API

From EVEDev

1 Introduction
2 General Info
3 Authentication
4 Arguments
5 Cache
6 Errors
7 Implementations
8 Links
9 References

[edit] Introduction

The EVE API is an initiative by CCP, to provide third party tools (applications, web sites, etc.) with a source of dynamic information about EVE characters and accounts for the purpose of enhancing the EVE experience. All non-public data is protected by an API key that is unique to your account.

If you find any bugs with the API, please use the bug reporting system to let us know. Discussion about the API, including comments and feature requests, can be made in the EVE Technology Lab section of the forums.

Although the term API is used it would more appropriately be labelled a very basic Web Service.

[edit] General Info

The Eve API now provides a wealth of information available to 3rd party tools. A detailed listing of the "methods" available in this API are on the API Listing page. On that page you will find information on the scope of the method (character, corporation, or global), type of authentication required to use the method, and the type of cache implemented for the data returned by that method. You will find detailed information on each "method" including required arguments by clicking on the appropriate table cell. Most of the data returned by the API is in the form of a XML document.

In addition to the XML documents provided by the API which are relatively live data of the Eve game, there is also static data that generally does not change over time. Some of the XML documents may make references to this static data via item numbers for example. This static data is available as a database dump file. More information on this can be found on the CCP_Database_Dump_Resources page. In many cases a simple 3rd party tool will not need to make use of the database dump files.

[edit] Authentication

Data requiring authentication is retrieved by supplying certain arguments to the HTTP request as POST data. The POST data/arguments required for authentication are userID and apiKey. The value of these arguments are supplied by the end-user. The end-user can retrieve his/her userID and apiKey by visiting http://myeve.eve-online.com/api/default.asp. If authentication was not successful you will receive an error message. The userID key value is unique and stays constant for a particular user account. The apiKey value is either Limited Access or Full Access and can change if the user generates a new key value at that same site. Some data requested through the API requires a Full Access API key.

GET values can also be used to communicate with the API if you do not have a method for using POST variables in your language.

Note: the API key is cached for a few minutes (typically 5). If the user changes their API key on the web site, the new one won't work until the old one expires from all of the web server caches.

[edit] Arguments

To retrieve some data you will need to provide additional arguments, such as a characterID. These arguments are supplied the same way as authentication, through an HTTP POST method. If any arguments were invalid, an error is returned. A list of arguments required for a particular request can be found by viewing its page on the API List.

[edit] Cache

To conserve resources on the API server much of the data available via the Eve API implements some form of cacheing. The type of cache used by an API "method" is listed on the API Listing page. The cache styles are described in more detail on the cache styles page.

[edit] Errors

When requesting data through the API you will need to check if an error is returned. If the data you requested is an XML document then the possible errors returned is listed on the error list page which itself is available via the API.