Document passing `body` via `client.request()` (using `query` and `headers['Content-Type']`)

[karlhorky]

Hi there, thanks for this library!

I'm just trying to pass a "Body" option active: true to a new thumbnail, which is mentioned in the API documentation for POST https://api.vimeo.com/videos/{video_id}/pictures (see below)

The numbered comments in the code block below show all of the *non-working* things I've tried (I tried them one by one, on their own):

import { Vimeo } from '@vimeo/vimeo';

const client = new Vimeo(VIMEO_CLIENT_ID, VIMEO_CLIENT_SECRET, VIMEO_ACCESS_TOKEN);

client.request(
  {
    method: 'POST',
    // 1. Pass via query
    path: `/videos/${vimeoVideoId}/pictures?active=true`,

    // 2. Pass via `body` string
    body: JSON.stringify({ active: true }),

    // 3. Pass via `body` object
    body: { active: true },

    // 4. Pass via `query`
    query: { active: true },

    // 5. Pass via `params`
    params: { active: true },    
  },
  (error, response) => {
    if (error) {
      console.log('error', error);
    }

    console.log('response', response);
  },
);

I don't see the body documented anywhere... is there a way to do this with the client?

[karlhorky]

The closest thing I can see is this in the tests:

vimeo.js/test/lib/vimeo_test.js

Lines 481 to 486 in cb62cb6

	it('sends body as JSON if content type is application/json', async () => {
	await vimeo.request({ method: 'POST', path: '/path', query: { a: 'b' }, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } })
	sinon.assert.calledOnce(mockHttpsRequest)
	sinon.assert.calledWith(mockHttpsRequest, sinon.match({ body: '{"a":"b"}' }))
	})

But using headers['Content-Type'] of 'application/json' with a query object also does not set the new thumbnail to active: true 😬

import { Vimeo } from '@vimeo/vimeo';

const client = new Vimeo(VIMEO_CLIENT_ID, VIMEO_CLIENT_SECRET, VIMEO_ACCESS_TOKEN);

client.request(
  {
    method: 'POST',
    path: `/videos/${vimeoVideoId}/pictures`,
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    query: { active: true },
  },
  (error, response) => {
    if (error) {
      console.log('error', error);
    }

    console.log('response', response);
  },
);

[karlhorky]

Ohh, it seems that it's an unusual behavior of the Vimeo API:

⚠️⚠️ If you don't specify time along with active in the body, then active is silently ignored 🤔

Solution code incoming (I will also link to the few other posts which are asking how to create thumbnails)

[karlhorky]

Add a new thumbnail at 0 seconds of a video

If you uploaded a new video, and want to set a new thumbnail at 0 seconds of the video:

import { Vimeo } from '@vimeo/vimeo';

const client = new Vimeo(VIMEO_CLIENT_ID, VIMEO_CLIENT_SECRET, VIMEO_ACCESS_TOKEN);

client.request(
  {
    method: 'POST',
    path: `/videos/${vimeoVideoId}/pictures`,
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    query: {
      active: true, // Make this the active thumbnail
      time: 0, // Time offset in seconds from start of video
    },
  },
  (error, response) => {
    if (error) {
      console.log('error', error);
    }

    console.log('response', response);
  },
);

[karlhorky]

I renamed this issue to be about documentation, because this approach of passing the body via the query property and needing to also set headers['Content-Type'] to 'application/json' was pretty hidden.

This basic use case should probably be documented front and center on the documentation for this library.

Maybe on Vimeo Developer: Node.js Library Examples

[filipegorges]

So many hours lost trying to figure this out, thank you, it's a shame that you brought this up over a year ago and it's still not updated on the documentation