Yelp API Business Review Searches

Going along with the whole DataContractSerializer thing in .NET I thought I would share the class I use to deserialize business review searches with the Yelp API. As an added bonus, the Yelp API doesn't return any URL for a business so that you can easily navigate to the page to write a review for that business. It's easy to figure out though. The review URL uh, key, for a lack of better terms is just the business ID.

So here it goes, some VB.NET code to get businesses that match some common terms within a 1 mile(?) radius of a given latitude and longitude.

    Public Sub getNearbyLocations(ByVal myLatitude As Long, ByVal myLongitude As Long)

        If gps_allowed = True Then

            myThrobber.Visibility = Visibility.Visible

            myWebClient = New WebClient()

            myWebClient.OpenReadAsync(New Uri("http://api.yelp.com/business_review_search?term=food%20bars%20pizza%20bar%20diner%20bar&lat=" & myLatitude & "&long=" & myLongitude & "&radius=1&limit=20&ywsid=YOURYELPAPIKEY"))

            AddHandler myWebClient.OpenReadCompleted, AddressOf gotJson

        Else

            MessageBox.Show("You need to allow this application to use the GPS in the settings panel to use this function!")

        End If

    End Sub



    Private Sub gotJson(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As OpenReadCompletedEventArgs)

        For Each businessObject As yelpBusiness In placesMainPanel.Children

            businessObject = Nothing

        Next



        placesMainPanel.Children.Clear()



        Dim sr As New StreamReader(e.Result)

        jsonString = sr.ReadToEnd

        Dim jsonThing As New jsonStuff(jsonString)

        For Each returnedBusiness As yelpResponse.business In jsonThing.myYelpResponse.businesses

            Dim myNewBusiness As New yelpBusiness

            myNewBusiness.lblBusinessName.Text = returnedBusiness.name

            myNewBusiness.lblAddress1.Text = returnedBusiness.address1

            myNewBusiness.lblAddress2.Text = returnedBusiness.city & ", " & returnedBusiness.state_code & " " & returnedBusiness.zip

            myNewBusiness.lblReviewCount.Text = returnedBusiness.review_count & " Reviews"

            myNewBusiness.imgRatingStars.Source = New BitmapImage(New Uri(returnedBusiness.rating_img_url))

            myNewBusiness.imgPlacePhoto.Source = New BitmapImage(New Uri(returnedBusiness.photo_url))

            myNewBusiness.lblReadReviews.NavigateUri = New Uri(returnedBusiness.url, UriKind.Absolute)

            myNewBusiness.lblReadReviews.TargetName = "_blank"

            myNewBusiness.btnLeaveReview.NavigateUri = New Uri("http://www.yelp.com/writeareview/biz/" & returnedBusiness.id)

            myNewBusiness.btnLeaveReview.TargetName = "_blank"

            placesMainPanel.Children.Add(myNewBusiness)

        Next



        myThrobber.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed

    End Sub

Imports System.Runtime.Serialization.Json

Imports System.Runtime.Serialization



<DataContract()> _

Partial Public Class yelpResponse



    <DataMember()> _

    Public Property message As yelpMessage



    <DataMember()> _

    Public Property businesses As List(Of business)



    Public Class yelpMessage



        Public Property text As String

        Public Property code As Integer

        Public Property version As String

    End Class



    Public Class business

        Public Property rating_img_url As String

        Public Property country_code As String

        Public Property id As String

        Public Property is_closed As Boolean

        Public Property city As String

        Public Property mobile_url As String

        Public Property review_count As Integer

        Public Property zip As String

        Public Property state As String

        Public Property latitude As Double

        Public Property rating_img_url_small As String

        Public Property address1 As String

        Public Property address2 As String

        Public Property address3 As String

        Public Property phone As String

        Public Property state_code As String

        Public Property categories As List(Of category)

        Public Property photo_url As String

        Public Property distance As Double

        Public Property name As String

        Public Property neighborhoods As List(Of neighborhood)

        Public Property url As String

        Public Property country As String

        Public Property avg_rating As Double

        Public Property longitude As Double

        Public Property nearby_url As String

        Public Property reviews As List(Of review)

        Public Property photo_url_small As String



    End Class



    Public Class category

        Public Property category_filter As String

        Public Property search_url As String

        Public Property name As String



    End Class



    Public Class neighborhood

        Public Property url As String

        Public Property name As String





    End Class



    Public Class review

        Public Property rating_img_url_small As String

        Public Property user_photo_url_small As String

        Public Property rating_img_url As String

        Public Property rating As Integer

        Public Property mobile_uri As String

        Public Property url As String

        Public Property user_url As String

        Public Property text_excerpt As String

        Public Property user_photo_url As String

        Public Property date1 As String

        Public Property user_name As String

        Public Property id As String



    End Class

End Class