Step by Step Guide to Building a Seamless AI API Integration in Java

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your Java app with some AI goodness? Let's dive into integrating the Seamless AI API. This powerful tool will help you fetch rich data about people and companies, giving your application a serious edge.

Prerequisites

Before we jump in, make sure you've got:

• A Java development environment (I know you've got this covered!)
• A Seamless AI API key (grab one from their website if you haven't already)
• Your favorite HTTP client library (we'll use OkHttp in this guide)

Setting up the project

First things first, let's get our project ready:

1. Create a new Java project in your IDE of choice.
2. Add the following dependencies to your pom.xml (if you're using Maven):

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.squareup.okhttp3</groupId>
        <artifactId>okhttp</artifactId>
        <version>4.10.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
        <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
        <version>2.8.9</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Authentication

Seamless AI uses API key authentication. Let's set that up:

private static final String API_KEY = "your_api_key_here";
private static final String BASE_URL = "https://api.seamless.ai/v1/";

Making API requests

Time to create our HTTP client and make some requests:

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();

public String makeRequest(String endpoint, String queryParams) {
    Request request = new Request.Builder()
        .url(BASE_URL + endpoint + "?" + queryParams)
        .addHeader("X-API-KEY", API_KEY)
        .build();

    try (Response response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
        return response.body().string();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        return null;
    }
}

Parsing API responses

Let's use Gson to parse those JSON responses:

Gson gson = new Gson();

public <T> T parseResponse(String json, Class<T> classOfT) {
    return gson.fromJson(json, classOfT);
}

Implementing core functionalities

Now for the fun part! Let's implement person search, company search, and contact enrichment:

public List<Person> searchPeople(String name) {
    String response = makeRequest("people/search", "name=" + name);
    return parseResponse(response, new TypeToken<List<Person>>(){}.getType());
}

public List<Company> searchCompanies(String name) {
    String response = makeRequest("companies/search", "name=" + name);
    return parseResponse(response, new TypeToken<List<Company>>(){}.getType());
}

public Person enrichContact(String email) {
    String response = makeRequest("people/enrich", "email=" + email);
    return parseResponse(response, Person.class);
}

Optimizing API usage

To keep things smooth, let's add some rate limiting and caching:

private final RateLimiter rateLimiter = RateLimiter.create(5.0); // 5 requests per second
private final LoadingCache<String, String> responseCache = CacheBuilder.newBuilder()
    .maximumSize(1000)
    .expireAfterWrite(15, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
    .build(new CacheLoader<String, String>() {
        @Override
        public String load(String key) throws Exception {
            rateLimiter.acquire();
            return makeRequest(key);
        }
    });

Error handling and logging

Don't forget to handle those pesky errors and log important info:

private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SeamlessAIClient.class);

try {
    // Your API call here
} catch (Exception e) {
    logger.error("Error making API call: ", e);
    throw new SeamlessAIException("Failed to process request", e);
}

Testing the integration

Always test your code! Here's a quick unit test example:

@Test
public void testPersonSearch() {
    List<Person> results = seamlessAIClient.searchPeople("John Doe");
    assertNotNull(results);
    assertFalse(results.isEmpty());
    assertEquals("John Doe", results.get(0).getName());
}

Best practices and tips

• Keep your API key secure (use environment variables in production)
• Implement retry logic for failed requests
• Use asynchronous calls for better performance in high-volume scenarios

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've just built a robust Seamless AI API integration in Java. With this foundation, you can now expand on the functionality and create some truly impressive applications. Remember, the key to mastering any API is practice and experimentation, so don't be afraid to dive deeper and try out more advanced features.

Happy coding, and may your API calls always return 200 OK! 🚀