3taps

Node client for 3taps API

Usage no npm install needed!

<script type="module">
  import taps from 'https://cdn.skypack.dev/3taps';
</script>

README

3taps API Node Client

Build Status Coverage Status

This is an API client for the 3taps polling, reference and search API endpoints.

Getting Started

npm install 3taps

General Reference

Errors

In the event that the 3taps API returns an unsupported HTTP status code (i.e. less than 200 or greater than 299) or when the success field from the return message is false, the callback will contain an error with the following properties:

{
  requestOptions: {
    method: 'GET',
    qs: { auth_token: 'test-api-key', timestamp: 1417789575187 },
    url: 'https://polling.3taps.com/anchor'
  },
  response: {
    success: false,
    error: 'example error',
    request: {
      body: '',
      uri: '/anchor?auth_token=test-api-key&timestamp=1417789575187'
    }
  },
  statusCode: 409
}

Options

Options are optional for every method call... the underlying 3taps API may return an error in the event that an expected parameter is missing, however. All parameters can be specified globally when initializing the client library and each initialized parameter value can be overridden in each module method call.

Base Constructor Options

The following options are required when creating the client library:

  • apikey : the API key for access to the 3taps API

The following options are optional when creating the client library:

Polling API

The polling endpoint supports two specific capabilities: anchor and poll

Anchor

Use this to generate an anchor from a point in time... the timestamp value is supported as a Date value or the number of seconds from Unix epoch (January 1, 1970).

var
  anchorDate = new Date(),
  threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

// retrieve all postings new in the last hour
anchorDate.setHours(anchorDate.getHours() - 1);

threeTapsClient.anchor({
  timestamp : anchorDate
}, function (err, data) {
  // work with data here
});

For which the response will look similar to the following:

{
  success: true,
  anchor: 1570197959
}

Poll

var threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

threeTapsClient.poll({
  anchor : 1570197959
}, function (err, data) {
  // work with data here
});

The library will respond with something similar to:

{
  success: true,
  anchor: 124981255,
  postings: [
  { id: 1570150577,
    source: 'CRAIG',
    category: 'RHFS',
    external_id: '4757959490',
    external_url: 'http://greensboro.craigslist.org/reb/4757959490.html',
    heading: '6312 Settlement Road',
    timestamp: 1417712270,
    annotations: [Object],
    deleted: false,
    location: [Object] },
  { id: 1570150578,
    source: 'CRAIG',
    category: 'JMFT',
    external_id: '4759338172',
    external_url: 'http://fredericksburg.craigslist.org/mnu/4759338172.html',
    heading: 'QA Technician',
    timestamp: 1417711983,
    annotations: [Object],
    deleted: false,
    location: [Object] },
  // and so on...
  ]
}
Polling Options

Polling supports a series of parameters that can be passed in the options argument. For a full reference, please see the 3taps documentaiton at http://docs.3taps.com/polling_api.html. Additionally, many of the params support the ability to pass in the logical operators | (or) and - (not).

Here is an example list of options:

var options = {
  anchor : 12345, // optional
  category : '', // optional - 3taps category code, supports logical operators
  'category_group' : '', // optional - 3taps category_group code, supports logical operators
  'location' : {
    'city' : '', // optional - desired City, supports logical operators
    'country' : '', // optional - desired Country code, supports logical operators
    'county' : '', // optional - desired County code, supports logical operators
    'locality' : '', // optional - 3taps Locality code, supports logical operators
    'metro' : '', // optional - 3taps Metro Area code, supports logical operators
    'region' : '', // optional - 3taps Region code, supports logical operators
    'state' : '', // optional - 3taps City code, supports logical operators
    'zipcode' : '' // optional - desired Zip Code, supports logical operators
  },
  retvals : [''], // optional - list of fields to return (see below)
  source : '', // optional - 3taps Data Source code, supports logical operators
  state : '', // optional - state of the posting (see below), supports logical operators
  status : '' // optional - status of the posting (see below), supports logical operators
};

threeTapsClient.poll(options, function (err, data) {
  // filtered awesomeness in the data arg
});
retvals

The retvals parameter supports an array or a comma separated list of values from the following:

  • id
  • account_id
  • source
  • category
  • category_group
  • location
  • external_id
  • external_url
  • heading
  • body
  • timestamp
  • timestamp_deleted
  • expires
  • language
  • price
  • currency
  • images
  • annotations
  • status
  • state
  • immortal
  • deleted
  • flagged_status
state

The state parameter supports the following values:

  • available
  • unavailable
  • expired
status

The status parameter supports the following values:

  • registered
  • for_sale
  • for_hire
  • for_rent
  • wanted
  • lost
  • stolen
  • found

Reference API

The reference API endpoint in 3taps returns information about categories, category_groups, sources and locations in addition to providing the ability to lookup a specific location to retrieve detailed information.

