Question Working with APIs

[jbailey01]

Hello all,
I'm a fairly newer programmer. And I
don't quite understand how API's work exactly and I can't find any easy to
understand tutorials(I've been looking alot today). I am hoping to use a weather
API (Weather API : Weather Underground) in a program I
am working on and I was hoping someone would be kind enough to point me in the
right direction to figure this thing out. Thanks :smile:​

 

[Menthos]

At the most basic level, you will generally pass an API a set of parameters and the API will, in return, send you back information. Some API's are more advanced and will allow you to make an asynchronous request, which won't tie your code UI up waiting for a response.

Without making an account on the site, I can't see the documentation for that particular API (or at least I couldn't in the brief look I had), but there appears to be a pretty good community forum there that'll likely be a better bet at getting help than this one - have you asked your questions there?

 

[jbailey01]

Without making an account on the site, I can't see the documentation for that particular API (or at least I couldn't in the brief look I had), but there appears to be a pretty good community forum there that'll likely be a better bet at getting help than this one - have you asked your questions there?

Their community seems to be dead from what I can tell after making some posts. To be honest, I've just never dealt with API's at all and that's where i'm most lost, and I can't find any good information on line.

 

[Menthos]

Ah, ok - well some pointers (can't claim whether they're good or not) would be to google 'webservices' - that's the general term that's used with regards to API's within .NET. Whilst that'll probably give you a lot of hits on creating API's, there should be enough information to get you up and running on 'consuming' them.

 

[jbailey01]

Thank you sir, much appreciated!