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What Is iTunes U Web Services?

iTunes U Web Services consist of a set of operations defined and described using XML. You can interact with the web service using your existing services or by creating new tools, scripts, or applications. You can use your services, tools, scripts, or applications to invoke iTunes U Web Services and automate many of your administrative tasks.

When you create a tool, script, or application to interact with the web services, you specify iTunes U operations, entities, and instructions that describe to the iTunes U server how you want to view or modify the structure and data contained within your iTunes U site.

The following is an illustration of the iTunes U Web Services document syntax you can use with the tool, script, or application you create:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ITunesUDocument>
  <Version>1.1.4</Version>
  <Operation>
    <entity>...</entity>
  </Operation>
  <Operation>
    <entity>...</entity>
  </Operation>
  <Operation>
    <entity>...</entity>
  </Operation>
</ITunesUDocument>

Before you create a tool, script, or application, make sure you understand how to upload documents and content to your iTunes U site. For more information, see “Uploading Your Document to iTunes U.”

iTunes U provides an XML Schema Definition (XSD) for web services. Request and response definitions are available at http://deimos.apple.com/rsrc/xsd/iTunesURequest-1.1.4.xsd and http://deimos.apple.com/rsrc/xsd/iTunesUResponse-1.1.4.xsd.

An XSD is similar to a Document Type Definition (DTD) in purpose and is used to describe the elements, attributes, and constraints of an XML document.

The XSD is provided as a standards-based description of the structure of the available requests and responses in iTunes U Web Services transactions. When you include the version tag in your document, iTunes U returns XML conforming to the specified XSD version.