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Google Code Blog: Google URL Shortener gets an API

33 points by motvbi 16y ago

joshfraser 16y ago
Thanks Google, but we're already happy with bit.ly. URL shorteners were hot a year ago. Now, not so much.
- chrisbroadfoot 16y ago
  I guess the mass of people requesting we offer an API for goo.gl says otherwise.
togasystems 16y ago
Does it include the QR generator?
- RossM 16y ago
  The QR code generator's always been available from the Chart API[1] [1] http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/gallery/qr_codes.html http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/gallery/qr_codes.html
togasystems 16y ago
Does it include the QR generator?
NathanKP 16y ago
That's nice. I've been using the following piece of sneaky ghetto code to take advantage of Google Toolbar's URL shortening API: http://codepaste.net/48qfb7 http://codepaste.net/48qfb7 But now I'll be able to shorten URL's with an official API rather than using a hack. I don't know why Google didn't make a public API from the start.
burgerbrain 16y ago
Now if only they would start using this. Google Maps' permalinks are absolutely terrible for example...
- jedc 16y ago
  1. Go to Google Maps. 2. Click "Labs" 3. Enable "Short URL" lab. Problem sorted!
schumihan 16y ago
If I tries to shorten the url of http://google.com http://google.com several times, goo.gl always give back different result. I just wonder will goo.gl merge theses url together sometime later? This interesting found implies how goo.gl is designed. They prefer writing directly to avoid duplication check and random seek caused by the check. And they though most of the urls are cold so it is not essential to merge them together to keep the hot cache small. Or they assume nobody wants to play the system in this way. :-)
- slig 16y ago
  They have to do different URLs each time because you get stats for each shortened URL.
antimatter15 16y ago
A few apps have been using the exact same API (though it wasn't officially documented until now) for some time now.
frankacter 16y ago
Any insight to whether this would be rolled into a Google Apps for your domain offering? We're using yourls.org currently for our short domain name and would welcome ($) the opportunity of offloading the traffic to Google's servers.
- rdela 16y ago
  seen Google Short Links by Google Labs? http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=5143210+6352879591152674960 http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?pro... http://bit.ly/pro/ http://bit.ly/pro/ is also worth a look
  - frankacter 16y ago
    Thanks for that.

33 points by motvbi 16y ago

joshfraser 16y ago

Thanks Google, but we're already happy with bit.ly. URL shorteners were hot a year ago. Now, not so much.

chrisbroadfoot 16y ago
I guess the mass of people requesting we offer an API for goo.gl says otherwise.

togasystems 16y ago

Does it include the QR generator?

RossM 16y ago
The QR code generator's always been available from the Chart API[1] [1] http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/gallery/qr_codes.html http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/gallery/qr_codes.html

togasystems 16y ago

Does it include the QR generator?

NathanKP 16y ago

That's nice. I've been using the following piece of sneaky ghetto code to take advantage of Google Toolbar's URL shortening API: http://codepaste.net/48qfb7 http://codepaste.net/48qfb7 But now I'll be able to shorten URL's with an official API rather than using a hack. I don't know why Google didn't make a public API from the start.

burgerbrain 16y ago

Now if only they would start using this. Google Maps' permalinks are absolutely terrible for example...

jedc 16y ago
1. Go to Google Maps. 2. Click "Labs" 3. Enable "Short URL" lab. Problem sorted!

schumihan 16y ago

If I tries to shorten the url of http://google.com http://google.com several times, goo.gl always give back different result. I just wonder will goo.gl merge theses url together sometime later? This interesting found implies how goo.gl is designed. They prefer writing directly to avoid duplication check and random seek caused by the check. And they though most of the urls are cold so it is not essential to merge them together to keep the hot cache small. Or they assume nobody wants to play the system in this way. :-)

slig 16y ago
They have to do different URLs each time because you get stats for each shortened URL.

antimatter15 16y ago

A few apps have been using the exact same API (though it wasn't officially documented until now) for some time now.

frankacter 16y ago

Any insight to whether this would be rolled into a Google Apps for your domain offering? We're using yourls.org currently for our short domain name and would welcome ($) the opportunity of offloading the traffic to Google's servers.

rdela 16y ago
seen Google Short Links by Google Labs? http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=5143210+6352879591152674960 http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?pro... http://bit.ly/pro/ http://bit.ly/pro/ is also worth a look
- frankacter 16y ago
  Thanks for that.