Follow this quickstart to learn how to make calls to Bing Autosuggest API and read the JSON response. This simple Java application sends a partial search query to the API and returns suggestions for searches. While this application is written in Java, the API is a RESTful Web service compatible with most programming languages. The source code for this sample is available on GitHub.
Prerequisites
Create and initialize a project
- Create a new Java project in your favorite IDE or editor, and import the following libraries. - import java.io.*; import java.net.*; import java.util.*; import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection; import com.google.gson.Gson; import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder; import com.google.gson.JsonObject; import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
- Create variables for your subscription key, the API host and path, your market code, and a search query. - static String subscriptionKey = "enter key here"; static String host = "https://api.bing.microsoft.com"; static String path = "/v7.0/Suggestions"; static String mkt = "en-US"; static String query = "sail";
Format the response
Create a method named prettify() to format the response returned from the Bing Video API. Use the Gson library's JsonParser to take in a JSON string and convert it into an object. Then, use GsonBuilder() and toJson() to create the formatted string.
// pretty-printer for JSON; uses GSON parser to parse and re-serialize
public static String prettify(String json_text) {
    JsonParser parser = new JsonParser();
    JsonObject json = parser.parse(json_text).getAsJsonObject();
    Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().create();
    return gson.toJson(json);
}
Construct and send the search request
- Create a new method named - get_suggestions()and perform the following steps:- Construct the URL for your request by combining your API host, path, and encoding for your search query. Be sure to url-encode the query before appending it. Create a parameters string for your query by appending the market code to the - mkt=parameter, and your query to the- q=parameter.- public static String get_suggestions () throws Exception { String encoded_query = URLEncoder.encode (query, "UTF-8"); String params = "?mkt=" + mkt + "&q=" + encoded_query; //... }
- Create a new URL for the request with the API host, path, and parameters that you created in the previous step. - //... URL url = new URL (host + path + params); //...
- Create an - HttpsURLConnectionobject, and use- openConnection()to create a connection. Set the request method to- GET, and add your subscription key to the- Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Keyheader.- //... HttpsURLConnection connection = (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection(); connection.setRequestMethod("GET"); connection.setRequestProperty("Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key", subscriptionKey); connection.setDoOutput(true); //...
- Store the API response in - StringBuilder. After the response has been captured, close the- InputStreamReaderstream, and return the response.- //... StringBuilder response = new StringBuilder (); BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader(connection.getInputStream())); String line; while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) { response.append(line); } in.close(); return response.toString();
 
- In the main function of your application, call - get_suggestions(), and print the response by using- prettify().- public static void main(String[] args) { try { String response = get_suggestions (); System.out.println (prettify (response)); } catch (Exception e) { System.out.println (e); } }
Example JSON response
A successful response is returned in JSON, as shown in the following example:
{
  "_type": "Suggestions",
  "queryContext": {
    "originalQuery": "sail"
  },
  "suggestionGroups": [
    {
      "name": "Web",
      "searchSuggestions": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003dgvtP9TS9NwhajSapY2Se6y1eCbP2fq_GiP2n-cxi6OY\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsailrite%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5003.1",
          "displayText": "sailrite",
          "query": "sailrite",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003dBTS0G6AakxntIl9rmbDXtk1n6rQpsZZ99aQ7ClE7dTY\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsail%2bsand%2bpoint%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5004.1",
          "displayText": "sail sand point",
          "query": "sail sand point",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003dc0QOA_j6swCZJy9FxqOwke2KslJE7ZRmMooGClAuCpY\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsailboats%2bfor%2bsale%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5005.1",
          "displayText": "sailboats for sale",
          "query": "sailboats for sale",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003dmnMdREUH20SepmHQH1zlh9Hy_w7jpOlZFm3KG2R_BoA\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsailing%2banarchy%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5006.1",
          "displayText": "sailing anarchy",
          "query": "sailing anarchy",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003dWLFO-B1GG5qtBGnoU1Bizz02YKkg5fgAQtHwhXn4z8I\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsailpoint%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5007.1",
          "displayText": "sailpoint",
          "query": "sailpoint",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003dquBMwmKlGwqC5wAU0K7n416plhWcR8zQCi7r-Fw9Y0w\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsailflow%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5008.1",
          "displayText": "sailflow",
          "query": "sailflow",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003d0udadFl0gCTKCp0QmzQTXS3_y08iO8FpwsoKPHPS6kw\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsailboatdata%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5009.1",
          "displayText": "sailboatdata",
          "query": "sailboatdata",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://www.bing.com/cr?IG\u003d2ACC4FE8B02F4AACB9182A6502B0E556\u0026CID\u003d1D546424A4CB64AF2D386F26A5CD6583\u0026rd\u003d1\u0026h\u003deSSt0MRSbl2V0RFPSuVd-gC7fGOT4717pz55EBUgPec\u0026v\u003d1\u0026r\u003dhttps%3a%2f%2fwww.bing.com%2fsearch%3fq%3dsailor%2b2025%26FORM%3dUSBAPI\u0026p\u003dDevEx,5010.1",
          "displayText": "sailor 2025",
          "query": "sailor 2025",
          "searchKind": "WebSearch"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}