Table of content

How to use the API Explorer

Introduction

From gathering information about our APIs as a Project Manager to building the perfect API request as a Software Engineer, Dailymotion’s API Explorer is proved to be an efficient sidekick throughout your project development journey.

View of the API Explorer

The API Explorer is one of the most important parts of our API ecosystem. Alongside consulting our Platform API Reference, you can interactively discover and try out our API platform right from within a web browser:

  • Discover which objects (i.e. REST API resources) and methods are available and what are their supported parameters, along with inline documentation, to quickly find what you are looking for
  • Build custom API request and execute them against real data and see responses in real time
  • Easily make authenticated API calls using your own API keys

The first step to our API

If you want to quickly get the gist of what Dailymotion has to offer without opening the whole API reference, the API Explorer will let you understand what kind of information could be retrieved from our catalog.

Discover the endpoints

Discover the endpoints for each specific interaction
Discover the endpoints per type of objects to perform specific actions.

Each section in the API Explorer will regroup every possible action (GET, POST, or DELETE requests) which can be made against a specific resource type (User, Video,…) but also what kind of connections (i.e. relations between REST resources) are available for you to use in your project.

Note:

This highlights the Graph-oriented architecture of our API and how the objects are related to one another.

HTTP verbs & parameter values

Example: overview of the connections between the "Playlist" and the "Video" objects
Colors help to quickly locate endpoints & HTTP verbs to use
depending on the nature of the action.

The API Explorer was build with efficiency in mind. We want you to be able to easily spot and jump into the endpoint section which will fit your needs.
For example, different colors are used to differentiate reading / creating / editing or deleting actions.

Let’s say that you want to add a video inside a Dailymotion playlist: you’ll start by going into the playlist object section and then in the “Connection playlist / video” subsection.
You know that the action you’re looking for is an editing action. So looking for the green (POST) endpoint will lead you to the correct endpoints.

Autocompletion and selectors are present on every variable field to show you what possible values could be used in each fields or filters.

Log in and dive in

Thanks to our API Explorer, you can build the perfect API request which fits your needs and play it against production data, without writing any line of code. You can even test the API request using your own API key to get close to the real condition you’ll encounter in your final product.

  • You can log in right inside the API Explorer by clicking Authenticate to then be able to select the API keys from your Dailymotion account and perform authenticated API calls
  • Or, you can simply use this feature to forge access tokens without any knowledge of OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol, with a click of a button. The API Explorer lets you set the value of global parameters to attach to each API call it will test inside the API Explorer (such as changing the global localization to consider in order to have translated and contextual results or turning on or off the parental control). This way you can compare the API response obtained with the API Explorer with those from your real apps to ease debugging of communication issues with the API.
Note:

Sometimes, having a glance at the API Explorer won’t be enough if you’re looking for additional and detailed information about a specific field or filter. In this case, you’ll find links next to every parameter to guide you directly to the relevant API Reference documentation section.

A powerful tool inside a wider toolbox

Depending on the level of information you’re looking for, your current position in your integration project development journey and your current knowledge of dailymotion’s API, you can use the tool that will resonate best with your needs.

  • API Explorer: If you like to learn through experimentation and want to test the wide majority of your API calls right here without having to put time and effort in a POC project.
  • Reference Documentation: If you like more formal and complete guidance about everything you need to know about the Platform API and its endpoints.
  • Guides: If you don’t know well yet how Dailymotion’s API can help you build your business, discover main features through practical guidance.