Retrieve YouTube channel videos by channel name

Question

I am looking for two API calls in Youtube Data API V3.

First I want to get the Channel ID by specifying the name of the channel.

Once I have the Channel ID I want to get n number of videos from that channel.

I am looking for the API calls that I have to make.

Also, does anyone know if there's a chance that channel or video IDs may change at some point? If they can change for the same video/channel then I should not hardcode the ID's in my code.

Thanks

Answer 1

For total newbies who want a running example : consider a function that will help understand the entire cycle of fetch,parse,display etc and bring youtube channel's videos to your tableview specifically. im not writing the tableview part here

-(void)initiateRequestToYoutubeApiAndGetChannelInfo
{
    NSString * urlYouCanUseAsSample = @"https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search?key={YOUR_API_KEY_WITHOUT_CURLY_BRACES}&channelId={CHANNEL_ID_YOU_CAN_GET_FROM_ADDRESS_BAR_WITHOUT_CURLY_BRACES}&part=snippet,id&order=date&maxResults=20";

    NSURL *url = [[NSURL alloc] initWithString: urlYouCanUseAsSample];

    // Create your request
    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];

    // Send the request asynchronously remember to reload tableview on global thread
    [NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request queue:[[NSOperationQueue alloc] init] completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError) {

    // Callback, parse the data and check for errors
    if (data && !connectionError) {
        NSError *jsonError;

        NSDictionary *jsonResult = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:NSJSONReadingMutableContainers error:&jsonError];

        if (!jsonError) {
        // better put a breakpoint here to see what is the result and how it is brought to you. Channel id name etc info should be there

            NSLog(@"%@",jsonResult);

        /// separating "items" dictionary and making array

            // 
    id keyValuePairDict = jsonResult;
    NSMutableArray * itemList = keyValuePairDict[@"items"];
            for (int i = 0; i< itemList.count; i++) {

        /// separating VIDEO ID dictionary from items dictionary and string video id
            id v_id0 = itemList[i];
            NSDictionary * vid_id = v_id0[@"id"];
            id v_id = vid_id;
            NSString * video_ID = v_id[@"videoId"];

       //you can fill your local array for video ids at this point

           //     [video_IDS addObject:video_ID];

        /// separating snippet dictionary from itemlist array
            id snippet = itemList[i];
            NSDictionary * snip = snippet[@"snippet"];

        /// separating TITLE and DESCRIPTION from snippet dictionary
            id title = snip;
            NSString * title_For_Video = title[@"title"];
            NSString * desc_For_Video = title[@"description"];

    //you can fill your local array for titles & desc at this point 

              //  [video_titles addObject:title_For_Video];
               // [video_description addObject:desc_For_Video];




        /// separating thumbnail dictionary from snippet dictionary

            id tnail = snip;
            NSDictionary * thumbnail_ = tnail[@"thumbnails"];

        /// separating highresolution url dictionary from thumbnail dictionary

            id highRes = thumbnail_;
            NSDictionary * high_res = highRes[@"high"];

        /// separating HIGH RES THUMBNAIL IMG URL from high res dictionary

            id url_for_tnail = high_res;
            NSString * thumbnail_url = url_for_tnail[@"url"];
       //you can fill your local array for titles & desc at this point

                [video_thumbnail_url addObject:thumbnail_url];


            }
         // reload your tableview on main thread   
      //[self.tableView    performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(reloadData) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:NO];
     performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(reloadInputViews) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:NO];


      // you can log all local arrays for convenience
         //   NSLog(@"%@",video_IDS);
          //  NSLog(@"%@",video_titles);
          //  NSLog(@"%@",video_description);
          //  NSLog(@"%@",video_thumbnail_url);
        }
        else
        {
            NSLog(@"an error occurred");
        }
    }
    }];
}

Answer 2

First call is a search.list with setting q as channel name and type="channel".

Second one is calling channels.list with that id and get the playlistId of the uploaded videos list.

Third is the playlistItems.list to list videos under that playlist.