Network Programming in .NET

As developers, integrating rich user profile data can elevate the experience of our apps, websites, and services. Today, let’s dive into how you can fetch Flickr profile information by email using AvatarAPI, a handy service that consolidates avatar and profile data from multiple platforms — including Flickr.

Why Flickr?

Flickr remains a popular photo-sharing platform with millions of users showcasing their photography. While many apps focus on social media giants like Twitter or LinkedIn, Flickr’s unique focus on imagery and photography makes it valuable for projects centered around visual content or creative communities.

What is AvatarAPI?

AvatarAPI is an API designed to fetch user profile avatars and metadata by providing common identifiers such as emails, usernames, or social media IDs. It supports many sources, including Flickr, making it a one-stop shop for profile enrichment.

How to Fetch Flickr Profile Data via AvatarAPI

When you request Flickr profile info through AvatarAPI, the data is returned in XML format, containing a rich set of fields to help you understand the user behind the email address.

Here’s an example snippet of the raw XML you get from AvatarAPI for a Flickr profile:

xmlCopyEdit<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<rsp stat="ok">
  <person id="12345678@N04" nsid="12345678@N04" ispro="0" is_deleted="0" iconserver="2257" iconfarm="3" path_alias="random_alias" has_stats="0" has_adfree="0" has_free_standard_shipping="0" has_free_educational_resources="0">
    <username>Dr. Random</username>
    <realname>Random Name</realname>
    <location />
    <timezone label="Random City, Random State" offset="+00:00" timezone_id="Europe/London" timezone="57" />
    <description>Random Description</description>
    <photosurl>https://www.flickr.com/photos/random_alias/</photosurl>
    <profileurl>https://www.flickr.com/people/random_alias/</profileurl>
    <mobileurl>https://m.flickr.com/photostream.gne?id=12345678</mobileurl>
    <photos>
      <firstdatetaken>2000-01-01 00:00:00</firstdatetaken>
      <firstdate>946684800</firstdate>
      <count>10</count>
    </photos>
  </person>
</rsp>

Breaking Down the XML

• person attributes:
  • id and nsid: The unique Flickr user ID.
  • ispro: Whether the user has a pro account (1 for yes, 0 for no).
  • is_deleted: Indicates if the account is deleted.
  • iconserver and iconfarm: Used to construct the user’s avatar image URL.
  • path_alias: The user’s Flickr alias, used in URLs.
• Child elements:
  • <username>: The Flickr username.
  • <realname>: The user’s real name, if provided.
  • <location>: Location info, may be empty.
  • <timezone>: Detailed timezone information with label and offset.
  • <description>: User’s personal description or bio.
  • <photosurl>, <profileurl>, <mobileurl>: URLs to various Flickr profile pages.
  • <photos>: Info about user’s photos:
    • <firstdatetaken>: When the user took their first photo.
    • <count>: Number of photos uploaded.

How to Use This Data

With this data, you can:

• Display user avatars and profile links inside your app or website.
• Show contextual user info like location and bio.
• Highlight photography activity through photo counts and dates.
• Personalize user experiences by leveraging timezone and locale info.

Constructing the Avatar URL

Flickr stores user icons using a combination of the iconfarm, iconserver, and nsid. The avatar URL can be built as:

bashCopyEdithttps://farm{iconfarm}.staticflickr.com/{iconserver}/buddyicons/{nsid}.jpg

For example, with iconfarm=3, iconserver=2257, and nsid=12345678@N04:

bashCopyEdithttps://farm3.staticflickr.com/2257/buddyicons/12345678@N04.jpg

Wrapping Up

Thanks to AvatarAPI’s support for Flickr, accessing rich profile data by just knowing a user’s email has never been easier. Whether you’re building a photography community platform, enhancing contact profiles, or adding social proof, the Flickr profile data returned by AvatarAPI can help bring your users’ identities to life.

You can explore the full AvatarAPI docs for Flickr and other providers here: https://docs.avatarapi.com/.

If you want, I can help you write example code snippets in your favorite programming language to get started quickly with AvatarAPI and Flickr!

