Bing allows for much more than simply searching for information on the web. In fact, Microsoft is offering developers and API designed to let them leverage the search/decision engine in scenarios beyond the default offered on Bing.com. Devs that do take advantage of the Bing application programming interface can also access additional free resources offered by the Redmond company. Case in point: the Code Samples designed for Bing, version 2.0. Specifically, the software giant has put together a variety of samples, for example requests and responses detailed in the Working with SourceTypes resources.

“Whether you are new to the Bing API or have been working with it for some time, you may not be aware of the SourceType code samples available on the Microsoft Developer Network. A SourceType is a source of information accessible to the API, and you can include multiple SourceTypes in a single request, which is preferable to creating multiple requests,” revealed a member of the Bing Toolbox team.

Developers will find that a variety of code samples are offered on MSDN. In this regard, the code samples offered by Microsoft cover protocols such as JSON, XML and SOAP. The Bing Toolbox team representative even provided a list that includes: “Ad SourceType (Bing, Version 2.0), Image SourceType (Bing, Version 2.0), InstantAnswer SourceType (Bing, Version 2.0), MobileWeb SourceType (Bing, Version 2.1), News SourceType (Bing, Version 2.0), Phonebook SourceType (Bing, Version 2.0), RelatedSearch SourceType (Bing, Version 2.0), Spell SourceType (Bing, Version 2.0), Translation SourceType (Bing, Version 2.2), Video SourceType (Bing, Version 2.x), and Web SourceType (Bing, Version 2)."

“The Bing Application Programming Interface (API) enables you to request results from multiple SourceTypes. A SourceType is a source of information accessible to the API. You can include multiple SourceTypes in a single request, and, in fact, to do so is preferable to creating multiple requests, each specifying a single SourceType,” Microsoft stated. “A SourceType may also have optional request parameters.”