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collection.create

Uploads a single PDF document and creates a collection with a single item (flipbook).

Note: Requests must be made to https://upload.flipsnack.com/v1.

Once the upload has finished, the collection is created and the PDF document starts the conversion process. Converting a PDF document into a flipbook might take up to several minutes, depending on the size of the document.

The API method will return a response as soon as the document is finished uploading. You can check the status of the collection item using the collection.getCollection method. It will let you know if the document is still converting, has finished conversion, or if the conversion process has failed.

Once the API call is successful, even if the document fails to convert, the request is counted in the monthly upload counts. If the request fails, the request is not taken into consideration for the monthly upload counts.

Request parameters

Name

Type

Description

apiKey (required)

string

The API key provided for your user. If it is not specified, the request will return the error code "30 - Missing mandatory parameter". If the key is incorrect the request returns the error code "41 - Invalid credentials".

signature (required)

string

The signature must be calculated by you and added to the request. See How to sign a request for more information.If the parameter is missing the request will return the error code "30 - Missing mandatory parameter". If the signature is incorrect the request will return the error code "44 - Invalid signature".

action (required)

string

The API method that should be called. In this case the value should be collection.create. If it is not specified, the request will return the error code "30 - Missing mandatory parameter".

file (required)

file

The PDF document that should be uploaded. Documents can be uploaded either using a local file, through the file parameter, or from an external URL, using the fileUrl parameter. You must specify at least one of them. If both parameters are specified, the API will take into consideration only the file parameter. If neither file or fileUrl are specified the request will return the error code "30 - Missing mandatory parameter".

Also, file uploads are bound to API limitations.

fileUrl (required)

string

The URL of a PDF document. Documents can be uploaded either using a local file, through the file parameter, or from an external URL, using the fileUrl parameter. You must specify at least one of them. If both parameters are specified, the API will take into consideration only the file parameter. If neither file or fileUrl are specified the request will return the error code "30 - Missing mandatory parameter".

Also, file uploads are bound to API limitations.

title

string

The title of the collection. This title will appear on the collection's direct link and in the My Collections page. By default, if a title is not given, Flipsnack will try to extract the title from the uploaded document.

description

string

The description of the collection. By default, during the conversion process, Flipsnack extracts the first few words from the document. You can overwrite that description with yours, using this parameter.

collectionWidth

number

The embed width of the player (measured in pixels). Default: 650.

collectionHeight

number

The embed height of the player (measured in pixels). Default: 385.

collectionStatus

string

The type of collection. Possible values are public, editable and unlisted. Public collections are listed on your public profile and in search results.They are publicly available to other users. Editable collections are not published. They must be published manually from the Flipsnack editor or have their status updated using the collection.update method. Unlisted collections are published but not listed on your profile page and in search results. Other users may view them only if they receive a direct link or an embedded player from you. Note: Once a collection receives the public status, it cannot be changed to unlisted, even if the current status is set to editable. But unlisted collections can be changed to public collections. Default: public.

showControls

boolean

If set to true, then the navigation controls will be displayed in normal mode Default: false.

enableDownload

boolean

If set to true, displays the download button in the player menu. The menu is displayed only when the player is in fullscreen. Default: true.

enablePrint

boolean

If set to true, displays the print button in the player menu. The menu is displayed when the player is in fullscreen. Default: true.

enableFullScreen

boolean

If set to true, allows the player to enter fullscreen mode. Default: true.

enableSearch

boolean

If set to true, displays the search button in the player menu. The menu is displayed only when the player is in fullscreen. If there is no text to search within the current collection, the search button is displayed, but disabled. Default: true.

tooltipsLanguage

string

Selects the language for the tooltips displayed in the player. Possible languages are: Basque, Bosanski, Català, Czech, Dansk, Deutsch, English, Español, כשר, Française, ελληνικά, Hrvatski, Indonesian, Italiano, Magyar, Nederlands, Nederlands, Norsk, Polski, Português, Português do Brasil, Română, Pусский, Cрпски, Slovene, Suomi, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish. Default: English.

background

string

The background color of the player. Possible values are color and transparent. If set to transparent, the player is displayed with no background. Background color value can be set using the color parameter, explained below. Default: color.

