Get a users youtube feed with knockout js? - json

Question

Is this possible.. here's what I have atm, but my data object is just returning a load of jargon, what am I doing wrong? Am I doing anything.. right, for that matter?
I basically want to print out a list of a users videos (thumbnail and title, and make each one a clickable link to the video itself)
Thanks!
$(document).ready(function(){
$player.init();
})
var $player = (function(){
var player = {};
player.init = function(){
//init Youtube knockout
player.initYoutubeKnockout();
}
player.knockoutModel = {
videoData : ko.observableArray([]),
}
player.initYoutubeKnockout = function()
{
//load the Youtube json feed
$.ajax({
url: 'http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/USERNAME/uploads?v=2&alt=json',
type: 'GET',
dataType: 'jsonp',
data: {
count: 5
},
success: function(data, textStatus, xhr) {
player.doYoutubeKnockout(data.item);
}
});
}
player.doYoutubeKnockout = function( data )
{
player.knockoutModel.videoData(data);
ko.applyBindings(player.knockoutModel, $('#youtube-feed')[0]);
console.log($(this));
}
return player;
})();

Answer 1

Frankly you weren't doing much at all.
The JSON data you get back from YouTube is not from data.item, it's in a completely different structure.
I'm assuming you wish to get 5 uploads from the user. The parameter name would be max-results, not count.
Probably the only thing you did fine was set up the url but that's about it.
You need to examine how the JSON returned looks like. Check the API reference for the structure of an atom feed. This is in XML but the corresponding JSON responses will have pretty much the same format with some minor differences. Examine the object by writing it to the console to verify you're getting the right properties.
Once you understand that, you need to use the correct query to get what you're expecting. Check out their API reference on their query parameters.
To help simplify your knockout code, I would strongly recommend you take the response you get back and map it to an object with simplified property names. For instance, to get the thumbnails for an entry, you would have to access the media$group.media$thumbnail array. It would be easier if you can just access it through thumbnail.
Also, if your elements you are binding to need to bind multiple values, it would help to map the values in such a way that your bindings are made easier. For instance, when using the attr binding, you'd set up a property for each of the attributes you want to add. Instead you could just group all the properties in an object and bind to that.
I wrote up a fiddle applying all that I said above to do as you had asked for. This should help give you an idea of what you can do and how to do it.
Demo