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NewbieActivity: 56Merit: 0 BitcoinStore and its horrible horrible searching function (Catalog API released) June 05, 2013, 01:26:43 PM #1



We have to first off thank you for all the support you've given us and I doubt I'll ever be able to start off any announcements without mentioning how much we appreciate our customers. We spent a great weekend in San Jose last month meeting you guys face to face and I have to say that few companies have quite the loyal and generous customers that we do.



And I'm also coming to you with a bit of sad news, fixing our search function is harder than we expected. We knew it would be hard, but the tweaks we've been able to add have only made a bit of a difference.



But I had a thought about that... The Bitcoin community has never sat down and waited for something to happen. Most of the major institutions in Bitcoin were created by Bitcoiners. Nearly everyone in the community contributes in some way, whether it is a member of the Dev Team or a poster on this forum, everyone has contributed in some way.



So, the world presented us with a broken banking system and we made our own; what if I present you with an API to BitcoinStore's catalog, and request a better way to search?



Here's the end goal: provide some workaround that will allow our customers to better find what they're looking for, that will work for a couple of months until we can really fix our search on our site (to do so will probably require coding a custom search function.)



I have been presented already with a couple ideas to do this:



A Firefox/Chrome plugin that shows up on NewEgg or Amazon when they have a BitcoinStore product.

An offsite web-app that provides clearer/simpler search

Or perhaps some other idea

Anyways, here's our API:

(add ?page=X to see page X)



I'm thinking people will be able to pull from there to create a database that they can use to do search functions on. Simply updating the catalog every couple of hours should allow the sites to see any changes in availability.



Please let me know if anyone needs additional features or information on the API. I don't think you can place orders through the API yet (probably due to security issues), but I'm sure we'll be able to clear some sites to do so in the future.



Furthermore, if someone provides a beautiful workaround using the API, I will be more than happy to toss a couple bitcoins your way. This is by no means a contest, but I'm happy to provide a financial reward.



Thank you so much for your support, and I look forward to the responses on this thread!



-Jon Hello Bitcoiners!We have to first off thank you for all the support you've given us and I doubt I'll ever be able to start off any announcements without mentioning how much we appreciate our customers. We spent a great weekend in San Jose last month meeting you guys face to face and I have to say that few companies have quite the loyal and generous customers that we do.And I'm also coming to you with a bit of sad news, fixing our search function is harder than we expected. We knew it would be hard, but the tweaks we've been able to add have only made a bit of a difference.But I had a thought about that... The Bitcoin community has never sat down and waited for something to happen. Most of the major institutions in Bitcoin were created by Bitcoiners. Nearly everyone in the community contributes in some way, whether it is a member of the Dev Team or a poster on this forum, everyone has contributed in some way.So, the world presented us with a broken banking system and we made our own; what if I present you with an API to BitcoinStore's catalog, and request a better way to search?Here's the end goal: provide some workaround that will allow our customers to better find what they're looking for, that will work for a couple of months until we can really fix our search on our site (to do so will probably require coding a custom search function.)I have been presented already with a couple ideas to do this:Anyways, here's our API: https://www.bitcoinstore.com/api/rest/products (add ?page=X to see page X)I'm thinking people will be able to pull from there to create a database that they can use to do search functions on. Simply updating the catalog every couple of hours should allow the sites to see any changes in availability.Please let me know if anyone needs additional features or information on the API. I don't think you can place orders through the API yet (probably due to security issues), but I'm sure we'll be able to clear some sites to do so in the future.Furthermore, if someone provides a beautiful workaround using the API, I will be more than happy to toss a couple bitcoins your way. This is by no means a contest, but I'm happy to provide a financial reward.Thank you so much for your support, and I look forward to the responses on this thread!-Jon