Build a Movie App using TheMovieDb API
Introduction
The pandemic has made us all stay indoors for most of the day, which is
why we need some entertainment activities that can refresh us while
continuing to stay indoors. So, I thought of building a Movie App that
can give me a list of movies and their details upon searching for it. On
digging further, I came across TheMovieDb(TMDb) API which provides
information on movies, TV shows, actors, and much more. This API is free
to use and integrate into your website.
Get Started
Visit TMDb website, sign up
for a free account and generate your API key from the Settings tab. Read
every section of the
API documentation
thoroughly.
HTML Page Structure
We are going to create a simple movie app, which will give a list of
movies, their Poster image, and rating. Here, we have an
input
field for users to enter their search keywords. The
div
with class result is used to display the result after
making the API call. Also, add the jQuery CDN inside the
script
tag.
<div class="search">
<p>Search for a Movie</p>
<form id="searchForm">
<input type="text" id="searchInput" placeholder="Search here...">
</form>
</div>
<div class="result"></div>
<!-- jQuery minified CDN -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>
Apply Styling
Style the search div
using CSS
* {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
box-sizing: border-box;
}
body {
background-color: rgb(237, 242, 244);
overflow: auto;
}
.search {
margin: 2rem;
text-align: center;
}
p {
color: rgb(84, 101, 255);
font-size: 1.75rem;
margin: 0.5rem;
}
form input {
font-size: 1rem;
width: 60%;
padding: 0.5rem 0.75rem;
border: none;
}
form input:focus {
outline: none;
border: 1px solid rgb(84, 101, 255);
}
Add jQuery
Add jQuery code to call a JavaScript function
getMovies
when a user submits the input form
$(document).ready(() => {
$('#searchForm').on('submit', (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
let searchText = $('#searchInput').val();
getMovies(searchText);
});
});
Making the API Call
In the getMovies()
function, we will pass the
searchText
as a parameter. The variable url
is
the URL to make the jQuery AJAX API call. If the API call is successful,
then the result will be returned in JSON format which will be stored in
data
. Then we will loop through it to fetch the values that
we want and structure them inside a div
. If no result is
available, then we will display the error statement, as shown in the
else
block.
const API_KEY = // enter your api key here
let baseURL = 'https://api.themoviedb.org/3/';
let imageURL = 'https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w185';
function getMovies(searchText) {
let url = `${baseURL}search/movie?api_key=${API_KEY}&query=${searchText}&language=en-US&include_adult=false`;
$.ajax({
method: 'GET',
url: url,
success: function(data) {
let output = '';
if(data["results"].length > 0) {
for(let i = 0; i < data["results"].length; i++) {
let posterPath = data["results"][i]["poster_path"];
output +=
`<div class="movie">
<img class="image" src=${imageURL + String(posterPath)} alt="No image found." loading="lazy">
<div class="ratingFlex">
<h4 class="title">
${data["results"][i]["title"]}
</h4>
<div class="rating">
${data["results"][i]["vote_average"]}
</div>
</div>
</div>`;
$('.result').html(output);
}
}
else {
output +=
`<p class="empty">
No such movie was found. Try searching other keywords.
<p>`;
$('.result').html(output);
}
}
});
}
Style the Result of API call
Style the result div
and its content.
.result {
margin: 2rem;
display: flex;
flex-direction: row;
align-items: unset;
justify-content: center;
flex-wrap: wrap;
}
.movie {
background-color: rgb(191, 215, 255);
color: rgb(84, 101, 255);
margin: 1rem;
margin-bottom: 1rem;
padding: 0.25rem;
width: min-content;
height: 100%;
overflow: hidden;
}
.movie .image{
display: block;
transition: transform 0.7s ease;
max-width: 320px;
min-height: 450px;
font-size: 1rem;
text-align: center;
}
.movie .image:hover {
transform: scale(1.02);
}
.ratingFlex {
display: flex;
align-items: flex-start;
justify-content: space-between;
margin: 0.5rem;
}
.ratingFlex .title {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}
.ratingFlex .rating {
background-color: rgb(237, 242, 244);
border: 1px solid rgb(84, 101, 255);
padding: 0.15rem 0.5rem;
margin: 0 0.5rem;
}
Output
We're done! Search for any movie and get the output as shown below.