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With the abundance of electronic resources available today, many schools and public libraries prefer to access their educational assets in one place. Federated Search Engines and other Discovery Tools allow libraries to do just that - easily browse through multiple content sources in their catalog at the same time.
The Infobase Search API provides a much needed "Communication Bridge" between our content and any Discovery Tool that our mutual customers may be using. Api.infobase.com quickly indexes search results from our Online Databases in a universal XML format. These customizable XML search results can then be parsed with search results from other outside sources by an Infobase Discovery Tool partner.
In this Search API Integration Guide, you will find everything you need to know to get started as an Infobase Discovery Tool partner.
The Infobase API is in legacy status and is not actively being updated. If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to support@infobase.com.
Available Products
The Infobase Database Search API is currently available for the following online products:
| Databases | History Research Center |
| Bloom's Literature | African-American History Online |
| Curriculum Resource Center | American History Online |
| Ferguson's Career Guidance Center | American Indian History Online |
| Health Reference Center | Ancient and Medieval History Online |
| Issues & Controversies | Modern World History Online |
| Issues & Controversies in American History | World Religions Online |
| Science Online | |
| Today's Science | |
| Vault Campus Edition | |
| World Almanac for Kids | |
| World Almanac for Kids Elementary | |
| World Geography and Culture Online | |
| World News Digest |
Search Query
In order to utilize the API, there are certain query parameters that must be added to the URL routing:
Api.infobase.com/search/accountID/vendorID/productID/searchterm/format
Account ID
This is the customer's Infobase Account ID. If you are using the API to harvest meta-data, there is a specific Discovery Tool Partner Account ID that can be provided.
Vendor ID
This is the Discovery Tool Partner ID that will be provided once a connection has been established with Infobase.
Product ID
This is the Product ID for what Infobase products you would like to query. Here are the currently available product IDs:
| Product Name | Product ID |
| All Available Products for your Account | 0 |
| African-American History Online | 5 |
| American History Online | 2 |
| American Indian History Online | 6 |
| Ancient and Medieval History Online | 7 |
| Bloom's Literature | 12 |
| Curriculum Resource Center | 15 |
| Ferguson's Career Guidance Center | 10 |
| Health Reference Center | 11 |
| Issues & Controversies | 17 |
| Issues & Controversies in American History | 18 |
| Modern World History Online | 3 |
| Science Online | 8 |
| The World Almanac | 21 |
| The World Almanac for Kids | 20 |
| The World Almanac for Kids Elementary | 231 |
| Today's Science | 19 |
| Vault Campus Edition | 149 |
| World Geography and Culture Online | 9 |
| World News Digest | 16 |
| World Religions Online | 22 |
Search Term
This is the key words(s) you are attempting to search by. In order to get all results, please leave this blank. Please note that a phrase in this field must be separated with + signs. This field does not support special characters, including periods (.) and ampersands (&).
Format
This is the desired output format you would like the results to be returned in. The available formats are:
-XML
-XML-file (this will return a file stream)
-XML-zip (this will return a compressed file that includes Full Article Text)
-JSON
Paging:
There is now a paging mode for the API query engine that should help get around any timeout issues. You have two new parameters added to the tail of the URL, after the format command. They are the # of Rows to return in the query and what Row to start on.
suffix to add: 0/0 in form of row/start
The search below returns 1000 rows starting at the first item and highest weight
Here an example for databases:
Api.infobase.com/search/accountID/vendorID/productID/searchterm//xml/1000/0
For more results you can then change the last suffix to start further out.
Search Results
| Field Name | Description |
| Database | The Infobase Product or Database that contains the record |
| AssetType | Asset type of the record |
| RecordType | Type of record being returned |
| TitleID | The Infobase specific ID for the record |
| Title | Record name |
| RecordURL | Account specific access URL to the record (authentication required) |
| Tags | Any relevant search tags for the record |
| ArticleBody | Includes Full Article Text (only available in xml-zip format). For images, article body includes the caption text for images |
Please note: The Account ID in the Record URL will match the Account ID provided in the original Search Query. Using a customer's correct Account ID is the only way for any authentication settings and usage statistics recording to work properly.
Sample Search
Here is an example Search Query for the term "frogs":
http://api.infobase.com/search/0/0/0/frogs/xml
The Account ID and Vendor ID have been set to 0 for this example.
Once completed, the XML end result would look like this for the first record returned:
<Record>
<Database>History Research Center</Database>
<AssetType>Images</AssetType>
<RecordType>Photograph</RecordType>
<TitleID>49286</TitleID>
<Title>Walleye (Sander vitreus)</Title>
<RecordURL>
http://online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=0&itemid=WEHRC&articleId=49286
</RecordURL>
<Tags>
North America,Percidae,Sport fish,Walleye,Spawn (biology),Frog,Egg (biology),Blue walleye,Sauger,Environment,Fish,Sander,Fauna of the United States,Environment
</Tags>
</Record>
Record URL Authentication
It is Discovery Tools partner responsibility to ensure that the customer's Infobase Account ID is used in the provided Record URLS. When harvesting for meta-data, the Account ID returned in the results will be for the Discovery Tool Partner's specific account. Using a customer's correct account ID is the only way for any authentication settings and usage statistics recording to work properly. Please replace the Account ID when being displayed for a mutual customer.
<RecordURL>
http://online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=0&itemid=WEHRC&articleId=49286
</RecordURL>
Additional Help
If you have any questions/concerns, or are looking to establish a Discovery Tools partnership with Infobase, please contact our API Support Staff at support@infobaselearning.com.