![[WMTech] YouTube Integration Essentials](/community/data/resource_icons/3/3952.jpg?1421021564){kind=icon}
[WMTech] YouTube Integration Essentials 1.1.3
- Author wmtech
- Creation date
Q: Why does this add-on need to access the YouTube API? What is an API anyway?
A: An API is a way to have two pieces of software talk to each other to exchange information. In this case the add-on contacts YouTube to ask it for the thumbnail, the title and the description of the video added. The thumbnail and title are visible on the webpage (in the player) while the description is in the HTML as microdata for search engines optimization reasons.
Q: What is an API key and why do I need one all of a sudden?
A: Up before version 1.1.0 the v2 YouTube API was used, but in September 2014 Google announced it was going to decommission that version, forcing the switch to v3. A big difference between v2 and v3 is that, whereas v2 allowed "anonymous" requests, this is not the case for v3 any more. This means any request to the YouTube API v3 has to be identified with a key (a string with seamingly random letters & numbers). You can get such a key from Google for free (see next question) and you have to enter that into this add-ons options page in XF ACP.
Q: How can get that API key?
A: See: [wmtech] Youtube Integration Essentials - How To Get A Google Youtube Api Key | WebMachine Technologies - Quality Add-Ons and Plugins for XenForo
Q: Will This Add-On Work If I Don't Provide an API Key?
A: Yes, with some exceptions; this add-on will continue to work, rendering YouTube players, but without the title and microdata (description, time, etc.). The video thumbnail will be locally cached even without an API key.
Q: What does "html5 video support" mean?
A: When playing, HTML5 video will not be visible for everyone. Indeed some visitors will see the fallback Flash video instead. YouTube decides what to show, unfortunatelly it cannot be forced to show a certain player.
Q: What are the requirements to see embedded YouTube HTML5 video?
A: Beginning 2015 YouTube announced it would switch to HTML5 video by default. This will work in browsers that support the h264 or WebM video codecs, most modern browser should work. Browsers that don't support those codecs will, upon playing, fall back to Flash.
Q: Does YouTube Integration Essentials protect my visitor's privacy?
A: YouTube off course does see visitor requests coming in, but only if a visitor decides to see the video. Beside that YouTube is only contacted once to fetch the video thumbnail and info data to be cached locally. Please note that we DO NOT cache any video data itself locally!
IMPORTANT: If you decide not to show the microdata and also the title, the local cache will be disabled automatically and YouTube will be contacted to provide the thumbnail image at each YouTube embed. In this case the privacy of your visitors won't be protected but you save database and file storage at your server.
Q: Can I disable the local cache to save storage at my server?
A: Yes, just deactivate "show the microdata" and "show the title" in your ACP and the local cache will be disabled automatically. YouTube will be contacted to provide the thumbnail image at each YouTube embed in your forum. In this case the privacy of your visitors won't be protected but you save database and file storage at your server. Note, that significant speed improvement will still be provided, since the YouTube player will still only be loaded if someone clicks to see the video.
Q: Does this add-on support serving image files through an CDN?
A: Yes, the local cache is stored in the "data" directory. So, if you serve images from the "data" directory through an CDN, it will work out of the box.
Q: Do you store the video itself locally?
A: No, we only cache the thumbnail image and the video info data (description, title, author, duration, etc.) locally.
Q: Does this add-on work with Infinite Scroll (masonry) thread or conversation views?
A: Yes, you just need to add "yt.le()" into the Javascript to be called for adding new content of the page.
Q: How does this add-on support microdata?
A: There is a specific microdata scheme for "videoObject" (Schema.org for Videos) which this add-on can add to your page, which Google can use to display the video thumbnail next to the search-result. Note that this is optional and can be disabled in the ACP. Also the videoobject microdata is NOT added for audio-only embeds or playlists. Google will not always display the thumbnail, this presumably depends of the relevance of the video to the rest of the page.
Q: Are the YouTube embeds responsive?
A: The video width in posts and messages will adapt to the width of the container (the div) in which your posts/ messages are shown. This means that if your theme is responsive, YouTube Integration Essentials will follow. If the content div width gets to around 200 pixels, the picture will become garbled (YouTube requires the minimum embed width to be 200px as well).
Q: Any bugs/ issues should I know about?
A: Having the same YouTube video on one page can cause this add-on to malfunction (as the YouTube id is used as the div's id in the DOM, and DOM id's are supposed to be unique). Also, when using the Firefox plugin Karma Blocker, the video isn't visible when clicking "play", with a warning message being shown instead. This is expected behavior and should be solved by tweaking Karma Blocker's configuration.
Q: If I disable the add-on, no YouTube videos are shown at my site!
A: This is expected behavior. Deactivating the add-on which is displaying the YouTube videos will disable them completely (Note: the videos are still there, they are simply not displayed!). If you do not like to continue to use our add-on, please uninstall it. If you uninstall it, the YouTube videos will be shown by the default XenForo media BB codes handler again.
General Error Handling after a faulty installation:
Q: My forum is broken after installing an addon. What should I do now?
