FAQs

Do I need to escape any characters when sending my query to the server?

Yes. You should URL encode the values of query string parameters when making HTTP REST/GET requests.

When and how frequently do I need to call the Info method?

Info method is necessary to determine which limiters, sort options, search fields and expanders are available for a given profile.

Since these change very rarely, only when you, or Customer Satisfaction, makes a modification to your profile setup, make this call infrequently and cache the results, or call it asynchronously so search performance is not impacted.

How is the retrieve method different from the search method?

The Search method is generally called when the user enters a query in a search box. It returns a set of records based on the query term and the search criteria specified, and is generally used to display a result list to the end user.

The Retrieve method is generally called when the user clicks on a particular record in the result list.

It returns the complete data and the full text (when available) for that record, and is generally used to display a detailed record to the end user.

There are 2 main differences in the response of the two methods:

Retrieve response contains more data than the Search response.
Retrieve response contains the HTML full text and the PDF full text links (when available), whereas Search response contains only HTML or PDF full text indicators, not the actual full text.

How do I highlight my query terms in search and retrieve responses?

When calling the Search method, using highlight=y will cause the searched terms to be enclosed within <highlight> tags in the Search response.

When calling the Retrieve method, using the highlightterms parameter, you can specify the terms to be highlighted. These will be enclosed within <highlight> tags in the Retrieve response

Why are there 3 views (Title Only, Brief, Detailed)?

One of the input criteria of Search method allows you to specify the ‘view’ of the response. This filters the search response to return only the elements specific to each view.

You can use this to let your users select the amount of data that they can see for each record on the results list page, without having to do the filtering yourself.

The data elements returned in each view are:

Title: Title, Relevancy score, Custom links, Full text link indicators, AN, Permanent links, Database name and ID, Book jackets, Publication type ID and icons.
Brief: All the above + Authors, Source, Subjects.
Detailed: Brief: All the above + Authors, Source, Subjects.

What should I use for the ‘Organization’ input parameter?

Partners making queries on behalf of mutual customers should enter the name of their organization in this parameter. For others, this is N/A.

What is the maximum number of records that I can retrieve in a single request using EDS API?

The maximum number of results per page = 100

Where do I find the custom links for a record?

All the non full text custom links are returned within the 'Record->CustomLinks' element in the search response.

All the full text custom links are returned within the ‘Record->FullText->CustomLinks’ element in the search response.

URL, Name, Category, Text, Icon and MouseOverText are returned for each custom link.

Where can I see the complete query string and search criteria that I sent to the server?

When you call the Search method, you specify some query terms and some search criteria.

The response to the Search method returns these specifications within the ‘SearchResponseMessage->SearchRequest’ element (for a POST request) and the ‘SearchResponseMessageGet->SearchRequestGet’ (for a GET request).

You can use this data to send a subsequent search request to the server (example: by appending “addfacetfilter(SourceType:News)” to the “QueryString”).

Do I get links to book jackets returned in the search response?

The Record->ImageInfo contains images relevant to that record. For example, if the record is an eBook, then the book jacket link for that record will be contained in the ImageInfo element.

How is full text retrieved in EDS API?

When you call the Search method, the response contains full text ‘indicators’ within ‘Record->FullText’.

When you call the Retrieve method, the actual full text is returned. The full text is in the form of HTML text or PDF links within the 'Record->FullText' element. The full text (HTML text or PDF links) is returned only in the Retrieve response for a record. For more information please see Full Text

Where can I find a list of the data elements that will be returned in the retrieve response?

There are hundreds of databases, and each database has its unique list of data elements. A schema to represent the super-set of all these elements would become too large to be useful. Rather, the expected usage for a Retrieve response is to display all data elements in the order in which they are received.

How can I easily and quickly run some sample searches and see the XML and JSON responses?

You can use the Console to run sample searches and see the XML and JSON responses.

Why is ‘i:nil=true’ missing from the search response? Will it affect my existing application?

We have made the following updates to the structure of the responses for Info/Search/Retrieve methods. Developers are requested to make sure that they program defensively and check for nulls to prevent null reference exceptions.

Responses will no longer contain "nil" elements for non-required elements.

Why is ‘AvailableLimiter->LimiterValues’ missing from the Info response? Will it affect my existing application?

AvailableLimiter->LimiterValues element in the Info response was required and is now optional. It will be present only when the “Type” element contains either "SingleSelectValue" or "MultiSelectValue“

Does the EDS API return holdings information for items in my custom catalog?

Yes. The information will be enclosed in the <HoldingSimple> tags in the Search response. For more information please see Search Response.

How do I utilize HTTP compression?

The EDS API supports HTTP compression. Compressed responses will be returned for requests indicating that a compressed response is desired. Compressed data is smaller and will create smaller response messages and decrease response time. For more information please see HTTP Compression.

How do I get autosuggested terms?

When autosuggest (same as “Did You Mean”) is enabled, a search suggestion is generated. The search suggestion is presented on the UI. The user has to click on the suggestion to run the suggested search. Autosuggested terms is enabled by setting the search parameter autosuggest to y. For more information please see Autosuggested Terms or Autosuggested Terms with Publication Finder.

How do I get autocorrected terms?

When autocorrect is enabled, the autocorrected term for the search is generated. You can enable autocorrected terms by setting the autocorrect parameter to y. For more information please see Autocorrected Terms.

How do I use image quick view?

Some records contain associated images. If a record contains associated images, links to the thumbnails of those images will be returned along with the search results. The links provided can be used to display image thumbnails along with the search result metadata. To include IQV images (if available) with search results, append the ‘includeimagequickview’ parameter to the search request. For more information please see Image Quick View.

How do I incorporate autocomplete into my application?

To incorporate autocomplete into your application, you first use a new parameter when you call the UID or IP Authenticate method. The new parameter for the Authenticate methods allows you to request an Autocomplete authentication token, endpoint, and necessary parameters. You can then use this information to make requests to the Autocomplete service from the browser to receive completed suggestions. For more information please see Incorporating Autocomplete.