--- /dev/null
+# Changing the Appearance of Results in the Server API
+
+The Nominatim Server API offers a number of formatting options that
+present search results in [different output formats](../api/Output.md).
+These results only contain a subset of all the information that Nominatim
+has about the result. This page explains how to adapt the result output
+or add additional result formatting.
+
+## Defining custom result formatting
+
+To change the result output, you need to place a file `api/v1/format.py`
+into your project directory. This file needs to define a single variable
+`dispatch` containing a [FormatDispatcher](#formatdispatcher). This class
+serves to collect the functions for formatting the different result types
+and offers helper functions to apply the formatters.
+
+There are two ways to define the `dispatch` variable. If you want to reuse
+the default output formatting and just make some changes or add an additional
+format type, then import the dispatch object from the default API:
+
+``` python
+from nominatim_api.v1.format import dispatch as dispatch
+```
+
+If you prefer to define a completely new result output, then you can
+create an empty dispatcher object:
+
+``` python
+from nominatim_api import FormatDispatcher
+
+dispatch = FormatDispatcher()
+```
+
+## The formatting function
+
+The dispatcher organises the formatting functions by format and result type.
+The format corresponds to the `format` parameter of the API. It can contain
+one of the predefined format names or you can invent your own new format.
+
+API calls return data classes or an array of a data class which represent
+the result. You need to make sure there are formatters defined for the
+following result types:
+
+* StatusResult (single object, returned by `/status`)
+* DetailedResult (single object, returned by `/details`)
+* SearchResults (list of objects, returned by `/search`)
+* ReverseResults (list of objects, returned by `/reverse` and `/lookup`)
+* RawDataList (simple object, returned by `/deletable` and `/polygons`)
+
+A formatter function has the following signature:
+
+``` python
+def format_func(result: ResultType, options: Mapping[str, Any]) -> str
+```
+
+The options dictionary contains additional information about the original
+query. See the [reference below](#options-for-different-result-types)
+about the possible options.
+
+To set the result formatter for a certain result type and format, you need
+to write the format function and decorate it with the
+[`format_func`](#nominatim_api.FormatDispatcher.format_func)
+decorator.
+
+For example, let us extend the result for the status call in text format
+and add the server URL. Such a formatter would look like this:
+
+``` python
+@dispatch.format_func(StatusResult, 'text')
+def _format_status_text(result, _):
+ header = 'Status for server nominatim.openstreetmap.org'
+ if result.status:
+ return f"{header}\n\nERROR: {result.message}"
+
+ return f"{header}\n\nOK"
+```
+
+If your dispatcher is derived from the default one, then this definition
+will overwrite the original formatter function. This way it is possible
+to customize the output of selected results.
+
+## Adding new formats
+
+You may also define a completely different output format. This is as simple
+as adding formatting functions for all result types using the custom
+format name:
+
+``` python
+@dispatch.format_func(StatusResult, 'chatty')
+def _format_status_text(result, _):
+ if result.status:
+ return f"The server is currently not running. {result.message}"
+
+ return f"Good news! The server is running just fine."
+```
+
+That's all. Nominatim will automatically pick up the new format name and
+will allow the user to use it. Make sure to really define formatters for
+**all** result types. If they are for endpoints that you do not intend to
+use, you can simply return some static string but the function needs to be
+there.
+
+All responses will be returned with the content type application/json by
+default. If your format produces a different content type, you need
+to configure the content type with the `set_content_type()` function.
+
+For example, the 'chatty' format above returns just simple text. So the
+content type should be set up as:
+
+``` python
+from nominatim_api.server.content_types import CONTENT_TEXT
+
+dispatch.set_content_type('chatty', CONTENT_TEXT)
+```
+
+The `content_types` module used above provides constants for the most
+frequent content types. You set the content type to an arbitrary string,
+if the content type you need is not available.
+
+## Reference
+
+### FormatDispatcher
+
+::: nominatim_api.FormatDispatcher
+ options:
+ heading_level: 6
+ group_by_category: False
+
+### JsonWriter
+
+::: nominatim_api.utils.json_writer.JsonWriter
+ options:
+ heading_level: 6
+ group_by_category: False
+
+### Options for different result types
+
+This section lists the options that may be handed in with the different result
+types in the v1 version of the Nominatim API.
+
+#### StatusResult
+
+_None._
+
+#### DetailedResult
+
+| Option | Description |
+|-----------------|-------------|
+| locales | [Locale](../library/Result-Handling.md#locale) object for the requested language(s) |
+| group_hierarchy | Setting of [group_hierarchy](../api/Details.md#output-details) parameter |
+| icon_base_url | (optional) URL pointing to icons as set in [NOMINATIM_MAPICON_URL](Settings.md#nominatim_mapicon_url) |
+
+#### SearchResults
+
+| Option | Description |
+|-----------------|-------------|
+| query | Original query string |
+| more_url | URL for requesting additional results for the same query |
+| exclude_place_ids | List of place IDs already returned |
+| viewbox | Setting of [viewbox](../api/Search.md#result-restriction) parameter |
+| extratags | Setting of [extratags](../api/Search.md#output-details) parameter |
+| namedetails | Setting of [namedetails](../api/Search.md#output-details) parameter |
+| addressdetails | Setting of [addressdetails](../api/Search.md#output-details) parameter |
+
+#### ReverseResults
+
+| Option | Description |
+|-----------------|-------------|
+| query | Original query string |
+| extratags | Setting of [extratags](../api/Search.md#output-details) parameter |
+| namedetails | Setting of [namedetails](../api/Search.md#output-details) parameter |
+| addressdetails | Setting of [addressdetails](../api/Search.md#output-details) parameter |
+
+#### RawDataList
+
+_None._
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