Warning: the API described in this document is currently very unstable and is changing incompatibly on an almost daily basis. If you wish to make use of it, please email us.
Peal data is also available in XML format. It is fetched from the same URL as the HTML version, e.g. http://www.bb.ringingworld.co.uk/view.php?id=110081. Using HTTP content negotiation, if a MIME type of application/xml is requested, the XML version is returned instead of the HTML. For example, the following HTTP request will fetch an XML version of the performance.
GET /view.php?id=110081 HTTP/1.1 Host: www.bb.ringingworld.co.uk Accept: application/xml
The XML returned by that request is as follows.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- Warning! The format of this XML is currently very unstable and is
changing incompatibly on a frequent basis. -->
<performance xmlns="http://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/NS/performances#" id="P261305">
<association>St. Martin's Guild for the Diocese of Birmingham</association>
<place>
<place-name type="place">Birmingham</place-name>
<place-name type="dedication">St Paul, Jewellery Quarter</place-name>
<place-name type="county">West Midlands</place-name>
<ring type="tower" tenor="12-2-13" />
</place>
<date>2009-12-02</date>
<duration>5h 21m</duration>
<title><changes>10080</changes> <method>Stedman Triples</method></title>
<details>Each change occurs once at handstroke and once at backstroke</details>
<composer>R W Pipe (7 Part)</composer>
<ringers>
<ringer bell="1">Christine Mills</ringer>
<ringer bell="2" conductor="true">Mark R Eccleston</ringer>
<ringer bell="3">Maurice F Edwards</ringer>
<ringer bell="4">Jonathan P Healy</ringer>
<ringer bell="5">Richard L Jones</ringer>
<ringer bell="6">Paul E Bibilo</ringer>
<ringer bell="7">Michael P A Wilby</ringer>
<ringer bell="8">Richard B Grimmett</ringer>
</ringers>
<footnote>Rung for the first time. This peal was originally composed in June 1980 at the request of John McDonald. John arranged a few unsuccessful attempts to ring it in the early 1980s. This completes some Birmingham unfinished business.</footnote>
<timestamp>2013-01-04T03:34:36</timestamp>
<source site="Campanophile" ref="0x16C81" />
</performance>
At the moment, this XML format is highly unstable, but we aim to get this into a stable form at which point it will become the preferred format for those wishing to access BellBoard programmatically.
The search and list pages also accept a content type of application/xml and return lists of matching performances. For example, http://www.bb.ringingworld.co.uk/list.php?newest will fetch a list of links to the most recent performances. The search.php page currently needs a POST request. A similar page called export.php exists that is similar to search.php except that (i) it takes its parameters in the query string of a GET request; and (ii) that it includes details of as well as links to the performances.