Ooyala API
Comprehensive Ooyala Backlot API wrapper for Node.js
Ooyala SDK for handling all video
, label
, and thumbnail
related data. Easy-to-use
methods for video asset uploading and retry logic, as well as improved error handling /
interpreting from Ooyala API responses.
This library was built with love and hate through trial and error in working with the Backlot API for years in production. It also aims to vastly reduce the logic in complex upload workflows as well as try to make sense and normalize the multitude of error types and responses from Ooyala.
All methods in this SDK are promise based, and strictly validated. If any method
is called with missing or invalid parameter types, it will be rejected with the
ValidationError
described below. The aim is to prevent any type of bad or
unrecoverable state within Backlot, as it often requires human intervention to continue.
All responses and data types are generally a pass-through of what comes from the Ooyala
API, no object properties are modified other than sanitization on video title
and
description
. Typically, the normalization is to keep consistent data responses.
From this { items: [{}, {}, {}] }
to this [{}, {}, {}]
Install
With npm
npm install ooyala
Usage
var Ooyala = var api = secret: 'so secret' key: 'such key' // defaults endpoint: 'https://api.ooyala.com' chunkSize: 10485760 expires: 200
Uploading
var fs = fs
Fetching Updates
Here is an example of how to check for video updates in Ooyala Backlot. The following
code will check for all video updates since yesterday, including human changes through
the UI, as well as video status changes, (uploading
, transcoding
, live
, ...)
then use the last known ooyala update time as the next starting point for the search.
// Starting search datevar start = Date - 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000 // Sleep / delay time before next fetch iterationvar sleep = 5 * 60 * 1000 // API polling method { api } // Start the endless polling loop
API
new Ooyala(config)
Create a new Neulion API wrapper
config
- Object - api optionsendpoint
- String - Ooyala HTTP endpoint (optional, defaulthttps://api.ooyala.com
)key
- String - API Keysecret
- String - API SecretchunkSize
- Number - File upload chunk size (default10485760
)expires
- Number - API query expiration inms
(optional, default2000
)retryLimit
- Number - Upload asset retry limit
var api = config
api.request(options)
Ooyala API request wrapper, adds all necessary key and signature data, as well as custom error handling for invalid responses.
options
- Objectmethod
- String - HTTP method (GET
,POST
,PUT
,PATCH
,DELETE
)route
- String - Ooyala API routeparams
- Object - querystring parametersoptions
- Object - any request options
api
Request Shortcuts:
apiapiapiapiapi
api.sign(options)
Generate the request signature for API access. Generally for internal use.
options
- Objectmethod
- String - http methodroute
- String - api routeparams
- String - querystring paramsbody
- String|Buffer - request body
var signature = api
Labels
The following methods correspond to the top level label assets stored in Backlot.
api.getLabels()
Fetch all video labels from ooyala. This can become slow if there are many labels to retrieve.
api
api.createLabel(name)
Create a new label with the given name.
name
- String - label name
api
api.getLabelDetails(name)
Fetch the full label details from ooyala
name
- String - label name
api
api.deleteLabel(id)
Delete a label from ooyala, this method is slightly different as it requires the
primary label id
, rather than the name
.
id
- String - label id
api
api.syncLabels(labels)
Convenience method for finding details on all existing labels, as well as creating any labels that do not yet exist. Returns an array of label details. This method is recommended for use above the others, as it provides consistent results with minimal app logic.
The caveat in this method is that it uses the getLabels
method described above,
if this proves to be a performance issue, then the logic here will be optimized.
labels
- Array - list of label names
var labels = 'Categories/Food' 'Categories/Drinks'api
Video Labels
The following methods correspond to the linking of Labels and Videos within Backlot. Any label used here must exist before it can be used.
api.getVideoLabels(videoId)
Find all labels associated with a given video
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api
api.addVideoLabels(videoId, labelIds)
Add a list of labels to a given video
videoId
- String - video id / embed codelabelIds
- Array - list of video ids
var labels = 'Foo' 'Bar' 'Baz' api
api.removeVideoLabel(videoId, labelId)
Remove a given label from the video
videoId
- String - video id / embed codelabelId
- String - label id
api
api.removeVideoLabels(videoId, labelIds)
Convenience method for removing multiple labels from a video, which is currently
not supported via Ooyala API. This will map to removeVideoLabel
above.
