Sams Teach Yourself the Twitter API in 24 Hours

Description

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you'll learn how to build great new social applications with the latest versions of the Twitter API. Using this book's straightforward, step-by-step approach, you'll discover all you can do with the Twitter API, and master everything from the absolute basics to the newest innovations. One step at a time, you'll learn how to build Twitter clients and extend them with more power use advanced features like streaming and geotagging even build mobile Twitter apps for iPhone and Android! Each lesson builds on what you've already learned resulting in a fully functional Twitter application, giving you a strong real-world foundation for success, even if you're completely new to Twitter development!

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Twitter API programming tasks.

Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.

By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion.

Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks.

Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them.

Learn how to

* Make the right upfront decisions in planning your application
* Integrate Twitter support into existing sites, services, and applications
* Set up your Twitter development environment
* Make Twitter API calls, handle responses, and develop readers
* Construct dynamic frameworks to efficiently generate and manage multiple API calls
* Build basic clients and extend them to handle more powerful tasks
* Securely access server resources with OAuth
* Use Direct Messages, Lists, Search, and other Twitter API features
* Enable users to control their accounts, establish favorites and friendships, send notifications, and block individuals
* Build location-based, geotagged applications with Twitter's GEO API
* Give users up-to-the-minute information about the hottest Twitter topics
* Get started with Twitter development for iPhone and Android
* Understand the future of Twitter API development

CONTENTS:

Preface xiii

HOUR 1: What Is Twitter? 1

What Twitter Offers You 1

A Brief History of Twitter - or Why 140 Characters? 2

Summary 7

Q&A 8

HOUR 2: Twitter Out of the Box 11

What Twitter Offers You 11

Registering Your Application 15

The Twitter Client 16

Summary 18

Q&A 18

HOUR 3: Key Issues to Consider When Developing Twitter Applications 21

Types of Twitter Users 21

Types of Twitter Applications 25

Platform 30

Summary 31

Q&A 31

HOUR 4: Creating a Development Environment 33

Background of LAMP Stacks 33

Setting Up a Local Web Server 34

Securing Your Web Server 38

Development Tools 41

Summary 45

Q&A 46

HOUR 5: Making Your First API Call 49

Making a Simple Twitter API Call 49

Making a Call in PHP 53

Summary 57

Q&A 58

HOUR 6: Building a Simple Twitter Reader 59

Building Our First Twitter Client 59

Twitter HTTP Response Codes 65

Summary 69

Q&A 71

HOUR 7: Creating a Twitter API Framework 73

Twitter API Parameters 73

Creating an API Function for Twitter Function Calls 75

Summary 80

Q&A 80

HOUR 8: Twitter OAuth 81

What Is a Class and Why Do We Want to Use It? 81

What Is OAuth? 82

How to Register Your Application 82

Creating the OAuth Twitter Class 83

PHP Library for Working with Twitter's OAuth API 84

Setting Up the twitterOAuth Class 85

How to Add New Functions to Your Twitter Class Object 90

How Our Class Deals with Twitter Connection Errors 92

Summary 93

Q&A 93

HOUR 9: Building a Simple Twitter Client, Part I 95

Expanding the Index File to Support Tabs 95

Adding Support for Home Timeline 97

Adding Support for Mentions 99

Adding Support for Direct Messages 101

Summary 102

Q&A 102

HOUR 10: Building a Simple Twitter Client, Part II 105

Updating and Adding New Files to Support Input Text Field 105

Sending a Message to Twitter 108

API Call for Direct Messages 109

Sanitizing Messages 110

Summary 110

Q&A 111

HOUR 11: Expanding Our Client for More API Calls 113

Types of API Method Calls 113

Adding Tabs to Our UI 114

New Timeline API Calls: Retweeted 117

New Status API Calls: Retweeted 119

Summary 123

Q&A 123

HOUR 12: Direct Messages 125

Sending a Direct Message 125

Adding Direct Message API Support 127

Adding More Direct Message API Support 131

The Destroy API Method 132

Summary 133

Q&A 133

HOUR 13: Lists 135

What Is a List? 135

Implementing the List API into Our Application 137

Three Types of List Methods 142

Summary 144

Q&A 144

HOUR 14: Favorites and User Methods 147

Favorites API Methods 147

User API Methods 153

Summary 158

Q&A 159

HOUR 15: Search 161

History of Twitter Search API 161

Twitter's Stance on Search 161

The Lone Search API 162

A Quick Guide to More Information on Search from the Twitter Docs 170

Summary 173

Q&A 174

HOUR 16: Trends and GEO 177

What Is a Trending Topic? 177

Supporting Trends in Our Application 177

Understanding the GEO Tag 187

Summary 190

Q&A 190

HOUR 17: Friendships, Notification, Block, and Account Methods 193

Friendships Methods 193

Notification Methods 197

Block Methods 198

Account Methods 199

Summary 202

Q&A 202

HOUR 18: Twitter Documentation 205

The Twitter Dev Website 205

Devtwittercom/doc 211

Twitter Resource Page Overview 212

Summary 216

Q&A 216

HOUR 19: Streaming API 219

The Three Types of Streaming APIs 219

Streaming Methods 222

Summary 226

Q&A 226

HOUR 20: FailWhale and the Future of the API 229

What Is Spotting the FailWhale? 229

Review of the Application We Just Built 231

Where Is the Twitter API Going? 236

Summary 237

Q&A 238

HOUR 21: Getting Started in Twitter Android Application 241

Introducing Android 241

Creating the Hello Android Project 243

Summary 251

Q&A 252

HOUR 22: Building Android Applications with Twitter 255

Using Twitter OAuth in Android 255

Importing Packages 261

Summary 276

Q&A 276

HOUR 23: Getting Started with Twitter Using iOS 279

Introducing iOS 279

Creating a Hello World Application 280

Summary 289

Q&A 290

HOUR 24: Building an iPhone and iPod Touch Application with Twitter 293

Introducing Twitter xAuth 293

Benefits of Using Twitter xAuth 294

Selecting Twitter Objective-C Libraries 294

Loading xAuth Token 302

Posting Tweet 304

Adding MGTwitterEngine Delegate Methods 305

Creating Objects in Interface Builder 308

Summary 315

Q&A 316

INDEX 319