Happy coding!
— Your Friendly .NET Dev Blog

Scam warning!

TL; DR;
If you get approached by this company for investment. It’s a scam. Evidence below
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s8PmzNv9YZQI_C50Tx118cqO9REkJgvu?usp=sharing

I got approached by this company, which in the exchange of 2 emails offered a $1M investment. To good to be true. With zero-due diligence. I’ve been trhough similar processes before, and expect a month’s worth of due dilligence document preparation before getting to the point of an offer.

Anyway, so I did due dilligence on them, and specifically, their director:
NRIC/FIN/Passport No. : S8838988C
Name : CHENG YONG TECK
Nationality/Citizenship : SINGAPORE CITIZEN
Address : 10 MARTIN PLACE, #17-14, MARTIN MODERN, SINGAPORE 237963

The director being involved in a bizarre mix of different companies, including immigration ( link ) , weddings, plastic surgery ( link )  , Weight loss, and engineering companies.

 Specifically, the Plastic surgery business has left lots of people our of pocket, and is connected to the other holding company;  quote “Anyway, both Dore Aesthethics and Dore Clinic are owned by Kate Holdings.The Director is Cheng Yong Teck who lives in Orchard Residences. Born in 1988.”

In the age of personalization and integration, being able to retrieve user profile images and basic information programmatically can be invaluable for CRMs, marketing platforms, and analytics systems. AvatarAPI provides a simple yet powerful way to fetch profile data from various providers, including Adobe, just by using an email address.

In this post, we’ll walk through how to retrieve Adobe profile details using AvatarAPI, including how to interpret the JSON response and especially the RawData payload.

📬 Making the Request

To fetch a user’s Adobe profile via AvatarAPI, you’ll need to send a POST request to:

https://avatarapi.com/v2/api.aspx

Here’s a sample request payload:

{
    "username" : "demo",
    "password" : "demo___",
    "provider" : "Adobe",
    "email" : "falecom@sergiolimabroker.com.br"
}

Replace username and password with your actual AvatarAPI credentials.

📦 Sample Response

Here’s what a successful response might look like:

{
    "Name": "",
    "Image": "https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/user/276/63d4f1907178277.60f249006a140.jpg",
    "Valid": true,
    "City": "",
    "Country": "",
    "IsDefault": false,
    "Success": true,
    "RawData": "[{\"type\":\"individual\",\"authenticationMethods\":[{\"id\":\"google\",\"url\":\"https://adobeid-na1.services.adobe.com/renga-idprovider/social/v2/signin/google\"},{\"id\":\"password\",\"url\":null}],\"status\":{\"code\":\"active\",\"reason\":null},\"images\":{\"50\":\"https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/user/50/63d4f1907178277.60f249006a140.jpg\",\"100\":\"https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/user/100/63d4f1907178277.60f249006a140.jpg\",\"115\":\"https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/user/115/63d4f1907178277.60f249006a140.jpg\",\"138\":\"https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/user/138/63d4f1907178277.60f249006a140.jpg\",\"230\":\"https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/user/230/63d4f1907178277.60f249006a140.jpg\",\"276\":\"https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/user/276/63d4f1907178277.60f249006a140.jpg\"},\"hasT2ELinked\":false}]",
    "Source": {
        "Name": "Adobe"
    }
}

🧠 Understanding the Response Fields

• Image: URL of the profile image, typically hosted on Behance CDN.
• Valid: Boolean indicating whether a profile was found.
• IsDefault: Tells you whether the image is a generic placeholder or a custom user-uploaded image.
• Success: Boolean status of the request.
• Source: Confirms that the provider is Adobe.
• RawData: This is a stringified JSON array with more granular details from the provider.

