API

The VizSeek API provides a simple RESTful interface with lightweight JSON-formatted responses to use many of VizSeek's website features using OAuth. This document provides information to developers on how to integrate with the VizSeek API.

Intro
Tutorial
API Reference

Intro

Use the VizSeek APIs to:

Upload files to be indexed to populate your searchable database.
Send search queries with a photo, 3D model, 2D drawing, or text as input.
Get back a set of visual search results.

If you don't have a VizSeek account yet, contact us to get started and set up a demo.

Delivery

VizSeek's APIs are REST APIs delivered over HTTP in JSON format. They are independent of your operating system, database system or development language. Libraries and language bindings to support REST and JSON are available in all major languages and platforms.

Access tokens

We use OAth 2.0 for authentication. That means an access token, either user or app, must be included in the header of every API call. The difference between a user access token and an app access token is that user access tokens are used when a login is required. For example, the API to upload a file (File PUT) requires a user access token, but the API to get the list of allowed files (ValidUploadFileTypes GET) only needs an app access token. The API Reference page specifies which APIs require a user access token. The rest require an app access token.

Note: A call made without an access token, or without the correct access token, will result in a 401 (Unauthorized) status.

Client Id

A client id is required to identify your application. Contact us to get an assigned client id.

Tutorials

C#
Java
Python 3

Setup

All API calls should be inside the "using" statement

var client = new HttpClient())
{
    client.BaseAddress = new Uri("api/");
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("text/json"));
}

Example of getting access tokens and using them to make a basic API call

    
private static string getAccessToken(HttpClient client, bool requiresUserToken)
{ 
    string accessToken = null;
    //check if the current access token has expired (this check should be done before any API call is made)
    DateTime tokenExpiration = requiresUserToken ? UserTokenExpiration : AppTokenExpiration; //UserTokenExpiration and AppTokenExpiration should be application-level variables (may have been set from a previous request).
    if (tokenExpiration <= DateTime.UtcNow)
    {
        //get an access token
        var formContent;
        if (requiresUserToken)
        {
            formContent = new FormUrlEncodedContent(new[]
            {
                new KeyValuePair<string, string>("grant_type", "password"),
                new KeyValuePair<string, string>("username", "[account email]"),
                new KeyValuePair<string, string>("password", "[password]"), //use SHA1 hash (base64-encoded string) of your password
                new KeyValuePair<string, string>("client_id", "[your client id]")//You can find this in your account settings page
            });
            //Resources on SHA1 hashing:
            //https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40091771/sha-1-hashing-on-java-and-c-sharp
            //https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40740894/using-sha-1-in-net-core  
        }
        else
        {
            formContent = new FormUrlEncodedContent(new[]
            {
                new KeyValuePair<string, string>("grant_type", "client_credentials"),
                new KeyValuePair<string, string>("client_id", "[your client id]")//You can find this in your account settings page
            });
        }
        HttpResponseMessage response = client.PostAsync("token", formContent).Result;
                    
        if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)//request to get token was successful
        {
            //get access token and expiration from response
            var responseJson = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
            var jObject = JObject.Parse(responseJson);
            accessToken = jObject.GetValue("access_token").ToString();
            //note: "expires_in" is in seconds (typically the access token expiration is 30 minutes.
            DateTime expiration = DateTime.UtcNow.AddSeconds((double)Int32.Parse(jObject.GetValue("expires_in")));
            if (requiresUserToken)
            {
                UserTokenExpiration = expiration;
            }
            else
            {
                AppTokenExpiration = expiration;
            }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        accessToken = requiresUserToken ? UserAccessToken : AppAccessToken; //use stored application-level variable from a previous request
    }
    return accessToken;
}

//make an API call with a token
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", "Bearer " + getAccessToken(client, false));
response = client.GetAsync("Version").Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode) //API call was successful
{        
    string version = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<string>().Result;
}

Example of getting your company ID (or "CompanyVizSpaceID")

Using the User GET API

//note: this API requires an app access token to be included in the header
//for the password, use SHA1 hash (base64-encoded string) of the password
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", "Bearer " + getAccessToken(client, false));
HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync("User?emailID=" + userEmail + "&password=" + userPassword).Result;

UserProfile user = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<UserProfile>().Result;
string myCompanyId = user.CompanyVizSpaceID;

Example of adding a file

Using the File PUT API

//note: this API requires a user access token to be included in the header

string fileContent = Convert.ToBase64String([byte array of the file]);
//attributes are URL encoded. For this example, attributes would be "color%3Dred%26size%3Dlarge"
string attributes = HttpUtility.UrlEncode("color=red&size=large");

//add to company file database (attributes are optional)
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", "Bearer " + getAccessToken(client, true));
HttpResponseMessage response = client.PutAsJsonAsync("File?file=exampleFile.png&isSearchInput=false&attributes=" + attributes, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(fileContent)).Result;

//or add just for search. Note: isSearchInput's default value is true;
HttpResponseMessage response = client.PutAsJsonAsync("File?file=.png", JsonConvert.SerializeObject(fileContent)).Result;

string fileUID = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<string>().Result; //get the id of the added file

//note: The File GET API can be used to get the details of an added file, as well as to check if the file has finished indexing, by looking at the "IndexingFinished" property.

Example of searching with a file

Using the Search GET and Search PUT APIs

//note: the Search APIs require a user access token to be included in the header

//with Search GET - using the file we just added using File PUT
//filterStr is URL encoded
string filterStr = HttpUtility.UrlEncode("fileUID=" + fileUID);
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", "Bearer " + getAccessToken(client, true));
HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync("Search?filterStr=" + filterStr).Result;

//or with Search PUT - using a new file
string[] byteArrays = new string[1];//multiple files could be used
byteArrays[0] = [byte array of the file];
HttpResponseMessage response = client.PutAsJsonAsync("Search?fileExtension=.png, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(byteArrays)).Result;

//using the search results. See the API Reference page for details about the SearchResultSummary object.
SearchResultSummary search = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<SearchResultSummary>().Result;