Summary

The Panda Merb application provides a REST API for managing videos. Both YAML (recommended) and XML is supported, determined by the extension of the url (.yaml or .xml). All data is posted as form parameters.

If you’re implementing your own library for accessing the API, the Panda gem is a good starting point.

Example flow of a video through Panda

  1. A user on your site wants to upload a new video. Your site makes a background call to the Panda API to retrieved a new video id.
  2. Your site displays an upload form within an iframe for the user, which includes the video id previously retrieved.
  3. The users selects a video file and submits the form, uploading the file directly to Panda.
  4. Panda verifies the upload and displays a progress bar as the file is uploaded.
  5. Panda receives the file and the video is added to the encoding queue.
  6. The user is redirected to the url defined in your Panda settings.
  7. Once the video has been encoded, Panda sends a second notification to your application.

API Reference

If you’re accessing Panda from another environment such as Flash, or there is currently no library which supports your environment, you can access the API directly.

Create new video

POST hq.pandastream.com/videos.(yaml|xml)

Creates and empty video which a file can then be upload to.

Parameters
account_key: 32aa8390-b6f6-012a-2162-0017f22c2d49
Responses
Status: 200 OK

--- 
:video: 
  :id: a92fdd10-b6f6-012a-a860-0017f22c2d49
Status: 401 Unauthorized

Display video upload form

GET upload.pandastream.com/videos/id/form (html only)

The page returned will contain a form to allow the user to upload a video with the corresponding id. It is suggested that this page is displayed in either an iframe or a popup window. Whilst uploading, a progress bar will keep the users informed of the upload.

Once completed, the user will be redirected to the “Upload redirect url” defined in your Panda config. If setting this is left blank the user will be redirected to a default thank you page.

Upload video file

POST upload.pandastream.com/videos/id/upload.(html|yaml|xml)

It’s recommended that you use the form described above (which submits to this resource), but if required (such as from within Flash) the file can be submitted directly.

Parameters
file: The video file
Responses
Status: 200 OK

If the video id is not found the following status is returned.

Status: 404 Not Found

When calling using either yaml or xml formats, there are several different error response which may be returned.

All are returned in the following format.

Status: 500

---
:error: ErrorMessage

Get details

GET hq.pandastream.com/videos/id.(yaml|xml)

Retrieve details for a specific video. Included in the response will be all of its encodings and their current statuses.

The status of a video may be one of the following:

The status of an encoding may be one of the following:

Responses
Status: 200 OK

--- 
:video: 
  :width: 320
  :duration: 15900
  :screenshot: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145.flv.jpg
  :original_filename: sneezing_panda.flv
  :height: 240
  :status: original
  :thumbnail: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145.flv_thumb.jpg
  :encodings: 
  - :video: 
      :encoded_at: 2008-08-19 16:35:53 +00:00
      :width: 320
      :duration: 15900
      :profile_title: Flash video SD
      :screenshot: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145.flv.jpg
      :original_filename: sneezing_panda.flv
      :height: 240
      :status: success
      :thumbnail: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145.flv_thumb.jpg
      :parent: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145
      :profile: 82d587f0-43cf-012b-13f4-123138002145
      :encoding_time: 10
      :filename: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145.flv
      :id: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145
  :filename: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145.flv
  :id: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145
Status: 404 Not Found

Get details for all videos

GET hq.pandastream.com/videos.(yaml|xml)

Parameters
account_key: 32aa8390-b6f6-012a-2162-0017f22c2d49
Responses
Status: 200 OK

Array of videos in format described above for a single video.
Status: 401 Unauthorized

Callbacks

When the state of a video changes, Panda will notify your application with a callback. A POST request is made to the “State update url” defined in your Panda config (note that the $id part of this url will be replaced with the id of the video whose status has changed). The request will be attempted a maximum of 5 times, after which time it will be logged as an error and you will be notified (the max number of retries can be set in the Panda config).

Example callback

POST http://mysite/videos/id/state

Parameters
--- 
:video: 
  :width: 320
  :duration: 15900
  :screenshot: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145.flv.jpg
  :original_filename: sneezing_panda.flv
  :height: 240
  :status: original
  :thumbnail: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145.flv_thumb.jpg
  :encodings: 
  - :video: 
      :encoded_at: 2008-08-19 16:35:53 +00:00
      :width: 320
      :duration: 15900
      :profile_title: Flash video SD
      :screenshot: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145.flv.jpg
      :original_filename: sneezing_panda.flv
      :height: 240
      :status: success
      :thumbnail: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145.flv_thumb.jpg
      :parent: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145
      :profile: 82d587f0-43cf-012b-13f4-123138002145
      :encoding_time: 10
      :filename: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145.flv
      :id: c2e83ee0-503a-012b-1407-123138002145
  :filename: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145.flv
  :id: bac01bf0-503a-012b-1406-123138002145
Responses

When sending a notification Panda will check the response status code, and if it’s not a 200 the notification will be logged as a failed.