color

string

The background color of the player, specified as a hexadecimal value. If the background is set to transparent, the player will ignore the color parameter. Default: 444444.

autoFlip

boolean

If set to true, allows the player to automatically turn the pages of the flipbook. The pages turn after a time specified by the autoFlipDelay parameter. Default false.

autoFlipDelay

number

Specifies the time in seconds for pages to turn automatically. If autoFlip is false, this parameter is ignored. Default: 6.

rightToLeftOrientation

boolean

If set to true, allows the flipbook to be viewed from right to left:the first page is starts from the end, as viewed in normal mode. This option is useful for documents written in right to left languages. Default: false.

singlePageView

boolean

If set to true, allows the flipbook to be viewed a single page at a time. Default: false.

logoUrl

string

The URL of the logo image. A logo image can be set only by uploading it with the collection.setLogo method.

folder

string

The folder path where the collection will be added in your account.

  • A folder name must contain only english letters, digits and spaces. Also a folder name must start and end with a letter or a digit, not a space.

  • The folder name is case insensitive. "My Folder" will be the same with "my folder".

  • If the parameter is not specified or empty string is provided the collection will be displayed on main folder (root).

  • The path must not include first or last slash character (/).

  • Eg: folder1

You can specify a folder structure up to 3 levels.

  • If a deeper folder is specified, it will be ignored.

  • in a structure, folder names must be separated with a slash character (/).

  • Eg: folder1/folder2/folder3

If the folder already exists in your account the collection will be added in that folder, otherwise the folder structure will be created and, after that, the collection will be added in that folder.

Response parameters

If the upload is successful, the API call returns information about the collection which was just created.

Name

Type

Description

collectionHash

string

The hash for the newly created collection. If the collection status is editable the generated hash will be temporary. Once the collection is published, a new, final hash will be generated for it.

collectionTitle

string

The title of the collection.

collectionDescription

string

The description of the collection. It can be specified in the creation parameters or generated by the conversion system.

collectionStatus

string

The current status of the collection: public, editable or unlisted.

coverImage

string

The url of the collection's thumbnail image. This thumbnail is generated from the first page of the first collection item.

collectionPageCount

number

The number of pages in the collection, for all the collection items.

createdDate

date

The date when the collection was created (not necessarily published).

publishDate

date

The date when the collection was published.

directLink

string

The public link of the collection.

flipbookPageCount

number

The number of pages of the collection item. For collections created with the API, collectionPageCount and flipbookPageCount should have the same value.

flipbookStatus

string

The status of the flipbook. Possible values are

  • processing: the document is still converting;

  • complete: the document was converted successfully;

  • failed: the conversion process failed.

Converting a PDF document is a time consuming process. You can check the status of a flipbook at a few seconds intervals by using the collection.getCollection method. The requests to collection.getCollection should be made until the flipbook has completed or failed converting.

settings

object

An object containing the configuration parameters of the collection, as set from the API call. See the list below.

collectionItems

array

The list of collection items belonging to the collection. In case of collections created using the API, the list contains a single item. The parameters of the collection item are listed below.

Configuration parameters

Name

Type

Description

collectionWidth

number

The embed width of the player (measured in pixels).

collectionHeight

number

The embed height of the player (measured in pixels).

collectionStatus

string

The type of collection. Possible values are public, editable and unlisted. Public collections are listed on your public profile and in search results. They are publicly available to other users. Editable collections are not published. They must be published manually from the Flipsnack editor or updated using the collection.update method. Unlisted collections are published but not listed on your profile page and in search results. Other users may view them only if they receive a direct link or an embedded player from you.

enableDownload

boolean

If set to true, displays the download button in the player menu. The menu is displayed only when the player is in fullscreen.

enableFullScreen

boolean

If set to true, allows the player to enter fullscreen mode.

enableSearch

boolean

If set to true, displays the search button in the player menu. If there is no text to search within the current collection item, the search button is displayed as disabled.

