Library: Remote APIs for SageTV

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by bradvido

I've got a question on how to use the api. I'm trying to get XML over http.

Say, for example, I want to call GetFileDuration, which takes 1 parameter:

1; MediaFile:sage.MediaFile

What should i use for this MediaFile parameter? Do i just pass in the mediafileID? I tried that like so, where my MediaFileID is 86533:

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=GetFileDuration&1=86533

but it returned

<Result>0</Result>

Is the media file ID not the right thing to pass in? How can i pass a MedaiFile object in?

I'm not sure if you've seen or read the documentation that ships with the api, but if you enter, http://localhost:8080/sagex/api in your browser, then it gives some help on using the api over http.

The very first sentence...

NOTE: If the command arg expects a sage object, such mediafile, ariing, playlist, channel, show, etc, then you can still pass a reference to sage object, using mediafile:MEDIAFILE_ID, airing:AIRING_ID, playlist:PLAYLIST_NAME, etc.

so, in your case, it should be

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=GetFileDuration&1=mediafile:86533

[bradvido]

Thanks you. I had looked at the documentation, but I was so eager to start using the methods that I missed that info at the top.
This is now working.

Thanks, again.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by bradvido

Thanks you. I had looked at the documentation, but I was so eager to start using the methods that I missed that info at the top.
This is now working.

Thanks, again.

Glad it's working, and good luck.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I guess I need a specialized media handler for music.... since you have the sagex-code, and you see how I added the /logo handler... you could add in the music handler, if you wanted

Has there been any progress in that regard?

I suppose the pictures would also need a dedicated method, as the /sagex/media/thumbnail/ didn't seem to work them.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Has there been any progress in that regard?

I suppose the pictures would also need a dedicated method, as the /sagex/media/thumbnail/ didn't seem to work them.

You can try
/sagex/media/albumart/####
where #### is the mediafile id of the mediafile that belongs to the album.

I don't don't have any music on my test server, so i can't really test this myself.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by stuckless

You can try /sagex/media/albumart/####

Thanks, that does work great!

So what about photos, any way to get at them?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Thanks, that does work great!

So what about photos, any way to get at them?

I'm not sure, but you can fetch any media file via
/sagex/media/mediafile/####
I'm assuming this would work for music, photos and video files, but I haven't tested it

btw, you may be able to do it by file a well, if you used
/sagex/media/mediafile?mediafile=full_path_to_mediafile

provided the full_path_to_mediafile resolves to a mediafile when passed to GetMediaFileForPath()

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I'm assuming this would work for music, photos and video files, but I haven't tested it

I did test it, and it wasn't working. I got:

Problem accessing /sagex/media/mediafile/161. Reason:

    F:\Photos\JP-Lisette\Picture 209.jpg

btw, you may be able to do it by file a well, if you used
/sagex/media/mediafile?mediafile=full_path_to_mediafile

I just tried that and got:

sagex.api (7.0.23.3): Media Handler Error
3

java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
	at sagex.remote.media.MediaHandler.handleRequest(MediaHandler.java:65)
	at sagex.remote.SagexServlet.doPost(SagexServlet.java:63)
	at sagex.remote.SagexServlet.doGet(SagexServlet.java:41)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:707)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:820)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.handle(ServletHolder.java:502)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.handle(ServletHandler.java:389)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandler.handle(ContextHandler.java:765)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandlerCollection.handle(ContextHandlerCollection.java:230)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerCollection.handle(HandlerCollection.java:114)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:152)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.rewrite.RewriteHandler.handle(RewriteHandler.java:230)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:152)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.Server.handle(Server.java:322)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection.handleRequest(HttpConnection.java:534)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection$RequestHandler.headerComplete(HttpConnection.java:864)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpParser.parseNext(HttpParser.java:539)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpParser.parseAvailable(HttpParser.java:212)
	at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection.handle(HttpConnection.java:404)
	at org.mortbay.io.nio.SelectChannelEndPoint.run(SelectChannelEndPoint.java:409)
	at org.mortbay.thread.QueuedThreadPool$PoolThread.run(QueuedThreadPool.java:520)

[stuckless]

I just tried

http://localhost:8080/sagex/media/mediafile?mediafile=/home/sean/BETA/Images/IMG_20100722_131852.jpg

and I got an image.

I also tried doing it by by id as well, and it worked.

http://localhost:8080/sagex/media/mediafile/513870

BTW, that exception is a result of not passing the mediafile parameter. I'm guessing your url had a typo or you specified the args as /sagex/media/medifile&mediafile=## instead of using ?mediafile=

[Fonceur]

Doh! I moved my photos' folder and the wiz.bin was still pointing to the older location, which is why that wasn't working... So the thumbnail works for the pictures, though the other methods are trying to play an mpg.

