README

RiTunes
=======

Welcome to the Ruby iTunes Search rake task. Now you can search the iTunes API for digital media or apps using Ruby & Rake!

Requirements
------------

You will need Ruby 1.86 or higher. Rails is not required, but the following gems are needed:

- Ruby Gems
- Rake Gem (Ruby Make)
- Mechanize Gem (HTTP Spoofer)
- JSON Gem (JSON Parser)
- Nokogiri Gem (XML Parser)

A MySQL database is also needed for storing your search results.

Features
--------
Public or Private iTunes API Search Methods
A library of bulk SQL import methods (taken from another LWE project, very useful!)
Two example setups

Limitations
------------
Public API searches work very well. However the private API search is a proof of concept for
educational purposes only. The data format returned by the Private API is intended for consumption 
by the iTunes binary. It appears to be a kludge of XML data, embedded HTML, etc... all very custom.
Feel free to build your own parser and contribute it back to RiTunes. :D

Installation
------------
 1. Install Ruby 1.86+ and the Gems listed above (latest version should work)
 2. Set your MySQL username/password/address in the "configure_ritunes" method
 3. Modify or create your own search parameters, see "_example1.rb" and "_example2.rb"
 4. Run from the command line as follows :
     `rake ritunes:search -src=_example1.rb`
     `rake ritunes:search_private -src=_example1.rb`

To Do
-----
 1. Include some example queries for getting your results out of the database.
 2. Write a simple parser the iTunes Private API for educational purposes, blah blah blah.