# Flickcurl: C library for the Flickr API

## Dave Beckett

Flickcurl is a C library for the Flickr API, handling creating the requests, signing, token management, calling the API, marshalling request parameters and decoding responses. It uses libcurl to call the REST web service and libxml2 to manipulate the XML responses. Flickcurl supports all of the API (see Flickcurl API coverage for details) including the functions for photo/video uploading, browsing, searching, adding and editing comments, groups, notes, photosets, categories, activity, blogs, favorites, places, tags, machine tags, institutions, pandas and photo/video metadata. It also includes a program `flickrdf` to turn photo metadata, tags, machine tags and places into an RDF triples description.

License: LGPL 2.1+ / GPL 2+ / Apache 2.0+

Download: http://download.dajobe.org/flickcurl/

Docs: Flickcurl API reference manual

News: Flickcurl News including changes

Requirements: the following libraries are needed:

- libcurl 7.10.0 or newer
- libxml2 2.6.8 or newer
- raptor 2.0.0 (optional)

Then do the usual `./configure`, `make` and `make install` sequence to install the library and the flickcurl and flickrdf utilities.

GitHub hosts the sources for Flickcurl at the GitHub flickcurl project page.

Checkout with:

      git clone git://github.com/dajobe/flickcurl.git

      # Get the libmtwist submodule and fetch its content with:

      git submodule update --init

## Flickr API Configuration

The library needs to know your Flickr API OAuth token, token secret, client key and client secret, suitable for calling some of the API calls. To obtain these, you need to apply for API keys at the Flickr Services site. When using the utility programs, this information should be stored in the `~/.flickcurl.conf` file so that it can be read at run-time. The configuration file has the format:

    [flickr]
    oauth_token=12345678901234567-abcdef0123456789
    oauth_token_secret=abcdef9876543210
    oauth_client_key=0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef
    oauth_client_secret=fedcba9876543210

See Authenticating Flickcurl for OAuth in the manual for full details of how to build flickcurl, authenticate and set up the configuration file above.

## Utility programs

### `flickcurl` - call Flickr API

This can call some of the Flickr APIs plus help with OAuth authentication steps to get the final set of tokens and secrets and writing them into `~/.flickcurl.conf` file. Use `flickcurl -h` to get a list of the supported commands and their arguments.

This example calls the photos.getInfo API via the `photos-getInfo` command on photo 196308964 which decodes the returned XML into fields in a `flickcurl_photo` structure which are then printed with their datatype, string value and integer value (or -1 if it has none). All dateTime values are converted into both the ISO format string (such as used by Web and XML standards) and unix time integers. Photo tags are also returned when present along with their id, author, raw, cooked and machine tag status.