[Fonceur]

Since those images are bigger than what I need, I've been trying to rescale them with Phoenix API and &transform=[{name:scale, height:100},{name:reflection}], but I'm not having much luck... Is that supposed to only work for the posters or for the rest too?

Used with the /media/thumbnail, that results in a "Not A MediaFile", while with "media/mediafile?mediafile=" the full image is returned, not transformed...

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Since those images are bigger than what I need, I've been trying to rescale them with Phoenix API and &transform=[{name:scale, height:100},{name:reflection}], but I'm not having much luck... Is that supposed to only work for the posters or for the rest too?

Used with the /media/thumbnail, that results in a "Not A MediaFile", while with "media/mediafile?mediafile=" the full image is returned, not transformed...

The transforms are a part of the phoenix extensions to the sagex apis, but they only apply when using poster, background, or banner. ie, they don't work for mediafile (pictures) or thumbnails. Mainly it's because the transforms are a recognized function of the fanart additions. I've considered trying to make them available to the other image apis, but I need to do so in such a way that sagex doesn't depend on phoenix, which is where the transformation apis exist.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Doh! I moved my photos' folder and the wiz.bin was still pointing to the older location, which is why that wasn't working... So the thumbnail works for the pictures, though the other methods are trying to play an mpg.

I wonder if i'm automatically setting the mime type a video mime type... i know the apis are quite dumb in that they don't really check what is being returned.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by stuckless

The transforms are a part of the phoenix extensions to the sagex apis, but they only apply when using poster, background, or banner. ie, they don't work for mediafile (pictures) or thumbnails.

Makes sense, the wiki was a little ambiguous, so I was hoping you were able to make use of the Phoenix API on the other mediafiles.

Originally Posted by stuckless

I wonder if i'm automatically setting the mime type a video mime type...

That might explain it...

[Fonceur]

With /media/thumbnail, I am getting the feeling that if the thumbnail does not already exists, the first call will fail and a second call is required. Any chance of catching it server side?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

With /media/thumbnail, I am getting the feeling that if the thumbnail does not already exists, the first call will fail and a second call is required. Any chance of catching it server side?

I'm not sure I understand. Basically I just call the GetThumnail api and convert it. It may be that Sage is asynchronous in that manner, in that the MetaImage returned may not acutallly have created the physical thumbnail. I'm not sure how to catch, this, because I don't think an error is thrown on the server. I may have some time to look at this on the weekend, and see what is happening. I've noticed similar behaviour from the bmt web ui, but i haven't been curious enough yet to actually look at it

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by stuckless

It may be that Sage is asynchronous in that manner, in that the MetaImage returned may not acutallly have created the physical thumbnail.

Yes that's what I'm thinking. While there might not be any error, there must be a completion event, as you can see the STV filling up those thumbnails as they get generated (if they were missing).

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Basically I just call the GetThumnail api and convert it. It may be that Sage is asynchronous in that manner, in that the MetaImage returned may not acutallly have created the physical thumbnail. I'm not sure how to catch, this, because I don't think an error is thrown on the server.

When the thumbnail is not ready, I am systematically seeing a message of length 75, which does not properly translate to text:

<89504e47 0d0a1a0a 0000000d 49484452 00000010 00000010 08060000 001ff3ff 61000000 12494441 5478da63 601805a3 60148c02 08000004 100001af 45882c00 00000049 454e44ae 426082>

That seems to convert to a blank image of 1 MB size or maybe it's just garbage...

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

When the thumbnail is not ready, I am systematically seeing a message of length 75, which does not properly translate to text:

<89504e47 0d0a1a0a 0000000d 49484452 00000010 00000010 08060000 001ff3ff 61000000 12494441 5478da63 601805a3 60148c02 08000004 100001af 45882c00 00000049 454e44ae 426082>

That seems to convert to a blank image of 1 MB size or maybe it's just garbage...

Thanks... I haven't had a chance to look at this yet... too busy fighting fires in bmt

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

When the thumbnail is not ready, I am systematically seeing a message of length 75, which does not properly translate to text:

<89504e47 0d0a1a0a 0000000d 49484452 00000010 00000010 08060000 001ff3ff 61000000 12494441 5478da63 601805a3 60148c02 08000004 100001af 45882c00 00000049 454e44ae 426082>

That seems to convert to a blank image of 1 MB size or maybe it's just garbage...

I've updated the sagex-apis, so hopefully this problem will be resolved. If not, then email directly at metadatatools at gmail dot com, and I can send you debug versions without having to publish a full build.

BTW, on another note... I've added a force-mime parameter to the /mediafile/ handler. So, if you request an image, from the image libary, then you can force a mime type as well...

/sagex/mediafile/1232323?force-mime=image/jpeg
or
/sagex/mediafile?mediafile=/path/to/music.mpg&force-mime=audio/mpeg

You may not need to actually force a mime, because I do check and set a mime type based on the media file type. But, if i choose the wrong one, then you have the option to override.