ACTIVE Network API Developer Blog

We've just launched our new App Showcase and we know that you didn't build that application so no one would ever see it. Submit your app and get featured for the world to see!

The new App Showcase allows developers another place feature and grow their apps, creating opportunities for more types of apps to be successful. We don't discriminate - whether they’re on iOS, Android, mobile web, or popular website application, each app will get it's own detail page, which helps people see what makes an app unique and links directly to the live app and/or website. We encourage developers to submit apps with screenshots, videos, and as much detail as possible so users can get a better sense of the benefits and how they are used .

Every app submitted will be reviewed for relevancy, completeness, brand attribution, and then (once approved) be pushed live into the showcase. Well-designed apps that people enjoy will be prominently displayed. Apps that receive poor user ratings or don’t meet the quality guidelines won't be listed.

We are excited to give developers a new way to grow their apps with the App Center. What are you waiting for? Stop reading this and get your app ready for submission!

» Submit your app

Recently launched, GolfOn.com strives to provide golfers with a chance to connect online through their community of members. Their implementation allows various ways for golfers to take the experience offline through tee times made available via the ACTIVE Golf API, as well access to great golf-related deals.

The GolfOn Team

They’re just a few guys and gals who revel in life’s pleasures, one of those being the great game of golf. They just enjoy the fine elements experienced in a round of golf:  great company, open air, the feel of grass blades under your feet, the tingling feeling you get with a pure stroke, the fist pump after sinking a 25 foot put (rare, but worth the wait)... They know that many others share this love for the Game and their goal is to increase the ability for everyone to "Get Your Golf On!"

Using the ACTIVE Golf Tee Times API, they've integrated local tee times to allow users to select their location, preferred golf course, date & time, and number of players to filter down to specific tee times that convert into actual bookings. By cleverly using an iframe on the tee time booking page, they are able to retain their users after they've booked their round of golf, keeping coming back to GolfOn.com to check out other golf deals.

Each week they feature incredible golf-minded deals on Golfon.com. Working with the best Merchant Partners, they offer attractive deals both nationally and for your local community, sometimes with discounts of up to 80%!

Get creative and find ways to get more people out their enjoying activities and we will be happy to feature you in our newsletter and promote you within the app showcase!

Check out GolfOn.com implementation now

In order to speed up the website you can use 'ListTeetimes2' method and cache the data from 'GetRateInfo' since that very seldom changes (cache for 24h or so).

You can probably cache tee times for 30 min or so, but should call VerifyTeetime when a user attempts to select a time to verify it's still there, and have a solid way to deal with disappearing tee times (when the times are gone because of cache lag).

Also, Limit the amount of data to shown on the first visit from the user. Requesting 100s of courses will always take a long time. Maybe you can do aggressive caching (every few hours or so) when you display a large list and then less caching when the result set is narrowed down by the user.  Displaying a bunch of tee times on the initial landing page without knowing what the user wants is a little wasteful.

Hope this helps! Let us know what other issues you've come across and we'll try to provide soem tips about how to improve your API implementation. Leave a comment below.

Want to show golf courses by locations? Here is a quick tip to help you implement this in your application. ActiveGolf.com loads up all golf clubs (locations), and then based on user-selected city, we take the latitude/longitude from the center of the city and calculate the distance to each golf course (in memory) and finally take out the ones that are more than 50 miles (or so) from that. With the data we expose, plus your own database of cities/zip codes you should be able to do this on your end. Since we have purchased our city/zipcode database and aren't allowed to expose it, but you can purchase your own data here (if needed): http://zipcodedownload.com

Hope this helps! Let us know what other issues you've come across and we'll try to provide some tips about how to improve your API implementation. Leave a comment below.

We're adding SSL security for our API, so calls can now be made using HTTPS. We've had a few requests from some of our partners (yes, we actually listen to what you're telling us) and we're going to be updating our API to allow for HTTPS calls within the broswer. You'll be able to display our data within a secure enviroment and not worry about a bad user experience.

We'll be posting updates to the blog, forum, and on twitter. So be sure to follow us and stay-up-to-date. In case you miss any of those posts, we'll make sure to recap any enhancements in the Developer Center Newsletter. We'd expect that you atleast check your email, right?

Stay tuned...

ActiveAccess, our open data platform, helps people gain access to activities anywhere (consisting of APIs and widgets) which opens up our data to the world. Access over 300,000 local events and activities across a wide range of categories.

We create connections for all devices, platforms, channels, technologies and third parties.  Our open platform will change the future of activity and supports our mission to connect people with the things they love, want and need to do.  Serving over 50,000 global customers and driving over 80 million transactions annually, our unmatched reach is the engine behind our activity marketplace.  All of our activity data has been uniquely curated directly from the organizers themselves – providing the most up-to-date, accurate and comprehensive activity directory available.

We are the technology company that powers activities.  The activities we power are everywhere. 

• » Triathlons, marathons and 5K’s use us for our deep expertise in activity and participant management™.
• » Local school districts use us to manage school fees, activities, facilities and donations through our school management software.
• » Parks and Recreation departments, community churches, golf courses, camps & YMCA’s use our cloud technology to help transform and grow their organizations.
• » Campgrounds use our technology to reserve camping spots, process payments and sell passes.
• » States use us to sell hunting & fishing licenses and permits in real-time.
• » Sports organizations use us to manage their player registration making it easier for league parents.
• » Corporations, associations, tradeshows and expos use us to manage their conferences and conventions.
• » Town halls use us to manage their citizen interactions.

We have quietly become ubiquitous in many cities and towns across North America and our mission is to continue to drive our reach into ever more cities in North America and around the world.

Start hacking today and make the world a more active place! Get registered now