Brightcove Data Source
Brightcove
Create a New Data Flow
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To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Then, select the desired flow type from the list, and click the Create button.
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Select the Brightcove connector tile from the list of available connectors. Then, select the credential that will be used to connect to the Brightcove instance, and click Next; or, create a new Brightcove credential for use in this flow.
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In Nexla, Brightcove data sources can be created using pre-built endpoint templates, which expedite source setup for common Brightcove endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Brightcove endpoint, making source configuration easy and efficient.
• To configure this source using a template, follow the instructions in Configure Using a Template.Brightcove sources can also be configured manually, allowing you to ingest data from Brightcove endpoints not included in the pre-built templates or apply further customizations to exactly suit your needs.
• To configure this source manually, follow the instructions in Configure Manually.
Configure Using a Template
Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Brightcove endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Brightcove endpoint, making data source setup easy and efficient.
Endpoint Settings
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Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below. Click on an endpoint to see more information about it and how to configure your data source for this endpoint.
Endpoint Testing
Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current settings. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.
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To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.
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If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.
Configure Manually
Brightcove data sources can be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Brightcove API endpoint — CMS, Dynamic Ingest, Player Management, Live, Analytics, or any other product surface in the Brightcove API catalog. Manual configuration provides maximum flexibility for endpoints not covered by the pre-built templates or when you need to chain custom queries.
With manual configuration, you can also build more advanced Brightcove sources — for example, sources that paginate against a custom CMS search query, or sources that combine multiple Analytics dimensions with custom filters.
API Method
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To manually configure this source, select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen.
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Select the API method that will be used for calls to the Brightcove API from the Method pulldown menu. Brightcove read endpoints are almost always GET:
- GET: For retrieving data from the API (most CMS, Analytics, and Player Management endpoints)
- POST: For Analytics queries that send a JSON body, or for triggering operations (rare on the read side)
API Endpoint URL
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Enter the URL of the Brightcove API endpoint from which this source will fetch data in the Set API URL field. Include the protocol (
https://) and the full path. Brightcove API hosts vary by product:-
CMS API:
{'https://cms.api.brightcove.com/v1/accounts/{account_id}/...'} -
Analytics API:
{'https://analytics.api.brightcove.com/v1/data?...'} -
Player Management API:
{'https://players.api.brightcove.com/v2/accounts/{account_id}/...'} -
Dynamic Ingest API:
{'https://ingest.api.brightcove.com/v1/accounts/{account_id}/...'} -
Live API:
{'https://api.bcovlive.io/v1/...'}
The credential's Account ID value is substituted into the URL using the macro
{data_credential["brightcove_api.account_id"]}. -
Ensure the API endpoint URL is correct and accessible with the scopes configured on your API Authentication client. You can test the endpoint using the Test button after configuring the URL.
Date/Time Macros (API URL)
Optionally, the API URL can be customized using macros—all macros added to the API URL will be converted into values when Nexla executes the API call. Macros are dynamic placeholders that allow you to create flexible API endpoints that adapt to different time periods, which is essential for incremental Brightcove ingestion (CMS updated_at queries and Analytics date ranges).
Macros are particularly useful for Brightcove Analytics report endpoints and for CMS search queries that filter by updated_at, created_at, or schedule.starts_at ranges.
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To add a macro, type
{at the appropriate position in the API URL (within the Set API URL field), and select the desired macro from the dropdown list.{now}– The current datetime{now-1}– The datetime one time unit before the current datetime{now+1}– The datetime one time unit after the current datetimecustom– Datetime macros can reference any number of time units before or after the current datetime—for example, enter(now-4)to indicate the datetime four time units before the current datetime
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Select the format that will be applied to datetime macros from the Date Format for Date/Time Macro pulldown menu. For the Brightcove CMS API, use
yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'(ISO 8601 with UTC indicator). For the Analytics API, useyyyy-MM-dd. -
Select the datetime unit that will be used to perform mathematical operations in the included macro(s) from the Time Unit for Operations pulldown menu—for example, when
Dayis selected,{now-1}will be converted to the datetime one day before the current datetime.
