OpenSocial API Documentation

The OpenSocial API is a set of common APIs for building social applications on many websites. There are two ways to access the OpenSocial API: client-side using the JavaScript API and server-side using RESTful data APIs.

JavaScript API

The JavaScript API lives under the opensocial.* namespace provides access to three primary areas of functionality:

• People -- information about individual people and their relationships to each other
• Activities -- ability to post and view updates on what people are doing
• Persistence -- a simple key-value data store to allow server-free stateful applications

Here are some of the things you can do with the JavaScript API:

• Build applications without maintaining your own server
• Build applications that include a server-side component (for offline processing and/or access from other websites)
• Create brand-new applications
• Expose existing web applications in the context of existing social websites
• Add social features to existing Google Gadgets
• Write one application that can run in the context of many different social websites

The JavaScript API is designed to use standard web technologies:

• It's packaged as a set of methods in the opensocial.* namespace.
• It allows you to use any standard JavaScript programming techniques and third-party libraries.
• It includes a full asynchronous callback system to support rich AJAX interactivity.

OpenSocial Data APIs

The People and Friends data API allows client applications to view and update People Profiles and Friend relationships using AtomPub GData APIs with a Google data schema. Your client application can request a list of a user's Friends and query the content in an existing Profile.

Here are some of the things you can do with the People and Friends data API:

• Get a structured version of a user's profile in an OpenSocial service.
• Get a list of a user's friends in an OpenSocial service.
• Follow friend connections to get detailed profiles in an OpenSocial service.

The Activities data API allows client applications to view and publish "actions" in the OpenSocial platform using AtomPub GData APIs with a Google data schema. Your client application can use the API to create new entries, edit or delete existing entries, and view lists of entries.

Here are some of the things you can do with the Activities data API:

• Publish information about user actions, such as indicating when a user uploads a video file to your site.
• Create a desktop application or plugin that allows users to see what their friends are doing in realtime.

The Persistence data API allows client applications to view and update key/value content using AtomPub GData APIs with a Google data schema. Your client application can edit or delete content for an existing application, user, or gadget instance, and query the content in an existing feed.

Here are some of the things you can do with the OpenSocial Persistence data API:

• Make data globally available to all of your application's gadgets and have it served by Google.
• Push custom content specific to your gadget's users from your own servers.
• Read data written by users to gadget data for later analysis.