The CategoryBrowse action and CategoryListings actions together provide a directory service based on the Open Directory, www.dmoz.org, and enhanced with Alexa traffic data.
For any given category, the CategoryBrowse action returns a list of sub-categories. Within a particular category you can use the CategoryListings action to get the documents within that category ordered by traffic.
The CategoryBrowse Action takes the following parameters. Required parameters must be provided for the request to succeed.
| Name | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
Action
|
Set the Action parameter to | Yes |
ResponseGroup
|
Any valid response group. See the Response Group section below for valid options. | Yes |
Path
|
Valid category path (Top/Arts, Top/Business/Automotive) | Yes |
Version
| Pass in the current version number, 2005-07-11, to ensure that requests succeed even if the API changes in future versions. | No |
Descriptions
|
Boolean indicating whether to return descriptions with categories. (True | False) | No |
Response groups allow the user more control over what data is returned. By specifying one or more response groups when making the request, you can retrieve only the information you are interested in.
| Response Group | Description |
|---|---|
| Categories |
Return all sub-categories within the specified category path. |
| RelatedCategories |
Return list of categories that are related to the specified category path. |
| LanguageCategories |
Return a list language categories in which the specified category path is available. |
| LetterBars |
Include a list of "Letter Bars" (A, B, C, etc.) for categories that contain them. |
The following example shows a Query-style request and response
http://awis.amazonaws.com? Action=CategoryBrowse &AWSAccessKeyId=[Your AWS Access Key ID]&Signature=[signature]&Timestamp=[timestamp used in signature]&ResponseGroup=[Valid Response Group]&Path=[Top/Arts, Top/Business/Automotive]&Descriptions=[True | False]
<aws:CategoryBrowseResponse xmlns:aws="http://alexa.amazonaws.com/doc/2005-10-05/">
<aws:Response xmlns:aws="http://awis.amazonaws.com/doc/2005-07-11">
<aws:OperationRequest>
<aws:RequestId>cadde770-fe83-483c-9bcc-465a77d4ea0c</aws:RequestId>
</aws:OperationRequest>
<aws:CategoryBrowseResult>
<aws:Alexa>
<aws:CategoryBrowse>
<aws:Categories>
<aws:Category>
<aws:Path>Top/Business/Consumer_Goods_and_Services/Electronics/Accessories</aws:Path>
<aws:Title>Accessories</aws:Title>
<aws:SubCategoryCount>2</aws:SubCategoryCount>
<aws:TotalListingCount>186</aws:TotalListingCount>
</aws:Category>
<aws:Category>
<aws:Path>Top/Business/Consumer_Goods_and_Services/Electronics/Audio</aws:Path>
<aws:Title>Audio</aws:Title>
<aws:SubCategoryCount>8</aws:SubCategoryCount>
<aws:TotalListingCount>1135</aws:TotalListingCount>
</aws:Category>
</aws:Categories>
<aws:LetterBars/>
</aws:CategoryBrowse>
</aws:Alexa>
</aws:CategoryBrowseResult>
<aws:ResponseStatus xmlns:aws="http://alexa.amazonaws.com/doc/2005-10-05/">
<aws:StatusCode>Success</aws:StatusCode>
</aws:ResponseStatus>
</aws:Response>
</aws:CategoryBrowseResponse>