A simple API for interacting with Avalon objects.

1 Access Control
2 Media Objects
- - 2.1.1 Parameters for POST and PUTS:
- 2.2 Example Requests
  - 2.2.1 GET /media_objects/:id.json
  - 2.2.2 Example Response
  - 2.2.3 GET /media_objects.json
  - 2.2.4 Example Response
  - 2.2.5 POST /media_objects.json
  - 2.2.6 Example Request Data (data.json)
  - 2.2.7 Example Response
  - 2.2.8 PUT /media_objects/:id.json
  - 2.2.9 Example Request Data (data.json)
  - 2.2.10 Example Response
  - 2.2.11 DELETE /media_objects/:id.json
  - 2.2.12 Example Response
3 Admin Collection
- 3.1 Parameters for POST and PUT:
  - 3.1.1 GET /admin/collections.json
  - 3.1.2 Example Response
  - 3.1.3 GET /admin/collections/:id.json
  - 3.1.4 Example Response
  - 3.1.5 GET /admin/collections/:id/items.json
  - 3.1.6 Example Response
  - 3.1.7 POST /admin/collections.json
  - 3.1.8 Example Request Data (data.json)
  - 3.1.9 Example Response
  - 3.1.10 PUT /admin/collections/:id.json
  - 3.1.11 Example Request Data (data.json)
  - 3.1.12 Example Response
4 Units
- 4.1 GET /vocabulary.json
- 4.2 Example Response
- 4.3 GET /vocabulary/:vocab.json
- 4.4 Example Response
- 4.5 POST /vocabulary/:vocab.json
- 4.6 Example Request Data (data.json)
- 4.7 Example Response
5 Response Codes
6 Version History

Access Control

All API methods are protected by token authentication. A specified token is passed through http header 'Avalon-Api-Key'. A matching token must be configured in in Avalon's database. Creating and viewing tokens can be done via rake tasks. Every token is associated with an Avalon user. User sessions authenticated against an API token will assume the same authorization rights as the associated user. (NOTE: In pre-7.0 versions of Avalon, API token logins were granted admin user rights.)

$ rake avalon:token:generate username=archivist email=archivist1@example.com
37ebd7d86d406e925ba2da4315903440b2439f671dc58c2a36dc827e454d263fdcfd0bf8ad5cea7f5dce5516f2ffe63ee02debf6881b7b466a8600d321b0a01c

$ rake avalon:token:list
37ebd7d86d406e925ba2da4315903440b2439f671dc58c2a36dc827e454d263fdcfd0bf8ad5cea7f5dce5516f2ffe63ee02debf6881b7b466a8600d321b0a01c|archivist

$ rake avalon:token:revoke username=archivist
Token `37ebd7d86d406e925ba2da4315903440b2439f671dc58c2a36dc827e454d263fdcfd0bf8ad5cea7f5dce5516f2ffe63ee02debf6881b7b466a8600d321b0a01c` (archivist) revoked.

Media Objects

GET /media_objects/:id.json

Retrieves a subset of the mods for the specified media object (parameter :include_structure specifies if structure should be included in response)

GET /media_objects.json

Retrieves a paged list of media_objects (parameters :page and :per_page specify page number and number per page for pagination)

POST /media_objects.json

Creates an media object

PUT /media_objects/:id.json

Updates an media object

DELETE /media_objects/:id.json

Deletes a media object

Parameters for POST and PUTS:

collection_id: id of owning admin collection (optional),

fields: mods converted to JSON hash. Required fields: title, date_issued

title (* required),
date_issued (* required),
creator (multiple),
alternative_title (multiple),
translated_title (multiple),
uniform_title (multiple),
statement_of_responsibility,
date_created,
copyright_date,
abstract,
note (multiple): requires note_type from controlled vocabulary to be present also,
format,
resource_type (multiple),
contributor (multiple),
publisher (multiple),
genre (multiple),
subject (multiple),
related_item_url (multiple): requires related_item_label to be present also,
geographic_subject (multiple),
temporal_subject (multiple),
topical_subject (multiple),
bibliographic_id,
language (multiple),
terms_of_use,
table_of_contents (multiple),
physical_description,
other_identifier (multiple): requires other_identifier_type from controlled vocabulary to be present also,
comment (multiple)

files: an array of masterfile hashes. Optional: label, structure, and captions.

