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scoulter · 2008-05-29, 03:50

G'Day mickrock,

The comment about the "step-by-step guide" was a hangover from the initial few versions. When I found that MP1.0 was coming I stopped including it and put more info into the script itself, then into the .csv file. I should have removed the comment. Now that MP1.0 is here and I've been using it for a while I can write the guide - I just need the time. The original guide was written to be as "Idiot-proof" as possible and was quite detailed so took a long time - I prefer guides this way, too many guides are written by authors who assume way too much knowedge on behalf of users. I hope to get around to it soon.

The number of days it grabs is based purely on how many days the OzTivo community has entered at the time you grab it.

I normally just use windows scheduler to automatically run XMLTV grabber scripts every couple of days since programming may change.

I wasn't aware that "CloseWindowOnCompletion" didn't work, yours is the first complaint so I'll look into it. It's not a show-stopper so people probably haven't worried about it.

I have written a Python XMLTV scraper for the OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide website that I use instead of the GetOzTvGuide script which allows me to dictate how many days are retrieved.

Here is the "help" output from the script:

This script generates XMLTV guide files for Australian TV regions defined in
OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide.

Usage: GenOzTvGuides.py <OPTIONS>

where: <OPTIONS> are "-a" for ALL regions
"-d <NUMBER_OF_DAYS_TO_DOWNLOAD>" (range:1..7, Default:7)
"-i" to include programme metadata in its description
"-r <XMLTV_REGION>" for a specific region
"-z" generate ZIP archive and delete XMLTV files
Default: Keep XMLTV files
Multiple regions need to be specified individually.

Valid XMLTV regions are:
NSW_Albury NSW_Balranald NSW_CoffsHarbour NSW_Deniliquin NSW_Griffith
NSW_Newcastle NSW_Sydney NSW_Tamworth NSW_Taree NSW_WaggaWagga
NSW_Wentworth NSW_Wollongong NT_AliceSprings NT_Darwin QLD_Brisbane
QLD_Cairns QLD_GoldCoast QLD_Mackay QLD_Maryborough QLD_MtIsa
QLD_Rockhampton QLD_Toowoomba QLD_Townsville SA_Adelaide SA_CooberPedy
SA_MountGambier SA_PortAugusta SA_PortLincoln TAS_Hobart TAS_Launceston
VIC_Ballarat VIC_Bendigo VIC_Gippsland VIC_Melbourne VIC_Mildura
VIC_Shepparton VIC_WimmeraMallee WA_Albany WA_Broome WA_Kalgoorlie WA_Perth
WA_PortHeadland

The batch file I use to generate my required XMLTV guide is:

c:\python25\python genoztvguides.py -i -r qld_brisbane > genoztvguides.log

This batch file gets 7 days of programming (the max provided by OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide) for the Brisbane region and writes the tvguide.xml file to the MediaPortal XMLTV directory. The "-i" metadata data causes information such as casting to be included in the programme description text as well as XMLTV metadata. I like this because MediaPortal does not display casting metadata so at least I can see it in the description text.

I use this instead since I like the information from OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide. I have never published it due to copyright issues that may arise (even IceTV is still in trouble with Channel 9 because they scrape its data to generate their guides). The script was originally written when JRobbo XMLTV data was terminated. I hoped that someone with enough bandwidth would run the script nightly and generate zip files for each region which could be downloaded by users (ie. only one person would be accessing the OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide website instead of hundreds of people). Once again, due to copyright issues, no-one was game enough to do this.

Let me know if you would like a copy of the script - it's very easy to use but does require you to install Python on your machine. There shouldn't be any issues with your doing this since it's for personal use and I'm not charging for it.

2008-05-29, 03:50	#6 (permalink)
scoulter Portal Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Brisbane Posts: 8 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	G'Day mickrock, The comment about the "step-by-step guide" was a hangover from the initial few versions. When I found that MP1.0 was coming I stopped including it and put more info into the script itself, then into the .csv file. I should have removed the comment. Now that MP1.0 is here and I've been using it for a while I can write the guide - I just need the time. The original guide was written to be as "Idiot-proof" as possible and was quite detailed so took a long time - I prefer guides this way, too many guides are written by authors who assume way too much knowedge on behalf of users. I hope to get around to it soon. The number of days it grabs is based purely on how many days the OzTivo community has entered at the time you grab it. I normally just use windows scheduler to automatically run XMLTV grabber scripts every couple of days since programming may change. I wasn't aware that "CloseWindowOnCompletion" didn't work, yours is the first complaint so I'll look into it. It's not a show-stopper so people probably haven't worried about it. I have written a Python XMLTV scraper for the OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide website that I use instead of the GetOzTvGuide script which allows me to dictate how many days are retrieved. Here is the "help" output from the script: This script generates XMLTV guide files for Australian TV regions defined in OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide. Usage: GenOzTvGuides.py <OPTIONS> where: <OPTIONS> are "-a" for ALL regions "-d <NUMBER_OF_DAYS_TO_DOWNLOAD>" (range:1..7, Default:7) "-i" to include programme metadata in its description "-r <XMLTV_REGION>" for a specific region "-z" generate ZIP archive and delete XMLTV files Default: Keep XMLTV files Multiple regions need to be specified individually. Valid XMLTV regions are: NSW_Albury NSW_Balranald NSW_CoffsHarbour NSW_Deniliquin NSW_Griffith NSW_Newcastle NSW_Sydney NSW_Tamworth NSW_Taree NSW_WaggaWagga NSW_Wentworth NSW_Wollongong NT_AliceSprings NT_Darwin QLD_Brisbane QLD_Cairns QLD_GoldCoast QLD_Mackay QLD_Maryborough QLD_MtIsa QLD_Rockhampton QLD_Toowoomba QLD_Townsville SA_Adelaide SA_CooberPedy SA_MountGambier SA_PortAugusta SA_PortLincoln TAS_Hobart TAS_Launceston VIC_Ballarat VIC_Bendigo VIC_Gippsland VIC_Melbourne VIC_Mildura VIC_Shepparton VIC_WimmeraMallee WA_Albany WA_Broome WA_Kalgoorlie WA_Perth WA_PortHeadland The batch file I use to generate my required XMLTV guide is: c:\python25\python genoztvguides.py -i -r qld_brisbane > genoztvguides.log This batch file gets 7 days of programming (the max provided by OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide) for the Brisbane region and writes the tvguide.xml file to the MediaPortal XMLTV directory. The "-i" metadata data causes information such as casting to be included in the programme description text as well as XMLTV metadata. I like this because MediaPortal does not display casting metadata so at least I can see it in the description text. I use this instead since I like the information from OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide. I have never published it due to copyright issues that may arise (even IceTV is still in trouble with Channel 9 because they scrape its data to generate their guides). The script was originally written when JRobbo XMLTV data was terminated. I hoped that someone with enough bandwidth would run the script nightly and generate zip files for each region which could be downloaded by users (ie. only one person would be accessing the OurGuide - Australia's Television Guide website instead of hundreds of people). Once again, due to copyright issues, no-one was game enough to do this. Let me know if you would like a copy of the script - it's very easy to use but does require you to install Python on your machine. There shouldn't be any issues with your doing this since it's for personal use and I'm not charging for it. __________________ Don't worry about dying, Worry about not living.