Pando Developer Tools

Pando is pleased to be able to announce the release of the Pando Command Line (pcl, pronounced "pickle"). This tool allows you to integrate Pando into web sites and other automated processes.

The Pando Command Line allows you to automate:

• publishing content from a content management system into the Pando network, including your own package thumbnail graphics, and
• downloading content from the Pando network.

One PCL user has already provided a Ruby script to automatically receive Pando packages via email!

We are very excited about all of the possibilities that this presents, and look forward to seeing all of the amazing things that you guys will come up with!

To request a copy of PCL, fill out the request form, and tell us whether you want the version for Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.

For generating or processing Pando packages from within scripts, Pando provides the Pando Command Line (PCL).

To access this tool, you will need to log in with your partner account.

If you would like access to this tool, and the documentation linked below, please register for an account on this web site, and fill out our Server Integration Toolkit request form or email me.

In the first section of this guide, we'll describe how to install PCL. This is where you can download the latest PCL binaries for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.

Next we'll talk about how to run the PCL, allowing you to automate publishing and downloading content using Pando.

Finally, we provide an example script that uses pcl to automatically download packages from a given email address.

Tell Your Friends About Pando

Spread the word about Pando by linking us from your website or blog by cutting and pasting the text below...

<a href="http://www.pando.com"><img border="0" alt="Share Pando" title="Share Pando" src="http://www.pando.com/files/share80x15_0.png"/></a>

Do you have a cool Pando RSS feed that you want to promote with a button? Here's a tool to build it for you automatically. As a bonus, if you use TypePad, you can add this button to your blog with one click!

Enter your RSS Feed URL:

If you want to deliver video files to subscribers, here's an easy way to use Pando and Blogger together.

The Pando RSS Feed Converter is a tool that monitors an RSS "podcast" feed, automatically processing any enclosures and publishing the result as a Pando RSS feed. It can process a wide range of RSS "podcast" formats automatically.

Feed Setup

To set up Pando RSS Feed Convertor processing of an RSS feed, please provide the following:

• Feed Name (optional string, displayed to users in directory and application. If not provided, defaults to the channel's "title" element from the RSS feed.)
• Feed Description (optional string, displayed to users in directory. If not provided, defaults to the channel's "description" element from the RSS feed.)
• Feed URL (RSS 2.0 feed, specification at http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss)
• Source URL (optional link to your web site)
• Sender Name (optional string, displayed in application. If not provided, defaults to channel "title" element from RSS feed.)
• Feed Thumbnail (optional graphic, 100x75 pixel PNG). Used as the default Package thumbnail for all feed items.
• Maximum number of items to serve in the feed (e.g. 3).

Feed Contents

Channel Data

The Pando RSS Feed Converter can process a wide range of RSS formats. We take advantage of the following RSS 2.0 attributes:

The RSS feed includes the following information for the channel:

• Channel Name. (Required string, displayed to users in directory and application.)
• Channel Description. (Required string, displayed to users in directory.)

Item Data

The RSS feed includes the following information for each item:

• title. This becomes the package title. Required.
• description. This becomes the package description. Optional.
• pubDate. This becomes the item's date in the RSS feed. Optional, but strongly encouraged.
• enclosure. This is the file that is retrieved and Pando packaged. Items without enclosures are ignored.

Limitations: All extended characters are stripped out, so that all file and package names are "safe" for all operating systems. This means that "Resumé" would become "Resum". Because the Pando client cannot display it, HTML and other special formatting / markup is also removed.

Pando Package URL

Every Pando Package has a unique URL. This URL is available using Pando's "send to web" command, and copying the "Download Link".

If you want to implement your own RSS feed, or wish to add Pando support to an existing RSS feed server, you'll need to know some technical details.

A Pando RSS feed is a standard RSS 2.0 feed containing Pando files as enclosures. Pando will download any enclosure with the MIME type "application/x-pando", or with the file extension ".pando".

Pando supports RSS, combining the convenience of Podcasting with the efficiency of Pando. This allows you to efficiently deliver extremely large files, such as high quality audio or video, to your subscribers, without any file hosting or delivery costs.

To make Pando packages look nicer to your recipients, there are a few simple tricks.