tooltipsLanguage

string

Selects the language for the tooltips displayed in the player. Possible languages are: Basque, Bosanski, Català, Czech, Dansk, Deutsch, English, Español, כשר, Française, ελληνικά, Hrvatski, Indonesian, Italiano, Magyar, Nederlands, Nederlands, Norsk, Polski, Português, Português do Brasil, Română, Pусский, Cрпски, Slovene, Suomi, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish.

transparentBackground

boolean

If set to true, the player is displayed with no background.

backgroundColor

string

The background color of the player, specified as a hexadecimal value. If the transparentBackground is set to true, the player will ignore the backgroundColor parameter.

backgroundScaleType

string

The scale mode of images used as background for the player. Possible values are scaleCrop, center and tile. Background images can be set using the collection.setBackgroundImage method.

autoFlip

boolean

If set to true, allows the player to automatically turn the pages of the flipbook. The pages turn after a time specified by the autoFlipDelay parameter.

autoFlipDelay

number

Specifies the time in seconds for pages to turn automatically. If autoFlip is false, this parameter is ignored.

rightToLeftOrientation

boolean

If set to true, allows the flipbook to be viewed from right to left: the first page is starts from the end as viewed in normal mode. This option is useful for documents written in right to left languages.

singlePageView

boolean

If set to true, allows the flipbook to be viewed a single page at a time.

logoUrl (DEPRECATED)

string

The URL of the logo image. A logo image can be set only by uploading it with the collection.setLogo method.

shareFacebook (DEPRECATED)

boolean

If set to true, the player displays a Facebook sharing option in the player menu, in fullscreen mode.

shareTwitter (DEPRECATED)

boolean

If set to true, the player displays a Twitter sharing option in the player menu, in fullscreen mode.

shareGooglePlus (DEPRECATED)

boolean

If set to true, the player displays a Google+ sharing option in the player menu, in fullscreen mode.

sharePinterest (DEPRECATED)

boolean

If set to true, the player displays a Pinterest sharing option in the player menu, in fullscreen mode.

shareEmail (DEPRECATED)

boolean

If set to true, the player displays an email sharing option in the player menu, in fullscreen mode.

shareLinkText (DEPRECATED)

string

The link opened from the link sharing option, within the player. By default, this link is the direct link of the collection.

Collection item parameters

Name

Type

Description

flipbookHash

string

The hash generated for the collection item.

flipbookPageCount

number

The number of pages of the collection item.

flipbookTitle

string

The title of the flipbook.

flipbookDescription

string

The description of the flipbook.

extension

string

The extension of the document that the flipbook is based on. Extensions can be pdf, jpg or png.

convertStatus

string

The status of the flipbook specifies if it has finished converting or if it is still in the process of conversion. Possible values are PROCESSING, FAILED and COMPLETE.

Error codes

For a complete list of error codes and messages go to API status codes section.

Examples

Request

# POST
curl -X POST "https://upload.flipsnack.com/v1/" \
     -F 'file=@"mydocs/document.pdf";filename="document.pdf"' \
     -F "action=collection.create" \
     -F "apiKey=<YOUR-API-KEY>" \
     -F "collectionStatus=public" \
     -F "title=Lore Ipsim" \
     -F "signature=<YOUR-REQUEST-SIGNATURE>"

Response

{
    "code": 20,
    "status": "OK",
    "data": {
        "collectionHash": "d3m0h45h",
        "collectionTitle": "Lorem ipsum",
        "collectionStatus": "published",
        "coverImage": "https://cdn.flipsnack.com/collections/items/7c5e600d4459fe4e04d23ae5ei188777/covers/page_1/medium",
        "directLink": "https://www.flipsnack.com/user/lorem-ipsum.html",
        "createdDate": "2015-06-09 01:43:05",
        "publishDate": "2015-06-09 01:43:07",
        "collectionPageCount": 2,
        "collectionItems": [
            {
                "flipbookHash": "7c5e600d4459fe4e04d23ae5ei188777",
                "flipbookPageCount": "2",
                "flipbookTitle": "Lorem ipsum",
                "flipbookDescription": "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
                "extension": "pdf",
                "convertStatus": "COMPLETE"
            }
        ],
        "settings": {
            "collectionWidth": "640",
            "collectionHeight": "385",
            "enableFullScreen": "true"
        }
    }
}
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