videoId
- String - video id / embed codelabelIds
- Array - list of video ids
api
api.removeAllVideoLabels(videoId)
Remove all associated labels with the video
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api.replaceVideoLabels(videoId, labelIds)
Ooyala provided shortcut for removing all labels and adding the given label ids. This will remove any existing label data.
videoId
- String - video id / embed codelabelIds
- Array - list of video ids
api.syncVideoLabels(videoId, labelNames)
Convenience method for syncing the given label names in ooyala, then replacing all video labels with the IDs returned from ooyala. If given an empty list, this will effectively remove all label associations.
videoId
- String - video id / embed codelabelNames
- Array - list of video names
api
Video General
The following methods correspond to top level video
objects in Backlot.
api.createVideoAsset(data)
Create a new video object in ooyala.
data
- Object - video id / embed code
api
api.deleteVideo(videoId)
Delete a video
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api.getVideoDetails(videoId)
Get the top level details of a video
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api.getVideoMetadata(videoId)
Get associated video metadata
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api.setVideoMetadata(videoId, metadata)
Set the video metadata
videoId
- String - video id / embed codemetadata
- Object - metadata
api.getVideoPlayer(videoId)
Get the video player information
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api.getVideoSource(videoId)
Get all video source information
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api.getVideoStreams(videoId)
Get all video streams
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api.getFullVideoDetails(videoId)
Shortcut for getting all related video data from Ooyala, includes the following
related content: metadata
, labels
, player
, source_file_info
,
primary_preview_image
, and streams
.
videoId
- String - video id / embed code
api
api.searchVideos(params)
Search the Ooyala API for videos. Please see the official documentation below for how to use the method, as it is not the easiest thing to figure out.
params
- Object - api search parametersorder_by
- Stringlimit
- Numberinclude
- Stringwhere
- String
var date = Date - 600000 api
Video Asset Creation
api.createFullVideoAsset(videoData, buffer)
Workflow for creating a full video asset in Ooyala using the following steps:
- Create the initial video object
- Get the upload URLs
- Upload the file buffer (includes retry logic)
- Mark video as uploaded
videoData
- Object - full video objectbuffer
- Buffer|Uint8Array - raw asset data
fs
Thumbnails
api.getVideoThumbnails(videoId)
Get a list of generated preview images for a given video
videoId
- String - video id
api.setVideoToUploadedThumbnail(videoId)
Set the video to use the manually uploaded thumbnail image
videoId
- String - video id
api.setVideoToGeneratedThumbnail(videoId, [time])
Set the video to use an auto generated preview image at an optional given time.
See the time
property on the response from the getVideoThumbnails
method.
videoId
- String - video idtime
- Number - pre-generated thumbnail time (optional)
api.uploadVideoThumbnail(videoId, imageBuffer))
Upload a given raw image asset, it will still need to be manually set for usage
using the setVideoToUploadedThumbnail
method.
videoId
- String - video idimageBuffer
- Buffer|Uint8Array - raw image data
Closed Captions
api.uploadVideoCCFile(videoId, ccFileBuffer))
Upload a closed captions file buffer for a video
videoId
- String - video idccFileBuffer
- Buffer|Uint8Array - closed caption file buffer
Asset Upload
The following methods are used for uploading the actual video file asset to ooyala. It is highly recommended to use the convenience methods below rather than walk through each step manually yourself. If you do need to use custom upload logic, all methods are exposed, however, please create an issue so that this process may be improved for all who use it over time.
With that out of the way, asset upload and replacement in Ooyala Backlot is generally a four to five step process, in which error handling often requires data from all steps in the process, for either reporting or retry purposes.
api.getVideoUploadUrl(videoId)
Fetch the pre-signed ooyala provided upload URL(s) for each file chunk needed. If you are not using the convenience methods of this SDK for uploading, you will need the URL array from this method for subsequent chunk upload and retry logic.
videoId
- String - video id
api.replaceVideoAsset(videoId, uploadUrls, assetBuffer)
api.uploadVideoAsset(videoId, uploadUrls, assetBuffer)
Half-convenience method for uploading an asset, primary used internally, but can be called directly if doing custom upload logic.
videoId
- String - video iduploadUrls
- Array - upload urls from thegetVideoUploadUrl
methodassetBuffer
- Buffer|Uint8Array - raw asset data
api.uploadVideoChunk(uploadUrl, bufferChunk)
Upload the designated file chunk to the designated ooyala provided upload url.
