viewengine.client/QUICKSTART.md

ViewEngine.Client - Quick Start Guide

Installation

dotnet add package ViewEngine.Client

30-Second Quick Start

using ViewEngine.Client;
using ViewEngine.Client.Models;

var client = new ViewEngineClient("ak_your-api-key-here");

var pageData = await client.RetrieveAndWaitAsync(new SubmitRetrievalRequest
{
    Url = "https://example.com"
});

Console.WriteLine($"Title: {pageData.Title}");
Console.WriteLine($"Content: {pageData.Body}");

Common Use Cases

1. Simple Page Retrieval

var client = new ViewEngineClient("ak_your-api-key-here");
var page = await client.RetrieveAndWaitAsync(new SubmitRetrievalRequest
{
    Url = "https://example.com"
});

2. With ASP.NET Core DI

appsettings.json:

{
  "ViewEngine": {
    "ApiKey": "ak_your-api-key-here"
  }
}

Program.cs:

builder.Services.AddViewEngineClient(builder.Configuration);

Usage:

public class MyController : ControllerBase
{
    private readonly ViewEngineClient _client;

    public MyController(ViewEngineClient client) => _client = client;

    [HttpGet]
    public async Task<IActionResult> GetPage(string url)
    {
        var page = await _client.RetrieveAndWaitAsync(new SubmitRetrievalRequest { Url = url });
        return Ok(page);
    }
}

3. Custom Platform Selection

var page = await client.RetrieveAndWaitAsync(new SubmitRetrievalRequest
{
    Url = "https://example.com",
    PreferredPlatform = "Windows"  // or "Android", "iOS"
});

4. High Priority Job

var page = await client.RetrieveAndWaitAsync(new SubmitRetrievalRequest
{
    Url = "https://example.com",
    Priority = 10  // 1-10, higher = faster (costs more)
});

5. Manual Polling

var response = await client.SubmitRetrievalAsync(new SubmitRetrievalRequest
{
    Url = "https://example.com"
});

RetrievalStatusResponse status;
do
{
    await Task.Delay(2000);
    status = await client.GetRetrievalStatusAsync(response.RequestId);
} while (status.Status != "complete" && status.Status != "failed");

if (status.Status == "complete")
{
    var page = await client.GetPageContentAsync(response.RequestId);
}

Key Features

Feature	Method
Submit retrieval	SubmitRetrievalAsync()
Check status	GetRetrievalStatusAsync()
Get content	GetPageContentAsync()
Submit & wait	RetrieveAndWaitAsync()
Add client	AddClientAsync()
List clients	GetClientsAsync()
Client stats	GetClientStatsAsync()

Page Data Structure

public class PageData
{
    string Title                     // Page title
    string Body                      // Full text content
    string MetaDescription           // Meta description
    string Url                       // Final URL after redirects
    string FaviconUrl                // Favicon URL
    string Thumbnail                 // Base64 PNG screenshot
    List<LinkInfo> Routes            // Navigation links
    List<LinkInfo> BodyRoutes        // Content links
}

Error Handling

try
{
    var page = await client.RetrieveAndWaitAsync(request);
}
catch (HttpRequestException ex)
{
    // Network/HTTP errors
}
catch (InvalidOperationException ex)
{
    // Retrieval failed
}
catch (OperationCanceledException)
{
    // Request canceled
}

Configuration Options

var options = new ViewEngineOptions
{
    ApiKey = "ak_your-api-key-here",
    BaseUrl = "https://www.viewengine.io/api/v1",
    TimeoutSeconds = 120,
    MaxRetries = 3,
    DefaultPollingIntervalMs = 2000
};

var client = new ViewEngineClient(options);

Request Options

var request = new SubmitRetrievalRequest
{
    Url = "https://example.com",
    TimeoutSeconds = 60,           // Max: 300
    ForceRefresh = false,          // Bypass cache
    Priority = 5,                  // 1-10
    PreferredPlatform = "Windows", // Android, iOS, Windows
    ClientId = clientGuid,         // Route to specific client
    CustomUserId = "custom-id"     // Or use custom ID
};

Need More Help?

• Full Documentation: README.md
• Code Examples: Examples.md
• API Docs: https://www.viewengine.io/docs
• GitHub: https://github.com/marketally/viewengine