label (optional),
id,
title,
file_location,
file_checksum,
file_size,
duration,
display_aspect_ratio,
original_frame_size,
file_format,
poster_offset,
thumbnail_offset,
date_digitized,
structure (optional): structure xml as a string,
captions(optional): captions text from vtt or srt file as a string,
captions_type (optional): required if captions are present,
other_identifier (multiple),
comment (multiple),
workflow_name,
date_digitized,
files: an array of derivative hashes

label,
id,
url,
hls_url,
duration,
mime_type,
audio_bitrate,
audio_codec,
video_bitrate,
video_codec,
width,
height

import_bib_record (optional boolean):

If true, fields must include value for :bibliographic_id and may include value from controlled vocabulary for :bibliographic_id_label)
Bib import failure will result in a JSON response: {errors: ['Bib import failed', e.message]}, status: 422

replace_masterfiles (optional boolean):

Relevant only if the media object already exists and it has masterfiles. If true, existing masterfiles will be replaced by those sent. If false, sent masterfiles will be appended to existing list.

publish (optional boolean):

If true, mediaobject will automatically enter a published state with avalon_publisher='REST API'

Example Requests

GET /media_objects/:id.json

curl -H 'Avalon-Api-Key:abcdef123456' https://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu/media_objects/1g05fb83r.json

Example Response

{
  "id": "1g05fb83r",
  "title": "Test",
  "collection": "7.0 testing",
  "unit": "Default Unit",
  "main_contributors": [],
  "publication_date": null,
  "published_by": null,
  "published": false,
  "summary": null,
  "visibility": "private",
  "read_groups": [],
  "files": [
    {
      id: "1c18df984",
      "workflow_name": "avalon",
      "percent_complete": "100.0",
      "status_code": "COMPLETED",
      "structure": null,
      "label": "",
      "thumbnail_offset": 2000,
      "poster_offset": 2000,
      "physical_description": null,
      "file_location": "/srv/avalon/Archiver_spool/avalon/1c18df984-SampleVideo.mp4",
      "file_size": "1055736",
      "duration": "5312",
      "date_digitized": "2019-12-10T18:33:41Z",
      "file_checksum": null,
      "file_format": "Moving image",
      "other_identifier": [],
      "captions": null,
      "captions_type": null,
      "comment": [],
      "display_aspect_ratio": "1.7777777777777777",
      "original_frame_size": "1280x720",
      "width": 1280,
      "height": 720,
      "files": [
        {
          "label": "quality-medium",
          "id": "26d00ae1-44b9-4306-a310-158b3e39a7c5",
          "url": "rtmp://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:1935/avalon/mp4:ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-medium",
          "hls_url": "https://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:8980/avalon/ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-medium.mp4/index.m3u8",
          "duration": 5336,
          "mime_type": null,
          "audio_bitrate": 128078,
          "audio_codec": "mp4a-40-2",
          "video_bitrate": 1500000,
          "video_codec": "avc1",
          "width": "1280.0",
          "height": "720.0",
          "location": "rtmp://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:1935/avalon/mp4:ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-medium",
          "track_id": "12532-medium",
          "hls_track_id": null,
          "managed": false,
          "derivativeFile": "file:///srv/avalon/rtmp_streams/ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-medium.mp4"
        },
        {
          "label": "quality-high",
          "id": "e87804de-916b-40f9-aa28-69b8ce6dbcb4",
          "url": "rtmp://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:1935/avalon/mp4:ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-high",
          "hls_url": "https://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:8980/avalon/ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-high.mp4/index.m3u8",
          "duration": 5336,
          "mime_type": null,
          "audio_bitrate": 192000,
          "audio_codec": "mp4a-40-2",
          "video_bitrate": 3000000,
          "video_codec": "avc1",
          "width": "1280.0",
          "height": "720.0",
          "location": "rtmp://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:1935/avalon/mp4:ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-high",
          "track_id": "12532-high",
          "hls_track_id": null,
          "managed": false,
          "derivativeFile": "file:///srv/avalon/rtmp_streams/ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-high.mp4"
        },
        {
          "label": "quality-low",
          "id": "6cc0e00a-eaf4-4fb7-9be6-64772a5b258a",
          "url": "rtmp://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:1935/avalon/mp4:ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-low",
          "hls_url": "https://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:8980/avalon/ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-low.mp4/index.m3u8",
          "duration": 5336,
          "mime_type": null,
          "audio_bitrate": 128078,
          "audio_codec": "mp4a-40-2",
          "video_bitrate": 500000,
          "video_codec": "avc1",
          "width": "852.0",
          "height": "480.0",
          "location": "rtmp://mallorn.dlib.indiana.edu:1935/avalon/mp4:ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-low",
          "track_id": "12532-low",
          "hls_track_id": null,
          "managed": false,
          "derivativeFile": "file:///srv/avalon/rtmp_streams/ececa279-0217-45b4-92fb-daf49d552f33/outputs/SampleVideo-low.mp4"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "fields": {
    "duration": "5312",
    "avalon_resource_type": [
      "moving image"
    ],
    "avalon_publisher": null,
    "avalon_uploader": "archivist1@example.com",
    "identifier": [],
    "title": "Lease Test",
    "alternative_title": [],
    "translated_title": [],
    "uniform_title": [],
    "statement_of_responsibility": null,
    "creator": [],
    "date_created": null,
    "date_issued": "2020",
    "copyright_date": null,
    "abstract": null,
    "format": [
      "video/mp4"
    ],
    "resource_type": [],
    "contributor": [],
    "publisher": [],
    "genre": [],
    "subject": [],
    "geographic_subject": [],
    "temporal_subject": [],
    "topical_subject": [],
    "terms_of_use": null,
    "table_of_contents": [],
    "physical_description": [],
    "record_identifier": [
      "http://127.0.0.1:8984/fedora4/rest/1g/05/fb/83/1g05fb83r"
    ],
    "comment": [],
    "bibliographic_id": null,
    "bibliographic_id_label": null,
    "note": null,
    "note_type": null,
    "language": null,
    "related_item_url": null,
    "related_item_label": null,
    "other_identifier": null,
    "other_identifier_type": null,
    "rights_statement": null
  }
}

