Business Search:Request

← Business Search

A request consists of a protocol to make a call to the service, detailing desired elements. The minimum required elements in a request are your Customer ID (License Key) and the fields listed as Required below.

The web service supports REST and JSON protocols.

URL

Use	URL
Standard	http://globalbusinesssearch.melissadata.net/
Secure	https://globalbusinesssearch.melissadata.net/

Field Names

This is a list of the request field names and their protocol naming conventions.

Field Name	REST
Transmission Reference	t
License Key	id
Options	opt
Columns	cols
Format	format
Company Name	comp
Address Line 1	a1
Address Line 2	a2
Address Line 3	a3
Address Line 4	a4
Address Line 5	a5
Locality	loc
Administrative Area	area
Postal Code	postal
Country	ctry
Phone Number	phone
Stock Ticker	stock
Web Address URL	web
Melissa Address Key (MAK)	mak
Melissa Enterprise Key (MEK)	mek

Request Elements

The following elements set the basic options for each request. These apply to the entire request, not the individual records.

Transmission Reference

Optional.

This is a string value that serves as a unique identifier for this set of records. It is returned as sent.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	?t = string

License Key

Required.

This is a string value containing the License Key issued to the customer by Melissa for the web service.

If this element is absent, the web service will return an error. To receive a License Key, please contact your Melissa sales representative at 1-800-MELISSA.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&id = string

Options

Optional.

Specifies the options. See the options below for more information.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&opt = string

List options in the following format, with multiple options delimited with a ",".

Syntax
OptionName:Parameter,OptionName:Parameter

SearchType

This options allows you to specify the type of search to perform. Default is Auto.

Option Name	Parameter	Description
SearchType	Auto	Default. Performs company name, address, web address URL, and phone searches until one or more matches are found.
	AddressSearch	Uses address data as the primary pivot when verifying or appending information.
	PhoneSearch	Uses phone data as the primary pivot when verifying or appending information.
	CompanySearch	Uses company name data as the primary pivot when verifying or appending information.

SearchCondition

Specifies the type of search conditions to use when returning records. Only the populated input fields will be compared. A strict search condition is used by default.

Option Name	Parameter	Description
SearchCondition	strict	Default. The input values should match the output values exactly.
	progressive	First acts like a strict search, then progressively drops inputs until a result is found.
	loose	No filtering will be done. Raw record results will be returned.

SortBy

This option sorts records in your desired order. If a specified property name does not have ascending or descending specified, an ascending order will be default.

Option Name	Parameter	Description
SortBy	PostalCode-ascending PostalCode-descending	Sort by postal code.
	Locality-ascending Locality-descending	Sort by Administrative Area then Locality.
	AddressLine1-ascending AddressLine1-descending	Sort by address line 1.
	CompanyName-ascending CompanyName-descending	Sort by company name.
	MelissaEnterpriseKey-ascending MelissaEnterpriseKey-descending	Sort by Melissa Enterprise Key (MEK)
	StockTicker-ascending StockTicker-descending	Sort by Stock Ticker.
	URL-ascending URL-descending	Sort by Web Address URL.
	MoveDate-ascending MoveDate-descending	Sort by Move Date
	MelissaAddressKey-ascending MelissaAddressKey-descending	Sort by Melissa Address Key (MAK)
	MelissaAddressKeyBase-ascending MelissaAddressKeyBase-descending	Sort by Melissa Address Key Base (Base MAK)

MaxPhone

Specifies the maximum number of phone numbers that can be returned. Default is 3.

Option Name	Parameter	Description
MaxPhone	# [0 - #]	Specifies number of phone numbers to return.

Page

Specifies which "page" to return for a given request. Your "page" length is set by RecordsPerPage.

If your request returns more than your RecordsPerPage, these records will be split into "pages". Use this option to select which "page" to view. If your specified "page" is out of the range of possible "page" numbers, an error will be returned.

This option is ignored if the option ReturnAllPages is set to "true".

Option Name	Parameter	Description
Page	# [0 - #]	Specifies which "page" to return.

RecordsPerPage

Specifies how many records are in a "page". The default value is 5.

This option is ignored if the option ReturnAllPages is set to "true".

Option Name	Parameter	Description
RecordsPerPage	# [0 - #]	Default set to 5. Sets the records per "page".

ReturnAllPages

Option Name	Parameter	Description
ReturnAllPages	true	Will return all records up to a limit of 500.
	false	Default. Will not return all records.

Columns

Optional.

Specifies which column(s) to be output as a column delimited string.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&cols = string

Entering the column name will return the column. Specifying a group name will return all columns in the group.

Field Name	Default Group	Groups	GrpAll
CompanyName	[DEFAULT] Returned by default.	PreviousAddress	GrpAll
AddressLine1
AddressLine2
AddressLine3
AddressLine4
AddressLine5
AddressLine6		N/A
AddressLine7
AddressLine8
SubPremise		PreviousAddress
Locality
AdministrativeArea
PostalCode
CountryName
MelissaAddressKey
MelissaAddressKeyBase
MelissaEnterpriseKey
CountryISO3166_1_Alpha2		N/A
MoveDate	N/A	MoveDate
PhoneNumber		Phone
StockTicker		StockTicker
WebAddress		WebAddress
EIN		EIN
LocationType		LocationType

Format

Optional.

The desired format of the response.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&format = string

Company Name

Recommended.

The company name.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&comp = string

Address Line 1

Optional.

The input field for the address. This should contain the delivery address information (house number, thoroughfare, building, suite, etc.) but should not contain locality information (locality, administrative area, postal code, etc.) which have their own inputs.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&a1 = string

Address Line 2

Optional.

The input field for the address. This should contain the delivery address information (house number, thoroughfare, building, suite, etc.) but should not contain locality information (locality, administrative area, postal code, etc.) which have their own inputs.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&a2 = string

Address Line 3

Optional.

The input field for the address. This should contain the delivery address information (house number, thoroughfare, building, suite, etc.) but should not contain locality information (locality, administrative area, postal code, etc.) which have their own inputs.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&a3 = string

Address Line 4

Optional.

The input field for the address. This should contain the delivery address information (house number, thoroughfare, building, suite, etc.) but should not contain locality information (locality, administrative area, postal code, etc.) which have their own inputs.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&a4 = string

Address Line 5

Optional.

The input field for the address. This should contain the delivery address information (house number, thoroughfare, building, suite, etc.) but should not contain locality information (locality, administrative area, postal code, etc.) which have their own inputs.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&a5 = string

Locality

Optional.

The locality.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&loc = string

Administrative Area

Optional.

The administrative area.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&area = string

Postal Code

Optional.

The postal code.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&postal = string

Country

Optional.

The country.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&ctry = string

Phone Number

Optional.

The phone number.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&phone = string

Stock Ticker

Optional.

The company stock ticker.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&stock = string

Web Address URL

Optional.

The web address URL.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&web = string

Melissa Address Key (MAK)

Optional.

A propietary unique key identifier for an address.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&mak = string

Melissa Enterprise Key (MEK)

Optional.

A propietary unique key identifier for a business address.

Protocol	Syntax
REST	&mek = string