Add the library for use in Java applications

The template for adding this library for developing Java applications using the pom.xml configuration maven file is described below:

<project>
    ...
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hedgecode.snooker</groupId>
            <artifactId>snooker-score-api</artifactId>
            <version>0.2</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
    ...
</project>

Note: Maven 3.0 will issue warnings if you do not specify the version of a plugin.

Work with the Java code of the library

After adding the library to the project you can start working with its code.
To get an instance of the main library interface you need to add the following code:

SnookerScoreAPI api = Snooker.API();

SnookerScoreAPI is an interface with a set of all main methods that allow to access information about the seasons, tournaments, matches, players and their ratings through entity objects.

The library provides two implementations of the main interface: with caching data for players and events (tournaments) inside and without caching. Implementation of the interface with caching is "by default".
Access to each of the two implementations of the interface can be obtained by the following method calls:

SnookerScoreAPI cachedApi = Snooker.cachedAPI(); /* API with cache */
...
SnookerScoreAPI uncachedApi = Snooker.uncachedAPI(); /* API without cache */

Further work with the library is a sequence of calls to SnookerScoreAPI interface methods to obtain lists of tournaments, players, current matches and other statistical information.
For example, to get information on the matches currently underway, it is enough to execute the following code:

SnookerScoreAPI api = Snooker.API();
OngoingMatches matches = api.getOngoingMatches();

Description of most interface methods can be found in the section FAQ, and the most often encountered situations are considered on the pages with examples. Signature of methods as well as information on other entities of the library is presented in JavaDoc.

Run the library from the command line

You can run this library from the command line to check the correctness of the connection to the information portal snooker.org. Starting the library from the command line is as follows:

java -jar snooker-score-api-0.2.jar

If the launch is working correctly, you can see a list of current and upcoming snooker tournaments.
The sample output of the launching the library is shown below:

********************************************************************************
                    Welcome to Hedgecode Snooker Score API!
                -----------------------------------------------
         It is an API library for portal snooker.org, which contains
      the results of snooker competitions and other snooker information.
    This library provides a set of entity objects that can be used in client
    applications (to inform about the results of snooker), developed in Java.
********************************************************************************
  Current Snooker Events:
     China Open Qualifiers [24.01.2017 - 27.01.2017] (England, Preston)
********************************************************************************
  Upcoming Snooker Events:
     German Masters [01.02.2017 - 05.02.2017] (Germany, Berlin)
     World Grand Prix [06.02.2017 - 12.02.2017] (England, Preston)
     Welsh Open [13.02.2017 - 19.02.2017] (Wales, Cardiff)
     Connie Gough Memorial Trophy [18.02.2017 - 18.02.2017] (England, Dunstable)
     Championship League - Group 5 [20.02.2017 - 21.02.2017] (England, Coventry)
********************************************************************************