Hi,
Why would it be that a document is available for download on CH Direct (and also Webcheck) but on the BETA site it is (still) showing as “This document is being processed and will be available in 5 days.” ?
This is a known issue, whereby there are missing images, and we are working towards a fix.
OK Cheers.
Would they be available via the Document API ?
I’m currently cutting corners and pulling straight from the beta site using the ID obtained from a Filing History request.
Excepting the known issues, any document available on the beta website are available through the Document API (which is how the beta website gets them anyway!).
However, where the API specification is controlled and stable, the beta website URL’s are not, and should be expected to change at any time. Also, we may introduce user sign-in for image download, which would block direct access. Further more, there is infrastructure in place to monitor “scraping” and other non-human accesses to the website, which will result in IP addresses being blocked.
We strongly recommend you use the official API route to obtain documents to avoid your application failing due to the above.
OK - so just to clarify - if it’s not available on the beta site it won’t be available via the API ?
The beta website obtains all of its data from the beta API. The architecture of the new Companies House digital platform is “API first”.
If we think the API is good enough for you to use, it should be good enough for us too!
Hi Chris,
Please forgive me but I don’t quite understand your answer !
What I’m trying to understand is:
A document that is currently available via CH Direct and Webcheck, is showing as not yet available on Beta website (as per some teething troubles that you mentioned earlier).
Will that document be currently downloadable via the new API ?
Cheers in advance.
Danny,
If the document is not available through the Beta website then it won’t be available via the new API, irrespective of its available through CHD or WebCheck.
Hope this helps
Thanks
Mark.
Also, to add, any documents that are currently not available on beta (read API or website) but are available on CHD/WebCheck, are being worked on to make them available.
C
Thanks Chris.
Seems to be just an occasional blip so not a major issue. Missing documents that I wanted became available after a couple of days.
Oh, and I am now ‘playing by the rules’ meaning I am using API calls all the way and not shortcutting to Beta website download URLs !
Cheers
Excellent! Bypassing the API is just asking for problems later on!
C