Only API keys on our Conversations PRR platform are eligible to use this API version. Refer to the Platforms section of our Platform & API Concepts documentation to learn which platform your API keys are on.

The Conversations API lets you programmatically retrieve and submit Bazaarvoice Conversations data for use in your applications. To learn more, go to the Conversations API documentation home page.

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Returns categories and related data.

Examples

Demonstration purposes only. Do not reuse the API passkeys below in your application.

Parameters

Name Description Required Default Value
ApiVersion The API version, e.g. 5.4. Yes
[FORMAT] Response format (xml or json) Yes
PassKey API key is required to authenticate API user and check permission to access particular client's data. Yes
Callback Callback function name used with JSONP. Value is a string consisting of the following characters: a-z,A-Z,0-9,_ (excluding comma). See the JSONP tutorial for more information. No
Filter Filter criteria for primary content of the query. Multiple filter criteria are supported. No
Include This parameter is used to specify related data to be included, e.g., Products, Questions, Answers . No
Limit Max number of records returned. An error is returned if the value passed exceeds 100. No 10
Limit_TYPE Limit option for the nested content type returned. TYPE can be any nested content. e.g. Answers for Questions. An error is returned if the value passed exceeds 20. No 10
Locale Locale to display Labels, Configuration, Product Attributes and Category Attributes in. The default value is the locale defined in the display associated with the API key. No
Offset Index at which to return results. By default, indexing begins at 0 when you issue a query. Using Limit=100, Offset=0 returns results 0-99. When changing this to Offset=1, results 1-100 are returned. The maximum supported value is 300000. No 0
Search Full-text search string used to find UGC. For more information about what fields are searched by default, see the Conversations API page.

Note: This invalidates sort options due to the fact that search takes precedence in returned data.
No
Search_[TYPE] Searching option for included content followed by full-text search string. See the Conversations API page for examples of searching for included data.

Note: This invalidates sort options due to the fact that search takes precedence in returned data.
No
Sort

Sort criteria for Categories. Multi-attribute sorting is supported.

No Id
Stats The content types for which statistics can be calculated for the category. Available content types are: Stories, Questions, Answers. Note: Statistics can also be calculated on includes. No

Filter options

  • Each filter argument specifies the attribute to filter on followed by a comma-separated list of values. For instance, "Filter=Id:eq:5,6" will match all categories with Id 5 OR 6.
  • Advanced operators can be used to define filters. For instance, "Filter=Id:lte:50" will match all categories with an Id value of less than or equal to 50. All advanced operators are documented on the Conversations API page.
  • If a filter value contains a comma or a colon, that character needs to be escaped with a backslash (\, or \:). If a filter value contains an ampersand (&), the ampersand must be encoded in the filter value by replacing & with %26.
  • Multiple filters are allowed as URL parameters in which case filters are AND'ed. For instance, "Filter=AncestorId:eq:5&Filter=IsDisabled:eq:false" will match all categories that are not disabled and that have an ancestor category with Id 5.
  • Time-based filters can be used for LastAnswerTime, LastQuestionTime. Dates in time-based filters are calculated as the number of seconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC. In a future version, we will be adding support for comparing date/time string values. The following example returns content that has its last question submitted on November 9, 2009: &filter=LastQuestionTime:gt:1257746400&filter=LastQuestionTime:lt:1257832800

The following table lists the attributes available for filtering.

Name Description
Id
The identifier of the Product Category.
AncestorId
Id of the Ancestor of the Category.
IsActive
Boolean flag indicating whether the Category is Active.
IsDisabled
Boolean flag indicating whether the Category is Disabled.
LastAnswerTime
The Submission Time of the latest Answer that was submitted to a Question on the Category.
LastQuestionTime
The Submission Time of the latest Question that was submitted on the Category.
Name
The Name of the Category.
ParentId
The Id of the Parent of the Category.
TotalAnswerCount
The number of Answers that have been written to Questions on the Category.
TotalQuestionCount
The number of Questions that have been written on the Category.

Sort options

  • Sort order is required (asc or desc). There is no default.
  • Multi-attribute sorting is supported by using a comma separated list of sort criteria. e.g. Sort=ParentId:asc,SubmissionTime:desc

The following table lists the attributes that are available for sorting.

Name Description
Id
The identifier of the Product Category.
IsActive
Boolean flag indicating whether the Category is Active.
IsDisabled
Boolean flag indicating whether the Category is Disabled.
LastAnswerTime
The Submission Time of the Answer that was submitted last on the Category.
LastQuestionTime
The Submission Time of the latest Question that was submitted on the Category.
Name
The Name of the Category.
ParentId
The identifier of the Parent of the Category.
TotalAnswerCount
The number of Answers that have been written to Questions on the Category.
TotalQuestionCount
The number of Questions that have been written on the Category.

Response format

Sample response to a Request for all categories limiting the display to 1 entry:

{
    "Includes": { },
    "HasErrors": false,
    "Offset": 20,
    "TotalResults": 548,
    "Locale": "en_US",
    "Errors": [ ],
    "Results": [
        {
            "Name": "Vests",
            "Attributes": {
                 "Department": {
                     "Values": [
                           {
                                "Value": "5",
                                "Locale": null
                            }
                        ],
                            "Id": "Department"
                 }
             },
            "ParentId": "WEB_SPECIALS.MENS",
            "QuestionIds": [ ],
            "AttributesOrder": [
                 "Department"
            ],
            "ImageUrl": null,
            "Id": "WEB_SPECIALS.MENS.VESTS",
            "ProductIds": [ ],
            "CategoryPageUrl": null
        }
    ],
    "Limit": 1

}

Sample response for Errors:

{
    "Error": {
        "Code": "[ERROR_CODE]",
        "Message": "[ERROR_MESSAGE]"
    }
}

Response elements

Name Description
Data
Section containing all the data matched by a query grouped by content/subject type. Within each data section there is a map of objects keyed by ids
Errors
Error section is populated instead of other fields if there is an error with a query syntax or problem executing a query.
Limit
The total number of results returned, specified by user in the URL. Defaults to 10 and has a maximum of 100.
Offset
Dataset offset used for pagination (passed as URL parameter in a query request). The maximum supported value is 300000.
Results
Section containing an array of primitive type object references matched by a query.
TotalResults
Total number of records matched.

Error codes

Value Description
ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED

Insufficient privileges to perform the operation

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_API_KEY

Invalid API Key value

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_CALLBACK

Invalid JsonP callback function name

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_FILTER_ATTRIBUTE

Invalid filter attribute name

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_INCLUDED

Invalid parameter value

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_LIMIT

Invalid limit value

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_LOCALE

Invalid locale code

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_OFFSET

Invalid offset value

ERROR_PARAM_INVALID_SORT_ATTRIBUTE

Invalid sort attribute name

ERROR_UNKNOWN

Unknown error (internal server error, for instance)