FOTON
Foton: The easy way to share photos
Nachiket Deo
Ashutosh Pande
Narasimhan Srinivasan
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FOTON
Table of Contents
1.
Motivation
2.
Design Considerations
2.1
Web based versus Desktop application
2.2
User of APIs versus automated logins
3.
Contributions of our project
4.
Foton Architecture
5.
Prototype Implementation
5.1
Snapshot
5.2
Technology
5.3
Challenges
5.3.1 Authentication
5.3.2 Uploading pictures to albums
5.4
6.
Comparison between Flickr and Picasa
Suggested API Framework for image/video distribution
6.1
API signatures for image distribution
6.2
API framework for video distribution
7.
Future Work
8.
References
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1. Motivation
The class lectures on Web 2.0 was the starting point of our application. The concept of Web 2.0
to bring people together using internet based applications which act as distributors of
information greatly appealed to us. Hence we wanted to contribute to the web 2.0 movement
in our own way through our class project.
Online photo albums and photo sharing services have become increasingly popular nowadays.
Each photo sharing website requires the user to create a separate login and password
associated only with that site. A user typically is a member of multiple sites such as Facebook,
Picasa, Flickr, Snapfish etc. However when it comes to sharing content such as photos, she is
faced with the tiresome task of uploading her photos separately to each website. This task is
fully redundant and hence largely disliked by the user. It also limits content sharing and the
visibility of uploaded content thus going against the sharing ethos Web 2.0.
Solving this problem of multiple redundant uploads was the main motivation of developing
Foton. We wanted to develop an application which would allow the user to upload her
photographs directly from her computer to multiple sites of her choice without requiring her to
login to each site individually and upload separately.
2. Design considerations
Two considerations central to our application design were
2.1
Web based versus Desktop application
We decided against making our application web-based because of the following reasons:
1) Our main aim was NOT to provide another photo sharing site. Instead it was to give
the user a platform using which she could seamlessly connect to existing sites and
upload her photos.
2) A web application would cause us to incur cost of storage for storing the images and
maintaining a website. This would be both unnecessary and prohibitive considering
the high amount of image content which can potentially pass through our
application.
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2.2
User of APIs versus automated logins
For our prototype implementation, we decided to target sites with well defined APIs.
We did so because of the technical and in particular, security issues associated with automated
logins.
3. Contribution of our project
•
User can upload to Flickr and Picasa by a simple click.
•
API Framework for uploading images
•
API Framework for uploading videos
4. Foton Architecture
Foton enables users to upload pictures simultaneously to two different photo hosting sites.
Shown below is the high level architecture of the Foton application.
USER
authentication data
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ERROR
NO
authentication
valid?
YES
NO
input picture?
YES
UPLOAD
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picture
Browser
File System
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5. Prototype Implementation
Through Foton we have enabled the user to upload pictures to Picasa and Flickr simultaneously
for now. We detail below the steps involved in doing the same.
Picasa
1. Authenticate: Send username and password obtained from user
2. Find a feed URL - http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/api/user/userID?kind=kinds
3. If the album does not exist create a new album
4. Construct appropriate URL, use client library methods to create new album objects and
use PicasawebService to send the request along with user credentials
5. If the album already exists upload photo to that album
6. Post the new photo (formats bmp, jpg, gif, and png are supported)
Flickr
1. To be done by user:
User obtains APIKey and SharedSecret -> APIKey and SharedSecret required to obtain
Authentication token (User must sign in to Yahoo!) -> MD5(APIKey + SharedSecret +
Authentication Token) used to sign POST requests that contain image data
2. Create POST request (Appendix A)
3. Sign the request with MD5 hash of ApiKey+SharedSecret+AuthToken
4. Covert image file to an array of bytes and include it in the POST
5. Send the POST to URL http://api.flickr.com/services/upload/
6. Receive photo id
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5.1
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Snapshot
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5.2
Technology
We use Java to compose and send HTTP POST requests to Picasa and Flickr. The GUI was done
using Java Swing package.
5.3
Challenges
5.3.1 Authentication
We observe that there is a significant difference in the authentication method for Flickr and
Picasa. Picasa’s method is much more robust and elegant. Our application passes on the
username and password directly to Picasa as opposed to api_key and shared_secret required
by Flickr.
