Netflix API Forums

API Forum

RSS Feed

More efficient way to get detailed movie information?

    • Kevin
    • Topic created 2 years ago

    Hello,

    I'm finding that the method I have to take to get the most specific of movie information is rather tedious and involves a lot of API calls. I just want to make sure that I am doing it the correct way, and not missing a more efficient solution:

    API Call #1: catalog/titles/auto_complete (Armageddon)
    API Call #2: catalog/titles (term=Armageddon, max_results=1)
    API Call #3: catalog/titles/movies/5670317

    ...Now I can get detailed movie information, but if I want the synopsis for example, then:

    API Call #4: catalog/titles/movies/synopsis/5670317

    So, for each search that my user performs, they will be using 4+ API calls (of the daily 5000) limit.

    Any feedback? Thanks!

    Message edited by Kevin 2 years ago

  1. JR Conlin2 years ago

    Well, there are a few things that you could do to make things a bit better. You're not going to be able to get around doing the title search, but you can expand elements being returned.

    For instance, http://api.netflix.com/catalog/titles?term=Armageddon&expand=@synopsis

    Most of the <link> elements can be expanded. You can specify either the full schema link for that particular link, or use the abbreviated alias like I did.

  2. Kevin2 years ago

    Thanks for your help, JR. I will do that. If I am searching for "Forrest Gump", then in your opinion, is it better to query 10 results in catalog/titles and then expand when the user selects the title, OR should I return the titles with catalog/titles/autocomplete, then query catalog/titles and expand? I guess the issue here is speed vs # of calls?

[ Page 1 of 1 ]