VOD Ingestion Via XML

Overview

The VOD XML ingestion process loads assets to Applicaster’s CMS. This works by configuring an HTTP(s) URL in the CMS that will be queried regularly.

This URL should respond with an XML document formatted according to the specifications in this docuemnt.

If your systems require IP access control please ask Applicaster’s representative for the IP of the ingesting servers.

If using Applicaster’s video encoding and delivery services you will need a video file (mp4, wmv, avi...) accessible by HTTP(S) to be ingested to Applicaster’s system. This file should be of the highest quality possible, the system will transcode this file to multiple bitrates and make sure it’s compatible to all devices required.

XML structure

Identifying the XML document

This is the first line in the XML response.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

The <resources> element

The resources XML should always start with a <resources> node

<resources>
  <!-- rest of XML comes here -->
</resources>

The <resource> tag

The resource element defines a single resource.

Tag Description Required
type Resource type. one of genre, show, season, category, link or video. Yes
attributes Resource attributes (see <attributes> below). Yes

Note: resource of type video can never be in the same XML as other resource types. Currently there is no way to place videos in the same list as other types.

The <attributes> tag

The attributes tag holds the attributes of a specific resource.

Different resource types have some variance in the tags that their <attributes> tag can contain. the "Types" column below shows which types each tag is relevant for.

Common tags

These are the same for all resource types:

Tag Description Required Types
title The item’s title Yes All
description The item’s description No All
external_id The resource's id in your system. NOTE: this must be unique across all resources. The value can be any string with length up to 80 characters Yes All
enabled Should the item be enabled for viewing. this should be either the string true or false Yes All
image_assets Images used for this resource. (see <image_assets> below) Yes All
date_published The date the item was published in ISO8601 combined date and time format No All

Type specific tags

Tag Description Required Types
duration video duration in seconds (at most 9999 seconds ~ 2.8 hours) No video
external_link URL to a related web resource (e.g. IMDB) No video
video_360 Boolean describing whether the video is 360° enabled No video
source URL for the source video file Yes (unless using alternative_streams) video
alternative_streams Streaming URLs for this item †. See below for further explanation Yes (unless using source) video
external_sync_url a URL to an XML built according to this document describing the content of this collection No category, show, season
link_url an HTTP(S) URL that hosts the web content that will be displayed in the webview Yes (for the link type) link
orientation Supported device orientation. One of portrait, landscape, or both. default: both No link
show_navigation Should the application show back/forward buttons. Either true or false. default: true No link
show_close_button Should the application show a close button. Either true or false. default: true No link
enable_zoom Can the user change scale of the webview. Either true or false. default: false No link
external_policy Includes a nested XML that contains values that are relevant for any client that needs to process this attribute No video

† Only use this tag if you are sure the provided URLs are HLS streams that comply to Apple’s AppStore submission guidelines. using non compliant streams can result in the app being rejected by Apple.

The <alternative_streams> tag

This tag defines streaming URLs for the video resource.

They can only be placed in an <attributes> tag of a <resource> with type video.

The <alternative_streams> tag can contain the following tags:

Tag Description Required
default An HLS stream URL. This must be compliant to Apple’s AppStore guidelines Yes
rtsp An RTSP stream URL ‡ No
mp4 An mp4 stream URL ‡ No

‡ This will be used only for old devices that have no HLS support

The <image_assets> tag

This tag lists images that the app can use for the application’s UI.

It contains a list of <image_asset> tags, one for each available images.

Every application needs a different set of images, please ask applicaster’s representative for the correct image names and sizes of the specific application.

The <image_asset> tag

The <image_asset> tag contains the following tags:

Tag Description Required
key The image asset name (ex. icon, thumbnail, ...) Yes
url A unique URL to fetch the image from. Different images should use different URLs (e.g. a change in an icon will only be picked up if accompanied by a change in the URL). Notice that this URL is cached and served to apps by Applicaster’s system and not directly acccessed by devices. Yes

Examples

Genre feed

This XML contains a list of genres, each genre's content will be ingested from the URL supplied in <external_sync_url>.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<resources>
  <resource>
    <type>genre</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Genre 1 title</title>
      <description>Description for this genre</description>
      <external_id>genre1</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <external_sync_url>http://example.com/genre1.xml</external_sync_url>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/genre1/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/genre1/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
  <resource>
    <type>genre</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Genre 2 title</title>
      <description>Description for this genre</description>
      <external_id>genre2</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <external_sync_url>http://example.com/genre2.xml</external_sync_url>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>icon</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/genre2/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/genre2/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
</resources>

Main TV shows feed

This XML contains a list of shows, each show's content will be ingested from the URL supplied in <external_sync_url>.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<resources>
  <resource>
    <type>show</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Show 1 title</title>
      <description>Description for this show</description>
      <external_id>show1</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <external_sync_url>http://example.com/show1.xml</external_sync_url>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/show1/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/show1/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
  <resource>
    <type>show</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Show 2 title</title>
      <description>Description for this item</description>
      <external_id>show2</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <external_sync_url>http://example.com/show2.xml</external_sync_url>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>icon</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/show2/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/show2/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
</resources>

Seasons feed

This XML lists all the seasons under some show

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<resources>
  <resource>
    <type>season</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Season 1 title</title>
      <description>Description for this season</description>
      <external_id>season1</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <external_sync_url>http://exmaple.com/season1.xml</external_sync_url>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/season1/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/season1/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
  <resource>
    <type>season</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Season 2 title</title>
      <description>Description for this season</description>
      <external_id>season2</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <external_sync_url>http://example.com/season2.xml</external_sync_url>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>icon</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/season2/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/season2/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
</resources>

Episodes feed

This XML contains 2 videos that will be encoded and served by Applicaster.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<resources>
  <resource>
    <type>video</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Some episode 1</title>
      <description>Description for this item</description>
      <external_id>episode1</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <source>http://example.com/path/to/episode1.mp4</source>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>icon</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode1/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode1/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
      <external_policy>
        <free>true</free>
        <product_identifiers></product_identifiers>
      </external_policy>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
  <resource>
    <type>video</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Some episode 2</title>
      <description>Description for this item</description>
      <external_id>episode2</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <source>http://example.com/path/to/episode2.mp4</source>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>icon</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode2/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode2/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
      <external_policy>
        <free>true</free>
        <product_identifiers>
          <id>1</id>
          <id>34</id>
        </product_identifiers>
      </external_policy>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
</resources>

Without encoding

This XML contains 2 videos that will be delivered via the HLS link supplied in <alternative_streams>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<resources>
  <resource>
    <type>video</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Some episode 1</title>
      <description>Description for this item</description>
      <external_id>episode1</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <alternative_streams>
        <default>http://example.com/path/to/episode1.m3u8</default>
      </alternative_streams>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>icon</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode1/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode1/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
  <resource>
    <type>video</type>
    <attributes>
      <title>Some episode 2</title>
      <description>Description for this item</description>
      <external_id>episode2</external_id>
      <enabled>true</enabled>
      <alternative_streams>
        <default>http://example.com/path/to/episode2.m3u8</default>
      </alternative_streams>
      <image_assets>
        <image_asset>
          <key>icon</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode2/icon.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
        <image_asset>
          <key>large_thumbnail</key>
          <url>http://example.com/path/to/episode2/large_thumbnail.jpg</url>
        </image_asset>
      </image_assets>
    </attributes>
  </resource>
</resources>

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