>Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:49:15 -0400
>From: Garth Dubin <gdubin at arin.net>
>Subject: Re: [Arin-whoisrws] Formulating Web query for network name(s)
>[...]
>
>Mike,
>
>The URLs for searches will always be plural. Using the example you provided, the proper URL would be:
>
>http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/nets;name=APNIC-1*
>
>Only the direct, linkable resources (i.e. a single network) are accessible via the singular “net” URI.
>
>As another example, the organization FOOBAR can be linked to via:
>
>http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/org/FOOBAR
>
>But searching for all organizations with a handle starting with “FOO” would be:
>
>http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/orgs;handle=FOO*
I would strongly recommend documenting the difference between the
singular and plural objects. This isn't even hinted in the API documentation.
It would also be useful to know what "matrix parameters" are available with the
nets object, as you've documented in section 4.4.2 for all the other objects.
>Also, the “+” to show a detailed record via the port 43 service can be accomplished using the “showDetails” query parameter in REST. If you want to show the details of your APNIC-1* query, you would use:
>
>http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/nets;name=APNIC-1*?showDetails=true
OK, this is all quite useful. Is there a way to initiate a search
query and obtain the results in plain text using the "file extension" (i.e.
".txt") mechanism. For example, where does ".txt" get included in...
http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/nets;name=APNIC-1*
...or are searches limited to using the Accept header mechanism? I tried...
http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/nets;name=APNIC-1*/.txt
...which almost gets me what I need. (Omitting the "/" before ".txt" doesn't
provide any useful results.)
I also have some questions regarding other aspects of this system:
o In trying all this out, I keep encountering many security dialogs from my
browser (IE7), indicating I'm attempting to access secure information. I'm
using http://... URLs, not https://... URLs, so what is the source of these
confirmation dialogs, and is there any way to suppress them? Normally, this
is an indication that the Web site prefers to be accessed via https, but
neither the demo site nor your mailing list system (where I also ran into
this behavior) are configured to accept access via https.
o It looks like you're no longer providing country information in the search
results. Will we eventually see the return of this information?
o I note that the above search query against "APNIC-1*" tells me that there
are more than 10 results, but only the first 10 have been returned (i.e. the
typical truncation situation). Will the limit be bumped up to 256, as
documented, by the time this system actually goes live?
>Hope this helps!
>
>Regards,
>
>Garth Dubin
>ARIN Software Engineer
>
>
>On 6/21/10 1:26 PM, "Michael T. Davis" <davism at ecr6.ohio-state.edu> wrote:
>
> I'm trying to figure out how to leverage the Web-based system to
>make a query for a wildcarded network name. Right now, I can query against
>the ARIN Whois server with the string...
>
> n . - <netname-prefix>*
>
>For example...
>
> n . - APNIC-1*
>
>...which would list a summary of all networks with a name (i.e. "NetName")
>that started with "APNIC-1." If I visit...
>
> http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/ui/advanced.jsp
>
>...I can specify the query as "APNIC-1*", and request a "Network" query for
>the "Name," and get the same results. How do I duplicate this by using a
>Web query against http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/...? Reading through
>the API documentation, I thought it might be...
>
> http://whoisrws-demo.arin.net/rest/net;name=APNIC-1*
>
>...but /net apparently doesn't support any "matrix parameters."
>
> In general, I need to know how to make a Web query for the Whois
>equivalents of "n . - <netname-prefix>*" (which would list a summary of any
>matches), and "n . + <netname-prefix>*" (which would provide the details for
>each matching network). Please advise.
>[...]
Thanks,
Mike