Fail-Safe Amazon Images
I wrote an article for the O'Reilly Network called Fail-Safe Amazon Images. It shows ways you can code to handle products that don't have images (even when the API says they do) and ways to be prepared for non-responsive servers. The article has some server-side code examples in ASP, PHP, and Perl—with a bonus client-side version in JavaScript. I use the JavaScript safety-net on this site anywhere I show Amazon images (to see it in action view source here, there, or anywhere)—along with a modified version of the ASP sample for Weblog Bookwatch.
If you combine the code in this article with Hack #93 in Amazon Hacks (Cache Amazon Images Locally), you can be well prepared for network congestion, products without images, and anything else that could interfere with an Amazon-dependent application.
If you combine the code in this article with Hack #93 in Amazon Hacks (Cache Amazon Images Locally), you can be well prepared for network congestion, products without images, and anything else that could interfere with an Amazon-dependent application.