A: Deinstall or deactivate the addon and ask for help. If you cannot reach the XenForo ACP any more, login to your web server and add the following line of code to library/config.php:
This will disable all addons and enable you to get access to the ACP again where you will be able to deinstall the problematic addon.
A: An API is a way to have two pieces of software talk to each other to exchange information. In this case the add-on contacts YouTube to ask it for the thumbnail, the title and the description of the video added. The thumbnail and title are visible on the webpage (in the player) while the description is in the HTML as microdata for search engines optimization reasons.
Q: What is an API key and why do I need one all of a sudden?
A: Up before version 1.1.0 the v2 YouTube API was used, but in September 2014 Google announced it was going to decommission that version, forcing the switch to v3. A big difference between v2 and v3 is that, whereas v2 allowed "anonymous" requests, this is not the case for v3 any more. This means any request to the YouTube API v3 has to be identified with a key (a string with seamingly random letters & numbers). You can get such a key from Google for free (see next question) and you have to enter that into this add-ons options page in XF ACP.
Q: How can get that API key?
A: See: [wmtech] Youtube Integration Essentials - How To Get A Google Youtube Api Key | WebMachine Technologies - Quality Add-Ons and Plugins for XenForo
Q: Will This Add-On Work If I Don't Provide an API Key?
A: Yes, with some exceptions; this add-on will continue to work, rendering YouTube players, but without the title and microdata (description, time, etc.). The video thumbnail will be locally cached even without an API key.
Q: What does "html5 video support" mean?
A: When playing, HTML5 video will not be visible for everyone. Indeed some visitors will see the fallback Flash video instead. YouTube decides what to show, unfortunatelly it cannot be forced to show a certain player.
Q: What are the requirements to see embedded YouTube HTML5 video?
A: Beginning 2015 YouTube announced it would switch to HTML5 video by default. This will work in browsers that support the h264 or WebM video codecs, most modern browser should work. Browsers that don't support those codecs will, upon playing, fall back to Flash.
Q: Does YouTube Integration Essentials protect my visitor's privacy?
A: YouTube off course does see visitor requests coming in, but only if a visitor decides to see the video. Beside that YouTube is only contacted once to fetch the video thumbnail and info data to be cached locally. Please note that we DO NOT cache any video data itself locally!
IMPORTANT: If you decide not to show the microdata and also the title, the local cache will be disabled automatically and YouTube will be contacted to provide the thumbnail image at each YouTube embed. In this case the privacy of your visitors won't be protected but you save database and file storage at your server.
Q: Can I disable the local cache to save storage at my server?
A: Yes, just deactivate "show the microdata" and "show the title" in your ACP and the local cache will be disabled automatically. YouTube will be contacted to provide the thumbnail image at each YouTube embed in your forum. In this case the privacy of your visitors won't be protected but you save database and file storage at your server. Note, that significant speed improvement will still be provided, since the YouTube player will still only be loaded if someone clicks to see the video.
Q: Does this add-on support serving image files through an CDN?
A: Yes, the local cache is stored in the "data" directory. So, if you serve images from the "data" directory through an CDN, it will work out of the box.
Q: Do you store the video itself locally?
A: No, we only cache the thumbnail image and the video info data (description, title, author, duration, etc.) locally.
Q: Does this add-on work with Infinite Scroll (masonry) thread or conversation views?
A: Yes, you just need to add "yt.le()" into the Javascript to be called for adding new content of the page.
Q: How does this add-on support microdata?
A: There is a specific microdata scheme for "videoObject" (Schema.org for Videos) which this add-on can add to your page, which Google can use to display the video thumbnail next to the search-result. Note that this is optional and can be disabled in the ACP. Also the videoobject microdata is NOT added for audio-only embeds or playlists. Google will not always display the thumbnail, this presumably depends of the relevance of the video to the rest of the page.
Q: Are the YouTube embeds responsive?
A: The video width in posts and messages will adapt to the width of the container (the div) in which your posts/ messages are shown. This means that if your theme is responsive, YouTube Integration Essentials will follow. If the content div width gets to around 200 pixels, the picture will become garbled (YouTube requires the minimum embed width to be 200px as well).
Q: Any bugs/ issues should I know about?
A: Having the same YouTube video on one page can cause this add-on to malfunction (as the YouTube id is used as the div's id in the DOM, and DOM id's are supposed to be unique). Also, when using the Firefox plugin Karma Blocker, the video isn't visible when clicking "play", with a warning message being shown instead. This is expected behavior and should be solved by tweaking Karma Blocker's configuration.
Q: If I disable the add-on, no YouTube videos are shown at my site!
A: This is expected behavior. Deactivating the add-on which is displaying the YouTube videos will disable them completely (Note: the videos are still there, they are simply not displayed!). If you do not like to continue to use our add-on, please uninstall it. If you uninstall it, the YouTube videos will be shown by the default XenForo media BB codes handler again.
General Error Handling after a faulty installation:
Q: My forum is broken after installing an addon. What should I do now?
A: Deinstall or deactivate the addon and ask for help. If you cannot reach the XenForo ACP any more, login to your web server and add the following line of code to library/config.php:
Code:
$config['enableListeners'] = false;