Important Note:

Periodically, the values from reference API methods will change... they can be cached, but periodically, the lastModified date should be used to determine if a value has been updated. The responses from #getCategories, #getCategoryGroups, #getDataSources and #getLocations will contain a lastModified field that can be used for this purpose.

getCategories

var threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

threeTapsClient.getCategories(function (err, data) {
  // work with categories here
});

The response will look similar to the following:

{
  categories: [{
    code: 'APET',
    group_code: 'AAAA',
    group_name: 'Animals',
    name: 'Pets'
  }, {
    code: 'ASUP',
    group_code: 'AAAA',
    group_name: 'Animals',
    name: 'Supplies'
  }, {
  // ... more categories, etc.
  }],
  success: true,
  lastModified: 'Tue Sep 10 2013 00:34:25 GMT-0700 (PDT)'
}

getCategoryGroups

var threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

threeTapsClient.getCategoryGroups(function (err, data) {
  // work with category groups here
});

The response will look similar to:

{ category_groups:
   [ { code: 'AAAA', name: 'Animals' },
     { code: 'CCCC', name: 'Community' },
     { code: 'DISP', name: 'Dispatch' },
     { code: 'SSSS', name: 'For Sale' },
     { code: 'JJJJ', name: 'Jobs' },
     { code: 'MMMM', name: 'Mature' },
     { code: 'PPPP', name: 'Personals' },
     { code: 'RRRR', name: 'Real Estate' },
     { code: 'SVCS', name: 'Services' },
     { code: 'ZZZZ', name: 'Uncategorized' },
     { code: 'VVVV', name: 'Vehicles' } ],
  success: true,
  lastModified: 'Mon Sep 02 2013 00:34:25 GMT-0700 (PDT)'
}

getDataSources

var threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

threeTapsClient.getDataSources(function (err, data) {
  // work with data sources here
});

The response will look similar to:

{ sources:
   [ { code: 'APTSD', name: 'Apartments.com' },
     { code: 'AUTOC', name: 'autotraderclassic.com' },
     { code: 'AUTOD', name: 'autotrader.com' },
     { code: 'BKPGE', name: 'Backpage' },
     { code: 'CARSD', name: 'Cars.com' },
     { code: 'CCARS', name: 'classiccars.com' },
     { code: 'CRAIG', name: 'Craigslist' },
     { code: 'E_BAY', name: 'ebay.com' },
     { code: 'EBAYM', name: 'Ebay Motors' },
     { code: 'HMNGS', name: 'Hemmings Motor News' },
     { code: 'INDEE', name: 'Indeed' },
     { code: 'RENTD', name: 'Rent.com' } ],
  success: true,
  lastModified: 'Tue Sep 30 2014 00:34:25 GMT-0700 (PDT)'
}

getLocations

This method requires the parameter level which should contain one of the following string values:

  • city
  • country
  • county
  • locality
  • metro
  • region
  • state
  • zipcode

Additionally, the results returned can be filtered at the server by passing any of the following parameters:

  • city - only includes locations that exist within the specified 3taps city code
  • country - only includes locations that exist within the specified 3taps country code
  • county - only includes locations that exist within the specified 3taps county code
  • locality - only includes locations that exist within the specified 3taps locality code
  • metro - only includes locations that exist within the specified 3taps metro code
  • region - only includes locations that exist within the specified 3taps region code
  • state - only includes locations that exist within the specified 3taps state code

See the following example to pull zipcodes within San Francisco:

var
  options = {
    level : 'zipcode',
    city : 'USA-SFO-SNF'
  },
  threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

threeTapsClient.getLocations(
  options,
  function (err, data) {
    // work with locations here
  });

Which returns data similar to the following:

{
  locations: [{
    bounds_max_lat: 37.78933,
    bounds_max_long: -122.40438,
    bounds_min_lat: 37.76963,
    bounds_min_long: -122.42968,
    code: 'USA-94102',
    full_name: '94102',
    short_name: '94102'
   }, {
    bounds_max_lat: 37.78823,
    bounds_max_long: -122.39768,
    bounds_min_lat: 37.76453,
    bounds_min_long: -122.42615,
    code: 'USA-94103',
    full_name: '94103',
    short_name: '94103'
  }, {
    // more results here...
  }],
  success: true,
  lastModified: 'Mon Sep 02 2013 00:34:25 GMT-0700 (PDT)'
}

lookupLocation

Provides the ability to find the details of a single location based on its code...

var
  options = {
    code : 'USA-94102'
  },
  threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

threeTapsClient.lookupLocation(
  options,
  function (err, data) {
    // work with location here
  });

Which will return data similar to the following:

{ location:
   { bounds_max_lat: 37.78933,
     bounds_max_long: -122.40438,
     bounds_min_lat: 37.76963,
     bounds_min_long: -122.42968,
     code: 'USA-94102',
     full_name: '94102',
     level: 'zipcode',
     short_name: '94102' },
  success: true }

Search API

Search supports a series of parameters that can be passed in the options argument. For a full reference, please see the 3taps documentaiton at http://docs.3taps.com/search_api.html. Additionally, many of the params support the ability to pass in the logical operators | (or) and - (not).

