Embedding Cast + Guests + Crew @ Season Level

To expand on the above request, would it be possible to add start time to filter the update endpoint? 

http://api.tvmaze.com/updates/shows?from=xxx

Where xxx would be a unix timestamp (inclusive) and it would would only return shows that were modification >= xxx?

Is there any chance to extend this to support show episodes as well? So if a call to the first episode returns show 1 has changed, I could call the episode one in a similar fashion to see which episodes change.

http://api.tvmaze.com/updates/show/:id (1)/episodes?from=xxx

As it stands now there doesn't seem to an updated field present on the episode record which makes it a little harder to sort out if something has changed.

For the show episode point is it possible to add the votes to the section that contains the average rating?

Thanks so much for your compliments! :-)

I'm noting your request to add episode cast/crew to the API, as well as exposing the vote count.

Adding a filter to the updates endpoint is one of those things that's unlikely to happen in the public API for performance reasons; it would mean the endpoint can no longer be cached but has to be generated dynamically for each request. I understand that it'd be a very useful change and I'd love to make it, but in order to keep our API free despite the enormous and ever-increasing amount of requests it gets, we have to be very conscious about decisions like these.

@david wrote:
Thanks so much for your compliments! :-)

I'm noting your request to add episode cast/crew to the API, as well as exposing the vote count.

Adding a filter to the updates endpoint is one of those things that's unlikely to happen in the public API for performance reasons; it would mean the endpoint can no longer be cached but has to be generated dynamically for each request. I understand that it'd be a very useful change and I'd love to make it, but in order to keep our API free despite the enormous and ever-increasing amount of requests it gets, we have to be very conscious about decisions like these.

I forgot about the caching layer that sits in front of the requests. Makes total sense to have a single page Otherwise like you said it makes it require custom requests.

In terms of checking for updated episodes can an updated field be added to the episode entry? One would still use the show updates endpoint to figure out which shoes require checking. The fetch all show episodes endpoint would then be used and the updated field can be checked to see which episodes need updating. I assume providing an episode update endpoint wouldn’t be possible due to the episode count.

Out of curiosity how does one check for cast / crew updates?

My offer to help still stands as well.

@mossman1120 wrote:
In terms of checking for updated episodes can an updated field be added to the episode entry? One would still use the show updates endpoint to figure out which shoes require checking. The fetch all show episodes endpoint would then be used and the updated field can be checked to see which episodes need updating. I assume providing an episode update endpoint wouldn’t be possible due to the episode count.

The update timestamp is actually only tracked on the show level. The reason is that the API output for an episode can change even because of a change elsewhere in a show, not just because of changes to the episode itself. (For example, changing a season's network can affect the airstamp of all episodes in that season; or changing one episode's airdate can affect the ordering of a special in that season). So whenever the show has been updated, you should clear your local cache for the show and all episodes under it. 

@david wrote:
The update timestamp is actually only tracked on the show level. The reason is that the API output for an episode can change even because of a change elsewhere in a show, not just because of changes to the episode itself. (For example, changing a season's network can affect the airstamp of all episodes in that season; or changing one episode's airdate can affect the ordering of a special in that season). So whenever the show has been updated, you should clear your local cache for the show and all episodes under it. 

Thanks for that clarification. I apologize if any of these are n00b questions. Just trying to sort out implementing details between how I did things with TVDB and what needs to change to use TV Maze.

Not to be pushy or anything, just curious on what the turn around time is for those previous changes? No rush, just curious or if there is a timeline page I can refer to.

For the image endpoint is there a reason that main is only set to true for the poster image and not for banners and backgrounds?

@mossman1120 wrote:
For the image endpoint is there a reason that main is only set to true for the poster image and not for banners and backgrounds?

You can only have 1 main image on a show and you can only set a poster to be the main image that's displayed across the site.

It's not 'this is the main background / typography / etc.'

@mossman1120 wrote:
Not to be pushy or anything, just curious on what the turn around time is for those previous changes? No rush, just curious or if there is a timeline page I can refer to.

David can if he wants, but we don't generally give estimates or timelines.

There's a lot of work planned in various areas of the site.

@gazza911 wrote:
You can only have 1 main image on a show and you can only set a poster to be the main image that's displayed across the site.

It's not 'this is the main background / typography / etc.'

Ah okay, so there isn't a preferred "banner", "background", and "typographies" image, only a "poster". Seems like it might be nice to have a "preferred" image for each category for display purposes.

I was looking at the images for the show "The Expanse" and noticed that some of the images have text in different languages. Are there any plans to include and bubble up languages on the images?

Under the image section, for the images, would it be possible to return the size or at least list what the normalized dimensions are for the "medium" images?

@gazza911 wrote:
David can if he wants, but we don't generally give estimates or timelines.

There's a lot of work planned in various areas of the site.

So noted. Just trying to figure out my migration timeline.

For a show like Firefly that has the aired (broken) order and the dvd (correct) order, are there any plans to return that information in the API either with a episodes by dvd order or via some flag on the existing episodes by number endpoint? I saw a post about alternative ordering list for the show but I don't see that in the api anywhere.

As I mentioned before I am happy to help out if you need it. I don't want to seem like I am just complaining / asking for things without an offer of help.

@mossman1120 wrote:
Thanks for that clarification. I apologize if any of these are n00b questions. Just trying to sort out implementing details between how I did things with TVDB and what needs to change to use TV Maze.

Not to be pushy or anything, just curious on what the turn around time is for those previous changes? No rush, just curious or if there is a timeline page I can refer to.

No problem at all, ask away as much as you want :)

I can't really tell you anything about a timeline though, there's pretty much an infinite amount of wishes but only little time to go around. But in general, we prioritize the features that are requested most frequently.

@mossman1120 wrote:
Ah okay, so there isn't a preferred "banner", "background", and "typographies" image, only a "poster". Seems like it might be nice to have a "preferred" image for each category for display purposes.

I was looking at the images for the show "The Expanse" and noticed that some of the images have text in different languages. Are there any plans to include and bubble up languages on the images?

Under the image section, for the images, would it be possible to return the size or at least list what the normalized dimensions are for the "medium" images?

FWIW, the intention was to eventually support this based on the amounts of upvotes/downvotes that the images get, but I haven't seen enough votes on images to make that representative. Might be a bit of a chicken-egg situation though..

The dimensions of the medium image thumbnail are always exactly the same.

@mossman1120 wrote:
For a show like Firefly that has the aired (broken) order and the dvd (correct) order, are there any plans to return that information in the API either with a episodes by dvd order or via some flag on the existing episodes by number endpoint? I saw a post about alternative ordering list for the show but I don't see that in the api anywhere.

As I mentioned before I am happy to help out if you need it. I don't want to seem like I am just complaining / asking for things without an offer of help.

Please check out https://www.tvmaze.com/threads/4542/alpha-api-for-alternate-airdates and share your thoughts :) This is already implemented as alpha, but it's pending sufficient feedback.

(Thanks for the offer to help, I think the best thing you can do to help is exactly this: engage in the community, encourage other people to do the same, test new features, give feedback on existing ones)