🔍 Deep Dive into RawData

Let’s parse the RawData field for a better understanding:

[
  {
    "type": "individual",
    "authenticationMethods": [
      {
        "id": "google",
        "url": "https://adobeid-na1.services.adobe.com/renga-idprovider/social/v2/signin/google"
      },
      {
        "id": "password",
        "url": null
      }
    ],
    "status": {
      "code": "active",
      "reason": null
    },
    "images": {
      "50":  "https://...50.jpg",
      "100": "https://...100.jpg",
      "115": "https://...115.jpg",
      "138": "https://...138.jpg",
      "230": "https://...230.jpg",
      "276": "https://...276.jpg"
    },
    "hasT2ELinked": false
  }
]

Key Elements:

• type: Usually "individual", indicating a personal profile.
• authenticationMethods: Shows available login methods for this Adobe account (e.g., Google, password).
• status: Account status, with code typically being "active".
• images: Dictionary of image sizes for the profile picture. Useful for responsive UI.
• hasT2ELinked: Indicates whether the account is linked to two-factor authentication (T2E = Two-step or Two-element?).

🎯 Practical Use Case

If you’re building a user-facing dashboard, you can display a verified profile image directly using the Image field, and optionally allow your backend to parse RawData for more advanced logic, such as:

• Detecting authentication methods.
• Validating account status.
• Choosing image resolution dynamically based on device.

Example (JavaScript):

const profileImgUrl = response.Image;
document.getElementById('avatar').src = profileImgUrl;

🧪 Pro Tip: Parsing RawData

Since RawData is a stringified JSON array, you’ll need to parse it manually:

const rawData = JSON.parse(response.RawData);
console.log(rawData[0].authenticationMethods);

✅ Conclusion

Using AvatarAPI, retrieving Adobe profile details is seamless and efficient. The rich JSON response, especially the RawData, provides developers with a powerful toolkit to enhance user profiles, drive personalization, or even verify identity with minimal effort.

If you’re using AvatarAPI in production or need help parsing the Adobe-specific data, feel free to reach out or drop your questions in the comments!

https://payhip.com/b/STZvc

Malaysian NVIC Vehicle Database – 23,715 Vehicle Models

Comprehensive NVIC Database for Malaysian Vehicles

Our Malaysian NVIC Vehicle Database provides a detailed reference for 23,715 car makes and models, covering essential vehicle details along with insurance and valuation data. This dataset is invaluable for automotive businesses, insurance companies, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies that require accurate and up-to-date vehicle information.

Key Features:

✅ Extensive Coverage – Includes 23,715 unique vehicle records spanning multiple manufacturers and models.
✅ Structured Data – Organized into 18 columns for easy reference and integration.
✅ Complete Vehicle Identification – Features NVIC codes, model year, make, family, variant, series, and body style.
✅ Engine & Transmission Details – Provides engine capacity (CC) and transmission type.
✅ Market Valuation Data – Includes new and used prices (WM & EM), recommended retail price (RRR), and sum insured values.
✅ Historical Updates – Contains timestamps for data creation, updates, and valuation dates.

Column Breakdown:

• Id – Unique identifier for each vehicle.
• NVIC – National Vehicle Identification Code.
• Year – Model year of the vehicle.
• Make – Manufacturer (e.g., Toyota, Honda, Proton).
• Family – General vehicle classification within the brand.
• Variant – Specific model variation.
• Series – Trim or sub-model series.
• Style – Body style (e.g., sedan, SUV, hatchback).
• CC – Engine displacement (in cubic centimeters).
• Transmission – Type of gearbox (manual/automatic).
• WM New Price & RRR – West Malaysia pricing data.
• EM New Price & RRR – East Malaysia pricing data.
• Sum Insured – Suggested insured value.
• TimeCreated & TimeUpdated – Timestamps for record creation and last modification.
• ValuationDate – Date of the latest vehicle valuation.

Use Cases:

🔹 Insurance & Valuation – Provides essential data for insurance pricing and underwriting.
🔹 Automotive Sales & Financing – Assists in loan approvals and resale evaluations.
🔹 Fleet Management & Logistics – Helps businesses manage and assess vehicle assets.
🔹 Regulatory Compliance & Government Agencies – Useful for vehicle registration and taxation.

This dataset is available in a structured format (CSV, SQL, or API-ready) for seamless integration into your systems.

More info here: https://payhip.com/b/STZvc

Source: https://www.vehicleapi.com.my/