Is possible to add annotations or a 'end screen' to a video when i'm uploading it using Java youtube api?

Question

For generate my code I modified the samples putted from google on gitHub.

All Goes ok and the video upload has no problem but now I need to put some annotations or a 'end screen' to my videos because I need to redirect users to my site after they have seen my 'video preview'.

So, the workflow is something like this:

1) The user inserts title and description from a jsp page.

2) When he clicks on the button the software take the credentials of the user stored in my db and then pass all the parameters to the method i posted below.

3) the class uploads the video to YouTube.

Now my question is: there is an easy way to 'attach' my links to the uploaded video?

I should use something like annotations, call-to-action or any kind of overlay message/button on the video area.

It doesn't matter if the overlay persists for all the video duration or it appears only at the end of the video.

I hope someone can help me! And i hope google will rewrites the documentation in a better way because i became crazy for implements YouTube's API.

This is a snippet of my source code:

    public static void upload( String jsonString, String videoPath, String title , String description, String articleTags, HttpServletRequest request) {

    // This OAuth 2.0 access scope allows an application to upload files
    // to the authenticated user's YouTube channel, but doesn't allow
    // other types of access.
    List<String> scopes = Lists.newArrayList("https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube.upload");

    try {

        // Authorize the request.
        JSONObject jsonObj = new JSONObject(jsonString);

        GoogleCredential credential = new GoogleCredential.Builder()
                                            .setClientSecrets(jsonObj.getString("client_id"), jsonObj.getString("client_secret"))
                                            .setJsonFactory(Auth.JSON_FACTORY).setTransport(Auth.HTTP_TRANSPORT).build()
                                            .setRefreshToken(jsonObj.getString("refresh_token")).setAccessToken(jsonObj.getString("access_token"));


        // This object is used to make YouTube Data API requests.
        youtube = new YouTube.Builder(Auth.HTTP_TRANSPORT, Auth.JSON_FACTORY, credential).setApplicationName("virtual-cms-video-upload").build();

        System.out.println("Uploading: " + videoPath);

        // Add extra information to the video before uploading.
        Video videoObjectDefiningMetadata = new Video();

        // Set the video to be publicly visible. This is the default
        // setting. Other supporting settings are "unlisted" and "private."
        VideoStatus status = new VideoStatus();
        status.setPrivacyStatus("public");
        videoObjectDefiningMetadata.setStatus(status);



        // Most of the video's metadata is set on the VideoSnippet object.
        VideoSnippet snippet = new VideoSnippet();

        // This code uses a Calendar instance to create a unique name and
        // description for test purposes so that you can easily upload
        // multiple files. You should remove this code from your project
        // and use your own standard names instead.
        snippet.setTitle      (title      );
        snippet.setDescription(description);



        if( !articleTags.trim().equals("") ){            

            // Set the keyword tags that you want to associate with the video.
            List<String> tags = new ArrayList<String>();

            for(int i = 0; i < articleTags.split(",").length ; i++){

                tags.add(articleTags);

            }

            snippet.setTags(tags);

            // Add the completed snippet object to the video resource.
            videoObjectDefiningMetadata.setSnippet(snippet);

        }

        //InputStreamContent mediaContent = new InputStreamContent(VIDEO_FILE_FORMAT,UploadYouTubeVideo.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(videoPath));
        InputStreamContent mediaContent = new InputStreamContent(VIDEO_FILE_FORMAT,new java.io.FileInputStream(new File(videoPath)));

        // Insert the video. The command sends three arguments. The first
        // specifies which information the API request is setting and which
        // information the API response should return. The second argument
        // is the video resource that contains metadata about the new video.
        // The third argument is the actual video content.
        YouTube.Videos.Insert videoInsert = youtube.videos().insert("snippet,statistics,status", videoObjectDefiningMetadata, mediaContent);

        // Set the upload type and add an event listener.
        MediaHttpUploader uploader = videoInsert.getMediaHttpUploader();

        // Indicate whether direct media upload is enabled. A value of
        // "True" indicates that direct media upload is enabled and that
        // the entire media content will be uploaded in a single request.
        // A value of "False," which is the default, indicates that the
        // request will use the resumable media upload protocol, which
        // supports the ability to resume an upload operation after a
        // network interruption or other transmission failure, saving
        // time and bandwidth in the event of network failures.
        uploader.setDirectUploadEnabled(false);

        MediaHttpUploaderProgressListener progressListener = new MediaHttpUploaderProgressListener() {
            public void progressChanged(MediaHttpUploader uploader) throws IOException {
                switch (uploader.getUploadState()) {
                    case INITIATION_STARTED:
                        System.out.println("Initiation Started");
                        break;
                    case INITIATION_COMPLETE:
                        System.out.println("Initiation Completed");
                        break;
                    case MEDIA_IN_PROGRESS:
                        System.out.println("Upload in progress");
                        System.out.println("Upload percentage: " + uploader.getProgress());
                        break;
                    case MEDIA_COMPLETE:
                        System.out.println("Upload Completed!");
                        break;
                    case NOT_STARTED:
                        System.out.println("Upload Not Started!");
                        break;
                }
            }
        };

        uploader.setProgressListener(progressListener);

        // Call the API and upload the video.
        Video returnedVideo = videoInsert.execute();

        // Print data about the newly inserted video from the API response.
        System.out.println("\n================== Returned Video ==================\n");
        System.out.println("  - Id            : " + returnedVideo.getId()                       );
        System.out.println("  - Title         : " + returnedVideo.getSnippet().getTitle()       );
        System.out.println("  - Tags          : " + returnedVideo.getSnippet().getTags()        );
        System.out.println("  - Privacy Status: " + returnedVideo.getStatus().getPrivacyStatus());
        System.out.println("  - Video Count   : " + returnedVideo.getStatistics().getViewCount());

    } catch (Exception ex) {
        System.err.println("Throwable: " + ex.getMessage());
        ex.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Answer 1

Unfortunately, it is not possible, nor will it ever be as far as i can tell.

Not being able to add annotations is an intended behaviour. See this link: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/35166657 - Status: Won't Fix (Intended behavior)

Apparently the best alternative is InVideo Programming but i do not believe this is suitable for your purpose, unless it can be video specific.