What API do I need to pull data from a website?

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AE
AE Member
in APIs & Domo Developer

Is it possible to pull event history and container information from a railroad website?

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  • GrantSmith
    GrantSmith Coach
    Answer ✓
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    It depends on the platform and if they have an accessible API or not. There are other scripting language options you can do but require a bit of technical expertise like Python and Beautiful Soup or Selenium.

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  • JasonAltenburg
    JasonAltenburg Coach
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    Hi @AE , if you're looking for the API for a specific website, I'd suggest searching for their name and API documentation. For example, I found this one for Railinc API. https://public.railinc.com/developers

    As Grant mentioned, some APIs may not be public, and if they are private, they may require a fee to be paid to access their API. Once you have the info about where the API is located and how to get the data out, then we could start looking at how to get that into Domo. I think you'd be looking at a custom connector if it's not already prebuilt. More info about custom connectors here: https://developer.domo.com/portal/3cfe84d925633-custom-connectors

    I also wanted to mention that the techniques using Python, Beautiful Soup, or Selenium are commonly known as Web Scraping, and would be significantly different than using an API to obtain data. Some companies do offer Web Scraping as a service, such as ScrapeHero.

Answers

  • GrantSmith
    GrantSmith Coach
    Answer ✓
    Options

    It depends on the platform and if they have an accessible API or not. There are other scripting language options you can do but require a bit of technical expertise like Python and Beautiful Soup or Selenium.

    **Was this post helpful? Click Agree or Like below**
    **Did this solve your problem? Accept it as a solution!**
  • JasonAltenburg
    JasonAltenburg Coach
    Answer ✓
    Options

    Hi @AE , if you're looking for the API for a specific website, I'd suggest searching for their name and API documentation. For example, I found this one for Railinc API. https://public.railinc.com/developers

    As Grant mentioned, some APIs may not be public, and if they are private, they may require a fee to be paid to access their API. Once you have the info about where the API is located and how to get the data out, then we could start looking at how to get that into Domo. I think you'd be looking at a custom connector if it's not already prebuilt. More info about custom connectors here: https://developer.domo.com/portal/3cfe84d925633-custom-connectors

    I also wanted to mention that the techniques using Python, Beautiful Soup, or Selenium are commonly known as Web Scraping, and would be significantly different than using an API to obtain data. Some companies do offer Web Scraping as a service, such as ScrapeHero.

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