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Overview: HTTP Client Library

In this article you’ll find an overview of the HTTP Client Library itself, plus a guide to existing How-To tutorials for using the HTTP Client Library. These articles cover some possible use cases for HTTP requests to give you guidance and inspiration for your own applications.

Basic overview

AIMMS provides multiple tools to connect your models with other applications.

The HTTP Client Library provides built-in functionality to submit HTTP requests from AIMMS.

HTTP requests are used to communicate directly with servers to call services or download online documents.

Downloading a file from the web

The most basic use of the HTTP Client Library is to download a file from the web using AIMMS. The process is explained in Extract XML File from a Server with the HTTP Library.

You’ll find basic explanations about HTTP requests and how to formulate them in AIMMS.

REST APIs

HTTP requests can also be used to call APIs (application programming interface).

APIs allow the use of an application through programming. REST APIs use HTTP requests to communicate. Hence, we can use services from REST APIs directly in our model using the HTTP Client Library.

Each REST API has its own specifications and format requirements. You’ll need to refer to the documentation for that API to learn what functionality the API offers and what information is required for your request.

Several examples have been detailed in the documentation. Let’s review them.

Flickr APIs

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Flickr is a social network platform where users can post their photos. The Flickr API allows you to explore the photos and reactions such as comments and likes.

You’ll find an example in Extract Photos Using the Flickr API.

Google APIs

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Google provides various useful APIs, including Google Maps APIs which allow you to retrieve geographic data.

  • Distance Matrix : The Distance Matrix API gives access to distances and durations between locations. Using this API, you’ll need to extract data from the answer file using a complex XML mapping. The process is described in Retrieve Geographic Data with Google Maps API.

  • Geocoding : Using the Google Maps API, you can retrieve coordinates based on address or place name. This API deals with XSD files. You can find a step-by-step tutorial in Retrieve Geographic coordinates with Google Maps API.

IBM APIs

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IBM provides a variety of APIs, including AI and data science services.

  • Speech To Text IBM API : With this API, you’ll be able to transform any audio file into a script text file. The process is described in Convert Audio File with IBM API

  • Image recognition API : Given an image file, this API is able to send back the result of a machine learning recognition algorithm. You can find a tutorial in Use the IBM Image Recognition API