    $ flickcurl photos.getInfo 196308964
    flickcurl: photo with URI http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/ ID 196308964 and 5 tags
        field dateuploaded (1) with dateTime value: '2006-07-23T18:16:13Z' / 1153678573
        field farm (2) with integer value: '1' / 1
        field isfavorite (3) with boolean value: '0' / 0
        field license (4) with integer value: '1' / 1
        field originalformat (5) with string value: 'jpg' / -1
        field rotation (6) with integer value: '0' / 0
        field server (7) with integer value: '57' / 57
        field dates_lastupdate (8) with dateTime value: '2007-02-25T07:45:46Z' / 1172389546
        field dates_posted (9) with dateTime value: '2006-07-23T18:16:13Z' / 1153678573
        field dates_taken (10) with string value: '2006-07-22 22:28:50' / -1
        field dates_takengranularity (11) with integer value: '0' / 0
        field editability_canaddmeta (13) with boolean value: '1' / 1
        field editability_cancomment (14) with boolean value: '1' / 1
        field geoperms_iscontact (15) with boolean value: '0' / 0
        field geoperms_isfamily (16) with boolean value: '0' / 0
        field geoperms_isfriend (17) with boolean value: '0' / 0
        field geoperms_ispublic (18) with boolean value: '1' / 1
        field location_accuracy (19) with integer value: '12' / 12
        field location_latitude (20) with float value: '36.620487' / -1
        field location_longitude (21) with float value: '-121.904468' / -1
        field owner_location (22) with string value: 'Mountain View, California, USA' / -1
        field owner_nsid (23) with string value: '13355580@N00' / -1
        field owner_realname (24) with string value: 'Dave Beckett' / -1
        field owner_username (25) with string value: 'dajobe' / -1
        field title (26) with string value: 'Jellyfish at Monterey Aquarium' / -1
        field visibility_isfamily (27) with boolean value: '0' / 0
        field visibility_isfriend (28) with boolean value: '0' / 0
        field visibility_ispublic (29) with boolean value: '1' / 1
        field secret (30) with string value: 'b34cb0af68' / -1
        field originalsecret (31) with string value: 'b34cb0af68' / -1
        field location_locality (33) with string value: 'Pacific Grove' / -1
        field location_region (35) with string value: 'California' / -1
        field location_country (36) with string value: 'United States' / -1
        field location_placeid (37) with string value: 'J1HdelRTVrx7R.g2' / -1
        field locality_placeid (39) with string value: 'J1HdelRTVrx7R.g2' / -1
        field county_placeid (40) with string value: 'fpIAzjpQUL9F5MEpDw' / -1
        field region_placeid (41) with string value: 'NsbUWfBTUb4mbyVu' / -1
        field country_placeid (42) with string value: 'nz.gsghTUb4c2WAecA' / -1
        field location_woeid (43) with string value: '2467327' / -1
        field locality_woeid (45) with string value: '2467327' / -1
        field county_woeid (46) with string value: '12587696' / -1
        field region_woeid (47) with string value: '2347563' / -1
        field country_woeid (48) with string value: '23424977' / -1
        field usage_candownload (49) with boolean value: '1' / 1
        field usage_canblog (50) with boolean value: '1' / 1
        field usage_canprint (51) with boolean value: '1' / 1
        field views (56) with integer value: '529' / 529
    tags:
    0) regular tag: id 94493-196308964-3362 author ID 13355580@N00 name (Unknown) raw 'jellyfish' cooked 'jellyfish' count 0
    1) regular tag: id 94493-196308964-119180 author ID 13355580@N00 name (Unknown) raw 'montereyaquarium' cooked 'montereyaquarium' count 0
    2) regular tag: id 94493-196308964-2443 author ID 13355580@N00 name (Unknown) raw 'monterey' cooked 'monterey' count 0
    3) machine tag: id 94493-196308964-8499312 author ID 13355580@N00 name (Unknown) raw 'xmlns:dc=http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/' cooked 'xmlns:dc=httppurlorgdcelements11' count 0
    4) machine tag: id 94493-196308964-8499315 author ID 13355580@N00 name (Unknown) raw 'dc:subject=jellyfish' cooked 'dc:subject=jellyfish' count 0
    notes:
      Location: latitude 36.620487  longitude -121.904468  accuracy unknown
      0) place location: name '
    		' id J1HdelRTVrx7R.g2 woeid 2467327
      2) place locality: name 'Pacific Grove' id J1HdelRTVrx7R.g2 woeid 2467327
      3) place county: name 'Monterey' id fpIAzjpQUL9F5MEpDw woeid 12587696
      4) place region: name 'California' id NsbUWfBTUb4mbyVu woeid 2347563
      5) place country: name 'United States' id nz.gsghTUb4c2WAecA woeid 23424977

### `flickrdf` - generate RDF triples from a Flickr photo

This utility uses the photos.getInfo API to interpret the description fields, tags and places for a photo URI into RDF triples. If raptor is present, it will be used to provide proper serializing to RDF rather than the built in and hacky ntriples/turtle output.

