Softonic API

Section getPrograms

This function is used to get a recursive list of programs contained inside a specific section.

Sections, or also named categories, are trees that store programs inside every leaf. A program belongs only to a single category/section but when you request the programs for a category, all the programs in the descendant categories will be also listed.

Limitations

You could think that if you request the first id_section in the sections tree you could get a list of ALL the software to start paginating. You should be aware that if the section you are requesting contains more than 30,000 programs, pagination will stop at that number.

An example of this situation would be trying to get all Windows software with the same call and relying only in pagination. If you wanted to do so, instead of doing a call like section_getPrograms/2.json (Windows id) and paginate hundred of times, you should split it into several calls, one per Windows section children (getPrograms/3.json, getPrograms/616.json, getPrograms/579.json). You can see the list of a section's children using the function section_getChildren

http://api2.softonic.com/<inst>/section_getPrograms/<id_section>.<format>?key=YOUR_API_KEY
http://api2.softonic.com/<inst>/section_getPrograms/<id_section>.<format>?key=YOUR_API_KEY&start=10
http://api2.softonic.com/<inst>/section_getPrograms/<id_section>.<format>?key=YOUR_API_KEY&start=10&results=10
http://api2.softonic.com/<inst>/section_getPrograms/<id_section>.<format>?key=YOUR_API_KEY&order=weekly
http://api2.softonic.com/<inst>/section_getPrograms/<id_section>.<format>?key=YOUR_API_KEY&os=1
http://api2.softonic.com/<inst>/section_getPrograms/<id_section>.<format>?key=YOUR_API_KEY&phone=1
http://api2.softonic.com/<inst>/section_getPrograms/<id_section>.<format>?key=YOUR_API_KEY&license=free

Parameters

• <inst>: Softonic instance (en, es, it, pt ...)
• <format>: XML, JSON or PHP
• <id_section>: A unique section id or a unique platform id.
• <start>: First result (optional, default is 0)
• <results>: Number of results per page (optional, default is 10)
• <order>: How to sort the list of programs. If no order is given the programs will be sorted by date of modification (order=updates).
  • updates: Orders results by the update date (e.g: a new version is published). Last updates of software come first.
  • date: Orders results by the date of addition. New software first, oldest last.
  • weekly: Orders results by number of weekly downloads.
  • global: Orders results by global number of downloads (since program was added).
  • rating: Orders results by the softonic rating
  • best: This is not really an order. Returns the program of the day for this section. The output contains one program only
• <license>: License for the programs to be retrieved
  • try: Return the program with demo or evaluation licenses
  • free: Return the programs with a free license
• <os>: Filter results by OS (only for mobile sections)
• <phone>: Filter results by device (only for mobile sections)

XML response sample

http://api2.softonic.com/en/section_getPrograms/2.xml?key=API_KEY&results=2

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response status="ok" total_items="44071">
  <programs>
    <program>
      <id_program>3337211</id_program>
      <title>Messenger Plus! for Skype</title>
      <description>The ultimate complement to Skype</description>
      <version>1.2</version>
      <rating_softonic>9</rating_softonic>
      <rating_user>8.2222000</rating_user>
      <date_updated>2012-05-16</date_updated>
      <date_added>2012-02-28</date_added>
      <license_type>free</license_type>
      <last_update>1337158635</last_update>
      <url>http://messenger-plus-for-skype.en.softonic.com/download#startdownload</url>
      <img>http://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/en/scrn/3337000/3337211/messenger-plus-for-skype-06-100x100.png?key=api</img>
    </program>
    <program>
      <id_program>73632</id_program>
      <title>Google Chrome</title>
      <description>Google's revolutionary web browser offers loads of great features</description>
      <version>19.0.1084.46</version>
      <rating_softonic>9</rating_softonic>
      <rating_user>6.6827003</rating_user>
      <date_updated>2012-05-16</date_updated>
      <date_added>2008-09-03</date_added>
      <license_type>free</license_type>
      <last_update>1337159091</last_update>
      <url>http://google-chrome.en.softonic.com/download#startdownload</url>
      <img>http://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/en/scrn/73000/73632/google-chrome-62.png?key=api</img>
    </program>
  </programs>
</response>

JSON response sample

http://api2.softonic.com/en/section_getPrograms/2.json?key=API_KEY&results=2

{
	"status":"ok",
	"total_items":"44071",
	"programs":[
		{
			"program":{
				"id_program":"3337211",
				"title":"Messenger Plus! for Skype",
				"description":"The ultimate complement to Skype",
				"version":"1.2",
				"rating_softonic":"9",
				"rating_user":"8.2222000",
				"date_updated":"2012-05-16",
				"date_added":"2012-02-28",
				"license_type":"free",
				"last_update":"1337158635",
				"url":"http:\/\/messenger-plus-for-skype.en.softonic.com\/download#startdownload",
				"img":"http:\/\/screenshots.en.sftcdn.net\/en\/scrn\/3337000\/3337211\/messenger-plus-for-skype-06-100x100.png?key=api"
			}
		},
		{
			"program":{
				"id_program":"73632",
				"title":"Google Chrome",
				"description":"Google's revolutionary web browser offers loads of great features",
				"version":"19.0.1084.46",
				"rating_softonic":"9",
				"rating_user":"6.6827003",
				"date_updated":"2012-05-16",
				"date_added":"2008-09-03",
				"license_type":"free",
				"last_update":"1337159091",
				"url":"http:\/\/google-chrome.en.softonic.com\/download#startdownload",
				"img":"http:\/\/screenshots.en.sftcdn.net\/en\/scrn\/73000\/73632\/google-chrome-62.png?key=api"
			}
		}
	]
}