Quickstart: Search for videos using the Bing Video Search REST API and Node.js

Article
05/22/2020

Warning

On October 30, 2020, the Bing Search APIs moved from Azure AI services to Bing Search Services. This documentation is provided for reference only. For updated documentation, see the Bing search API documentation. For instructions on creating new Azure resources for Bing search, see Create a Bing Search resource through the Azure Marketplace.

Use this quickstart to make your first call to the Bing Video Search API. This simple JavaScript application sends an HTTP video search query to the API, and displays the JSON response. Although this application is written in JavaScript and uses Node.js, the API is a RESTful Web service compatible with most programming languages.

The source code for this sample is available on GitHub with additional error handling, and code annotations.

Prerequisites

Node.js.
The Request module for JavaScript. Install this module by using npm install request.

Create an Azure resource

Start using the Bing Video Search API by creating one of the following Azure resources:

Bing Search v7 resource

Available through the Azure portal until you delete the resource.
Use the free pricing tier to try the service, and upgrade later to a paid tier for production.

Multi-service resource

Available through the Azure portal until you delete the resource.
Use the same key and endpoint for your applications, across multiple Azure AI services.

Initialize the application

Create a new JavaScript file in your favorite IDE or editor. Set the strictness and add the following requirement:
```
'use strict';
let https = require('https');
```
Create variables for your API endpoint, subscription key, and search term. For the host value, you can use the global endpoint in the following code, or use the custom subdomain endpoint displayed in the Azure portal for your resource.
```
let subscriptionKey = 'enter key here';
let host = 'api.cognitive.microsoft.com';
let path = '/bing/v7.0/videos/search';
let term = 'kittens';
```

Create a response handler

Create a function called response_handler to take a JSON response from the API. Create a variable for the response body. Append the response when a data flag is received by using response.on().
```
let response_handler = function (response) {
    let body = '';
    response.on('data', function (d) {
        body += d;
    });
};
```

In this function, use response.on() when end is signaled to store the bing-related headers (starting with bingapis or x-msedge-). Parse the JSON using JSON.parse(), convert it to a string with JSON.stringify(), and print it.

response.on('end', function () {
    for (var header in response.headers)
        // header keys are lower-cased by Node.js
        if (header.startsWith("bingapis-") || header.startsWith("x-msedge-"))
             console.log(header + ": " + response.headers[header]);
    body = JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(body), null, '  ');
    //JSON Response body
    console.log(body);
});

Create and send the search request

Create a function called bing_video_search(). Add the parameters for your request including your host name, and headers. Encode your search term and append it to your path parameter with the ?q= parameter. Then, send the request with req.end().

let bing_video_search = function (search_term) {
  console.log('Searching videos for: ' + term);
let request_params = {
    method : 'GET',
    hostname : host,
    path : path + '?q=' + encodeURIComponent(search_term),
    headers : {
        'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key' : subscriptionKey,
        }
    };
    let req = https.request(request_params,
      response_handler);
    req.end();
}

JSON response

A successful response is returned in JSON, as shown in the following example:

{
    "_type": "Videos",
    "instrumentation": {},
    "readLink": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/videos/search?q=kittens",
    "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=kittens",
    "totalEstimatedMatches": 1000,
    "value": [
        {
            "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=kittens&view=...",
            "name": "Top 10 cute kitten videos compilation",
            "description": "HELP HOMELESS ANIMALS AND WIN A PRIZE BY CHOOSING...",
            "thumbnailUrl": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVP.n1aE_Oikl4MtzBb...",
            "datePublished": "2014-11-12T22:47:36.0000000",
            "publisher": [
                {
                    "name": "Fabrikam"
                }
            ],
            "creator": {
                "name": "Marcus Appel"
            },
            "isAccessibleForFree": true,
            "contentUrl": "https://www.fabrikam.com/watch?v=8HVWitAW-Qg",
            "hostPageUrl": "https://www.fabrikam.com/watch?v=8HVWitAW-Qg",
            "encodingFormat": "h264",
            "hostPageDisplayUrl": "https://www.fabrikam.com/watch?v=8HVWitAW-Qg",
            "width": 480,
            "height": 360,
            "duration": "PT3M52S",
            "motionThumbnailUrl": "https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OM.j4QyJAENJphdZQ_1501386166&pid=Api",
            "embedHtml": "<iframe width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" src=\"https://www.fabrikam.com/embed/8HVWitAW-Qg?autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>",
            "allowHttpsEmbed": true,
            "viewCount": 7513633,
            "thumbnail": {
                "width": 300,
                "height": 168
            },
            "videoId": "655D98260D012432848F6558260D012432848F",
            "allowMobileEmbed": true,
            "isSuperfresh": false
        },
        . . .
    ],
    "nextOffset": 36,
    "queryExpansions": [
        {
            "text": "Kittens Meowing",
            "displayText": "Meowing",
            "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Kittens+Meowing...",
            "searchLink": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/videos/search...",
            "thumbnail": {
                "thumbnailUrl": "https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?q=Kittens+Meowing&pid..."
            }
        },
        {
            "text": "Funny Kittens",
            "displayText": "Funny",
            "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Funny+Kittens...",
            "searchLink": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/videos/search...",
            "thumbnail": {
                "thumbnailUrl": "https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?q=Funny+Kittens&..."
            }
        },
        . . .
    ],
    "pivotSuggestions": [
        {
            "pivot": "kittens",
            "suggestions": [
                {
                    "text": "Cat",
                    "displayText": "Cat",
                    "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Cat...",
                    "searchLink": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/videos/search?...",
                    "thumbnail": {
                        "thumbnailUrl": "https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?q=Cat&pid=Api..."
                    }
                },
                {
                    "text": "Feral Cat",
                    "displayText": "Feral Cat",
                    "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Feral+Cat...",
                    "searchLink": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/videos/search...",
                    "thumbnail": {
                        "thumbnailUrl": "https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?q=Feral+Cat&pid=Api&..."
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "relatedSearches": [
        {
            "text": "Kittens Being Born",
            "displayText": "Kittens Being Born",
            "webSearchUrl": "https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Kittens+Being+Born...",
            "searchLink": "https://api.cognitive.microsoft.com/api/v7/videos/search?...",
            "thumbnail": {
                "thumbnailUrl": "https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?q=Kittens+Being+Born&pid=..."
            }
        },
        . . .
    ]
}

Next steps

Build a single-page web app