Using Yaydl in Rust: A Guide to Video Downloading

Yaydl, short for Yet Another Youtube Downloader, is a versatile command-line tool that allows users to download videos from various platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, and more. Written in Rust, yaydl is fast, efficient, and reliable. In this article, we will explore the process of using yaydl as a library in a Rust application to download videos programmatically.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into integrating yaydl into your Rust application, ensure that you have the following:

Rust installed on your system. If you haven’t, follow the instructions on the official Rust website to install it.
Basic knowledge of Rust programming.

Getting Started

First, let’s create a new Rust project using Cargo:

$ cargo new yaydl_rust_example
$ cd yaydl_rust_example

Now, open the Cargo.toml file in your favorite text editor and add yaydl as a dependency:

[dependencies]
yaydl = "0.6"

Save the file and run cargo build to fetch the yaydl library and compile your project.

Implementing Video Downloading

With the dependencies set up, open the src/main.rs file and replace the contents with the following code:

use std::path::PathBuf;
use yaydl::{download_video, DownloadOptions};

fn main() {
    // Set the video URL and output file path
    let video_url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ";
    let output_path = PathBuf::from("output.mp4");

    // Create download options
    let options = DownloadOptions {
        url: video_url.into(),
        output_path,
        max_height: None,
        format: None,
        audio_only: false,
    };

    // Download the video
    if let Err(err) = download_video(&options) {
        eprintln!("Error: {}", err);
    } else {
        println!("Video downloaded successfully!");
    }
}

In this code snippet, we:

Import the necessary items from the yaydl crate.
Set the video URL and output file path.
Create a DownloadOptions struct that contains our download preferences, such as the URL, output path, and desired video format.
Call download_video with the provided options, handling any errors that may occur during the download process.

Running the Application

Save the src/main.rs file and run the application using Cargo:

$ cargo run

If everything works as expected, the video should begin downloading and save to the specified output path. Once the download is complete, you should see the “Video downloaded successfully!” message printed to the console.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored how to use yaydl as a library in a Rust application to download videos programmatically. With just a few lines of code, you can integrate video downloading capabilities into your Rust projects, leveraging the power and performance of the yaydl library.