Retrieving videos from o365 video portal in multiple ways

In this post, we will see how we can retrieve videos and related information from o365 video portal with multiple ways. First we will see how we can retrieve all the videos from the portal using content type and also we will see how we can retrieve videos from the portal with multiple filters.

Retrieve All Videos Using Site Content Type ID:

The videos are stored on the portal using cloud video content type. At the video library (list level), the cloud video content type will differ for multiple channels. Also this content type will differ on various sites. Video cloud content type is present at site level. The content type id of video cloud will be common for any o365 portal. The content type id is 0x010100F3754F12A9B6490D9622A01FE9D8F012. It is 40 digits.

At the library level, the video cloud content type id consists of 74 digits. But first 40 digits will be common, since the list level video cloud content type is inherited from site level video cloud content type.

Using REST Search API, the all the videos present across various channels can be retrieved from the portal in a single call with site level cloud video content type. In the query text, we will pass the content type id by appending '*'. So that all the videos which has the content type starting with the same digits will be retrieved.

The Search API will be,

/_api/search/query?QueryText=%27contenttypeid:0x010100F3754F12A9B6490D9622A01FE9D8F012*%27

The results are based on search indexing. The crawl should run periodically to get the video results. And also the properties retrieved here will be more focused on analytical information with some basic video properties. The information like processing status, video running time, channel information will not be retrieved here.  

The following code snippet shows the JQuery Ajax call to get the videos from Office 365 video portal, using REST search API:

1. $.ajax({  
2.     url: "/_api/search/query?QueryText=%27contenttypeid:0x010100F3754F12A9B6490D9622A01FE9D8F012*%27",  
3.     type: "GET",  
4.     async: false,  
5.     headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose" },  
6.     success: function(data){  
7.         var videosInfo = data.d.query.PrimaryQueryResult.RelevantResults;  
8.           
9.         console.log("Available Videos Count on Channel : " + videosInfo.RowCount);  
10.     var videoResults = videosInfo.Table.Rows.results;  
11.     for(var i = 0; i< videoResults.length; i++){  
12.         console.log("Title : "+videoResults[i].Cells.results[3].Value);  
13.         console.log("Created By : "+videoResults[i].Cells.results[4].Value);  
14.         console.log("Video URL : "+videoResults[i].Cells.results[6].Value);  
15.     }  
16.     //Similarly other results can be retrieved and displayed  
17.     },  
18.     error: function(data){  
19.     }  
20. });  

The necessary parameters can be only be retrieved using selectProperties option in the API. The example looks like, 

/_api/search/query?QueryText=%27contenttypeid:0x010100F3754F12A9B6490D9622A01FE9D8F012*%27&selectproperties=%27Title%27

Retrieve Videos using Video & List APIs:

The REST Video API used to retrieve the videos from channel will be,

https://videoportalurl/_api/VideoService/Channels('channelid')/GetAllVideos

Here we will see various ways to filter out the videos from the portal. 

The video results here are instant results. More information like processing status, video download URL, owner details, running information, tags, channel and other basic information can be retrieved instantly. Here we can get the required parameters for videos using select parameters. The properties which are retrieved from the operation can be used in the select parameters to retrieve only specific information. For example, in the following example, we have retrieved only file name and video url using the REST API.

User can apply following use cases for retrieving videos. 

• User can get only playable(processed) videos by applying processing status filter. (VideoProcessingStatus:2)
• User can get only incomplete videos by applying the status filter (Not processed). (VideoProcessingStatus:1)
• Filter only videos with the known property values. (AnyProperty:Value)
• Most played videos (Sort Asc/desc using VideoDurationInSeconds)

 There are many other scenarios where filter and other parameters can be used to retrieve videos with REST Video API. These filter functionalities are available with REST List API as well. 

The API will look like,

https://videoportalurl/_api/VideoService/Channels('channelid')/GetAllVideos?$select=FileName, ServerRelativeUrl,Author&$expand=Author/Name&$filter=VideoProcessingStatus eq 2

OR

https://channelsiteURL/_api/web/lists/GetByTitle('Videos')/Items?$filter= VideoProcessingStatus eq 2

Both the above API will get same set of JSON response, which can be processed and displayed. But the response is different from search API response.

