Now that you have an AppID, you can make your first query. The base URL for queries is:

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple

Every query requires two pieces of information—an AppID and an input value—in order to be processed correctly. The appid parameter tells your query which AppID to use:

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO

Next, use the i parameter to specify the URL-encoded input for your query. For instance, here is a query for "What airplanes are flying overhead?":

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+airplanes+are+flying+overhead%3F

When executed with a valid AppID, this URL will return an image with informational elements relating to the input:

For API types that return full Wolfram|Alpha output, the layout parameter defines how content is presented. The default setting is divider (shown in previous queries), which specifies a series of pods with horizontal dividers. The other option, labelbar, specifies a series of separate content sections with label bar headings:

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+airplanes+are+flying+overhead%3F&layout=labelbar

This parameter allows you to change the overall background color for visual results. Here is the sample result from above, but with a light grey background (#F5F5F5):

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+is+the+high+temperature+today%3f&background=F5F5F5

Colors can be expressed as HTML names (e.g. "white"), hexadecimal RGB values (e.g. "00AAFF") or comma-separated decimal RGB values (e.g. "0,100,200"). You can also add an alpha channel to RGB values (e.g. "0,100,200,200") or specify "transparent" or "clear" for a transparent background. The default background color is white.

Use this parameter to select a foreground color—either "black" (default) or "white"—for text elements. The foreground parameter is useful for making text more readable against certain background colors. For instance, black text would not show up well against a dark blue background, but setting "foreground=white" makes the text easily visible:

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+airplanes+are+flying+overhead%3F&background=193555&foreground=white

Specify the display size of text elements in points, with a default setting of 14. Oversized text (i.e. anything too wide to fit inside your "width" setting) will automatically be hyphenated. This is what our sample result looks like with 16-point font:

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+airplanes+are+flying+overhead%3F&fontsize=16

This parameter specifies the desired width (in pixels) for output images, with a default setting of "500". In order to display text and images optimally, the actual output size may vary slightly. Any text too large to fit will be hyphenated, so it's best to use this in conjunction with the fontsize parameter. Here is the sample result with a 400-pixel width:

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+airplanes+are+flying+overhead%3F&width=400

Use this parameter to manually select what system of units to use for measurements and quantities (either "metric" or "imperial"). By default, the system will use your location to determine this setting. Adding "units=metric" to our sample query displays the resulting altitudes in meters instead of feet:

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+airplanes+are+flying+overhead%3F&units=metric

This parameter specifies the maximum amount of time (in seconds) allowed to process a query, with a default value of "5". It is primarily used to optimize response times in applications, although it may also affect the number and type of results returned by the Simple API.

http://api.wolframalpha.com/v1/simple?appid=DEMO&i=What+airplanes+are+flying+overhead%3F&timeout=5

This status is returned if a given input value cannot be interpreted by this API. This is commonly caused by input that is blank, misspelled, poorly formatted or otherwise unintelligible. You may occasionally receive this status when requesting information on topics that are restricted or not covered.

This status indicates that the API did not find an input parameter while parsing. In most cases, this can be fixed by checking that you have used the correct syntax for including the i parameter.

This error is returned when a request contains an invalid option for the appid parameter. Double-check that your AppID is typed correctly and that your appid parameter is using the correct syntax.

This error is returned when a request does not contain any option for the appid parameter. Double-check that your AppID is typed correctly and that your appid parameter is using the correct syntax.