youtube-grabber-js v1.0.1

YouTube Grabber NodeJS Documentation

This library is designed to receive data from YouTube without accessing the official API. This method has several advantages:

• No API key is required, which you should put next to your code;
• No restrictions on key usage (1 million quota)

But there are also disadvantages:

• Data acquisition time increases by many times;
• Any change to the YouTube DOM entails non-working methods of this library.

You must consider this before you use YouTube Grabber

Installation

npm i youtube-grabber-js

Tests

Tests are written with mocha.
Since receiving data directly from the site takes a lot of time, you should make sure that the tests have enough time for execution.

You can run tests via npm run

npm run test

With this method you do not need to configure anything.
But if you want to start test directly from the test/ folder you need to provide additional mocha params

--timeout 20000

Available tests:

• All tests: npm test
• Channel parser test: npm run test-channel
• Playlist parser test: npm run test-playlist

Features

1) URL validation Check for YouTube URL Get type of resource Check for existence of resource 2) Error handling 3) Channel Get basic channel information Get uploaded videos Get playlists 4) Playlist * Get playlist information

1. URL validation

1.1. Check for YouTube URL

The method isYoutubeURLValid(url) checks the link:

• Is string is the URL
• Is URL contains YouTube
• Is resource is channel, playlist or video

Example:

const YoutubeGrabber = require('youtube-grabber-js');

const link = 'https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA';
if (YoutubeGrabber.isYoutubeURLValid(link)) {
  console.log('Valid');
} else {
  console.log('Not valid');
}

1.2. Get type of resource

The method getTypeOfResource(url) returns the type of resource or null if an invalid URL is passed. Available resources:

• channel
• playlist
• video

Example:

const YoutubeGrabber = require('youtube-grabber-js');

const link = 'https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA';
const type = YoutubeGrabber.getTypeOfResource(link);

console.log(type);    // "channel"

1.3. Check for existence of resource

The method isResourceExists(url) not only verifies the correctness of the URL, but also checks the existence of the resource on YouTube

Example:

const YoutubeGrabber = require('youtube-grabber-js');

const link = 'https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA';
if (YoutubeGrabber.isResourceExists(link)) {
  console.log('Valid and Exists');
} else {
  console.log('No valid OR not exists');
}

2. Error handling

Each method that will be described later returns not only information, but also errors. Here is a sample return pattern for almost any method:

{
  "error": {
    "status": true | false,
    "reason?": "Textual representation of the error",
    "payload?": "Some additional information about error"
  },
  
  "info": {
  
  }
}

Let's describe this:
1) error field - object with error information;
1.1.) error.status - (boolean) Describes whether an error has occurred;
1.2.) error.reason - (optional)(string) This field is present only if the status field is true. Describes the error;
1.3.) error.payload - (optional)(object | string | null) Additional error information. Not always present

3. Channel

3.1. Get basic channel information

Method getChannelInfo(url) can provide you a public channel information. The method also has options, but more on that later.

const YoutubeGrabber = require('youtube-grabber-js');

const channelURL = 'https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA';
const channel = YoutubeGrabber.getChannelInfo(channelURL);
console.log(channel);
/*
{
  error: {
    status: false
  },
  
  info: {
    id: 'UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA',
    title: string,
    description: string,
    avatarURL: string,
    subscriberCount: number | false,
    isConfirmed: boolean
  }
}
*/

3.2. Get uploaded videos

The method also has config param. This parameter is responsible for what additional data will be obtained.

{    
  "videos":    true | false,   // Default: false    
  "playlists": true | false    // Default: false    
}   

To get all videos from channel:

const YoutubeGrabber = require('youtube-grabber-js');

const channelURL = 'https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA';
const channel = YoutubeGrabber.getChannelInfo(channelURL, {
  videos: true
});

console.log(channel);
/*
  {
      error: {
          status: false
      },
      info: {
          id: 'UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA',
          title: string,
          description: string,
          avatarURL: string,
          subscriberCount: number | false - If subscribers is private then it false,    
          isConfirmed: boolean,
          videos: [
              {
                  id: string,
                  title: string,
                  youtubeUrl: string,
                  thumbnail: string,
                  dateCreated: Date
              }
        ]
      }
    }
*/

3.3. Get playlists

To get all channel's playlists:

const YoutubeGrabber = require('youtube-grabber-js');

const channelURL = 'https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA';
const channel = YoutubeGrabber.getChannelInfo(channelURL, {
  playlists: true
});

console.log(channel);
/*
  {
      error: {
          status: false
      },
      info: {
          id: 'UCsBjURrPoezykLs9EqgamOA',
          title: string,
          description: string,
          avatarURL: string,
          subscriberCount: number | false - If subscribers is private then it false,    
          isConfirmed: boolean,
          playlists: [
              {
                  id: string,
                  url: string,
                  title: string,
                  thumbnail: string,
                  videosCount: number
              }
        ]
      }
    }
*/

4. Playlist

4.1. Get playlist information

The method getPlaylistInfo(url) provide the basic playlist information with videos

const YoutubeGrabber = require('youtube-grabber-js');

const playlistURL = 'https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfMzBWSH11xaZvhv1X5Fq1H-oMdnAtG6k';
const playlist = YoutubeGrabber.getPlaylistInfo(playlistURL);
console.log(playlist);
/*
{
  error: {
    status: false
  },
  
  info: {
    id: "PLfMzBWSH11xaZvhv1X5Fq1H-oMdnAtG6k",
    title: "string",
    description: "string",
    playlistImage: "string",
    videos: {
      count: number
      payload: [
        {
          id: "string",
          youtubeUrl: "string",
          title: "string",
          thumbnail: "string",
          duration: "string"
        }
      ]
    },
    views: number,
    channel: {
      url: "string",
      name: "string"
    }
  }
}
*/