The following code snippet shows the Jquery Ajax call to get the videos present on the specified channel with filters and select parameters, using REST List API:

1. $.ajax  
2. ({    
3.     url: "https://chennal_url/_api/web/lists/GetByTitle('Videos')/Items?$select=Title&$filter=VideoProcessingStatus eq 2",    
4.     type: "GET",    
5.     async: false,    
6.     headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose" },    
7.     success: function(data){    
8.         if(data.d != null && data.d.results.length > 0){    
9.             var videoResults = data.d.results;    
10.                 
11.                 
12.         for(var i = 0; i< videoResults.length; i++){    
13.             console.log("Title : "+videoResults[i].Title);      
14.         }    
15.     }    
16.     //Similarly other results can be retrieved and displayed    
17.     },    
18.     error: function(data){    
19.     }    
20. });   

The following code snippet shows the Jquery Ajax call to get the videos present on the specified channel with filters and select parameters, using REST Video API:

1. $.ajax({  
2.     url: "https://videoportal_url/_api/VideoService/Channels('channelid')/GetAllVideos?$select=Title&$filter=VideoProcessingStatus eq 2",  
3.     type: "GET",  
4.     async: false,  
5.     headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose" },  
6.     success: function(data){  
7.         if(data.d != null && data.d.results.length > 0){  
8.             var videoResults = data.d.results;  
9.             for(var i = 0; i< videoResults.length; i++){  
10.                 console.log("Title : "+videoResults[i].Title);  
11.             }  
12.         }  
13.         //Similarly other results can be retrieved and displayed  
14.     },  
15.     error: function(data){  
16.     }  
17. });  

Note: Thus you have learned how to retrieve video details using REST search, REST video and REST list APIs with filter and select parameters. Also we understood the basic difference in getting the response using various REST API methods.

Retrieve Video Portal, Channels And Videos From Office 365 Using REST Search And List API

Retrieve Video Portal Detail:

First, we will see how we can retrieve the video portal information from Office 365 using SharePoint 2013 REST Search API.

The video portal is a part of the Point Publishing hub site. The site template used to create the portal is POINTPUBLISHINGHUB. The REST search API can be used along with the Web template ID to get the relevant information. Web template property should be used in query parameter to get the channels using search. Template ID should be passed as the Web template value.

The search API will be,

• https://siteurl/_api/search/query?QueryText='WebTemplate:POINTPUBLISHINGHUB'

The following code snippet shows the JQuery Ajax call to get the video portal information from Office 365 site, using search API:

1. $.ajax
2. ({  
3. "http://siteurl/_api/search/query?QueryText='WebTemplate:POINTPUBLISHINGHUB'",  
4.     type: "GET",  
5.     async: false,  
6.     headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose" },  
7.     success: function(data){  
8.         var portalInfo = data.d.query.PrimaryQueryResult.RelevantResults;  
9.           
10.             var portalResults = portalInfo.Table.Rows.results;  
11.         for(var i = 0; i< portalResults.length; i++){  
12.             console.log("Title : "+portalResults[i].Cells.results[3].Value);  
13.             console.log("Created By : "+portalResults[i].Cells.results[4].Value);  
14.             console.log("portal URL : "+portalResults[i].Cells.results[6].Value);  
15.         }  
16.         //Similarly other results can be retrieved and displayed  
17.     },  
18.     error: function(data){  
19.     }  
20. });  

Retrieve Channels:

The channels are separate site collections present on the portal. The site template used to create a channel (site collection) on the video portal is POINTPUBLISHINGTOPIC. Hence, we can use the template ID to query the portal to get the channels available. 

The search API will be,

• https://siteurl/_api/search/query?QueryText='WebTemplate:POINTPUBLISHINGTOPIC'

Some of the parameters that can be retrieved using the above URL are Channel Name, Created by, Channel URL, etc.

