An introduction to the Yahoo! Query Language; originally presented at BarCamp Charleston on November 13, 2010.

1. SELECT * FROM
Internet
Using theYahoo! Query Language

2. Survey...

3. Who am I?
• Brian DeShong, Senior TechnicalYahoo
• Yahoo! (Atlanta)
• Developer / sys admin since 1998
• Focus on PHP, open source
• Focusing on native mobile apps lately

4. Agenda
• What’sYQL?
• How to work withYQL
• Demos!
• Data available fromY! and others
• Making your data available viaYQL

5. What isYQL?

10. How does it work?
• Web service with an SQL-like query syntax
• SQL is familiar to many developers
• Common interface for any data on the web
• Query, filter, join and update data across any
structured data on the web
• Output formats:
• XML
• JSON, JSONP, JSONPX

11. Working WithYQL

12. SELECT {what}
FROM {data table}
WHERE {condition}
SQL syntax

13. SELECT *
FROM weather.forecast
WHERE location = ‘29424’
Weather forecast

14. SELECT *
FROM ip.location
WHERE ip = ’153.9.243.13’
Location by IP

15. SELECT from_user, text,
profile_image_url
FROM twitter.search
WHERE q = ’#barcampchs’
Twitter search

16. More than SELECT
• Modify data with INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE
• Tweet, add blog posts, update databases, etc.
• We’ll look at Open Data Tables shortly

17. Demos!

18. IntegratingYQL

19. RESTful API
http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql
?q=[urlencoded YQL query]
&format=[xml|json|etc.]

20. Weather URL
https://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql
?q=select%20*%20
from%20weather.location%20
where %20location%3D'29424'%3B

21. PHP

22. PHP output
brian@roadrunner [~/Dropbox/barcampchs/code]$ php ./twitter.php
XarkGirl: @mguerard need more $$, but loving life. i'm helping w/ #barcampCHS, writing a novel, working on secret project. how the hell iz u?!?
barcampchs: RT @csatcofc: Pecha Kucha on Wednesday 10/10, Barcamp on Saturday, 10/13. Next week is going to be good! #pkchs #barcampchs #csatcofc
csatcofc: Pecha Kucha on Wednesday 10/10, Barcamp on Saturday, 10/13. Next week is going to be good! #pkchs #barcampchs #csatcofc
barcampchs: Cool, just found out that the @lullabot's will be sending someone to join us fm Savannah #barcampchs @chsdug #drupal
carnellm: If you haven't bought your ticket for #BarCampCHS yet, you can try to win a free one! http://www.facebook.com/TheModernConnection
Peter_Lucash:Vote for my proposal - From Idea to Launch! RT @BarCampCHS: RT @pla1: 8 days until BarCamp Charleston Sat Nov 13 2010 #barcampchs
joannepicvu: RT @barcampchs: RT @pla1: 8 days until BarCamp Charleston Sat Nov 13 2010 #barcampchs
barcampchs: RT @pla1: 8 days until BarCamp Charleston Sat Nov 13 2010 #barcampchs
CBSWebDesigns: #barcampchs is coming up.What sessions do you want ? We hope ours is 1. Customizing WP Twenty Ten theme is one of them. http://t.co/nP5aR99
pla1: 8 days until BarCamp Charleston Sat Nov 13 2010 #barcampchs
Yaenette: RT @barcampchs: Only one week left to get your ticket to #barcampchs #chs #nchs
carnellm: I'm attending #BarCampCHS! Have you gotten your ticket yet? http://www.eventbrite.com/s/1EXx
vhanna26: @Yaenette It will be fun. #barcampchs
tybaltknight: I missed the memo on the change of venue for #BarcampCHS planning session #volunteeringfail.
vhanna26:At a #barcampchs planning meeting. Only nine more days!!!

23. JavaScript

24. Data

25. Yahoo! Data

26. Community data

27. Open Data Tables
• Create web service for sites that do not expose
public APIs
• Data table is:
• XML document
• TranslatesYQL query into HTTP request
• See datatables.org

28. Data Table XML example

29. Storing to Sherpa
• yql.storage and yql.storage.admin tables
• Allows you to store and work with data inYQL itself
• Shares tables, environments and JS with all otherYQL
users
• Layered onYahoo! Sherpa DHT cloud storage
platform

30. Sherpa Limits and Reqs
• Size Limit
• 1000 records @ 100KB each
• Retention Limit
• 30 day purge
• Record Format
• Records must be in a text-based format;
authentication for New Records
• yql.storage.admin access must be authorized using
two-legged OAuth

31. Wrap Up

32. Why YQL?
• Same interface for all of your data
• Process data away from your application
• Rapidly prototype and build applications
• Create APIs for sites that don’t have them
• And let others easily leverage them!

33. http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/

34. Thanks!
bdeshong@yahoo-inc.com
http://www.yahoo.com/
brian@deshong.net
http://www.deshong.net/