An Unofficial Google+ Circle and Followers API for Google Chrome

It has been 4 months since we have seen any Circle/Posts/Followers Write/Read API for Google+. Since Google+ is by nature asynchronous we could tap into their XHR calls and imitate the requests.

I provide you a very basic asynchronous Google+ API, in the current release, you can do the following:

• Create, Modify, Sort, Query, Remove Circles
• Query, Modify your Profile Information
• Add, Remove, Move People from and to Circles

This is a fully read and write API.

Native Examples:

// Create an instance of the API.
var plus = new GooglePlusAPI();

// Refresh your circle information.
plus.refreshCircles(function() {

   // Let us see who added me to their circle.
   plus.getPeopleWhoAddedMe(function(people) {
     console.log(people);
   });

   // Let us see who is in my circles.
   plus.getPeopleInMyCircles(function(people) {
     console.log(people);
   });
   
   // Let us see who is in our circles but didn't add us to theirs.
   plus.getDatabase().getPersonEntity().eagerFind({in_my_circle: 'Y', added_me: 'N'}, function(people) {
     console.log(people);
   });
});

As you see, it is pretty easy to query everything. The possibilities are inifinite since the data is backed up in a WebSQL DataStore, so querying, reporting, etc, would be super quick.

If you want to place that in an extension, I have created a bridge, so you can use this in a content script context and extension context safely. To do so, you send a message as follows:

// Initialize the API so we get the authorization token.
chrome.extension.sendRequest({method: 'PlusAPI', data: {service: 'Plus', method: 'init'}}, function(initResponse) {
  chrome.extension.sendRequest({method: 'PlusAPI', data: {service: 'Plus', method: 'refreshCircles'}}, function() {
    // etc ... The method is the same method we defined previously in the raw example.
  });
});

A full blown example will be released by the end of this week showing how powerful this could be. As you already know, I am creating a simple circle management utility so you can manage your circles.

API Documentation

AbstractEntity Members:

• String getName() - The table name that this entity holds.
• void tableDefinition() - Abstract method that you override to describe the table.
• void initialize() - Private method that creates the DDL to execute from tableDefinition
• void drop(Function:doneCallback) - Drops the table from cache including the definition.
• void clear(Function:doneCallback) - Removes all rows from the table, keeps the definition.
• void create(Object[]:obj, Function<Object{status, data}>:callback) - Inserts object(s) into the table.
• void destroy(String[]:id, Function<Object{status, data}>:callback) - Deletes object(s) into the table.
• void update(Object[]:obj, Function<Object{status, data}>:callback) - Updates object(s) into the table.
• void find(Object:obj, Function<Object{status, data}>:callback) - Find a specific object(s) in the table.
• void findAll(Function<Object{status, data}>:callback) - Queries for everthing, all the data.
• void count(Object:obj, Function<Object{status, data}>:callback) - Counts the number of rows in the table.
• void save(Object[]:obj, Function<Object{status, data}>:callback) - Updates otherwise it creates.

PlusDB Entities:

• void open() - Opens the database
• void clearAll(Function:doneCallback) - Drops all tables from the database.
• AbstractEntity getPersonEntity() - Returns the PersonEntity
• AbstractEntity getCircleEntity() - Returns the CircleEntity
• AbstractEntity getPersonCircleEntity() - Returns the PersonCircleEntity

Native querying:

• PlusDB getDatabase() - Returns the native Database to do advanced queries

Initialization, fill up the database:

• void init(Function:doneCallback) - Initializes session and data, you can call it at app start.
• void refreshCircles(Function:doneCallback) - Queries G+ Service for all circles and people information.
• void refreshFollowers(Function:doneCallback) - Queries G+ Service for everyone who is following me.
• void refreshFindPeople(Function:doneCallback) - Queries G+ Services for discovering similar people like me.
• void refreshInfo(Function:doneCallback) - Refresh my information. Rarely used.

Persistence:

• void addPeople(Function:doneCallback, String:circleName, Array<String>:usersToAdd) - Adding people to a circle.
• void removePeople(Function:doneCallback, String:circleName, Array<String>:usersToRemove) - Removing people from a circle
• void createCircle(Function:doneCallback, String:circleName, String:optionalDescription) - Creating a circle.
• void removeCircle(Function:doneCallback, String:circleID) - Removing a circle.
• void modifyCircle(Function:doneCallback, String:circleID, String:optionalName, String:optionalDescription) - Modifying circle meta.
• void sortCircle(Function:doneCallback, String:circleID, Number:index) - Sort a circle to the given index, G+ will deal with the order
• void saveProfile(Function:doneCallback, String:introduction) - Save a new introduction.

Read:

• void getProfile(Function({introduction}):callback, String:googleProfileID)
• void getInfo(Function({id, name, email, acl}:callback)
• void getCircles(Function(CircleEntity[]):callback)
• void getCircle(Function(String:circleID, CircleEntity):callback)
• void getPeople(Function(PersonEntity[]):callback)
• void getPerson(Function(String:googleProfileID, PersonEntity):callback)
• void getPeopleInMyCircles(Function(PersonEntity[]):callback)
• void getPersonInMyCircles(String:googleProfileID, Function(PersonEntity):callback)
• void getPeopleWhoAddedMe(Function(PersonEntity[]):callback)
• void getPersonWhoAddedMe(String:googleProfileID, Function(PersonEntity):callback)

Private Members (only for internal API):

• Object _parseJSON(String:input) - Parses the Google Irregular JSON
• void _requestService(Function:callback, String:url, String:postData - Sends an XHR request to Google Service
• String _getSession()- Unique user session that authenticates to persist to your account.

Watch this space!