Youtube api get latest upload thumbnail - api

Question

I am looking to returning the video-thumbnail of the latest uploaded video from my channel, and display it on my website.
Anyone know how I can do a minimal connection trough api and get only the thumbnail?
Thanks!
-Tom
REVISED!!
Using Cakephp, this is how I did it (thanks dave for suggestions using zend);
controller:
App::import('Xml');
$channel = 'Blanktv';
$url = 'https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/'.$channel.'/uploads?v=2&max-results=1&orderby=published';
$parsed_xml =& new XML($url);
$parsed_xml = Set::reverse($parsed_xml);
//debug($parsed_xml);
$this->set('parsed_xml',$parsed_xml);
View;
$i=0;
foreach ($parsed_xml as $entry)
{
echo '<a href="/videokanalen" target="_self">
<img width="220px" src="'.$entry['Entry']['Group']['Thumbnail'][1]['url'] .'">
</a>';
}
Now the only thing remaining is to cache the feed call someway.. Any suggestions???
-Tom

Answer 1

here is a quick dirty way of doing it without really touching the api at all.
I'm not suggesting it's best practice or anything and I'm sure there are smarter ways but it definitely works with the current Youtube feed service.
My solution is PHP using the Zend_Feed_Reader component from Zend Framework, if you need a hand setting this up if you're not familiar with it let me know.
Essentially you can download version 1.11 from Zend.com here and then make sure the framework files are accessible on your PHP include path.
If you are already using Zend Framework in an MVC pattern you can do this in your chosen controller action:
$channel = 'Blanktv'; //change this to your channel name
$url = 'https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/'.$channel.'/uploads';
$feed = Zend_Feed_Reader::import($url);
$this->view->feed = $feed;
Then you can do this in your view:
<h1>Latest Video</h1>
<div>
<?php
$i=0;
foreach ($this->feed as $entry)
{
$urlChop = explode ('http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/',$entry->getId());
$videoId = end($urlChop);
echo '<h3>' . $entry->getTitle() . '</h3>';
echo '<p>Uploaded on: '. $entry->getDateCreated() .'</p>';
echo '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=' . $videoId .'" target="_blank">
<img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $videoId .'/hqdefault.jpg">
</a>';
$i++;
if($i==1) break;
}
?>
</div>
otherwise you can do:
<?php
$channel = 'Blanktv'; //change this to your channel
$url = 'https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/'.$channel.'/uploads';
$feed = Zend_Feed_Reader::import($url);
?>
<h1>Latest Video</h1>
<div>
<?php
$i=0;
foreach ($feed as $entry)
{
$urlChop = explode ('http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/',$entry->getId());
$videoId = end($urlChop);
echo '<h3>' . $entry->getTitle() . '</h3>';
echo '<p>Uploaded on: '. $entry->getDateCreated() .'</p>';
echo '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=' . $videoId .'" target="_blank">
<img src="http://img.youtube.com/vi/' . $videoId .'/hqdefault.jpg">
</a>';
$i++;
if($i==1) break;
}
?>
</div>
With the latter method you'll likely need to use a php require statement for the Zend_Feed_Reader files etc....
Hope this helps, like I say let me know if you need a hand.
All the best,
Dave
UPDATE: In response to your comments about caching
Hi Tom, here is another quick and dirty solution which doesn't use cache but may be very quick to implement.
The reason I didn't go with a caching component is because I figured a simple db solution would suffice under the circumstances. I also thought having to pull the feed to compare whether it was new or not wouldn't be the most economical for you.
You could automate this process to be run automatically at specified times but if you don't want to automate the process and don't mind clicking a link to update the video manually you could trigger it that way.
My solution is again based on ZF but since you were ok hacking it into something useful with cakephp you should have no problem doing the same here.
First set up a new table (assuming a MySQL db):
CREATE TABLE `yourdbname`.`latestvid` (
`id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY COMMENT 'Unique identifier',
`videoId` VARCHAR( 100 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci NOT NULL COMMENT 'Video id',
`videoTitle` VARCHAR( 100 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci NOT NULL COMMENT 'Video title',
`uploadDate` VARCHAR( 100 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci NOT NULL COMMENT 'Video upload date'
) ENGINE = INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
INSERT INTO `yourdbname`.`latestvid` (`id`, `videoId`, `videoTitle`, `uploadDate`) VALUES (NULL, '--', '--', '--');
This will create a table for your latest video info for use in your template however the default values I've set up will not work with your template for obvious reasons.
You could then do something similar to this:
public function updateAction()
{
$this->_helper->viewRenderer->setNoRender(); // disable view
$this->_helper->layout()->disableLayout(); // disable layout
$user = 'Blanktv'; // insert your channel name
$url = 'https://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/'.$user.'/uploads';
$feed = Zend_Feed_Reader::import($url);
if(!$feed)
{
die("couldn't access the feed"); // Note: the Zend component will display an error if the feed is not available so this wouldn't really be necessary for ZF
}
else
{
$i=0;
foreach ($feed as $entry)
{
$urlChop = explode ('http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/',$entry->getId());
$videoId = end($urlChop);
$videoTitle = $entry->getTitle();
$uploadDate = $entry->getDateCreated();
// use your preferred method to update the db record where the id = 1
$i++;
if($i==1) break;
}
}
}
Maybe have a go and let me know how you get on?
You'd just need to tweak the template so you'd get the variables from the database instead of Youtube with the exception of the thumbnail.
I suppose you could always take that approach further and actually store images etc since the thumbnail is still being pulled from Youtube and may slow things down.
You could set up a script to copy the thumbnail to your own server and store the path in the db or use a standard thumbnail if you are running a series of videos for which you require standard branding - anyway hope it helps.
:-D
Dave