StrawPoll-Java-API

A Lightweight Java API Wrapper for StrawPoll.me

Getting Started

Prerequisites

In order to use this API wrapper, it requires the GSON Library for JSON manipulation. If you are not using maven or gradle then you will need to have this installed along with this libraries .jar

Installing via Maven

If you are using maven or gradle you do not need to worry about installing GSON.

This library is available through JitPack. If you are building your project through Maven you need to add the following to your pom.xml

First the jitpack repository

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>jitpack.io</id>
        <url>https://jitpack.io</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>

Then the dependency of the project itself

<dependencies>
    ...
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.github.Samuel-Maddock</groupId>
        <artifactId>StrawPoll-Java-API</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.4</version>
    </dependency>
    ...
</dependencies>

If you are using gradle check the JitPack info here!

Examples

Quickly Creating a StrawPoll:

Creating a StrawPoll is very simple. There are multiple ways to do this.

The easiest way is to pass the StrawPoll object all of its data at construction. You can quickly create a StrawPoll by passing it a title (the question of the poll) and a list of options that users will vote for.

Once the data has been added to the poll, you need to call the create() method to send a request to the StrawPoll API to create the poll.

StrawPoll strawPoll = new StrawPoll("StrawPoll Title", "Option 1", "Option 2");
strawPoll.create(); //Creates the StrawPoll, by sending a request to the API

After the StrawPoll has been created, the StrawPoll object will have been updated with the poll's id, the url of the poll and the votes of the poll.

strawPoll.getId(); //Will retrieve the id of the poll.
strawPoll.getPollURL(); //Will return the full string url of the poll that has been created. You can view this poll in your browser.
strawPoll.getVotes(); //Returns a List<Integer> of the votes for each option. Obviously after creation these are all 0.

NOTE: In order to create a StrawPoll, you must include a title and at least one option.

The StrawPoll constructor also allows for more freedom. You can pass a List<String> of options instead.

List<String> options = new ArrayList<>();
options.add("Option 1");
options.add("Option 2");
StrawPoll strawPoll = new StrawPoll("This is my Poll", options);
strawPoll.create();

NOTE: The StrawPoll API has a limitation on the number of options that it can use. There is a maximum of 30 options per poll.

If you wish for the poll to allow multiple votes from the same user or to have a captcha to verify that users are actually humans you can use the full constructor to create a poll.

The format of the full constructor is as follows:

StrawPoll strawPoll = new StrawPoll(title, options, isMulti, hasCaptcha, DupCheck);

Constructor Parameters:

• title - The title of the StrawPoll
• options - The list of options as a List<String>
• isMulti - A boolean that determines if a user is allowed to vote multiple times. If true, then the same person can vote multiple times. This is false by default.
• hasCaptcha - A boolean that determines if there is a captcha to verify if a user is human. True enables the captcha. This is false by default.
• DupCheck - This is an enum of DupCheckType that determines the type of duplication checking to be used. This is DupCheckType.NORMAL by default

DupCheck has three different values:

• DupCheckType.NORMAL - This is the normal duplication checking. This is enabled by default
• DupCheckType.PERMISSIVE - This makes the poll more lenient in vote duplication checking.
• DupCheckType.DISABLED - This disables duplication checking for the poll.

You can also easily clone StrawPoll objects by doing the following:

StrawPoll strawPoll = new StrawPoll("Title", "Option1", "Option2");
StrawPoll pollCopy = new StrawPoll(strawPoll);

Updating and Retrieving a StrawPoll

If you want to retrieve data from a StrawPoll with a known URL or Poll ID then you can call the retrieve() method or create a new poll by passing a valid strawpoll URL to the constructor

StrawPoll poll = new StrawPoll();
poll = poll.retrieve("https://www.strawpoll.me/1"); //Retrieves strawpoll with id 1

StrawPoll strawPoll = new StrawPoll(1); //Retrieves strawpoll with id 1

StrawPoll myPoll = new StrawPoll("https://www.strawpoll.me/1"); //Retrieves strawpoll with id 1

You can then retrieve information about the poll using it's getters:

strawPoll.getId(); //String id of the poll
strawPoll.getTitle(); //String title of the poll
strawPoll.getOptions(); //List<String> of options
strawPoll.getVotes(); //List<Integer> of votes
strawPoll.isMulti(); //Boolean
strawPoll.hasCaptcha(); //Boolean
strawPoll.getDupCheck(); //Enum of type DupCheckType
strawPoll.getPollURL(); //URL of the StrawPoll

If you want to update a StrawPoll's information (eg the number of votes) then simply call the update() method.

StrawPoll myPoll = new StrawPoll("Is StrawPoll good?", "Yes", "No");
myPoll.create(); //Votes are [0,0]
// The following is called after someone has voted on the poll eg two people vote yes, one votes no
myPoll.update();
myPoll.getVotes(); //Votes are [2,1]

Using Setters to Create a Poll

Most StrawPoll fields have setters which you can use instead of the constructor. These methods support method chaining which allow us to create a poll like this:

StrawPoll strawPoll = new StrawPoll();
strawPoll
    .setTitle("This is my poll")
    .addOptions("Option 1", "Option 2")
    .setIsMulti(false)
    .setHasCaptcha(true)
    .setDupCheck(DupCheckType.NORMAL)
    .create();

When adding options we have two different methods:

List<String> options = Contains some options...
strawPoll.addOptions("Option 1", "Option 2"); //Add these to the current options already added.
strawPoll.addOptions(options.toArray()); //Used for adding a List<String> to the current options list

strawPoll.setOptions(options); //Replace the current list with a new list

Note that you do not need to set every field. You only need to set the required fields of a title and an option. Everything else will be set to a default value.

More Information

The StrawPoll API itself has a rate limit of creating 100 polls by any given user within 60 minute. To view more information visit the StrawPoll API Wiki

You can also view the raw JSON of any StrawPoll object. This could be one that you have updated/retrieved or one that you have just created. An example is shown below:

StrawPoll strawPoll = new StrawPoll("https://www.strawpoll.me/1");
String rawJSON = strawPoll.toRawJSON();

JSON Returned:
{"id":"1","title":"What movie should we watch","options":["Sucker punch ","Pirates of carribian ","Prison logic","Witchhunter"],"multi":false,"dupcheck":"NORMAL","captcha":false,"votes":[25554,51847,10918,12331]}

Built With

• GSON - JSON Manipulation Library
• Maven - Dependency Management

Contributing

If you feel like this API could be improved in any way, open an issue or make a pull request!

Authors

• Samuel Maddock - Github Page

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details