Here is a list of all optional options:

Reference Filters

  • category
  • category_group
  • location.city
  • location.country
  • location.county
  • location.locality
  • location.metro
  • location.region
  • location.state
  • location.zipcode
  • source

Geographic Filters

  • lat
  • long
  • radius

Posting Specific Filters

  • annotations
  • body
  • currency
  • external_id
  • has_image
  • has_price
  • heading
  • id
  • include_deleted
  • only_deleted
  • price
  • state
  • status
  • text
  • timestamp

Response Shaping

  • anchor - Helps in working with the constant changing of pages
  • count - Puts search into count mode, the payload return is shifted considerably
  • page - The page to return
  • retvals - The specific fields in the response (similar to #poll, see 3taps docs for details)
  • rpp - The number of posts per page
  • sort - Sorts results, supports timestamp, -timestamp, price, -price and distance
  • tier - The tier to return

The following example performs a search for all postings with fixie in the body located within San Francisco, California:

var
  options = {
    body : 'fixie',
    'location.city' : 'USA-SFO-SNF'
  },
  threeTapsClient = require('3taps')({ apikey : 'my-api-key' });

threeTapsClient.search(
  options,
  function (err, data) {
    // work with location here
  });

The response is similar to the following:

{
  "next_page": 1,
  "time_search": 4.912137985229492,
  "success": true,
  "time_taken": 163.88916969299316,
  "anchor": 1574246415,
  "time_fetch": 5.389928817749023,
  "num_matches": 33,
  "postings": [
    {
      "category": "SBIK",
      "timestamp": 1417790322,
      "id": 1573798080,
      "source": "CRAIG",
      "location": {
        "city": "USA-SFO-SNF",
        "geolocation_status": 3,
        "metro": "USA-SFO",
        "locality": "USA-SFO-BEN",
        "country": "USA",
        "region": "USA-SFO-SAF",
        "zipcode": "USA-94110",
        "long": "-122.4158",
        "county": "USA-CA-SAF",
        "state": "USA-CA",
        "lat": "37.74299",
        "formatted_address": "Bernal Heights Summit, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA",
        "accuracy": 8
      },
      "external_id": "4787190734",
      "heading": "2013 Ridley Excalibur Road Bike Frame PRICE DROP Or Best Offer",
      "external_url": "http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/bik/4787190734.html"
    },
    {
      "category": "VPAR",
      "timestamp": 1417790193,
      "id": 1573694799,
      "source": "CRAIG",
      "location": {
        "city": "USA-SFO-SNF",
        "geolocation_status": 3,
        "metro": "USA-SFO",
        "locality": "USA-SFO-BEN",
        "country": "USA",
        "region": "USA-SFO-SAF",
        "zipcode": "USA-94110",
        "long": "-122.4158",
        "county": "USA-CA-SAF",
        "state": "USA-CA",
        "lat": "37.74299",
        "formatted_address": "Bernal Heights Summit, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA",
        "accuracy": 8
      },
      "external_id": "4788044842",
      "heading": "3T IONIC 25 TEAM STEALTH CARBON SEATPOST",
      "external_url": "http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/bop/4788044842.html"
    },
    // more results ...
  ],
  "next_tier": 0
}

Development

Running Tests

The package.json file is wired up to run jshint, unit tests and code coverage reporting, but not functional tests when running npm test.

npm test

Unit Tests

gulp jshint

Unit Tests

gulp test-unit

Test Coverage

When running test coverage, an istanbul report will be created at ./reports/lcov-report/lib/index.js.html

gulp test-coverage
open reports/lcov-report/lib/index.js.html

Functional Tests

To run functional tests, you'll need to export an environment variable with your 3taps API key:

export THREETAPS_APIKEY=my-key-goes-here

To verify whether your key is properly set, simply echo from the command line:

echo $THREETAPS_APIKEY

note: You may want to consider adding this to your ~/.bash_profile so that it is always set when you open a terminal

Now, you can run the functional tests using gulp with the following command:

gulp test-functional