# API : Sections and media details
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030
**Category:** Dev/API Corner
**Tags:** other-dev
**Created:** [April 10, 2017, 8:36am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030 "2017-04-10T08:36:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tolriq](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Tolriq)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2017, 8:36am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/1 "2017-04-10T08:36:25Z")
Sounds like a simple question but I can’t find the answer ☹
Is it possible via the **sections** API endpoint to get full cast / extra details with some hidden params?
[http://xxxxx:32400/library/sections/1/all](http://xxxxx:32400/library/sections/1/all) does not return extras even with includeExtras=1 and for cast returns things like
```auto
"Role": [
{
"tag": "Milla Jovovich"
},
{
"tag": "Angus Macfadyen"
},
{
"tag": "Stephen Dorff"
}
]
```
But it lacks ids, role and thumbs.
I know I can get those via **library/metadata** but this require 1 call per media and I’d like to avoid that for obvious performance reasons.
---
### Author:  [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2017, 10:53am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/2 "2017-04-10T10:53:40Z")
AFAIK, the only way to get it is via an additional call ☹
And use that for ExportTools
---
### Author:  [@Tolriq](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Tolriq)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/3 "2017-04-10T17:19:24Z")
Thanks.
Not really a good news this triggers a tons of calls for large libraries.
---
### Author:  [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/4 "2017-04-10T17:24:51Z")
Yes, but alternative would be draining the PMS with one huge gigantic call
---
### Author:  [@Tolriq](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Tolriq)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2017, 7:14am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/5 "2017-04-11T07:14:43Z")
Well not really you can page the query with X-Plex-Container-Start and X-Plex-Container-Size this works perfectly fine for Emby and Kodi 🙂
HTTP have huge overhead limiting calls is better for battery / cpu on phone & tablet devices.
---
### Author:  [@dane22](https://forums.plex.tv/u/dane22)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2017, 8:10am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/6 "2017-04-11T08:10:58Z")
True, and use paging as well, but reply was based on what you showed as the call 😉
And you can also do this:
``?excludeFields=field1,…,fieldN` `?excludeElements=element1,…,elementN`
### Excludable child elements:
`Actor`
`Collection`
`Country`
`Director`
`Genre`
`Label`
`Mood`
`Part`
`Producer`
`Similar`
`Writer`
### Excludable child element fields:
`file`
`summary`
`tagline``
---
### Author:  [@Tolriq](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Tolriq)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2017, 9:25am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/7 "2017-04-11T09:25:42Z")
Nice to know even if my need is more includeFields 🙂 (BTW it’s Role and not Actor if there’s a source Wiki to update)
Let’s hope one day API is expanded and documented 🙂
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/api-sections-and-media-details/188030/8 "2020-01-08T20:03:23Z")