Eircode Powersearch Integration Guide

About Eircode Powersearch

Eircode Powersearch, also known as single-line auto-complete, is a "Google-like" search method by which the user types into a single text field and is shown a list of potential matches which is rebuilt as they continue to type. This Service has been implemented as a REST Web Service in order to make a light Service achieving very quick response times.

Eircode Powersearch Searching

Eircode Powersearch will return a list of addresses matching to the information provided in the Request. This service need one input: The ADDRESS (or part of the address) to be found. The more accurate the information provided, the smaller the returned list. The way ADDRESS must be provided to the service will be detailed below.

Eircode Powersearch offers two types of searches:

- Eircode ECAF: Eircode Address File

- Eircode ECAD: Eircode Address Database

The way these two types of searches must be used will be detailed below.

Output Formatting Options

Using the Powersearch REST Service

The Eircode Powersearch REST WebService offers its operation through the HTTP GET method so that all the data supplied to the Service must be in the URL as HTTP parameters.

The REST WebService offers the possibility to get the Response in two different formats: XML or JSON. In order to specify the preferred format in the Response the Accept Header Request Parameter must be supplied:

To get the Response in XML format: Accept: application/xml
To get the Response in JSon format: Accept: application/json

If the Accept Header Request Parameter is omitted, the XML format in the Response will be applied as the default format.

(XML Response)                          
 
 
     
        1
        2015-09-04T11:23:47.775+01:00
        E017CACB-EF0B-41BB-91C6-3C28C02796AD
     
    21 Market Hill, Ballymore, Mullingar, Westmeath, N64 8kkd, , , , , , , ,
    21 Market Street, Dundalk, Dundalk, Louth, X27 Krtv, , , , , , , ,
    21 Market Place, Bluepool Upper, Kanturk, Mallow, Cork, A48 266f, , , , , , ,

(JSON Response)                         
 
{
   "sessionData":    {
      "sessionKey": "E017CACB-EF0B-41BB-91C6-3C28C02796AD",
      "sessionCommencement": 2015-09-04T11:23:47.775+01:00,
      "numberOfSessionTransactions": 1,                               
   },
   "matches":    [
      "21 Market Hill, Ballymore, Mullingar, Westmeath, N64 8kkd, , , , , , , , ",
      "21 Market Street, Dundalk, Dundalk, Louth, X27 Krtv, , , , , , , , ",
      "21 Market Place, Bluepool Upper, Kanturk, Mallow, Cork, A48 266f, , , , , , , "
   ],
   "information": null
}

(XML Response)                          
 
 
     
        1
        2015-06-04T13:04:15.651+01:00
        7764B769-FF97-4FBD-BB0C-6F28F5798C6E
     
    21 Market Hill, Ballymore, Mullingar, Westmeath, N64 8kkd, , , , , , , ,

(JSON Response)                         
 
{
   "sessionData":    {
      "sessionKey": "7764B769-FF97-4FBD-BB0C-6F28F5798C6E",
      "sessionCommencement": 2015-06-04T13:04:15.651+01:00,
      "numberOfSessionTransactions": 1,                               
   },
   "matches": ["21 Market Hill, Ballymore, Mullingar, Westmeath, N64 8kkd, , , , , , , , "],
   "information": null
}

(XML Response)                          
 
 
     
        1
        2015-06-04T13:04:15.651+01:00
        7764B769-FF97-4FBD-BB0C-6F28F5798C6E
     
    21 Market Hill, Ballymore Mullingar, Westmeath N64 8kkd

(JSON Response)                         
 
{
   "sessionData":    {
      "sessionKey": "7764B769-FF97-4FBD-BB0C-6F28F5798C6E",
      "sessionCommencement": 2015-06-04T13:04:15.651+01:00,
      "numberOfSessionTransactions": 1,                               
   },
   "matches": ["21 Market Hill, Ballymore Mullingar, Westmeath N64 8kkd"],
   "information": null
}

Session Management

Eircode Address Searching provides a mechanism to ensure that the desired final address can be found within a fair time and number of transactions. Thus, all the requests needed to find an Address will be included in a Session. Sessions have a limit of either 50 transactions or 2 minutes.

If the client supplies a valid SessionKey, the request will be included in that Session. If the client supplies an invalid SessionKey or no SessionKey is provided (first request), the Powersearch Service will create a new Session where the current transaction will be included.

Note that an invalid SessionKey might be a wrong key or a key that represents a Session with more than 50 calls or more than 2 minutes of life.

As it can be seen in the above examples, a SessionData element is returned in every Eircode Searching Response from the Service. This SessionData contains a SessionKey (to be used in next request), sessionCommencement (session commencement timestamp), and numberOfSessionsTransactions (number of Transactions already used in this Session)

This is an example of how to add a SessionKey to the request:

(XML Response)                          
 
 
     
        1
        2015-06-04T13:04:15.651+01:00
        7764B769-FF97-4FBD-BB0C-6F28F5798C6E
     
    97 High Park, Whitehall Dublin 9, Dublin V80 Dwna

(JSON Response)                         
 
{
   "sessionData":    {
      "sessionKey": "7764B769-FF97-4FBD-BB0C-6F28F5798C6E",
      "sessionCommencement": 2015-06-04T13:04:15.651+01:00,
      "numberOfSessionTransactions": 1,                               
   },
   "matches": ["97 High Park, Whitehall Dublin 9, Dublin V80 Dwna"],
   "information": null
}