008 Google

52. Building The Application
The Blogs View
• Custom JSON Objects
– Maps all blogs to tags
– Build view based on all tags and corresponding blogs
– Tag selection and blog selection both generate detail view
var blogs =
[ { 'id': 'feed/http://feeds.feedburner.com/GoogleAdsenseChinaBlog',
'title': 'AdSense-u4e2du6587',
'alternate': { 'href': 'http://adsense.googlechinablog.com/',
'type': 'text/html' }, tags : ['publishers'] },
....
];
52 (c)2008 Google

53. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Search API
SearchControl
53 (c)2008 Google

54. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Search API
• Search Control
– Place into DIV
• Searcher
– CSE
– searchComplete callback
// Generate Search Form and Searcher
searchForm = new google.search.SearchForm(false, searchView);
searchForm.setOnSubmitCallback(null, searchSubmit);
searcher = new google.search.WebSearch();
searcher.setResultSetSize(google.search.Search.LARGE_RESULTSET);
searcher.setSiteRestriction('000333901043914979043:yiaplyr6ps0');
searcher.setSearchCompleteCallback(null, searchComplete);
54 (c)2008 Google

55. Building The Application
The Search Results View
Search Results
55 (c)2008 Google

56. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Language API - Translation
Original
56 (c)2008 Google

57. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Language API - Translation
Translated
57 (c)2008 Google

58. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Language API - Translation
• Detecting Language
– Load feed and then detect language of each entry
– If not equal to CurrentLocale, add Translate icon
{
feedControl.createHtml(entries[i]);
feedView.appendChild(entries[i].html)
var cb = detectCallbackFunction(url, i); // Check for translation by detecting snippet
google.language.detect(entries[i].contentSnippet, cb);
}
function detectCallback(result, url, i) {
var entry = feedView.entries[i];
if (result.language != google.language.CurrentLocale) {
log('Entry can be translated');
addTranslateIcon(entry);
}
};
58 (c)2008 Google

59. Building The Application
The Google AJAX Language API - Translation
• Translating an entry
– Translate icon triggers translation of title and snippet
– Callback will replace contents appropriately
– Icon will toggle back and forth
function processTranslation(index, elementId, result) {
// Grab the correct item and replace..
var entry = feedView.childNodes[index];
var node;
if (elementId == 'title') {
node = entry.title(); }
else {
node = entry.snippet();
}
node.innerHTML = result.translation;};
59 (c)2008 Google

60. Building The iGoogle Gadget
iGoogle Gadget
60 (c)2008 Google

61. Building The iGoogle Gadget
iGoogle Template
<?xml version=quot;1.0quot; encoding=quot;UTF-8quot; ?>
<Module>
<ModulePrefs
title=quot;All Google Blogsquot;
directory_title=quot;All Google Blogsquot;
title_url=quot;http://googleblog.blogspot.comquot;
author=”Chris Schalkquot;
author_affiliation=quot;Googlequot;
author_location=quot;Bay Area, CAquot;
author_email=quot;googlemodules+ogb@google.comquot;
scrolling=quot;falsequot;
category=quot;toolsquot;
height=quot;450quot; >
</ModulePrefs>
<Content type=quot;htmlquot;><![CDATA[
<<HTML inserted here>>
]]></Content></Module>
61 (c)2008 Google

62. Reference Material
• General Documentation
– http://code.google.com/intl/ja/apis/ajaxsearch
– http://code.google.com/intl/ja/apis/ajaxfeeds
– http://code.google.com/intl/ja/apis/ajaxlanguage
• FeedControl
– http://code.google.com/intl/ja/apis/ajaxfeeds/documentation/referenc
e.html#FeedControl
• Development Tools
– Firebug
• http://getfirebug.com
– Firebug Tutorial
• http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=94630&topic=11
530
62 (c)2008 Google

63. Learn more
http://code.google.com/
Contact info:
http://chrisschalk.com
Slides will be posted on
slideshare.net!