Using Vb.Net and Square? - vb.net

This is probably a stupid or easy question, but is it possible to use vb.net with the square app to accept and verify payments?
The Api for Square is here
https://docs.connect.squareup.com/api/connect/v1/#overview
But the functions only seem to relate to reporting. How do I offer a product for like $5 online using vb.net and use my Square App information to accept a payment online and then VERIFY they paid it? #1, can that be done? #2 Are there some code examples?

This is a timely question as Square just released a public playments API and updated the documentation a couple of days ago!
If you check back at connect.squareup.com, you'll see there's new documentation for the E-commerce APIs. It's a standard ReST-like HTTPS API, so you should be able to adapt the REST exmaple to VB and make the necessary requests yourself.
One vitally important thing to remember is that, as the documentation says, you should not pass the actual card details back to your own server. You'll want to follow the recommended path of obtaining card token (what Square calls a card_nonce) in JavaScript, then send that back to your VB server and charge it from there using the APIs.

Related

How to call Google NLP Api from a Google Chrome extension

My aim is to select some text from a web page, start a google chrome extension and give the text to a google cloud api (Natural Language API) in my case.
I want to do some sentimental analysis and then get back the result to mark/ highlight positive sentences in green and negative ones in red.
I am new to this and do not know how to start.
The extension consists of manifest, popup etc. How should I call an API from there that does Natural Language Processing?
Should I create a Google Cloud Application with an API_KEY to call? In that case I would have to upload my credentials right?
Sorry sounds a bit confusing I know but I just don't know how I can bring this 2 things together an would be more than happy about any help
The best way to authenticate your app will depend on the specific needs and use cases of your application. You can see an overview of all the different methods here.
If you are not planning on identifying users nor on using a back end server that handles authenticating (as I assume to be your case), the best option would indeed be to use API keys. They do not identify the user, but are enough for the Natural Language APIs.
To do this you will need to create an API key for the services you want and add the necessary restrictions to make the key as secure as possible. Detailed instructions on how to do this and how to use the key in a url can be found here.
The API call could be made from within the Chrome extension with any JavaScript method capable of performing POST requests. For example using XMLHttpRequest or the Fetch API. You can find an example of the parameters that need to be included in the request here.
You may run into CORS issues when making the request directly from the extension. I recommend reading this answer, where a couple of workarounds for these issues are suggested.

google home reading from website

I'm currently working on a project where my main focus is to create an Action for Google Home which can be invoked and asked to read out some articles (chosen previously from a list, also by voice) from a particular website.
I was wondering if it was possible, or if it were already some similar projects.
What I'd like to do is something like the feature in Pocket or instapaper, where you can make the device read the article for you.
I also thought to make something like a database with all the articles I'm interested in, which auto-updates itself whenever a new article is posted, but my main concern now is to be able to separate the articles in various lists, parse the article and in the end implement text to speech into the Action.
Also some implementations with 3rd party services and apps would be useful.
Please ask me if anything isn't exactly clear, english is not my first language.
Yes, this is possible. Not necessarily easy, but possible.
First - there is nothing in the Actions on Google library or in Google Home that will automatically scrape a website. That will be up to you.
Second - Responses from your Action are limited in how much they can send at a time.
If you're having it do text-to-speech, you're limited to two "text bubbles" of 640 characters each before the user has to reply. You should keep well below that and should probably stick to just one "text bubble".
If you're playing an audio cut, then you're limited to two minutes.
You can work around both of these limitations by using the Media Response. With TTS, you would play a portion of the text, a brief Media response, at the conclusion of which, your server would be triggered to send the next chunk of text. If it is all recorded, you can just send the longer audio as the Media.
Be advised, however, that if you're using the inline editor or using Firebase Cloud Functions (which the inline editor uses), that by default you're not able to access most sites outside Google's network. You need to upgrade to a paid plan to do so. I suggest the Blaze plan which is pay-as-you-go, but includes a free tier which is typically good enough for development work and light production usage.

How do I use the bloomberg API to get FX data in a html site?

I am new to the bloomberg API so forgive me if this is silly but I am creating a html website on a mac and I want to simply fill a div with some data from bloomberg e.g. the current value of the EURUSD.
How can this be done? Is this what the bloomberg API is for?
This is something that would typically be forbidden by the license - data obtained from the Bloomberg API can generally not be redistributed.
Plus (you might know that) the Bloomberg API is publicly available but to be able to receive actual data through the API, you need to subscribe to Bloomberg, which is a payable service.
There are probably better (and less expensive) ways to get EUR.USD rates.
The API is for this, but the licensing is typically not. You can use the server mode and try to communicate with a Bloomber Server (paid component) and ask for licensing to redist the data. Your problem here is not technical but legal
If you don't have a Bloomberg account, you can get an idea of how this is done using the Bloomberg API Emulator. It works and looks just like the Bloomberg API, but it doesn't require an account to use. It doesn't return real data, but you can use it to learn how to request data from the Bloomberg API.
From a 10-minute read of the Developer's Guide at http://www.openbloomberg.com/, it looks like you might be able to use it to get current foreign exchange rates. The Developer's Guide gives coding examples in Java, .NET, C++, and C.