5.3.2 Uploading pictures to albums
Both Picasa and Flickr allow POST requests containing image data. Picasa also enables our
application to work with albums without any hassles. In contrast, Flickr’s approach is not very
straightforward. In Picasa we can directly POST the image to the URL that contains album name
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(optional) as well. If album is not found the picture is automatically stored in default album.
Whereas Flickr forces us to POST all images to one static URL.
5.4 Comparison between Flickr and Picasa
Parameter
Picasa
Authentication
•
Simple but secure procedure
•
Picasa allows login information
to be sent from desktop
Flickr
•
involvement
•
applications
•
This is very convenient for all
•
•
Picasa allows better
•
•
Foton and Foton should take over
from there
•
Only one URL specified to POST
images
management of albums via the
desktop application
Ideally user should enter login
information for each site into
application
Photo Upload
This makes it difficult for naive
users to interact with Foton
users and also for programmers
developing API based
Requires excessive user
•
Desktop applications can
Hence POSTing images to specific
albums is difficult
request list of albums and
photos easily
•
Functionality to upload photos
to specific albums can be
implemented quickly for Picasa
API
documentation
•
Simple and comprehensive
•
Poor and convoluted. Forums are
more helpful than official
documentation.
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6.
Suggested API Framework for image/video distribution
Based on our experience with coding our application, we propose a set of simple API method
signatures which future websites can implement for easy incorporation of their service into
Foton.
6.1
API signatures for image distribution
• Key AuthenticateUserCredentialsForMyWebsite(username,password);
o
This method authenticates the user with the concerned website and returns a key to encrypt
user session for security purposes.
Example: long AuthenticateUserCredentialsForFacebook(String
username,String password)
• Albumlist GetAlbumList(username);
• PhotoList GetListOfPhotos(AlbumID);
• AlbumID CreateNewAlbum (albumName);
• DeleteAlbum(albumName);
• PhotoID UploadPhoto(AlbumID, username,Photo);
• DeletePhoto(PhotoID);
6.2
API framework for video distribution
Based on our design and implementation of Foton and the lessons we have learnt in the
process we would like to propose a simple programmer friendly API development framework
for video distribution. Below we outline the important characteristics.
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•
Authentication
•
Maximum size of the video
•
Video formats supported
•
Maximum videos allowed
•
Albums (optional)
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The general functionality which each video hosting service has to provide will be as follows.
1. Authenticate users. Here we find the Picasa approach to simple authentication
attractive
2. Methods to determine maximum size of video. When we extend Foton to video, we
need to take care of this special restriction which varies from one site to another. Since
videos are involved there is practically no limit to how large the file can be. A user may
want to upload a large sized video to all the sites he has subscribed to. For pictures size
was not an issue as such but for videos many sites impose restrictions on the size of
each video. APIs implementing methods to get the maximum size allowed for each site
are therefore required to report errors.
3. Methods to determine if one has run out of allocated space for a particular site.
4. Methods to determine what formats are supported. In case some video format is not
supported by a site, user can thus take remedial action such as converting his video
from a non-recognized format to an acceptable one.
5. Some sites may allow users to organize videos into albums as it is naturally desired. In
that case, again we find the album functionality offered by Picasa good enough.
A general comment with regards to API development would be the use of error codes. For
example, for points 2, 3 and 4 above which deal with the size restrictions for each video file and
all videos taken together, we can assign error codes which will inform Foton exactly what has
happened rather than Foton calling each method for sanity checks. With error codes, Foton will
directly try to upload the video and if for some reason the site does not allow the new video, it
will return the corresponding error code to Foton.
Below we suggest API signatures for video distribution.
•Key AuthenticateUserCredentialsForMyWebsite(username, password);
o
This method authenticates the user with the concerned website and returns a key to encrypt
user session for security purposes.
Example: long AuthenticateUserCredentialsForFacebook(String
username, String password)
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• Albumlist GetAlbumList(username);
• long getMaximumVideoSize (username);
• long getTotalVideosLimit (username);
• VideoList GetListOfVideos(AlbumID);
• AlbumID CreateNewAlbum (albumName);
• DeleteAlbum(albumName);
• VideoID UploadVideo(AlbumID, username, Video);
• DeleteVideo(VideoID);
7.
Future Work
We aim to extend Foton for other sites (photo and video) and embark on automating login to
sites which do not provide APIs.
8.
References
http://www.flickr.com/services/api
http://code.google.com/apis/picasaweb/overview.html
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