Developer Frequently Asked Questions

• API-specific
• Security
• Commercial vs. Non-commercial
• Photobucket Developer and User Accounts
• Application Gallery and Application of the Day
• Open Social Applications
• Other Options besides the API
• Technical FAQ

API-specific

What is the API?

The Photobucket API is an application programming interface that enables software developers to give Photobucket users access to their online images and videos from environments outside of Photobucket, including other Web sites, Web applications, desktop applications, browser plug-ins, and devices that go beyond the desktop, such as mobile phones, home-entertainment systems, digital photo frames and digital cameras.

Who should use the API?

You should consider using the API for your application if:

• You are a developer who knows what REST is, what an API is, and you know XML and/or JavaScript.
• You are creating a product and you want to support Photobucket users and their content.
• You have an application that requires Photobucket, but you do not want to display the Photobucket interface.

What other options do I have?

If the API does not suit your application requirements, consider using the Photobucket Media Plug-in and/or the Photobucket RSS feeds. These options may be a simpler solution for your project.

Is the API free to use?

Yes, it is completely free to use. Note that commercial developers are required to submit their business models in writing and receive approval from Photobucket. See Commercial vs. Non-Commercial.

How do I use the API?

Before you can use the API, you must:

1. Sign up for a Photobucket User account if you do not already have one.
2. Go to the Photobucket developer web site at developer.photobucket.com, agree to the terms of service, and sign up as a Developer. The API key will be emailed to you.
3. Understand the code sample conventions and REST request and response formats.
4. Implement OAuth request signing for your application.
5. Determine which requests you want to send. Occasionally, a request requires data from a previous response.
6. Understand the error codes that may be sent in a response.

Information about the requirements listed in steps 3 to 6 is provided in the API Documentation.

The API is accessed via HTTP commands, as outlined in the documentation, and produces responses in your specified format (e.g. XML or JSON). Access is controlled via OAuth authentication.

What does the API do?

The API allows you to programmatically access much of the functionality of the Photobucket site. This includes Search, Uploading, User Albums, and Media Tagging and Titling. See Methods in the API Documentation.

Does the API support widgets?

The API can be accessed from anywhere on the Internet as long as you can implement OAuth and send and receive responses. This includes Flash, JavaScript, mobile applications, and other devices.

How much support do I get if I use the API?

When you sign up as a Developer to use the API, you can access the Developer forum and the help documentation. If you are a partner, you can also access the Partner Developer forum, and you should review your partner agreement for any specific support you are eligible for. Photobucket makes the best effort to help whenever possible, but support is not guaranteed.

How do I know if the API or the API Documentation changes?

When you become a Developer on the Photobucket site, you have access to the developer forum . Updates to the API and documentation are provided there.

How often will Photobucket update the API?

Photobucket will update the API as needed to support new functionality or fix defects. Some of these fixes will be based on developer input.

How can I tell if my software/cell phone/camera/other device works with the Photobucket API?

Applications and devices submitted by partners, that support the API are listed at Photobucket's Application Gallery. The Application Gallery also lists the applications currently available for download.

Do I have to submit my application to Photobucket before I use it?

You do not have to submit your application to Photobucket unless you want it considered for inclusion in the Application Gallery.

Can I use the API with white box hosting?

No. The API is meant for augmenting the Photobucket service, not replacing it.

Security

How secure is the API?

If you log into your Photobucket account from another site, you must enter your Photobucket username/password and grant permission to the application on the other site to access your media.

How does Photobucket protect users of the third-party applications that are built to use the Photobucket API?

Developers are required to agree to a special Terms of Service when they access the API and begin work. The Terms of Service do not allow Developers to store user login information, other than for the amount of time that it takes to perform requests for a logged in user. In addition, those Developers are bound by the Photobucket end-user Terms of Service for any application they create.

Commercial vs. Non-commercial

Can I use the API commercially?

Contact Photobucket at api@photobucket.com for questions about using the API in a commercial situation.

When am I a commercial user? When am I a non-commercial user?

Commercial use is defined as any uses of the API for any services that a Developer has created to make money. For example, subscription services, premium services, photo products, and desktop products.

Non-commercial use is defined as any uses of the API for any services that a developer has created that do not make money. For example, you build a widget for yourself and your friends so you can view updated images in your album that posts to your MySpace page. You do not intend to sell advertising, and you are using the widget to share and post images with your friends.

Please read the Developer Terms of Use for specific definitions of what you can and cannot do with a non-commercial key.

How do I become a partner?

