YouTube API - No channel branding settings returned for queries by username

Question

When using the YouTube API v3 to query a channel\'s branding settings, why are they returned for queries by channel ID, but not for queries by username? The API doesn\'t return

Answer 1

I may be wrong, but I believe that, in v3 of the APIs, Channel IDs are the only way to get a full response, as the concept of a "username" doesn't really exist in the same way anymore. That is, newly created YouTube channels are linked to a G+ profile and can have a display name, but there isn't really any YouTube username anymore associated with such a channel.

Because usernames used to exist, though, and many channels are still known by them, the "forUsername" parameter is there to provide you the associated channelID and then issue the request for the branding settings with that.

Now, having said that, it's clear that the language on the API explorer page doesn't reflect that, and perhaps therein lies the problem; I'm taking my inferences from this documentation:

https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/guides/working_with_channel_ids#v3

and from this bug report:

https://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/detail?id=4821&q=forUsername&colspec=API%20ID%20Type%20Status%20Priority%20Stars%20Summary

But it's always possible, too, that I'm reading incorrectly and you're actually seeing a new bug. The only way to know for sure would be to file it (or perhaps someone on the team could comment here)?