Accessing Different File Formats with Representations

An element in a Creative Cloud Library can include one or more formats that are accessed as representations using the API. As an example, an XD Component can have three different representations; A static PNG file that provides a bitmap version of what the component looks like, an SVG file that has vector information about the component, and a JSON representation of the component that includes a variety of properties included in the component.

Representations are added when an element is created and can be added/modified later. By default, all elements have a static representation in PNG format in addition to whatever the native format of the element is. For instance, a Photoshop object that is added as a Graphics element will include the the source file as a representation (.psd) as well as a static .png representation.

Getting Thumbnails and Full Resolution PNGs using Renditions

Separate from representations, all graphical elements in a Library include a static PNG rendition that is created when the element is added. This rendition can be an easy way to get PNG of an graphical element that doesn't require the use of representations.

Each Library Element includes a thumbnail property which has a rendition link that can be used to access the static PNG for an element. It looks something like this:

"thumbnail": {
    "type": "href",
    "rendition": "https://cc-api-storage.adobe.io/assets/adobe-libraries/<libraryId>/<UUID of the asset>/:rendition;size=200"
}
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1"thumbnail": {
2    "type": "href",
3    "rendition": "https://cc-api-storage.adobe.io/assets/adobe-libraries/<libraryId>/<UUID of the asset>/:rendition;size=200"
4}

This information is also returned in the http://ns.adobe.com/melville/rel/rendition object of the _links array on an element.

When calling that API, the size value can be omitted to return a full-sized rendition or modified which will return a PNG where the longest side is equal to the size specified.

The following curl call can be used to access a rendition whose longest size will be 400 pixels:

curl --location --request GET 'https://cc-api-storage.adobe.io/assets/adobe-libraries/<libraryId>/<UUID of the asset>/:rendition;size=400' \
--header 'x-api-key: <client ID>' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer <access token>'
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1curl --location --request GET 'https://cc-api-storage.adobe.io/assets/adobe-libraries/<libraryId>/<UUID of the asset>/:rendition;size=400' \
2--header 'x-api-key: <client ID>' \
3--header 'Authorization: Bearer <access token>'

Adobe Product Compatibility for Representations

Each Adobe product has specific rules for what representations they include when an element is uploaded.

Getting Representations

To get a list of all the representations for an element use the ?selector=representations on any element:

curl --location --request GET 'https://cc-libraries.adobe.io/api/v1/libraries/{library_id}/elements/{element_id}?selector=representations' \
--header 'x-api-key: {api_key}' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}'
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1curl --location --request GET 'https://cc-libraries.adobe.io/api/v1/libraries/{library_id}/elements/{element_id}?selector=representations' \
2--header 'x-api-key: {api_key}' \
3--header 'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}'

That returns a JSON object that includes some basic metadata about the element as well as an array of any representations. Each representation is made up of an asset (usually a file) and has the following properties:

Downloading and Accessing Representations

For non-file representations, the main information will be captured in a JSON object. For instance, representations of color elements will have a specific color#data property that includes the mode and corresponding color value.

For file-based representations, the storage_href property contains the path to the file that defines that representation. For many representations, that will be an image file, but in the case of components and other representations, it may point to the JSON object that defines that specific representation format.

To access the representation's file, use a GET request with the same headers on that URL:

curl --location --request GET '{storage_href}' \
--header 'x-api-key: {api_key}' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}'
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1curl --location --request GET '{storage_href}' \
2--header 'x-api-key: {api_key}' \
3--header 'Authorization: Bearer {access_token}'

Note: The URL can also be accessed by following the http://ns.adobe.com/melville/rel/path property of the _links array on the representation.

Last updated 9/17/2021

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