FindCompanyByNameOrPostcode - CompaniesHouse • Data8 Web Services API Documentation

FindCompanyByNameOrPostcode

Finds a company based on a simple name or postcode search

Description

Checks to find any matching companies filtered on company name and/or postcode. You can filter on any partial name or partial postcode - a wildcard is assumed.

The status parameter allows you to restrict the results to only the status code you want. The most useful of these is "Active" which restricts only currently active companies.

The return value includes an array of CompaniesHousePartialResult records that include a summary of the information of each company that matches the search. The details from one or more of these matches can then be passed to the GetCompanyDetails method to retrieve the full details of that match.

Endpoint URLs

To connect to this service you'll need to use one of these endpoints:

Protocol	URL
JSON	JSON https://webservices.data-8.co.uk/CompaniesHouse/FindCompanyByNameOrPostcode.json
OPEN API	OPEN API https://webservices.data-8.co.uk/swagger/CompaniesHouse/swagger.json
SOAP	SOAP https://webservices.data-8.co.uk/companieshouse.asmx

Parameters

The following parameters can be supplied to this method:

Name	Description
username	username See the available authentication methods. If you are using username & password authentication, specify the username to authenticate as. If you are using API Key authentication and you are not using the JSON, Javascript or ADO APIs, use your API Key here with the prefix `apikey-`, e.g. `apikey-ABCD-1234-EFGH-5678`
password	password If you are using username & password authentication, specify the password to use for authentication. Otherwise leave this blank.
companyname	companyname The company name to search for. Fuzzy matching is applied, so this does not need to be exact. Leave as `null` or `""` to filter only by `postcode`
postcode	postcode The postcode to search in. Note that this is based on the registered address of the company, not any trading addresses. Leave as `null` or `""` to search only by `companyname`, or use partial postcodes such as `"CH"` to filter by a wider area than a single postcode.
companystatus	companystatus The status a company must have in order to be included in the results. This filter is ignored if it is left as `null` or `""`. The most useful value for this parameter is normally `"Active"`, so only currently active companies are returned.
options	options An array of options that control further details of how this method operates. See the `Advanced Options` section below, for more information.

Advanced Options

The following options can be specified as part of the option parameter. Each option is specified as a key/value pair. The list of available names is shown below, along with a description of the allowable values for that name.

Name	Description
Common Options
ApplicationName	ApplicationName Gives the name of the calling application - used to break down usage by application in the usage reports on the dashboard.

Results

This method returns an object containing the following fields:

Name Description

Status

Name	Description
Status	Status Indicates whether the method call was successful, or if some error occurred. If the `Success` field is `true`, the other results described below can be used to get the results of the method. If `Success` is `false`, some error occurred in calling the method, such as the authentication failed or the account is out of credits. The details of the error can be obtained from the `ErrorMessage` field, and any other results should be ignored.
Results	Results Contains an array of `CompaniesHousePartialResult` structures that contain a summary of the matching companies. Each entry in the array has the following properties: `CompanyName` - the legal name of the company `CompanyNumber` - the company registration number. Pass this number to the `GetCompanyDetails` method to get more information on the company `CompanyCategory` - the category for the company (Public Limited Company, Private Limited Company etc.) `CompanyStatus` - the status of the company (Active, Dissolved etc.) `Town` - the town in which the company is registered

Indicates whether the method call was successful, or if some error occurred. If the Success field is true, the other results described below can be used to get the results of the method. If Success is false, some error occurred in calling the method, such as the authentication failed or the account is out of credits. The details of the error can be obtained from the ErrorMessage field, and any other results should be ignored.

Results

Contains an array of CompaniesHousePartialResult structures that contain a summary of the matching companies. Each entry in the array has the following properties:

CompanyName - the legal name of the company
CompanyNumber - the company registration number. Pass this number to the GetCompanyDetails method to get more information on the company
CompanyCategory - the category for the company (Public Limited Company, Private Limited Company etc.)
CompanyStatus - the status of the company (Active, Dissolved etc.)
Town - the town in which the company is registered

Credit Usage

Requests to this method do not consume credits, but you must have some CompaniesHouse credits available.

Sample Code

Request Format

{
  "companyname": "Data8",
  "postcode": "",
  "companystatus": "Active",
  "options": {}
}

Response Format

{
  "Status": {
    "Success": true,
    "CreditsRemaining": 1000
  },
  "Results": [
    {
      "CompanyName": "DATA8 LIMITED",
      "CompanyNumber": "04773536",
      "CompanyCategory": "Private Limited Company",
      "CompanyStatus": "Active",
      "Town": "WREXHAM"
    },
    {
      "CompanyName": "DATA85 LTD",
      "CompanyNumber": "10719428",
      "CompanyCategory": "Private Limited Company",
      "CompanyStatus": "Active",
      "Town": ""
    }
  ]
}

Depending on your chosen authentication method you will need to modify this request slightly:

API Key

Post the request to
https://webservices.data-8.co.uk/CompaniesHouse/FindCompanyByNameOrPostcode.json?key=your-api-key
and do NOT include the username or password properties in the request JSON document.