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Content ID for Web

Introduction

The content ID is an identifier used by our backend to match Mesh sources that are watching the same content. It is an optional parameter, and by default, we generate contentId from the content URL by removing any query parameters and protocol from it.

contentIdGenerator   - function (optional)

The default contentIdGenerator option is a function that generates a content ID from the content URL.

 

In some cases, you may need to implement your own content ID generation logic.

 

  • You must ensure that this function returns a string that identifies the content in a truly unique manner. Any ambiguity may result in matching Mesh sources that are not watching the same content together.

  • We require the content identified by the same ID to be packaged identically. If packaging is handled at the origin, and edges are used as merely caches, it should be fine. On the other hand, if you are packaging at the edge, content coming from different edge servers must not be identified as the same content. We therefore advise using default ID generation logic only (full URL without the query string).

  • Be careful about elements non-related to the content in your ID. For example, if you derive your content ID from its URL and you have a user-specific token in your query string, you must strip that token from the ID. Similarly, if you have query parameters identifying the device, you'll want to remove them if your content is packaged identically for all devices but keep it if the content is different for mobile and desktop
     

Generic example

Create your own function.

                function contentIdFn(contentUrl) {
     // your own function logic
}

Then, pass the result in the wrapper constructor or the player conf object.

                var dnaConfig = {
	"contentIdGenerator" : contentIdFn
};

If not defined, Mesh Delivery will fall back to the default implementation.  

Specific examples

1. Your content can be identified from the content URL path

Typical use cases: Multi-CDN or your own edge servers.

                function contentIdFn(contentUrl) {
    var l = document.createElement("a");
    l.href = contentUrl;
    return l.pathname;
}

var dnaConfig = { 
   "contentIdGenerator" : contentIdFn
};

In our example, we only consider the URL path (we remove the URL host and query parameters).

2. Your content can be identified from a parameter from an external source

Typical use cases: content ID from your backend, or from outside of the player scope

                var contentID="external content id";
function contentIdFn(contentUrl) {
   return contentID;
}

var dnaConfig = { 
   "contentIdGenerator" : contentIdFn
};

In our example, we first store the content ID in a variable; we then create a function that will return this variable.