API
The Session has a read-only API. Information that is available through the website as HTML is also available in other formats. To request a URL in another format, add ?format= to the URL with one of the these formats specified:
Formats
| JSON | ?format=json |
|---|---|
| XML | ?format=xml |
| RSS | ?format=rss |
Endpoints
The following lists are available in multiple formats e.g. /tunes/new?format=json or /recordings/search?q=altan&format=rss
By default, 10 items will be returned in a list. You can request up to 50 items by appending &perpage= e.g. /tunes/new?format=json&perpage=35
If you request an individual item, e.g. /tunes/27?format=xml, you will get back the details for that item and any comments that have been posted to it.
Tunes
| New tune settings | /tunes/new | |
|---|---|---|
| Popular tunes | /tunes/popular | |
| Recordings of tunes | /tunes/recordings | |
| Sets of tunes | /tunes/sets | |
| Tune search results | /tunes/search?q=searchterm | |
| Individual tune | /tunes/ID | |
| Comments on tunes | /tunes/comments |
Discography
| New recordings | /recordings/new |
|---|---|
| Recordings search results | /recordings/search?q=searchterm |
| Individual recording | /recordings/ID |
| Comments on recordings | /recordings/comments |
Trips
| Upcoming trips | /trips/upcoming |
|---|---|
| New trips | /trips/new |
| Trips search results | /trips/search?q=searchterm |
| Nearby trips | /trips/nearby?latlon=latitude,longitude&radius=75 |
| Individual trip | /trips/ID |
| Comments on trips | /trips/comments |
Sessions
| New sessions | /sessions/new |
|---|---|
| Sessions search results | /sessions/search?q=searchterm |
| Nearby sessions | /sessions/nearby?latlon=latitude,longitude&radius=75 |
| Individual session | /sessions/ID |
| Comments on sessions | /sessions/comments |
Events
| Upcoming events | /events/upcoming |
|---|---|
| New events | /events/new |
| Events search results | /events/search?q=searchterm |
| Nearby events | /events/nearby?latlon=latitude,longitude&radius=75 |
| Individual event | /events/ID |
| Comments on events | /events/comments |
Discussions
| New discussions | /discussions/new |
|---|---|
| Discussions search results | /discussions/search?q=searchterm |
| Individual discussion | /discussions/ID |
| Comments on discussions | /discussions/comments |
Member contributions
| Tune settings | /members/ID/tunes |
|---|---|
| Recordings | /members/ID/recordings |
| Trips | /members/ID/trips |
| Sessions | /members/ID/sessions |
| Events | /members/ID/events |
| Discussions | /members/ID/discussions |
Member data
| Tunebook | /members/ID/tunebook |
|---|---|
| Bookmarks | /members/ID/bookmarks |
| Sets of tunes | /members/ID/sets |
Activity Streams
There are a number of activity streams published on The Session to the Activity Streams JSON specification. You can access the activity streams by appending ?format=json to these endpoints (paginate with &page=2, &page=3, etc.:
| The Session | /activity |
|---|---|
| Tunes | /tunes/activity |
| Recordings | /recordings/activity |
| Trips | /trips/activity |
| Sessions | /sessions/activity |
| Events | /events/activity |
| Discussions | /discussions/activity |
Activity streams are also available for individual items:
| Individual tune | /tunes/ID/activity |
|---|---|
| Individual recording | /recordings/ID/activity |
| Individual trip | /trips/ID/activity |
| Individual session | /sessions/ID/activity |
| Individual event | /events/ID/activity |
| Individual discussion | /discussions/ID/activity |
| Individual member | /members/ID/activity |
There are also individual activity streams for member notifications:
| Tunes | /members/ID/notifications/tunes |
|---|---|
| Recordings | /members/ID/notifications/recordings |
| Trips | /members/ID/notifications/trips |
| Sessions | /members/ID/notifications/sessions |
| Events | /members/ID/notifications/events |
| Discussions | /members/ID/notifications/discussions |
Data dumps
You can download CSV and JSON files of data from The Session on Github (.zip). These are updated about once a week.
Example apps
Here are some things people have made using The Session’s API or data dumps:
- Tunetable
- A web app for turning lists of tunes into tables.
- Nota
- An app for iPhone and iPad for managing tune collections.
- FolkFriend
- A web app that recognises tunes from audio input.
- Session Maker
- An Android app for creating sets of tunes. It integrates with your tunebook here on The Session.
- TradMusician’s ABC music
- An Android app for managing your tunebook.
- geoTrad
- A map showing the distribution of Irish traditional tunes which reference place names in Ireland.
- SessionBuddy
- A Java helper library to make it easier for Java developers to work with The Session’s API.
- The Craic
- An app for iPhone and iPad for searching across multiple online tune collections.