Lookup-Based Macros (API URL)
Column values from existing lookups can also be included as macros in the API URL. Lookup-based macros allow you to reference data from previously configured data sources or lookups — useful for building chained Brightcove flows (for example, iterating over the Video IDs from Get Videos to retrieve renditions for each one).
Lookup-based macros are useful for building per-video, per-playlist, or per-folder source flows that fan out from a parent listing.
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To include a lookup column value macro, select the relevant lookup from the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.
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Type
{at the appropriate position in the API URL, and select the lookup column-based macro from the dropdown list. Lookup-based macros are automatically populated into the macro list when a lookup is selected in the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.
Path to Data
If only a subset of the data returned by the API endpoint is needed, you can designate the part(s) of the response that should be included in the Nexset(s) produced from this source by specifying the path to the relevant data within the response. Brightcove response shapes vary by product — CMS endpoints typically return a top-level array, while Analytics and Player Management return an object with the records nested under a key.
For example, the Brightcove Analytics API returns the data array under $.items[*], while the Player Management API returns players under $.items[*], and most CMS list endpoints return a top-level array (path $[*]).
Path to Data is essential when API responses have nested structures. Without specifying the correct path, Nexla might not be able to properly parse and organize your data into usable records.
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To specify which data should be treated as relevant in responses from this source, enter the path to the relevant data in the Set Path to Data in Response field.
- For responses in JSON format (every Brightcove API endpoint), enter the JSON path that points to the object or array that should be treated as relevant data. JSON paths use dot notation (e.g.,
$.items[*]for Analytics and Player Management,$[*]for most CMS list endpoints).
Path to Data Examples:- CMS list endpoints (videos, playlists, folders):
$[*] - CMS get-single endpoints (video by ID, digital master):
$ - Analytics report endpoints:
$.items[*] - Player Management list endpoints:
$.items[*] - Custom fields:
$.custom_fields[*]
- For responses in JSON format (every Brightcove API endpoint), enter the JSON path that points to the object or array that should be treated as relevant data. JSON paths use dot notation (e.g.,
Autogenerate Path Suggestions
Nexla can also autogenerate data path suggestions based on the response from the API endpoint. These suggested paths can be used as-is or modified to exactly suit your needs.
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To use this feature, click the Test button next to the Set API URL field to fetch a sample response from the API endpoint. Suggested data paths generated based on the content & format of the response will be displayed in the Suggestions box below the Set Path to Data in Response field.
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Click on a suggestion to automatically populate the Set Path to Data in Response field with the corresponding path. The populated path can be modified directly within the field if further customization is needed.
Metadata
If metadata is included in the response but is located outside of the defined path to relevant data, you can configure Nexla to include this data as common metadata in each record. This is useful for Brightcove Analytics responses, where the top-level summary object contains report-wide totals that may be valuable on each row.
For example, an Analytics report response contains the records under $.items[*] and a summary object with totals at the root. Setting the metadata path to $.summary attaches those totals to each generated record.
Metadata paths are particularly useful for preserving Brightcove report context like summary totals, request timestamps, or pagination metadata that applies to all records in the response.
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To specify the location of metadata that should be included with each record, enter the path to the relevant metadata in the Path to Metadata in Response field.
- For responses in JSON format, enter the JSON path to the object or array that contains the metadata.
Request Headers
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If Nexla should include any additional request headers in API calls to this source, enter the headers & corresponding values as comma-separated pairs in the Request Headers field (e.g.,
header1:value1,header2:value2). For Brightcove, the most common manual headers areContent-Type: application/jsonfor POST queries, andAccept: application/jsonfor endpoints that return XML by default.You do not need to include any headers already present in the credentials. The OAuth
Authorization: Bearer ...header is added automatically by Nexla based on the configured Brightcove credential.
Endpoint Testing
After configuring all settings for the selected endpoint, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current configuration. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.
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To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.
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If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.
Save & Activate the Source
- Once all of the relevant steps in the above sections have been completed, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Brightcove data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.