How To Get Started Working with the Google AdWords API?

I'm a student working on a project related to SEO; I need to write an optimization tool, so I'm writing an application using C# and Windows Forms. The main part of the application is for keyword selection, and I want to use the Google AdWords API to obtain a list of keywords.
I downloaded the C# client library, but can't understand how to set up the project: I am getting the error:
"An API exception has occurred. See ApiExecption and InnerException fields for more details".
Maybe I have made a mistake when I edited the App.config file as I haven't changed anything else. Can anyone advise me where I should begin? I would be grateful to hear your ideas.
Unfortunatley, the AdWords API isn't as open as you might think: It's meant for ad agencies managing large accounts, or software vendors who want to build ad management platforms. You need to apply to Google for an API key to gain access; they used to give them out to nearly anyone with an account, and it took about 14 days to process the application. However, Google has got very strict about their terms and conditions over the past 12 months, and to put it simply, you probably won't meet them if you're building an SEO tool; even if you apply to build a full platform, you'll need to wait six to ten weeks for approval as they've got a huge backlog of applications to process at the moment.
As this is just a student project, you should actually be able to get away with just using the AdWords API sandbox, which is open to anyone with a Google account. This won't give you real keywords or stats, but would demonstrate your understanding of the platform.
Another option would be to check out the Ad Intelligence Service of the adCenter API; you'd still need to open an adCenter account (with a $5 activation fee), but you should be able to get an adCenter API key without waiting too long. The stats available from Microsoft won't be as extensive as what Google has to offer, but will still be relevant to the at least the US market. Also, being Microsoft, they've got a good range of C# examples.
You could use the sandbox, but it is good only for testing purposes. You won't get real values for traffic estimation and keyword ideas.
To use the sandbox, what you need is a Google account (your gmail account for instance). To initialize the sandbox,
In your App.config, put email/password/developerToken as your email / your password / youremail++USD (e.g. john.doe#gmail.com++USD)
Run the GetCampaigns.cs code example. It is under v201109/BasicOperations folder in the C# examples project. This will initialize the sandbox.
Run the GetAccountHierarchy.cs code example. It is under v201109/AccountManagement folder. This will give you 5 client emails and their customer ids.
Use one of these customerIds in the ClientCustomerId field of App.config.
Run any other code example.
The video is a bit outdated, due to recent changes in AdWords API, I need to update it.
you can find a very good article series about adwords api there: Google Adwords API
it is not that hard to learn how to use it! I think the API itself is very good documented and there is a good suppo from google.

App Export Compliance using the Dropbox API

This question (or variations of this question) has been asked before, but as Apple's export compliance rules change relatively frequently, and no one seems to ever get a straight answer, I thought I would ask.
I write an iPhone application that uses version 0.2 of the Dropbox API.
I have emailed Apple concerning use of this specific API, and I will be sure to update this question as I learn more and hear back from Apple. In the meantime, if any developer is using the Dropbox API in their iPhone application, did you mark your application as using encryption?
Edit: Upon closer inspection, it looks like the file data is also transferred using SSL. Since their API is using the NSMutableURLRequest class over HTTPS though, I still can't determine whether or not this API "uses encryption." If in the App Store submission page I mark that it does include encryption, Apple then asks if I'm using greater than a 64-bit symmetric encryption key.
If your app uses SSL (HTTPS), then yes it does include encryption. The export compliance rules changed last year though, so you will need an Encryption Registration Number instead of a CCATS number. See this blog post for details.
As it happens I'm working on this right now on a related project.
The Apple position is clarified in the FAQ in iTunesConnect; (my bold)
If your App contains, uses or
accesses standard cryptography for purposes other than those listed in
questions 2-4, you need to submit for
an ERN authorization. Examples of
standard encryption are: AES, SSL,
https.
This authorization requires that you
submit an annual report to two U.S.
Government agencies with information
about your App every January.
It's a pain in the neck, but that is the law if you want to be fully compliant. I'd love to hear that I'm wrong though!
PS. You could always ask for a direct opinion from the Government department concerned here;
http://www.bis.doc.gov/forms/rpdform.html
You can also call the Bureau of Industry and Security help desk at 202-482-0707 or read the web site at http://www.bis.doc.gov/encryption for more information.
Discussing your question with a live person is probably going to be better than filling out the online form and waiting for a response.