For developers with an approved business plan for their application, Photobucket provides a commercial API option with unlimited traffic and bandwidth. Sign up for the non-commercial key first, and then email us at api@photobucket.com.

Photobucket Developer and User Accounts

If I'm a Photobucket User with a Photobucket account, do I automatically have a Developer account?

You must agree to the Developer Terms of Use and sign up for an API key before your Photobucket User account becomes a Photobucket Developer account, too.

If I create a Developer account, does that create a Photobucket User account?

You cannot create a Developer account unless you have a Photobucket User account.

If I'm logged into Photobucket, can I create a Developer account or do I have to log out?

Your Photobucket User account and login information is the same as your Developer login. After you log into Photobucket, you have access to all the areas available to your account, which includes signing up for Developer access.

Can I be logged into my Photobucket account and my Developer account at the same time?

Your Photobucket User account (with your albums and media) is the same account as your Developer account. If you are logged in, you have access to all areas available to your account.

Application Gallery and Application of the Day

How do I get my application into the Application Gallery?

You can submit your application to Photobucket to be considered for the Application Gallery.

1. Log into the developer site.
2. Click Edit beside the application you want to submit, then fill in the Developer information and Gallery requirements.
3. Click Add to gallery to submit your application.

Photobucket may also ask certain applications if they wish to be included in the gallery.

What is the Application of the Day? How do I get my application featured?

The Application of the Day, which displays in the Photobucket Gallery, showcases specific applications that use the Photobucket API. The Application of the Day is selected by Photobucket.

Open Social Applications

What is an Open Social Application?

An Open Social Application is an application that implements the Open Social specification which can run on any Open Social supporting site, like Orkut, Linked-in, Bebo, or MySpace in a widget or as a feature.

How do I write an Open Social Application that uses the Photobucket API?

You can find details about Open Social at http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/.

Will Photobucket submit an Open Social App to MySpace for me?

No. You must submit your application to the Open Social site yourself. Partners, please contact Photobucket if you require assistance.

Does Photobucket support Open Social on its site?

Photobucket does not currently implement the Open Social containers or API. Photobucket services can be used to support Open Social applications on other platforms, such as Myspace or Orkut.

Other Options besides the API

How do I use Photobucket RSS feeds?

The Photobucket RSS feeds documentation explains how to use the Photobucket RSS feeds. Note that Photobucket RSS feeds only contain public media, they are ordered by upload date, and they are only published every hour.

How do I use the Media Plug-in?

The Photobucket Media Plug-in documentation explains how to use the Media Plug-in.

Technical FAQ

Accessing an album is redirecting me to apiXXX.photobucket.com. What’s going on here?

Photobucket separates users into ‘silos’; each one accessible by a specific number. If you check the User URLs response for a given user, you can see which sub-domains that user can be accessed by. Photobucket also provides this information in the token access responses. To access a user’s content, you must interact with that specific silo, and Photobucket provides the redirects as a convenience.

Some HTTP clients cannot handle these redirects, and Photobucket ultimately prefers that you use the information given, rather than relying on the redirects. The silo information for a user can safely be cached for a time, per user, to save calls. The silo hostnames can present a problem with OAuth signing, which requires the entire hostname and URL in the signature. For this reason, we require ALL requests, regardless of the silo being accessed, to use "http://api.photobucket.com" as the beginning of the URL being hashed in the OAuth signature process to help work around the issue of redirects and hostnames.

OAuth base-string encoding looks complicated. Can you explain it again?

The OAuth basestring will look like certain parts are double encoded (mainly, the parameters to the request). This is normal, and you should not see characters other than ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" / "." / "_" / "~", and obviously the %XX characters in the encoded fields, separated by unencoded "&"

Parts:

• methodString = urlencode(method)
• Actual HTTP method being used.
  For example, "GET"
• urlString = urlencode(url)
• URL (not including query string) being accessed, no trailing slash.
  For example, http://api.photobucket.com/user/username/url
• for each param (name and value)
• Push on paramArray = name+'='+urlencode(value).
  For example, "foo=bar%20baz"
• baseString = methodString+'&'+urlString+'&'+urlencode(join('&', paramArray))
• For example:
  GET&http%3A%2F%2Fapi.photobucket.com%2Fuser%2Fusername%2Furl&format%3Dxml%26oauth_consumer_key%3D000010100%26oauth_nonce%3Dd7ehf0hdx0vhf0w%26oauth_signature_method%3DHMAC-SHA1%26oauth_timestamp%3D1205433090%26oauth_version%3D1.0

Using a pre-built library from OAuth.net can do this for you.