Fliptop API Code Example in Ruby. The 202 retry mechanism is built up into FliptopAPIRetryClass. To run this script, simply type 'ruby fliptop_api.rb' into your terminal.

fliptop_api.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'net/http'
require 'thread'
require 'rubygems'
require 'json'

FLIPTOP_API_KEY = 'your fliptop api key'

# this queue represent all the email inputs from your database
# please feel free to replace this queue into any data source that
# you might have.
database_emails = Queue.new
database_emails << 'doug@fliptop.com'
database_emails << 'tom@fliptop.com'
database_emails << 'this_does_not_exist_so_202_1@fliptop.com'

# this queue is going to store the emails that needs to be retried
the_202_retry_queue = Queue.new

# get_social_data_via_email
# it handles the actual fliptop API query,
# and different cases according to the returned
# http status code
def get_social_data_via_email(email_item, the_202_retry_queue, format='json')
   if email_item['retry_attempt'].to_i == 0
       puts 'Looking up: ' + email_item['email']
   elsif email_item['retry_attempt'].to_i > 3
       puts 'Retry over 3 times, dropping the email: ' + email_item['email']
       return
   else
       puts 'Retrying: ' + email_item['email']
   end
   uri = URI('http://api.fliptop.com/beta/person?api_key=%s&email=%s&format=%s' % [FLIPTOP_API_KEY, email_item['email'], format])
   res = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
   if res.code.to_i == 200
       # 200, successful, priting the data out
       # normally you would like to store the returned data into your
       # database, or write it into a desinated file
       person_obj = JSON.load(res.body)
       puts 'Email: ' + person_obj['email']
       puts 'Name: ' + person_obj['name']
       puts 'Company: ' + person_obj['company']
       puts 'Title: ' + person_obj['title']
       if person_obj['memberships'].has_key?('facebook')
           puts 'facebook: ' + person_obj['memberships']['facebook']
       end
       if person_obj['memberships'].has_key?('linkedin')
           puts 'linkedin: ' + person_obj['memberships']['linkedin']
       end
       if person_obj['memberships'].has_key?('twitter')
           puts 'twitter: ' + person_obj['memberships']['twitter']
       end
   elsif res.code.to_i == 202
       # 202, put it into the_202_retry_queue
       the_202_retry_queue << {'email'=> email_item['email'], 'retry_attempt'=>email_item['retry_attempt'] + 1, 'last_try'=> Time.now()}
   elsif res.code.to_i == 400
       puts 'Incorrect syntax. email: ' + email_item['email']
   elsif res.code.to_i == 500
       puts 'Unexpected server error. Please email api@fliptop.com. email: ' + email_item['email']
   else
       puts 'Other error with email: ' + email_item['email'] + ' status code:' + res.code.to_s + ' error message:' + res.body
   end
end

# the method to walk through the entire database emails
def FliptopAPIWalkThroughFunc(database_emails, the_202_retry_queue)
   while database_emails.length > 0
       item = database_emails.deq()
       email_item = {'email'=>item, 'retry_attempt'=>0, 'last_try'=>Time.now()}
       get_social_data_via_email(email_item, the_202_retry_queue)
   end
   puts 'FliptopAPIWalkThroughFunc Finished.'
end

# the method to conduct retries
def FliptopAPIRetryFunc(database_emails, the_202_retry_queue)
   while database_emails.length > 0 or the_202_retry_queue.length > 0
       sleep(30)
       while the_202_retry_queue.length > 0
           item = the_202_retry_queue.deq()
           diff = Time.now() - item['last_try']
           if diff > 30
               get_social_data_via_email(item, the_202_retry_queue)
           else
               the_202_retry_queue << item
           end
       end
   end
   puts 'FliptopAPIRetryFunc Finished.'
end

# kick off the threads
# threads are used here to increase the performance
# if performance is not a concern here,
# you can just call FliptopAPIRetryFunc after
# FliptopAPIWalkThroughFunc is done, like the last two commented-out lines.
Thread.new{FliptopAPIWalkThroughFunc(database_emails, the_202_retry_queue)}
Thread.new{FliptopAPIRetryFunc(database_emails, the_202_retry_queue)}
#FliptopAPIWalkThroughFunc(database_emails, the_202_retry_queue)
#FliptopAPIRetryFunc(database_emails, the_202_retry_queue)