API Methods - HES Buildings API Documentation

Scoring Tool API Methods

The table below contains links to the XSD description of the individual HEScore methods, as well as PHP code examples. These descriptions apply to the 2016 version.

XSD Documentation	Description	Sample Code
submit_address	Takes an address and creates a default building.	submit_address
submit_inputs	Submits or modifies a set of inputs for a building previously created with the submit_address() method. Note that all inputs do not need to be complete until the calculation step - one can submit and modify multiple times. An input may be unset by sending xsd:nil="true". The assembly codes for walls, roof, ceiling, windows and skylights are documented here	submit_inputs
submit_hpxml_inputs	Creates a new building from a set of building inputs created in HPXML (taking the place of both submit_address and submit_inputs) and returns a building_id. The HPXML must be converted to a Base 64 encoded payload. NREL has documented the field mapping of HPXML to Home Energy Score inputs here. The Home Energy Scoring Tool does not validate the HPXML and if there are mapping problems (i.e. invalid enumerations, out of range values etc.) only a very general error will be returned, so the HPXML inputs should be done with care.	submit_hpxml_inputs
validate_inputs	Validates that all inputs are correct using a set of input validation rules. Returns a status for each input that is either missing or not valid. If status is 2 the input is missing but is not required. If statusis 1 the input is not valid and an error_message is also returned.	validate_inputs
calculate	This XSD handles the calculation methods, the two calculation methods, which have similar submits, and the two polling methods. The calc_base_building() method does the energy calculation of the current submitted inputs for the building. The calc_package_building() method does the same for a "package" building that combines all of the recommended upgrades. The calc_package_building() method can only be run after the inputs are locked by running the commit_results() method. The calculation methods can take up to 1 minute to return. If you need a faster response you should set the optional is_pollingparameter to true. This will cause the called method to return immediately. You can then use subsequent calls to one of the two polling methods, calc_base_building_poll() and calc_package_building_poll(), to check the status of the building calculation (pending, success or error). These methods require only the user_key and building_id parameters.	calculate_base_building calculate_package_building calculate_base_building_poll calculate_package_building_poll
commit_results	Finalizes the model inputs configuration of a created building assessment. Upon a successful submit, the submitted building_id will be locked to prevent further changes to the model. (Note - There is no XSD for this method. Refer to the sample code for attribute information)	commit_results
retrieve_inputs	Returns a list of the submitted inputs for an already created building assessment.	retrieve_inputs
retrieve_label_results	Returns a list of the Label results for a successfully calculated home scoring assessment.	retrieve_label_results
retrieve_extended_results	Returns an extended list of additional results in addition to the official Label results returned by retrieve_label_results().	retrieve_extended_results
retrieve	Returns the full set of Scoring Tool building energy calculation results.
retrieve_recommendations	Returns a list of the upgrade recommendations included in the package building as determined by calculate_package_building(). A list of all possible recommendations is available here	retrieve_recommendations

Other versions

The production and sandbox APIs are currently running v2015. For the convenience of developers transitioning from the v2014 to v2015 a summary table of the new functions and enumerations is available here. Upcoming changes for the 2016 version are outlined here.

Additional files

Because of the complexity of the wsdl, when using PHP the NuSOAP library is required. We are offering this build which has a patch implemented that corrects a bug that affects HEScore calls when using the regular NuSOAP distribution package.

transform.xsl is a small file that strips the name spaces from elements and attributes by only copying the local part of their names. If this is not present or not addressed correctly an error will be returned: "String could not be parsed as XML".