Limiting

Sometimes you just want to limit your response a little bit!

In the previous tutorial, we have explained the fundamentals of filtering API responses, which allows you to request the exact data you need. However, sometimes the response can be rather large. In such cases, you can use our limiting feature. In this part of our tutorial, you will be able to limit your API responses.

What is limiting?

Limiting, as its name suggests, will limit the response you get from our API to a specific amount. Limiting your API responses can come in handy when you want to avoid big API responses. In this tutorial, we'll show you how limiting is used and why it may be handy for you. Let's go!

Create the request

In this tutorial, we will request all the fixtures from the 20/21 season from the Scottish Premiership (season id: 17141). As for the endpoint, we’ll go with season by id. Furthermore, as discussed in our includes tutorial, we’ll enrich the response with an include. In this case, we’ll use the include called fixtures

The below request will give you all the fixtures of the 20/21 season of the Scottish Premiership (season id: 17141).

The response is enormous. Therefore, we've copied a small snippet instead of the full response.

Requests

https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/seasons/17141?api_token={API_TOKEN}&include=fixtures

Response

{
    "data": {
        "id": 17141,
        "name": "2020/2021",
        "league_id": 501,
        "is_current_season": true,
        "current_round_id": 194976,
        "current_stage_id": 77447501,
        "fixtures": {
            "data": [
                {
                    "id": 16475283,
                    "league_id": 501,
                    "season_id": 17141,
                    "stage_id": 77447501,
                    "round_id": 194968,
                    "group_id": null,
                    "aggregate_id": null,
                    "venue_id": 281425,
                    "referee_id": 15818,
                    "localteam_id": 496,
                    "visitorteam_id": 258,
                    "winner_team_id": 496,
                    "weather_report": {
                        "code": "clouds",
                        "type": "broken clouds",
                        "icon": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/weather/04d.png",
                        "temperature": {
                            "temp": 60.62,
                            "unit": "fahrenheit"
                        },
                        "temperature_celcius": {
                            "temp": 15.9,
                            "unit": "celcius"
                        },
                        "clouds": "75%",
                        "humidity": "72%",
                        "pressure": 1013,
                        "wind": {
                            "speed": "5.82 m/s",
                            "degree": 300
                        },
                        "coordinates": {
                            "lat": 55.83,
                            "lon": -4.43
                        },
                        "updated_at": "2020-08-01T15:45:06.417645Z"
                    },
                    "commentaries": false,
                    "attendance": null,
                    "pitch": null,
                    "details": null,
                    "neutral_venue": false,
                    "winning_odds_calculated": true,
                    "formations": {
                        "localteam_formation": "4-2-3-1",
                        "visitorteam_formation": "3-4-2-1"
                    },
                    "scores": {
                        "localteam_score": 1,
                        "visitorteam_score": 0,
                        "localteam_pen_score": null,
                        "visitorteam_pen_score": null,
                        "ht_score": "1-0",
                        "ft_score": "1-0",
                        "et_score": null,
                        "ps_score": null
                    },
                    "time": {
                        "status": "FT",
                        "starting_at": {
                            "date_time": "2020-08-01 14:00:00",
                            "date": "2020-08-01",
                            "time": "14:00:00",
                            "timestamp": 1596290400,
                            "timezone": "UTC"
                        },
                        "minute": 90,
                        "second": null,
                        "added_time": null,
                        "extra_minute": null,
                        "injury_time": null
                    },
                    "coaches": {
                        "localteam_coach_id": 1621,
                        "visitorteam_coach_id": 22145896
                    },
                    "standings": {
                        "localteam_position": 3,
                        "visitorteam_position": 12
                    },
                    "assistants": {
                        "first_assistant_id": 12770,
                        "second_assistant_id": 36793,
                        "fourth_official_id": 19329
                    },
                    "leg": "1/1",
                    "colors": {
                        "localteam": {
                            "color": "#F0F0F0",
                            "kit_colors": "#F0F0F0,#F0F0F0,#0A0A0A,#0A0A0A,#0A0A0A,#FFDF1B,#F0F0F0"
                        },
                        "visitorteam": {
                            "color": "#FDBD0F",
                            "kit_colors": "#FDBD0F,#FDBD0F,#FAE403,#FAE403,#5C8FAE,#FFDF1B,#FDBD0F"
                        }
                    },
                    "deleted": false
                },
                

