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Hi, I've seen this question discussed in a few communities, but… - LiveJournal Client Discussions [entries|archive|friends|userinfo]
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[Jun. 23rd, 2003|02:45 pm]
LiveJournal Client Discussions
lj_clients
[crayolacrime]
[mood |frustratedfrustrated]

Hi, I've seen this question discussed in a few communities, but haven't seen a definitive answer.

I'm interested in taking somebodys LJ username (without using their password), and getting a list of all of their 'friends' =AND= if those friends are communities or not. First I tried using the flat protocol mode, but I realized that 'getfriends' didn't let you set the user's friends you wish to view.

Second I tried using the console interface (via the website and XML-RPC), and it also would only let you view your own friends. I logged out and tried the console again, and it did provide me with a list for one user, but it looks like that data from my first query is now cached (so no matter what i type in with the command 'friend list username') it's always the same person (EVEN using different machines!).

Lastly I figured I'd just bite the bullet and parse the userinfo.bml page, but it doesn't tell me if a 'friend' is a community or not (i could subtract the "Member of:" list, but some people just monitor).

Does anyone have any ideas? It seems like a simple enough feature.

(I'm not trying to create a large map of LJ, prolly killing the database, just letting people query who is on their friends list from an external application for a quiz)

Help! Thanks!
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Comments:
(Deleted comment)
From: crayolacrime
2003-06-23 03:21 pm (UTC)
Some people just monitor communities by befriending them, but aren't members. I guess I could add a field to my thing that says, "Community?" and not count it. That's the practical solution I'm thinking about doing right now, but I'd really like to know if there is some simple (read, LOGICAL) way to do it.

Thanks!
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(Deleted comment)
From: crayolacrime
2003-06-23 03:24 pm (UTC)

Re:

Yeah. I don't care if they have posting rights or not =P. I just want their non-community friends.
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(Deleted comment)
From: crayolacrime
2003-06-23 03:29 pm (UTC)

Re:

Oh. I see what you are saying.

That still doesn't help me if a user has befriended a community that they haven't joined. For example, I have sexy_librarians as a friend, but I'm not a member.

I will subtract the Member of: field (because it superscedes Has Posting Access To:), and offer a little checkbox for "is this a community?" for users who don't wish to use it as a friend.
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(Deleted comment)
From: crayolacrime
2003-06-23 03:33 pm (UTC)

Re:

It's a quiz type dealie, where people can enter their username and answer questions about their friends and get results.

Nothing fancy.
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[User Picture]From: mouser
2003-06-23 07:03 pm (UTC)
I'm interested in taking somebodys LJ username (without using their password), and getting a list of all of their 'friends' =AND= if those friends are communities or not. First I tried using the flat protocol mode, but I realized that 'getfriends' didn't let you set the user's friends you wish to view.
I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. A rational fear of 'bots precludes this from happening.

If you want the info, I'm afraid you will have to parse the userinfo.bml page...
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[User Picture]From: xb95
2003-06-25 08:23 am (UTC)
Can't do it. No way. Not unless you prepare a list of usernames off of userinfo.bml and then look up each of those names to find out if they're a community or not.

I don't recommend doing that because it's hard on LJ (screen scraping is always bad) and it's unreliable. HTML changes all the time.

Not to mention, online quizzes are the devil and their creators should be hauled out and ... evil things done to them. :P
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From: crayolacrime
2003-06-25 09:45 am (UTC)
Well do evil things to me then =)

I'm just adding a checkbox for the user to say if it's just a syndicated feed or not, after I subtract the users "Member Of:" list.

I also keep an eye on the changelog.
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[User Picture]From: quirrc
2003-07-09 04:18 am (UTC)
you need to parse the http://www.livejournal.com/directorysearch.bml
and payed account
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From: crayolacrime
2003-07-09 11:44 am (UTC)
O o o. That's a good idea, especially since I can see if it's a community or not. Seems to only allow 200 per page in the form, I'll try to just modify that GET variable.

Thanks!!
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[User Picture]From: quirrc
2003-07-09 11:08 pm (UTC)

Re:

it was not actually my idea- that was (probably) what user brad told to user maranel to make his own script.
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