Machine tags when they are found are scanned for `xmlns:prefix=uri` and then all other machine tags with that prefix turn into triples. Several prefixes are also pre-defined by the library to automatically get turned into triples without an `xmlns`, such as `blue:`, `cell:`, `filter:` and `geo:`. Non-machine tags are not yet interpreted.

Places attached to photos are turned into extra information blocks (sets of triples) hung off a `places:place` predicate.

    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator> _:person .
    _:person <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#Person> .
    _:person <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#maker> <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/terms/dateSubmitted> "2006-07-23T18:16:13Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/terms/rights> <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/terms/modified> "2007-02-25T07:45:46Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/terms/issued> "2006-07-23T18:16:13Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/terms/created> "2006-07-22T22:28:50Z"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#lat> "36.620487"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#double> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#long> "-121.904468"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#double> .
    _:person <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#name> "Dave Beckett" .
    _:person <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#nick> "dajobe" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/terms/title> "Jellyfish at Monterey Aquarium" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/subject> "jellyfish" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#place> _:place0 .
    _:place0 <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#Place> .
    _:place0 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#type> "location" .
    _:place0 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#id> "WM3JEXSbBZqqRtGA" .
    _:place0 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#placeid> "2467327" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#place> _:place2 .
    _:place2 <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#Place> .
    _:place2 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#type> "locality" .
    _:place2 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#name> "Pacific Grove" .
    _:place2 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#id> "WM3JEXSbBZqqRtGA" .
    _:place2 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#placeid> "2467327" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#place> _:place3 .
    _:place3 <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#Place> .
    _:place3 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#type> "county" .
    _:place3 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#name> "Monterey" .
    _:place3 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#id> "AQ4UpRqYA5l0BiyF.A" .
    _:place3 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#placeid> "12587696" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#place> _:place4 .
    _:place4 <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#Place> .
    _:place4 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#type> "region" .
    _:place4 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#name> "California" .
    _:place4 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#id> "SVrAMtCbAphCLAtP" .
    _:place4 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#placeid> "2347563" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#place> _:place5 .
    _:place5 <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#Place> .
    _:place5 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#type> "country" .
    _:place5 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#name> "United States" .
    _:place5 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#id> "4KO02SibApitvSBieQ" .
    _:place5 <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#placeid> "23424977" .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#photo> <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_s.jpg> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_s.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#Image> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_s.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Square" .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_s.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#width> "75"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_s.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#height> "75"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#photo> <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_t.jpg> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_t.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#Image> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_t.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Thumbnail" .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_t.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#width> "75"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_t.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#height> "100"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#photo> <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_m.jpg> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_m.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#Image> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_m.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Small" .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_m.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#width> "180"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_m.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#height> "240"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#photo> <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68.jpg> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#Image> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Medium" .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#width> "375"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#height> "500"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#photo> <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_o.jpg> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_o.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#Image> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_o.jpg> <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Original" .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_o.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#width> "600"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .
    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_o.jpg> <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#height> "800"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer> .

If you have raptor installed, you can get nicer RDF triples out and with `rapper` 1.4.14+, pretty-printed turtle:

    @prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
    @prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
    @prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
    @prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/#> .
    @prefix geo: <http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#> .
    @prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
    @prefix places: <http://machinetags.org/ns/Places#> .
    @prefix flickr: <http://machinetags.org/ns/Flickr#> .
    @prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

