The Help operation allows you to use Amazon E-Commerce Service (ECS) to retrieve information about operations and response groups. Use it to facilitate development and documentation of your website and tools.
The results returned by the Help operation are extracted from the SOAP WSDL. Several operations including CartCreate, CartAdd and CartModify have different parameters for SOAP and REST, so the documentation must also be consulted to determine correct syntax and usage.
Help is available in all of the locales.
Using Help (REST)
This example demonstrates how you can use the Help operation to request information about other ECS operations. This example uses ItemLookup, however, you can use the Help operation to request information about any ECS operation, include the Help operation.
http://webservices.amazon.com/onca/xml?Service=AWSECommerceService&SubscriptionId=[Your
Subscription ID
Here]&Operation=Help&HelpType=Operation&About=ItemLookup
This example demonstrates how you can use the Help operation to request information about ECS response groups. This example uses the Large response group, however, you can use the Help operation to get information about any response group.
http://webservices.amazon.com/onca/xml?Service=AWSECommerceService&SubscriptionId=[Your
Subscription ID
Here]&Operation=Help&HelpType=ResponseGroup&About=Large
Request parameters specify the terms of your request and control the output data that is returned to you.
You must include the required parameters in every request.
Help accepts the optional parameters that are common to all operations:
The following parameters are specific to the Help operation:
| Parameter | Description | Required? | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operation |
The operation. |
Always Required | Help |
| HelpType |
Use this parameter to specify the whether you would like information about an operation or a response group. |
Always Required |
Valid Values:
|
| About |
Use the About parameter to tell the Help operation what you would like help with. If you chose Operation as the HelpType, the About parameter must equal the name of a valid ECS operation. If you chose ResponseGroup as the HelpType, the About parameter must equal the name of a valid ECS response group. You can use batch requests to retrieve information about more than one operation or response group at a time. |
Always Required |
Operations:
Response Groups:
|
| ResponseGroup |
Controls the data returned by the operation. Use this parameter to specify which response group(s), or group(s) of data elements, you would like ECS to return to you. You can specify as many response groups as you wish using a comma-separated list (REST) or multiple elements (SOAP). |
Always Optional |
Default Values: Valid Values: |