Enabling Programmable Self with HealthVault

HealthVault Application Programming Interface

A HealthVault application interacts with two distinct resources:

• The HealthVault Platform (https://platform.healthvault.com/platform/wildcat.ashx)

• The HealthVault Shell (https://account.healthvault.com).

The HealthVault Platform provides XML over HTTP requests to manipulate data hosted by the service, and the HealthVault Shell provides account management, user authentication, and other services.

HealthVault provides a development environment for partners to develop their applications. The development environment is hosted at https://platform.healthvault-ppe.com/latform for the HealthVault Platform and https://account.healthvault-ppe.com for the HealthVault Shell.

Each HealthVault application gets a unique identifier called an AppID. Developers can get a free application identifier using the HealthVault Configuration Center (https://config.healthvault-ppe.com).

Note

For our example application, we are using an application ID that was already created for a HelloWorld sample application. In Chapter 4, we will create our own application.

HealthVault Shell Interface

The HealthVault Shell provides its functionality primarily by redirecting the end user’s browser. The HealthVault Shell presents a secure user interface dialog in the browser. These dialogs help with user authentication, authorization, record selection, and managing the user’s experience around health data.

An application communicates its intention to the HealthVault Shell using a URI construct ...