Bing Image of the Day Archive

This Val Town project fetches, displays, and archives the Bing Image of the Day, providing an API to access both current and historical images.

Project Overview

The service provides several capabilities:

Fetch the current Bing Image of the Day
Archive images to Val Town blob storage with date-based naming
List all archived images with their dates
Retrieve specific historical images by date

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/`	GET	Returns the current Bing Image of the Day
`/list`	GET	Returns a JSON object listing all archived images with dates as keys and URLs as values
`/get/:date`	GET	Returns a specific archived image by date (format: MM-DD-YYYY)
`/backup`	GET	Manually triggers a backup of the current Bing Image of the Day
`/docs`	GET	Returns API documentation in JSON format

Project Structure

This project consists of three main components:

index.tsx - The main HTTP val that provides the API endpoints using the Hono framework
fetchBingImage.tsx - A helper function that handles fetching the image from Bing
backupImage.tsx - A helper function that handles archiving images to blob storage

How It Works

The service scrapes the Bing image from a public source (bing.gifposter.com)
Images are stored in Val Town's blob storage with keys in the format bing-images-of-day/MM-DD-YYYY.jpg
The main API serves both current and archived images with proper caching headers
Automation can be set up to trigger the backup endpoint daily to build a complete archive

Usage Examples

View Current Image

GET /

Returns the current Bing Image of the Day as a JPEG with appropriate headers.

List All Archived Images

GET /list

Returns a JSON object like:

{
  "1-15-2024": "https://your-val.web.val.run/get/1-15-2024.jpg",
  "1-14-2024": "https://your-val.web.val.run/get/1-14-2024.jpg",
  "1-13-2024": "https://your-val.web.val.run/get/1-13-2024.jpg"
}

Get Specific Image by Date

GET /get/1-15-2024

Returns the image for January 15, 2024 as a JPEG.

Automation

To create a complete archive, you can:

Set up a daily cron job using Val Town's scheduling to hit the /backup endpoint
Use the endpoint in existing automations that run daily

Technical Implementation

Uses TypeScript for type safety
Implemented with the Hono framework for robust API routing
Leverages Val Town's blob storage for image archiving
Follows best practices for error handling and response headers

Credits

Image source: Bing's Image of the Day via gifposter.com
Hosted on Val Town