The following code snippet shows the JQuery Ajax call to get the video channels:

1. $.ajax
2. ({  
3.     url: "http://siteurl/_api/search/query?QueryText='WebTemplate:POINTPUBLISHINGTOPIC'",  
4.     type: "GET",  
5.     async: false,  
6.     headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose" },  
7.     success: function(data){  
8.         var channelInfo = data.d.query.PrimaryQueryResult.RelevantResults;  
9.           
10.         console.log("Available Channels Count : " + channelInfo.RowCount);  
11.         var channelResults = channelInfo.Table.Rows.results;  
12.         for(var i = 0; i< channelResults.length; i++){  
13.             console.log("Title : "+channelResults[i].Cells.results[3].Value);  
14.             console.log("Created By : "+channelResults[i].Cells.results[4].Value);  
15.             console.log("Channel URL : "+channelResults[i].Cells.results[6].Value);  
16.         }  
17.         //Similarly other results can be retrieved and displayed  
18.     },  
19.     error: function(data){  
20.     }  
21. });  

Retrieve Videos:

Next, we will see how we can retrieve the videos from the portal in different ways.

1. Using List REST API: From the channels identified, we will access the videos from the respective channels. REST API is used to query SharePoint list items that will be used. To access a video from one single channel, find the following REST List API URL, given below:

• https://channelurl/_api/web/lists/GetByTitle('Videos')/Items

Channel URL is the channel path name, found from the previous query.

To select necessary properties for the videos, use select parameter and specify the properties. Some of the properties displayed in my example are Title, Author Name, and Video URL. Here, to get the author name, an expanded query needs to be used.

The following code snippet shows the Jquery Ajax call to get the videos present on the specified channel, using List API:

1. $.ajax
2. ({  
3.     url: "http://videoportal_url/_api/web/lists/GetByTitle('Videos')/Items?$select=Title,FileRef,Author/Title&$expand=Author",  
4.     type: "GET",  
5.     async: false,  
6.     headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose" },  
7.     success: function(data){  
8.         if(data.d != null && data.d.results.length > 0){  
9.             var videoResults = data.d.results;  
10.               
11.             console.log("Available Videos Count : " + videoResults.length);  
12.         for(var i = 0; i< videoResults.length; i++){  
13.             console.log("Title : "+videoResults[i].Title);  
14.             console.log("Created By : "+videoResults[i].Author.Title);  
15.             console.log("Video URL : "+videoResults[i].FileRef);  
16.         }  
17.     }  
18.     //Similarly other results can be retrieved and displayed  
19.     },  
20.     error: function(data){  
21.     }  
22. });   

2. Using Search REST API Query: In the section above, we have seen how we can retrieve the videos from the channels using List REST API. Now, we will see how we can retrieve the videos (same set of information) from the channel using search REST API.

The content type used for video is cloud video. Navigate to SharePoint Video library from channel site and find out the content, type of list, cloud video, and content type. The search API will be,

• https://siteurl/_api/search/query?QueryText=%27contenttypeid:list_cloudvideo_contenttypeid%27 

The following code snippet shows the Jquery Ajax call to get the videos, present on the specified channel, using the list video content type.

1. $.ajax
2. ({  
3.     url: "http://siteurl/_api/search/query?QueryText='list_cloudvideo_contenttypeid'",  
4.     type: "GET",  
5.     async: false,  
6.     headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose" },  
7.     success: function(data){  
8.         var videosInfo = data.d.query.PrimaryQueryResult.RelevantResults;  
9.           
10.         console.log("Available Videos Count on Channel : " + videosInfo.RowCount);  
11.     var videoResults = videosInfo.Table.Rows.results;  
12.     for(var i = 0; i< videoResults.length; i++){  
13.         console.log("Title : "+videoResults[i].Cells.results[3].Value);  
14.         console.log("Created By : "+videoResults[i].Cells.results[4].Value);  
15.         console.log("Video URL : "+videoResults[i].Cells.results[6].Value);  
16.     }  
17.     //Similarly other results can be retrieved and displayed  
18.     },  
19.     error: function(data){  
20.     }  
21. });