Pando Developer Tools

Every Pando package has a unique Package URL. The file at the URL is the Pando file for the package.

Anatomy of a Package URL

The URL to any Pando package has the following structure:

http://cache.pando.com/soapservices/package.pando?id=PackageID&key=PackageKey


The URL contains two unique pieces of information needed to retrieve the full package - a Package ID and an encryption key.

The Package ID is the unique identifier of the package, and can be used with the Package Info Web Service to return the package metadata from the Pando system (package title, file names, thumbnail, number of downloads, etc.).

The encryption key is required to decrypt the contents of the package. Pando never stores encryption keys. The only way that your recipients can decrypt the package is if you give them the key, which is contained in either a Pando file or a Pando Package URL.

Getting Package URL's

One way to generate this URL is to simply find a package in the "Sent" tab of the Pando client, highlight the package and type CTRL-C (on Mac Command-C) to copy the URL to your clipboard. For more on how to get Pando Package URL's see How to get a Pando Package URL. The resultant URL will look like this:

http://cache.pando.com/soapservices/package.pando?id=5AEDE982393976A10050F2EC7C20C3C5EFDE0BBB
  &key=C51E9F2767B6747A9C9841AF7EEB9CC0E967D5B37CEC05B8C9DF310A03958AD2


What does it do?

The most common use of a Pando Package URL is to use on a web page (or email or instant message) as a link for users to click on. When a user clicks a link to a Package URL (Example Package URL link), the Pando server checks to see if the user has Pando installed (by looking for the Pando "installed" cookie). If Pando is installed, the user immediately downloads the Pando package. If Pando is not installed (or if the cookie is not set), the user will instead land on a page explaining that they need Pando in order to download the software (Example new user link).

Pando Package URL's are also used throughout the Pando Developer Toolkits, such as the Package Info Web Service, as the unique identifier of a package.