pulling_data_from_an_API.txt

Pulling data from an API 
Using the .gov bank holiday list as an example, if the API does not use a JSON structure then you will need a different solution
install.packages(“jsonlite”)
library(jsonlite) 
#put URL into a variable
bank_holidays <- "https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays.json"
#call the url using the fromJSON function
bank_holidays <- fromJSON(bank_holidays) 
#the bank holidays json has 3 divisons (England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
#the next step unpacks the division that has the dates I’m interested in

bank_holidays <- bank_holidays[["england-and-wales"]]
#The division unpacks as a list. 
#The "events" element of the list is a dataframe holding what we're interested in. 
#To call just that part of the list using the $ notation. 
#We could not do this with the previous division. 
#The "england-and-wales" name has hyphens which would not work with using $ 
#So we used double square brackets instead.

bank_holidays <- bank_holidays$events
#This leaves us with a dataframe containing the bank holidays we are interested in. 
#We used the same variable name throughout so we don’t need to clean up any leftover objects