Don Stankalis
Level 1 (9 points)
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Q: Category code list

Hello all:

  I found the list of iTunes U Category Codes in the help menu in the iTunes U Site Manager, and I am using it in my XML files. Is there a regular update of the list, and if so, where can I download it? It's not important/critical, but I would like to integrate it into our different specialities. TIA

 

 

 

Thank You,

 

 

 

Don

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5

Posted on Feb 25, 2016 6:13 AM

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Don Stankalis

Q: Category code list

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  • by Tom-Williams,

    Tom-Williams Tom-Williams Feb 26, 2016 11:52 AM in response to Don Stankalis
    Level 1 (18 points)
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    Feb 26, 2016 11:52 AM in response to Don Stankalis

    Hi Don,

     

    Could you post a link to the category codes as I'd really like to take a look at those and any information about category codes more generally e.g., how they should be represented in the RSS feed. The iTunesU category codes have always something of a mystery to me and despite asking several people at Apple I have never had a definitive answer as to how they should be represented in the RSS feed. At one point I think I was told that they should be written once at the top of the feed with all the channel elements (like the category element for a regular iTunes podcast feed) and then I was told that each item in the feed should have it's own category and subcategory element and that if different category codes were used iTunes would select the 'dominant' category i.e., the category that appeared most would be sleeted. Which begs the question - if a feed in iTunesU is categorised at feed level (which they seem to be) what is to be gained by categorising each individual feed item? But like a say I never got a straight answer and in the end I just gave up as the overall lack of support for iTunesU administrators and what seemed to be at the time a lack of product development put me off investing any more of my time into iTunesU.

     

    As to whether the codes have changed I'm not sure but I do have the list of codes as they were circa 2012-ish so if you send me the latest URL I can check against it against the most recent list.

     

    Regards

    Tom

  • by Don Stankalis,

    Don Stankalis Don Stankalis Feb 28, 2016 6:24 AM in response to Tom-Williams
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Publishing
    Feb 28, 2016 6:24 AM in response to Tom-Williams

    Hello, Tom:

      Here's how to get the category code list:

    1) in iTunes U public site manager, go to the help. It is in all of the PSM options, Look for the question mark on the right hand side.

    2) select "Configure Pages" on the left side menu

    3) select "Category Pages" in that sub-menu.

    Category Codes is 5 subjects down in that menu. It lists by major categories alphabetically, and from there subcategory alphabetically.

     

    I use the category codes in the <channel> part of my xml file. This is what the channel listing for Psychiatry page looks like this:

     

    --XML Code here--

    <channel>

        <title>Psychiatry</title>

        <link>http://www.downstate.edu</link>

        <description>Videos about Psychiatry</description>

        <language>en-us</language>

        <copyright></copyright>

        <itunes:subtitle></itunes:subtitle>

        <itunes:author></itunes:author>

        <itunes:summary></itunes:summary>

        <itunes:owner>

          <itunes:name>Don Stankalis</itunes:name>

          <itunes:email>dstankalis@downstate.edu</itunes:email>

        </itunes:owner>

        <itunes:image href="http://downstatemedia.downstate.edu/RSS/bridge.jpg" />

        <itunes:category text="Science &amp; Medicine"/>

        <itunes:category code="103111"/>

    --XML code here--

     

    I looked at Apple's sample XML code, and it had <itunesu:category code="103111">, and submitted that, and it gave me an error, I changed it to the current <itunes:category code="103111"> and it worked. Go figure. Hope that helps!

     

     

     

    Thank You,

     

     

     

    Don

  • by Erik Keller,

    Erik Keller Erik Keller Feb 29, 2016 7:39 AM in response to Don Stankalis
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 7:39 AM in response to Don Stankalis

    Hi Don,

     

    the category code in the itunesu namespace is supposed to be inside the <item> and not the <channel>. This allows to search for a category and find your item even if there are multiple categories inside a feed. So, in a nutshell, itunesu: category code is per item, hence the error message.

     

    Best, Erik

  • by Don Stankalis,

    Don Stankalis Don Stankalis Feb 29, 2016 9:14 AM in response to Erik Keller
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Publishing
    Feb 29, 2016 9:14 AM in response to Erik Keller

    Dear Erik:

      Thanks! I appreciated it! It seems that the PSM did not like the <itunesu:category itunesu:code="103111"/> then I reloaded the XML file. I then took out the u in the itunes:category tag. The <item> tag now looks like this:

     

    <item>

          <title>Black History Month Psychiatry Grand Rounds</title>

          <description>Negro Spirituals: A Historical Background, and Healing Potential</description>

          <itunes:subtitle>Negro Spirituals: A Historical Background, and Healing Potential</itunes:subtitle>

          <itunes:category text="Science &amp; Medicine"> Notice the lack of the slash in this line. This facilitates the </itunes:category> tag.

               <itunes:category itunes:code="103111"/>

          </itunes:category>

          <pubDate>Tue, 23 Feb 2016 12:08:08 EST</pubDate>

          <enclosure url="Location to movie file" type="video/mp4" length="1227262115"/>

          <guid>I usually enter the location of the movie file</guid>

          <itunes:duration>1:02:32</itunes:duration>

    </item>

     

    It's always nice to have another pair of eyes to look at the code.

     

     

     

    Thank You,

     

     

     

    Don