We all know google is the synonym to searching (and finding) stuff on the internet. Microsoft has bing for this. Both platforms offer custom searching as an API. So developers can take advantage of the massive resources both companies have and build that into their next awesome new product.
My kids use google to search for images they can print and colour. They just want to search, print and colour. A simple workflow that can be automated using the custom search API.
One of the features is the full page printing of the image. Sometimes the image fills up multiple pages or just a small portion when printed. Using google I found some samples to scale and print an image.
Google vs Bing
Comparing the search API provided by Google and Bing they are very similar. I created the Colouring app with both API’s and my kids were happy with the results from both platforms. Happy customers 😉
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|---|---|---|
| Documentation | CSE:list | Bing Images Search |
| Pricing | €5.00 per 1000 calls | €3.37 per 1000 calls (S3) |
| Free? | 100 calls per day | 30 days |
| Other | Max results is 10 | Max results is 150 |
As you can see the free option is only available on google. So I went that way first. After hitting the 100 calls limit on google I migrated to the Bing Api with a trial license. Nobody noticed the change since the customer is not interested in the technical details, but in the finished product.
References
- Setup google custom search on github, library not used in the project to keep it lightweight.
- Trial google, €300 free credits
- Trial Azure, €170 free credits
- ColouringApp on github
.NET Development by Eric 