is there restful API for gospel resources?

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Thomasvaladez
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Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:00 pm

is there restful API for gospel resources?

#1

Post by Thomasvaladez »

Hey guys,
Is there any way to query lds.org for content through an API. I am looking to build a scripture study tool and I wondered if any work had been done on restful APIs. Any resources, ideas, help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
davesudweeks
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Location: Washington, USA

Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#2

Post by davesudweeks »

I think you will find your answer in this thread.
https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... pi#p178724
eblood66
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Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#3

Post by eblood66 »

That discussion may not be entirely relevant because the OP there specifically wanted to access membership information which is sensitive. Access to scriptures and other material that shows up in Gospel Library would not be sensitive. However, the church has not provided an API to access that information. No reason has been provided. At one point there was some indication that they would do so but later the information about it was deleted without explanation.

Personally, my guess, based on the obvious difficulties in keeping the features of the Gospel Library apps and lds.org in sync, I expect they decided they did not want to commit resources to maintaining another content outlet.
Thomasvaladez
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Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#4

Post by Thomasvaladez »

Thanks for the replies guys. I am not looking to access any sensitive data, like membership information. I am more interested in getting access to the standard works, conference talks, ensign articles, and such. It seems as if there is no resource for this. So I guess my follow up question to that would be, does anyone have large libraries of content they would be willing to share so that I could build a public API.
russellhltn
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Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#5

Post by russellhltn »

Thomasvaladez wrote:does anyone have large libraries of content they would be willing to share so that I could build a public API.
I'd think that would run into copyright restrictions. You can't distribute someone else's content without their permission.

You can find more information at https://permissions.lds.org/
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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Thomasvaladez
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Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#6

Post by Thomasvaladez »

Thank you! I wasn't aware of https://permissions.lds.org/. Request submitted.
Imovable101
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Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#7

Post by Imovable101 »

Reading through the referenced material on https://permissions.lds.org/ general non-commercial use of content that's already openly accessible on the church website is within legal bounds (from what I understand). So, for example, in the absence of an API, one could do web scraping and achieve something similar and still be within legal bounds.

Correct me if I'm wrong :) I'm by no means a lawyer haha.
russellhltn
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Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#8

Post by russellhltn »

Imovable101 wrote:Reading through the referenced material on https://permissions.lds.org/ general non-commercial use of content that's already openly accessible on the church website is within legal bounds (from what I understand).
If you "publish" it by hosting it on a public website, that may not be considered "personal" use. If that's the desired usage, I'd seek permission.

There is a Request Form that goes though a few questions. It appears to me that if you put it on the web, it says that you'll need permission.
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kingc12
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Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#9

Post by kingc12 »

Isn't screen scraping usually discouraged by website owners, even if technically legal, due to server load? Or is scraping lds.org fine?
russellhltn
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Re: is there restful API for gospel resources?

#10

Post by russellhltn »

kingc12 wrote:Isn't screen scraping usually discouraged by website owners, even if technically legal, due to server load? Or is scraping lds.org fine?
I don't know as anyone here can answer that. The bigger issue is what you're going to do with the information.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
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