This is part of what makes uploading tricky. The chunks are based on what you set
the chunkSize
to when initializing the SDK. So, given a 5mb
file, with a chunkSize
of 2mb
, it would take 3 upload urls, and 3 2mb
whole or partial chunks to fully
upload the asset.
uploadUrl
- String - ooyala provided upload urlbufferChunk
- Buffer|Uint8Array - partial video buffer chunk
api.setVideoUploadStatus(videoId)
Once finished uploading all data chunks to all upload URLs, you must (for whatever reason) tell the Ooyala API that you have finished uploading.
videoId
- String - video id
api.setVideoReplaceUploadStatus(videoId)
Same as above but for replacement workflow
videoId
- String - video id
api.updateVideoAsset(videoId, videoData)
api.updateVideoData(videoId, videoData)
Update an existing video's data in ooyala.
videoId
- String - video idvideoData
- Object - video data
Asset Replacement
api.uploadVideoReplaceAsset()
DESCRIPTION
api.setVideoReplaceUploadStatus()
DESCRIPTION
api.replaceFullVideoAsset()
DESCRIPTION
api.replaceVideoAsset()
DESCRIPTION
api.getVideoReplaceUploadUrl()
DESCRIPTION
api.replaceVideoMetadata()
DESCRIPTION
Data / Response Types
video
streams
source
player
metadata
label
thumbnail
Errors
The following error classes are dynamically created based on the HTTP response of any given API call to ooyala. It is currently unclear which routes can produce which of the following errors. As this SDK is large, I have yet to associate these with each method correctly, so for now, assume any method in this SDK can return any of these errors. Some should stand out as obvious based on what you are doing.
Error
Top level generic error class, all of the following error classes are derived from this.
Alias: OoyalaError
ValidationError
Internal validation error, all methods validate before sending any requests to prevent corrupted state or wasted API calls to ooyala.
RequestError
Top level generic request error, either this or the generic Error
class should
always be handled, as it is not guaranteed that there is a detailed class representing
all error states from Backlot. All following classes are derived from this.
Given that a request happened, all RequestError
classes should have the following:
response
- request module JSON responsemessage
- string decoded ooyala responsemessageData
- object decoded ooyala response
The string data should always exist, some error responses from Ooyala contain JSON
data, or are themselves, JSON data, and some are simply string responses. So,
brace yourself, there be dragons here. The messageData
may not exist, or always
be empty, and the message
may be a stringified object. Because it is unknown,
both are provided.
ProcessingVideoError
An action was attempted against an already processing video
DuplicateVideoError
This asset (filename) already exists in Backlot. A filename change can bypass this, however, it should not be needed as a workaround.
UploadingVideoError
The video is either currently uploaded, or is stuck in an aborted upload state. If the former, then the current action can likely be tried again once the upload finishes, however, if it is the latter, then the asset must be manually deleted from Backlot as there is no way to continue, either via a new upload or asset replacement.
MissingChunksError
The video asset upload is missing chunks / data, this error is actually recoverable, as Ooyala is attempting to let you know to try again. The logic in the shortcut / convenience methods will handle this for you.
TooFastError
An asset or thumbnail change to the current video is too soon since the last upload
or replacement. The timing here is unknown, error was discovered while running tests,
I would guess this is roughly 30 seconds
.
NotFoundError
General 404 response from Ooyala, for any data type.
UnauthorizedError
Either asking for an asset that should 404
on your account, but exists somewhere
in Backlot, or you have invalid credentials. It is probably invalid credentials.
InvalidSignatureError
This really shouldn't happen with this SDK, in the wild this happens frequently as the requirements for the API signature are not exactly clear, meaning that the signature code here is a really good guess. If you encounter this error, please report it and how you did it.
BadRequestError
This is Ooyala's general 'ValidationError' response, this SDK attempts to prevent this type of error from happening beforehand, as it is generally representative of a malformed request, or missing parameters. If encountered, please report.
TooLargeError
This may only apply to thumbnails, the image you are trying to upload is over the max
limit from Ooyala. It is unclear what that exact limit is, but seems to definitely be
under 10mb
.
HiddenCharacterError
For any text given to Ooyala, there cannot be any hidden characters, generally this is seen for video descriptions, as its a pretty free-form text field. This SDK should take care of this issue for you. If encountered, please report.