Quickstart: Send a search request to Bing Entity Search REST API using Node.js

2022-09-09

Use this quickstart to make your first call to Bing Entity Search API and view the JSON response. This simple JavaScript application sends a news search query to the API, and displays the response. The source code for this sample is available on GitHub.

Although this application is written in JavaScript, the API is a RESTful Web service compatible with most programming languages.

Prerequisites

The latest version of Node.js.
The JavaScript Request Library.

Create and initialize the application

Create a new JavaScript file in your favorite IDE or editor, and set the strictness and HTTPS requirements.
```
'use strict';
let https = require ('https');
```

Create variables for the API endpoint, your subscription key, and search query.

let subscriptionKey = 'ENTER YOUR KEY HERE';
let host = 'api.bing.microsoft.com';
let path = '/v7.0/entities';

let mkt = 'en-US';
let q = 'italian restaurant near me';

Append your market and query parameters to a string called query. Be sure to url-encode your query with encodeURI().
```
let query = '?mkt=' + mkt + '&q=' + encodeURI(q);
```

Handle and parse the response

Define a function named response_handler() that takes an HTTP call, response, as a parameter.
Within this function, define a variable to contain the body of the JSON response.
```
let response_handler = function (response) {
    let body = '';
};
```
Store the body of the response when the data flag is called.
```
response.on('data', function (d) {
    body += d;
});
```

When an end flag is signaled, parse the JSON, and print it.

response.on ('end', function () {
let json = JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(body), null, '  ');
console.log (json);
});
    ```

Send a request

Create a function called Search() to send a search request.
Within this function, create a JSON object containing your request parameters. Use Get for the method, and add your host and path information. Add your subscription key to the Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key header.

Use https.request() to send the request with the response handler created previously, and your search parameters.

let Search = function () {
 let request_params = {
     method : 'GET',
     hostname : host,
     path : path + query,
     headers : {
         'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key' : subscriptionKey,
     }
 };

 let req = https.request (request_params, response_handler);
 req.end ();
}

Call the Search() function.

Example JSON response

A successful response is returned in JSON, as shown in the following example:

{
  "_type": "SearchResponse",
  "queryContext": {
    "originalQuery": "italian restaurant near me",
    "askUserForLocation": true
  },
  "places": {
    "value": [
      {
        "_type": "LocalBusiness",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=sinful+bakery&filters=local...",
        "name": "Liberty's Delightful Sinful Bakery & Cafe",
        "url": "https://www.contoso.com/",
        "entityPresentationInfo": {
          "entityScenario": "ListItem",
          "entityTypeHints": [
            "Place",
            "LocalBusiness"
          ]
        },
        "address": {
          "addressLocality": "Seattle",
          "addressRegion": "WA",
          "postalCode": "98112",
          "addressCountry": "US",
          "neighborhood": "Madison Park"
        },
        "telephone": "(800) 555-1212"
      },

      . . .
      {
        "_type": "Restaurant",
        "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/search?q=Pickles+and+Preserves...",
        "name": "Munson's Pickles and Preserves Farm",
        "url": "https://www.princi.com/",
        "entityPresentationInfo": {
          "entityScenario": "ListItem",
          "entityTypeHints": [
            "Place",
            "LocalBusiness",
            "Restaurant"
          ]
        },
        "address": {
          "addressLocality": "Seattle",
          "addressRegion": "WA",
          "postalCode": "98101",
          "addressCountry": "US",
          "neighborhood": "Capitol Hill"
        },
        "telephone": "(800) 555-1212"
      },
      
      . . .
    ]
  }
}

Next steps

Build a single-page web app