Is there a way to get Bing's photo of the day?

Question

Is there some way I could get the Bing background image programmatically?

Bing's API doesn't seem to provide such functionality, perhaps there's another way?

Answer 1

I think the best way is immitating the way they do it themselves through their AJAX calls.

They call this URL and extract the information through XML deserialization.

XML: http://www.bing.com/HPImageArchive.aspx?format=xml&idx=0&n=1&mkt=en-US

JSON: http://www.bing.com/HPImageArchive.aspx?format=js&idx=0&n=1&mkt=en-US

RSS: http://www.bing.com/HPImageArchive.aspx?format=rss&idx=0&n=1&mkt=en-US

The mkt attribute can obviously be changed to a different region than ´en-US´, but can also be opted out of entirely if you don't care about a specific region.

Note that the _1366x768.jpg suffix that is added to the image names appears to be modifiable into different resolutions (like _1920x1080.jpg for full HD and possibly others).

Here's a dump of the data as of 9/28/2013, in XML format.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <images>     <image>         <startdate>20130928</startdate>         <fullstartdate>201309280000</fullstartdate>         <enddate>20130929</enddate>         <url>/az/hprichbg/rb/LakeTurkana_EN-US15976511099_1366x768.jpg</url>         <urlBase>/az/hprichbg/rb/LakeTurkana_EN-US15976511099</urlBase>         <copyright>Lava rock pools at the southern end of Lake Turkana, in Kenya (© Nigel Pavitt/Corbis)</copyright>         <copyrightlink>http://www.bing.com/search?q=Lake+Turkana%2C+Kenya&amp;form=hpcapt</copyrightlink>         <drk>1</drk>         <top>1</top>         <bot>1</bot>         <hotspots>             <hotspot>                 <desc>These are the southern reaches of a lake...</desc>                 <link>http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&amp;cp=2.794725~37.335197&amp;lvl=7&amp;dir=0&amp;sty=b&amp;q=Lake%20Turkana%2C%20Kenya&amp;form=hphot1</link>                 <query>That stretches for 180 miles, up into another country</query>                 <LocX>15</LocX>                 <LocY>33</LocY>             </hotspot>             <hotspot>                 <desc>This body of water was once called the Jade Sea.</desc>                 <link>http://www.bing.com/search?q=green+algae&amp;form=hphot2</link>                 <query>What gives the water here its sometimes vibrant hue?</query>                 <LocX>37</LocX>                 <LocY>42</LocY>             </hotspot>             <hotspot>                 <desc>One of the world's most powerful predators lives here.</desc>                 <link>http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Underwater+Croc+Cams+National+Geographic&amp;FORM=hphot3#view=detail&amp;mid=D25E1909D3514A8732C5D25E1909D3514A8732C5</link>                 <query>See some rare underwater footage of the beast</query>                 <LocX>66</LocX>                 <LocY>33</LocY>             </hotspot>             <hotspot>                 <desc>Many fossils of ancient human ancestors have been uncovered in the surrounding area.</desc>                 <link>http://www.bing.com/search?q=Turkana+Boy&amp;form=hphot4</link>                 <query>One skeleton was so complete, paleoanthropologists gave him a name</query>                 <LocX>82</LocX>                 <LocY>41</LocY>             </hotspot>         </hotspots>         <messages></messages>     </image>     <tooltips>         <loadMessage>             <message>Indlæser...</message>         </loadMessage>         <previousImage>             <text>Forrige</text>         </previousImage>         <nextImage>             <text>Næste</text>         </nextImage>         <play>             <text>Afspil</text>         </play>         <pause>             <text>Pause</text>         </pause>     </tooltips> </images>