Field Description

Season Field Description

Field	Description
data	Opens an array of data you've requested
id	The unique season id
name	The name of the season
league_id	The unique league id the season belongs to
is_current_season	Indicates if the season is the current one. Possible values are "true" or "false"
current_round_id	The unique id of the current round
current_stage_id	The unique id of the current stage

Fixtures Field Description

Field	Description
data	Opens an array of data you've requested
id	A unique fixture id
league_id	The unique id of the league the fixture belongs to
season_id	The unique id of the season the fixture belongs to
stage_id	The unique id of the stage the fixture belongs to
round_id	The unique id of the round the fixture belongs to
group_id	The unique id of the group the fixture belongs to
aggregate_id	Indicates if the fixture has an aggregated score
venue_id	The unique id of the venue the fixture is played at
referee_id	The unique id of the referee that is in charge of the fixture
localteam_id	The unique id of the local team
visitorteam_id	The unique id of the visitor team
winnerteam_id	Contains the id of the team that won the fixture
weather_report	Opens an array of weather details. Possible values of the data in this array can be found in our statuses and definitions
commentaries	Indicates if this fixture has commentaries available
attendance	Give information about the visitor attendance of the fixture
pitch	Gives information about the pitch. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
details	Optional additional information.
neutral_venue	Indicates if the fixture was played at a neutral fixture. This often happens in cup finals
formations	Opens an array containing the lineup formations of the teams. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
scores	Opens an array containing the scores of the fixture
localteam_score	The amount of goals the local team has scored in this fixture
visitorteam_score	The amount of goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture
localteam_pen_score	The amount of penalty goals the local team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
visitorteam_pen_score	The amount of penalty goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
ht_score	The score at half time
ft_score	The score at full time (90 minutes)
et_score	The score in extra time (only available when the fixture goes into extra time)
ps_score	The score of the penalty shootout (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
time	Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture
status	Indicates in which phase the fixture is in. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
starting_at	Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture
date_time	Gives the date and time the fixture starts
date	Gives the date on which the fixture is played
time	Gives the starting time of the fixture
timestamp	The timestamp notation of the match
timezone	Indicates in which timezone you've requested the data
minute	Indicates in which minute the fixture is in
second	Indicates in which second the fixture is in
added_time	Indicates how many added time is added
extra_minute	Extra minute is when a fixture goes to extra time. Extra_minute will count from 0 to 15 and from 15 to 30.
injury_time	In case of added time it will end up in injury_minute
coaches	Opens an array containing the unique id's of the coaches
localteam_coach_id	The unique id of the coach from the local team
visitorteam_coach_id	The unique id of the coach from the visitor team
standings	Opens an array containing the standings of the local- and visitorteam
localteam_position	Indicates in which positions the local team is before the fixture
visitorteam_position	Indicates in which positions the visitor team is before the fixture
assistants	Opens an array containing the unique id's of the assistant referees
first_assistant_id	The unique id of the first assistant
second_assistant_id	The unique id of the second assistant
fourth_official_id	The unique id of the fourth official
leg	Indicates in how many legs this fixture is played
colors	Opens an array containing information about the team colors
localteam	Opens an array containing information about the local team colors
color	The main color code of the local team
kit_colors	The kit color codes of the local team
visitorteam	Opens an array containing information about the visitor team colors
color	The main color code of the visitor team
kit_colors	The kit color codes of the local team
deleted	Indicates if the team was deleted. More information: Keep in Sync
is_placeholder	This property indicates if the resource is used to display dummy data. The false of this property will always be a boolean value.

Evaluate the response

Your first thought is probably: ‘Wow that’s an enormous response’. This is because football seasons tend to have a large number of matches. In order, to make the response more legible we can introduce a limit.

Limit the response

By limiting the response, we mean that you can limit the number of results per page. Let’s say we want to limit the response to only five results per page. You still need to use the fixtures include, but now you can add :limit(X|X).

The first attribute (X) is the number of records per page, while the second (X) is the page currently browsed.

For example, if you want 5 fixtures per page and you want to browse the first page: &include=fixtures:limit(5|1)

https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/seasons/17141?api_token={API_TOKEN}&include=fixtures:limit(5|1)

Now there are only five results per page! Moreover, you can simply replace the ‘1’ in (5|1) for a ‘2’, if you want to go to the second page. And just like that, you have successfully limited an API response!

Note that paginating through includes count towards your request limit

You’ve learnt how to filter and limit your response. Next up you will learn how to sort the API response.