    <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/>
        flickr:photo <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68.jpg>, <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_m.jpg>, <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_o.jpg>, <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_s.jpg>, <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_t.jpg> ;
        places:place [
            places:id "WM3JEXSbBZqqRtGA" ;
            places:placeid "2467327" ;
            places:type "location" ;
            a places:Place
        ], [
            places:id "WM3JEXSbBZqqRtGA" ;
            places:name "Pacific Grove" ;
            places:placeid "2467327" ;
            places:type "locality" ;
            a places:Place
        ], [
            places:id "AQ4UpRqYA5l0BiyF.A" ;
            places:name "Monterey" ;
            places:placeid "12587696" ;
            places:type "county" ;
            a places:Place
        ], [
            places:id "SVrAMtCbAphCLAtP" ;
            places:name "California" ;
            places:placeid "2347563" ;
            places:type "region" ;
            a places:Place
        ], [
            places:id "4KO02SibApitvSBieQ" ;
            places:name "United States" ;
            places:placeid "23424977" ;
            places:type "country" ;
            a places:Place
        ] ;
        dc:subject "jellyfish" ;
        dcterms:created "2006-07-22T22:28:50Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
        dcterms:creator [
            a foaf:Person ;
            foaf:maker <http://www.flickr.com/photos/dajobe/196308964/> ;
            foaf:name "Dave Beckett" ;
            foaf:nick "dajobe"
        ] ;
        dcterms:dateSubmitted "2006-07-23T18:16:13Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
        dcterms:issued "2006-07-23T18:16:13Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
        dcterms:modified "2007-02-25T07:45:46Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
        dcterms:rights <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/> ;
        dcterms:title "Jellyfish at Monterey Aquarium" ;
        geo:lat 36.620487 ;
        geo:long -121.904468 .

    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_s.jpg>
        flickr:height 75 ;
        flickr:width 75 ;
        a foaf:Image ;
        rdfs:label "Square" .

    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_t.jpg>
        flickr:height 100 ;
        flickr:width 75 ;
        a foaf:Image ;
        rdfs:label "Thumbnail" .

    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_m.jpg>
        flickr:height 240 ;
        flickr:width 180 ;
        a foaf:Image ;
        rdfs:label "Small" .

    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68.jpg>
        flickr:height 500 ;
        flickr:width 375 ;
        a foaf:Image ;
        rdfs:label "Medium" .

    <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/196308964_b34cb0af68_o.jpg>
        flickr:height 800 ;
        flickr:width 600 ;
        a foaf:Image ;
        rdfs:label "Original" .

## Library use example

See `examples/print-photo-info.c`

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <flickcurl.h>

    int main(int argc, char *argv[]);

    int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
      flickcurl *fc;
      flickcurl_photo *photo;
      flickcurl_photo_field_type field_type;
      int i;

      flickcurl_init(); /* optional static initialising of resources */
      fc = flickcurl_new();

      /* Set configuration, or more likely read from a config file */
      flickcurl_set_oauth_client_key(fc, "...");
      flickcurl_set_oauth_client_secret(fc, "...");
      flickcurl_set_oauth_token(fc, "...");
      flickcurl_set_oauth_token_secret(fc, "...");

      photo = flickcurl_photos_getInfo(fc, "123456789"); /* photo ID */

      for(field_type = 0; field_type <= PHOTO_FIELD_LAST; field_type++) {
        flickcurl_field_value_type datatype = photo->fields[field_type].type;

        if(datatype != VALUE_TYPE_NONE)
          fprintf(stderr, "field %s (%d) with %s value: '%s' / %d\n",
                  flickcurl_get_photo_field_label(field_type), (int)field_type,
                  flickcurl_get_field_value_type_label(datatype),
                  photo->fields[field_type].string,
                  photo->fields[field_type].integer);
      }

      for(i = 0; i < photo->tags_count; i++) {
        flickcurl_tag* tag=photo->tags[i];
        fprintf(stderr,
                "%d) %s tag: id %s author ID %s name %s raw '%s' cooked '%s' count %d\n",
                i, (tag->machine_tag ? "machine" : "regular"),
                tag->id, tag->author,
                (tag->authorname ? tag->authorname : "(Unknown)"),
                tag->raw, tag->cooked,
                tag->count);
      }

      flickcurl_free_photo(photo);
      flickcurl_free(fc);
      flickcurl_finish(); /* optional static free of resources */

      return 0;
    }

For more extensive example code, see the source of the `flickcurl` utility in `flickcurl.c` which has code that calls all the API functions.

Copyright (C) 2007-2014 Dave Beckett