How to BBJ?

Input

BBJ is interacted with entirely through POST requests, whose bodies are json objects.

The endpoints, all listed below, can be contacted at the path /api/ relative to the root of where BBJ is hosted. If bbj is hosted on a server on port 80 at the root:

http://server.com/api/endpoint_here

The body of your request contains all of it's argument fields, instead of using URL parameters. As a demonstration, to call thread_create, it requires two arguments: title, and body. We put those argument names at the root of the json object, and their values are the info passed into the API for that spot. Your input will look like this:

{
    "title": "Hello world!!",
    "body": "Hi! I am exploring this cool board thing!!"
}

And you will POST this body to http://server.com:PORT/api/thread_create.

A few endpoints do not require any arguments. These can still be POSTed to, but the body may be completely empty or an empty json object. You can even GET these if you so choose.

For all endpoints, argument keys that are not consumed by the endpoint are ignored. Posting an object with a key/value pair of "sandwich": True will not clog up any pipes :) In the same vein, endpoints who dont take arguments don't care if you supply them anyway.

Output

BBJ returns data in a consistently formatted json object. The base object has three keys: data, usermap, and error. Visualizied:

{
  "error":   false, // boolean false or error object
  "data":    null,  // null or the requested data from endpoint.
  "usermap": {}     // potentially empty object, maps user_ids to user objects
}

// If "error" is true, it looks like this:

{
  "error": {
      "code": // an integer from 0 to 5,
      "description": // a string describing the error in detail.
  }
  "data": null   // ALWAYS null if error is not false
  "usermap": {}  // ALWAYS empty if error is not false
}

data

data is what the endpoint actually returns. The type of contents vary by endpoint and are documented below. If an endpoint says it returns a boolean, it will look like "data": True. If it says it returns an array, it will look like "data": ["stuff", "goes", "here"]

usermap

The usermap is a json object mapping user_ids within data to full user objects. BBJ handles users entirely by an ID system, meaning any references to them inside of response data will not include vital information like their username, or their profile information. Instead, we fetch those values from this usermap object. All of it's root keys are user_id's and their values are user objects. It should be noted that the anonymous user has it's own ID and profile object as well.

error

error is typically false. If it is not false, then the request failed and the json object that error contains should be inspected. (see the above visualation) Errors follow a strict code system, making it easy for your client to map these responses to native exception types or signals in your language of choice. See the full error page for details.



Authorization

See also the Authorization page.

check_auth

Arguments:

Takes the arguments target_user and target_hash, and returns boolean true or false whether the hash is valid.




Threads & Messages

delete_post

Arguments:

Requires the arguments thread_id and post_id.

Delete a message from a thread. The same rules apply here as edit_post and edit_query: the logged in user must either be the one who posted the message within 24hrs, or have admin rights. The same error descriptions and code are returned on falilure. Boolean true is returned on success.

If the post_id is 0, the whole thread is deleted.


edit_post

Arguments:

Replace a post with a new body. Requires the arguments thread_id, post_id, and body. This method verifies that the user can edit a post before commiting the change, otherwise an error object is returned whose description should be shown to the user.

To perform sanity checks and retrieve the unformatted body of a post without actually attempting to replace it, use edit_query first.

Optionally you may also include the argument send_raw to set the message's formatting flag. However, if this is the only change you would like to make, you should use the endpoint set_post_raw instead.

Returns the new message object.


edit_query

Arguments:

Queries the database to ensure the user can edit a given message. Requires the arguments thread_id and post_id (does not require a new body)

Returns the original message object without any formatting on success. Returns a descriptive code 4 otherwise.


message_feed

Arguments:

Returns a special object representing all activity on the board since the argument time, a unix/epoch timestamp.

{ "threads": { "thread_id": { ...thread object }, ...more thread_id/object pairs }, "messages": [...standard message object array sorted by date] }

The message objects in "messages" are the same objects returned in threads normally. They each have a thread_id parameter, and you can access metadata for these threads by the "threads" object which is also provided.

The "messages" array is already sorted by submission time, newest first. The order in the threads object is undefined and you should instead use their last_mod attribute if you intend to list them out visually.

You may optionally provide a format argument: this is treated the same way as the thread_load endpoint and you should refer to its documentation for more info.


set_post_raw

Arguments:

Requires the boolean argument of value, string argument thread_id, and integer argument post_id. value, when false, means that the message will be passed through message formatters before being sent to clients. When value is true, this means it will never go through formatters, all of its whitespace is sent to clients verbatim and expressions are not processed.

The same rules for editing messages (see edit_query) apply here and the same error objects are returned for violations.

You may optionally set this value as well when using edit_post, but if this is the only change you want to make to the message, using this endpoint instead is preferable.


set_thread_pin

Arguments:

Requires the arguments thread_id and value. value must be a boolean of what the pinned status should be. This method requires that the caller is logged in and has admin status on their account.

Returns the same boolean you supply as value


thread_create

Arguments:

Creates a new thread and returns it. Requires the non-empty string arguments body and title.

If the argument send_raw is specified and has a non-nil value, the OP message will never recieve special formatting.


thread_index

Arguments:

Return an array with all the threads, ordered by most recent activity. Requires no arguments.

Optionally, you may supply the argument include_op, which, when non-nil, will include a "messages" key with the object, whose sole content is the original message (post_id 0).


thread_load

Arguments:

Returns the thread object with all of its messages loaded. Requires the argument thread_id. format may also be specified as a formatter to run the messages through. Currently only "sequential" is supported.

You may also supply the parameter op_only. When it's value is non-nil, the messages array will only include post_id 0 (the first)


thread_reply

Arguments:

Creates a new reply for the given thread and returns it. Requires the string arguments thread_id and body

If the argument send_raw is specified and has a non-nil value, the message will never recieve special formatting.




Tools

db_validate

Arguments:

Requires the arguments key and value. Returns an object with information about the database sanity criteria for key. This can be used to validate user input in the client before trying to send it to the server.

If the argument error is supplied with a non-nil value, the server will return a standard error object on failure instead of the special object described below.

The returned object has two keys:

{ "bool": true/false, "description": null/"why this value is bad" }

If bool == false, description is a string describing the problem. If bool == true, description is null and the provided value is safe to use.


format_message

Arguments:

Requires the arguments body and format. Applies format to body and returns the new object. See thread_load for supported specifications for format.


user_map

requires no arguments

Returns an array with all registered user_ids, with the usermap object populated by their full objects.




Users

get_me

requires no arguments

Requires no arguments. Returns your internal user object, including your authorization hash.


is_admin

Arguments:

Requires the argument target_user. Returns a boolean of whether that user is an admin.


user_get

Arguments:

Retreive an external user object for the given target_user. Can be a user_id or user_name.


user_is_registered

Arguments:

Takes the argument target_user and returns true or false whether they are in the system or not.


user_register

Arguments:

Register a new user into the system and return the new user object on success. The returned object includes the same user_name and auth_hash that you supply, in addition to all the default user parameters. Returns code 4 errors for any failures.


user_update

Arguments:

Receives new parameters and assigns them to the user object. This method requires that you send a valid User/Auth header pair with your request, and the changes are made to that account.

Take care to keep your client's User/Auth header pair up to date after using this method.

The newly updated user object is returned on success, including the auth_hash.