Including the output=api parameter with any service call causes the response to be returned as structured XML data. This API output mode is useful for interacting with user-generated content and metadata from within your application code.

Wetpaint service calls return several general types of responses, depending on the specific service being requested. All XML output is wrapped within a common response element.

For example:

<response>
<failure>
<cause>VALIDATION</cause>
<messages>
<message>key is required</message>
<message>ns is required</message>
</messages>
</failure>
</response>

See the following sections for specific API responses:

Failure. A response indicating a validation or processing error.
Ticket. A response containing a user authentication ticket.
Cell. A response containing details about one or more user-generated content cells.