API_KEY

MOVIE_ID

CREDIT_ID

TV_ID

EXTERNAL_ID

PERSON_ID

EXTERNAL_SOURCE

Gain insights into using The Movie Database API in Python to retrieve movie and TV data, including titles, cast, reviews, and create a Django app with integrated TMDB functionalities.

Integrate The Movie Database API in Python.png

TheMovieDB.tar.gz

demo-app

The Movie Database (TMDB) is a popular crowdsourced database for movies and TV shows. TMDB’s API enables us to incorporate functions—usually reserved for leading movie-related websites—into your own application.

This course is a hands-on guide on how to use the TMDB API to programmatically retrieve movie and television show data. You’ll look up essential production data such as title, release date, cast and crew, as well as associated media files like trailer videos and stills. You’ll also pull movie and TV show reviews, and associated productions to make recommendations. With time-bound queries, you’ll be able to display the latest data on movies and TV shows, including upcoming releases. Moreover, you’ll look up actors, directors, producers, and other crew members to find their production catalogs. After reviewing the various potential search functions of the Movie Database API, you’ll wrap up the course by building a Django application that integrates TMDB API.

Integrate The Movie Database API in Python

We gained hands-on experience with The Movie Database API endpoints in the previous chapters. Now, we'll integrate those endpoints into a real-world application.

# Workflow

1. When we run the application, the first page we see is the home page. The home page has two main components using the API endpoints—the navigation bar, and flashcards.
2. For flashcards, by hovering over them, we can see some basic details of a movie or a TV show. When we click “View Details,” it takes us to the movie or the TV show details page.
3. The various options shown in the navigation bar (to the left side of the webpage) are discussed below:
    * “MovieTV” or “Home” take us to the home page if we are not already there.
    * “Movies” takes us to the movies page, where we can see the latest, trending, popular, top-rated, upcoming, and currently playing movies.
    * “TV Shows” takes us to the TV page, where we can see the latest, trending, popular, top-rated, airing today, and on the air TV Shows.
    * “People” takes us to the persons page, where we can see all the popular persons on TMDB.
4. For the navigation bar (right side), we have to select the object to be searched, movie, TV show, or person, then we type in our query in the search bar and finally click the search button or press enter. This takes us to the results page.

# API endpoints in use

We have used endpoints in the `views.py` file.

1. The `index` function in **line 10** uses the trending endpoint in **line 11**. The value of `media_type` is set to `all` and the value of `time_window` is set to `day`. We use this function to display the trending movies and TV shows on the home page.
2. The `search` function in **line 16** uses the search endpoint in **line 22**. It takes the media type (movie or TV) and query string from the user and returns the search results. We use `include_adult=false` to filter the adult content from the results.  
3. The `movies` function in **line 33** is used to display the "Movies" page. It uses multiple endpoints, like the latest movie endpoint in **line 34**, trending movies in **line 35**, popular movies in **line 36**, top movies in **line 37**, upcoming movies in **line 38**, and now playing movies in **line 39**, to display the sets of all these movies.
4. The `tv` function in **line 50** is used to display the "TV Shows" page. It uses multiple endpoints, like the endpoint for latest TV shows in **line 51**, trending TV shows in **line 52**, popular TV shows in **line 53**, top TV shows in **line 54**,  the endpoint for TV shows airing today in **line 55** and on air TV shows in **line 56**, to display the sets of all these TV shows.
5. The `movie_detail` function in **line 67** is used to display the details for the selected movie. The function uses the following endpoints:

    * The primary movie details endpoint in **line 68** is used to fetch and display all the basic details about the requested movie.
    * The recommendations endpoint in **line 69** is used to fetch and display a list of recommended movies for the requested movie.
    * The credits endpoint in **line 70** is used to fetch and display all the cast and crew of the requested movie.
    * The videos endpoint in **line 71** to fetch and display all the videos of the requested movie.

6. The `tv_detail` function in **line 81** is used to display the details for the selected TV show. The function  uses the following endpoints:

    * The primary tv details endpoint in **line 82** is used to fetch and display all the basic details about the requested TV show.
    * The recommendations endpoint in **line 83**  is used to fetch and display a list of recommended TV shows for the requested TV show.
    * The credits endpoint in **line 84** is used to fetch and display all the cast and crew of the requested TV show.
    * The videos endpoint in **line 85** is used to fetch and display all the videos of the requested TV show.

7. The `season_detail` function in **line 95** is used to display the details for the requested season of a TV show. It uses the season endpoint in **line 96** that needs `season_number` to specify which season to return.

8. The `episode_detail` function in **line 103** is used to display the details for the requested episode of a TV show. It uses the episode endpoint in **line 104** that needs `episode_number` along with `season_number` to specify which episode to return.

9. The `people_detail` function in **line 110** is used to display the details for the requested person. It uses the person endpoint in **line 111** that takes `person_id` as the required parameter. The function also uses the `combined_credits` endpoint with the `person_id` as the required parameter.

10. The `people` function in **line 117** is used to display all the popular persons on TMDB. It uses the popular endpoint in **line 118** to fetch and display all the popular persons.

>**Note:** The following widget only shows the necessary files required to explain The Movie Database APIs.

Click "Run" to run the application. Next, click on the URL given at the end of the widget to watch the application up and running.

Learn how TMDB APIs can be integrated into a real-world application.

Introduction

Movies

TV Shows

People

Finding Movies or TV Data

APIs Integration in Django

Conclusion

Appendix

Demo Application

Workflow