GET /media_objects.json

Example Response

POST /media_objects.json

Example Request Data (data.json)

Example Response

PUT /media_objects/:id.json

Example Request Data (data.json)

Example Response

DELETE /media_objects/:id.json

Example Response

Admin Collection

GET /admin/collections.json

Retrieves a paginated list of all collections (parameters :page and :per_page specify page number and number per page for pagination)

GET /admin/collections/:id.json

Retrieves information on the specified collection

GET /admin/collections/:id/items.json

Retrieves a paginated list of all items in the specified collection (parameters :page and :per_page specify page number and number per page for pagination)

POST /admin/collections.json

Creates a collection

PUT /admin/collections/:id.json

Updates a collection

Parameters for POST and PUT:

admin_collection:

name: collection name,
description (optional): collection description,
unit: collection unit from controlled vocabulary,
managers: array of Avalon user ids or emails

GET /admin/collections.json

Example Response

GET /admin/collections/:id.json

Example Response

GET /admin/collections/:id/items.json

Example Response

POST /admin/collections.json

Example Request Data (data.json)

Example Response

PUT /admin/collections/:id.json

Example Request Data (data.json)

Example Response

Units

In Avalon, units are part of a controlled vocabulary. To add a new unit, a call to the vocabulary is required.

GET /vocabulary.json

Retrieves a hash of avalon controlled vocabularies, { units: [ 'Default Unit' , ...], ... }

GET /vocabulary/:vocab.json

Retrieves values contained in specified controlled vocabulary

POST /vocabulary/:vocab.json

Updates specified vocab by adding the value contained in the :entry parameter

GET /vocabulary.json

Example Response

GET /vocabulary/:vocab.json

Example Response

POST /vocabulary/:vocab.json

Example Request Data (data.json)

Example Response

Response Codes

Code	Description

Code	Description
200	Okay. For GET, the relevant JSON will be contained in response body. For PUTS and POST response body will contain id of created/updated item.
201	<Not used> Created
202	<Not used> Accepted, Queued
400	Bad request
401	Auth Failure. No token present in request header 'Avalon-Api-Key'
403	Forbidden. Invalid token in request header 'Avalon-Api-Key'
404	Resource Not Found. If object is not found for requested id.
405	<Not used> Method Prohibited
409	<Not used> Conflict/Other Error. Conflict ex: id in use
422	Processing failed. Response body will contain JSON hash with :errors key pointing to a list of error message strings.

Version History

Version	Date	Description

Version	Date	Description
0.1	13 October 2015	Initial Draft
0.2	16 December 2015	API as implemented
0.3 (Avalon 7.0)	03 January 2020	Authorization scheme enhanced status_code, percent_complete, percent_succeeded, and percent_failed fields removed from Media Object parameters
0.4 (Avalon 7.1)	26 March 2020	MediaObject - add masterfile ids, derivative ids are actual ids instead of track ids now, structure can be inlined with query param Collection items are proper JSON instead of JSON strings