[YouTube] Support richGridRenderer on channel page to fix extraction of videos in channels

[Theta-Dev]

YouTube is currently A/B testing a new layout on their channel pages, which uses a RichGridRenderer. The current version of NewPipe cant extract any videos from it, resulting in an empty channel page. This PR adds support for it.

Here is a response file with the new layout: https://code.thetadev.de/ThetaDev/rustypipe/src/branch/main/testfiles/channel/channel_videos_20221011_richgrid2.json

I could not reproduce the error on my own without tools (the A/B test seems to be pretty rare for me). But there are already people having issues with the channel pages in NewPipe. See https://libreddit.kavin.rocks/r/NewPipe/comments/y1zg5m/why_are_certain_educative_channels_invisible_from/

• I carefully read the contribution guidelines and agree to them.
• I have tested the API against NewPipe.
• I agree to create a pull request for NewPipe as soon as possible to make it compatible with the changed API (no API changes).

Fixes TeamNewPipe/NewPipe#9223

[Theta-Dev]

Here is a debug build for testing:

app-debug.zip

[Theta-Dev]

Note that this new channel layout includes up to 3 tabs for videos, livestreams and shorts. So we need a way to fetch up to 3 tabs at once to fully support this.

Lets hope YouTube is not going to make this permanent...

[AudricV]

Lets hope YouTube is not going to make this permanent...

It will be, as it has been announced by YouTube. Check out this video of the Creator Insights official YouTube channel.

So we need a way to fetch up to 3 tabs at once to fully support this.

I don't think that's a good idea, we should just implement channel tabs in the extractor instead.

[Theta-Dev]

I guess you are right. I was thinking about having to use up to 3 requests go get subscription feed data, but that wont work anyway. YouTube does not show the upload date of shorts, so it wont be possible to merge the 3 tabs into a chronological feed.

So I guess we should stick to using the RSS feed for fetching the subscription feed (maybe make that the default option once channel tabs are permanently established).

For the actual channel views we would need the 3tab layout in NewPipe (and by that occasion, add channel playlists, too).

[AudricV]

Thanks, I just have a question.

[AudricV]

@Theta-Dev Could you answer our questions, please? We'd like to merge this fix ASAP.

[Theta-Dev]

Okay, I added the setVisitorData method from my channel tabs PR to reproduce the A/B test that way.

Also redownloaded the mock files and switched the test to a channel (Jeff Geerling) that has all 3 tabs.

[AudricV]

Almost good!

[acrodemocide]

Are we worried about whether the description changes at all? I figure they usually don't, but I wasn't sure how these tests need to be maintained when the description on this channel is changed. (Unless we're working with the owner of this channel and he's agreed not to change the description).

[AudricV]

As the change seems to be globally rolled out, I removed the visitorData changes and the addition of your channel test (see why here: #944 (comment)). I also updated all the channel mocks, which contains these richGridRenderers.

This doesn't mean that I didn't like your code, please don't take this personally (especially because this is the third time that I do this in your PRs): I find the visitorData changes useful, but as they are not needed to fix this issue, I think it is better to open a separate PR for them!

[Stypox]

Thank you! I could not find anything to say about the code

[Theta-Dev]

@yauhen-l The error parsing the subscriber counts on the search page is unrelated to this PR and is already fixed by #978.

The missing livestreams issue will be fixed by #951. Since that requires new tabs to be added to the UI, implementing it might take some more time.

You can download a test build with channel tabs here: TeamNewPipe/NewPipe#9182