Amazon Web Services Blog

Updated ECS 3 Release

We updated the ECS 3 service earlier today. Here are the details:

Features and Fixes

• Duplicate product descriptions returned in Search operations
  Search operations no longer return duplicate product descriptions.
• Search operation with .mode=books. fail for CA locale
  As documented in our 3.0 SDK, users need to pass in the appropriate "mode=books-xx" parameter for intl locales, where xx is the intl locale.
• ImageURL broken for CA locale
  This has been fixed.
• SellerSearch returned 25 listings instead of 10
  The SellerSearch operation now returns 10 listings per search. This affects FR/CA/JP locales.

Updated ECS 4 Release

We updated the ECS 4 service earlier today. The new WSDL version is 2005-02-23.

Here are the details:

Features and Fixes

• Searching by European Article Number (EAN) is now supported for CA
  Searching by EAN is now supported in the CA locale for Classical, DVD, Music, Video and VHS SearchIndices.
• New element, URLEncodedHMAC, is available in Cart operations
  A new element, URLEncodedHMAC, is now returned in Cart operations. Use this element instead of URL-encoding the HMAC manually.

• New elements, ItemTotal and SubTotal, supported in CartCreate, CartAdd, CartGet and CartModify operations
  The CartCreate, CartAdd, CartGet, CartClear and CartModify operations now support ItemTotal and SubTotal elements. ItemTotal is the unit price of an item multiplied by the number of those items purchased. SubTotal is the sum of all ItemTotal values.

Resolved Issues

• TotalReviewPages element was missing in the Reviews response group
  TotalReviewPages element is now returned in the Reviews response group within the CustomerReviews element for all locales.
• ItemSearch by Manufacturer returned Publisher in Software SearchIndex
    ItemSearch now returns Manufacturer instead of Publisher in the ItemAttributes element.
• Duplicate product descriptions returned in ItemSearch
  ItemSearch no longer returns duplicate product descriptions.
• GlancePage is now supported in SellerLookup
  The SellerLookup operation now returns the GlancePage element.
• Multiple ListId elements returned in first List element for the ListSearch operation
  ListSearch no longer returns multiple ListId, ListType, TotalPages and TotalItems for UK, DE, and JP locales.
• SellerListingSearch returned 25 listings instead of 10
  The SellerListingSearch operation now returns 10 listings per search. This affects the FR, CA, and JP locales.

Dealazon.com

The new ECS-powered dealazon.com site displays the best deals (products with the highest discounts) from a number of Amazon categories, including Electronics, Kitchen, Toys, Tools, Books, Music, DVDs,  and Jewelry & Watches. The site also offers RSS feeds for each type of deal.
 

Major Updates to Pricenoia

The ECS-powered Pricenoia site has been updated. According to the latest entry in the Pricenoia blog, this release includes the following new features:

• Access to data from Amazon France and Amazon Canada
• Used and Third Party pricing data
• The option to search all Amazon sites simultaneously
• Additional product lines
• More sorting options
• User preferences
• Additional shipping information

According to the blog, Pricenoia is also available as a mobile application.

Music Plasma becomes Live Plasma

The ECS-powered Music Plasma site has morphed into the more powerful and more general Live Plasma. Music Plasma was used to search and browse the Amazon music catalog. Live Plasma builds on this to allow searching music and movies. It also features a multilingual user interface, a more interesting visual presentation (including product images), and the ability to create a free account. The account is used to save personal copies of interesting items and maps.

PS - Click on the image at right to see a larger version!

Feeling Spendy?

Did you ever want to find a random Amazon product at a certain price point? If so, you will find Thomas Scott's "I'm Feeling Spendy" tool very handy. Select UK pounds or US dollars, enter in a price, and hit the button. The bottom panel will show a randomly selected Amazon product at or around the price you entered.

ASP.Net Code Sample - ECS Custom Control in C#

As mentioned in the previous post, we have been working with our friends at Microsoft to create some additional code samples for .Net and ECS. Here is sample code for an ASP.Net custom control which uses version 4 of ECS. The control is written in C#. Refer to the README file for more information and complete step-by-step directions on how to make use of the code.

ASP.Net Code Sample - ECS Custom Control in VB.Net

We have been working with our friends at Microsoft to create some additional code samples for .Net and ECS. Here is sample code for an ASP.Net custom control which uses version 4 of ECS. The control is written in VB.Net. Refer to the README file for more information and complete step-by-step directions on how to make use of the code.

Web Services Interoperability Video

MSDN is hosting a new streamable video, "Top Ten Tips for Web Services Interoperability". In this video, Microsoft's Simon Guest discusses a number of concrete ways to create services which will earn top marks in the "plays well with others" category. Topics covered include:

1. Empty arrays
2. Package names
3. Testing for null
4. Avoiding null dates
5. Date comparisons
6. Using a trace tool
7. Using alternate ports
8. Unit tests
9. Document Literal
10. XSD

There is a lot of good information here, much of it relevant to service callers as well as to service implementers.

WSL-Amazon - Amazon Access using REALbasic

Electic Butterfly recently released WSL-Amazon, a set of objects which simplify the process of accessing Amazon Product Data through the REALbasic programming language:

This HTTPSocket subclass wraps the Amazon Web Services 3.0 API into an easy-to-use library of 72 powerful methods and 66 properties with support for their US, UK, German, and Japanese Amazon stores. Includes extensive search and information retrieval capabilities, plus the ability to create, update and checkout Amazon shopping carts -- all from within your REALbasic applications!

The product is available as a free demo, and the documentation is available online. Registration costs $49, and enables royalty-free distribution of applications developed with the product.

The REALbasic language is available for Windows and for the Macintosh. Visit those links for free time-limited trial downloads.