I am creating Apple Native Format (ANF) documents to upload to Apple News. The examples in the documentation upload images in a "bundle", along with the requisite article.json file. These images are then referred to via a Bundle URL, e.g.:
{
"role": "photo",
"URL": "bundle://summer.jpg",
"caption": "Thanks to the record drought...."
}
Is it possible to use a URL to an image on the internet, e.g.:
{
"role": "photo",
"URL": "http://some.cdn.com/adsf8765a/summer.jpg",
"caption": "Thanks to the record drought...."
}
I would have thought so, but the articles I have uploaded thus far to our Sandbox account refuse to display any image that isn't bundled. These images DO conform to the required specifications.
What am I doing wrong? Or is it simply not possible?
UPDATE: (6/12/2015)
An official reply from Apple confirms the answer below.
We do not currently support remote urls for images, though it is an existing enhancement request that we are considering for the future.
Update: 19/05/2017
Referring to images by URL is now possible.
Image URLs can begin with http://, https://, or bundle://. If the image URL begins with bundle://, the referenced image file must be in the same directory as the document.
Source: Apple News Format Reference
I'm not sure when this first became available, but we've been using it since mid-2016.