Hi guys,
I was asked how to add channels for the US to WebEPG. First WebEPG is currently able to get guide information from tv.yahoo.com. I know many people are currently using zap2it, however, yahoo requires no login and I've been told the data is just as good. So to start with its supported now. If there is interest I can add other sites (zap2it for example). Let me know. However, have a look at yahoo first and see if it is ok.
Anyway on to the guide.
Adding channels to the US yahoo grabber:
1. Open the grabber config file "grabbers\US\tv_yahoo_com.xml" with notepad. (replace with new version above)
2. Look at the BaseURL and SearchURL
<entry name="BaseURL">http://tv.yahoo.com</entry>
<entry name="SearchURL">/tvpdb?d=tvs&#ID&.intl=us&startdate=#EPOCH_TIME</entry>
3. Load tv.yahoo.com in your web browser
4. Select TV Listings
5. Enter your zip code
6. Enter your provider
7. A list of all your channels comes
8. Click on a channel on the left side
9. A listing of that channels comes for today
10. choose another date (tomorrow for example)
11. tomorrows listing comes up. The URL displayed should now look something like that from the Grabber config file:
http://tv.yahoo.com/tvpdb?d=tvs&id=...channels=us_MTV&.intl=us&startdate=1123632000
12. What is important is the bit "id=166031202&lineup=us_KY16673&channels=us_MTV".
13. Enter this value in the <section name="ChannelList"> in the Grabber config file like so:
<entry name="mtv.com">id=166031202&lineup=us_KY16673&channels=us_MTV</entry>
Note: & must be followed by amp; so "&"
14. Set the channel ID used by webepg for this channel this is the name="xxxx". This is really the hard part. To try and reduce the number of channels in the webepg db (currently a flat file). It is very important to not make too many channel IDs. So if this channel is a national channel the same all over the US then everyone should use the same ID. If it is a state channel then everyone in the state should use the same ID, and so on. I the case of national channels they only need to be added once (MTV might be an example of such a channel). In general if the guide is the same (same programs, same time) then the ID should be the same, even if we grab the channel using a different location code (the web site is just making a copy of the data for different location codes).
15. Save the grabber config file.
16. Test the grabber file by opening it in a web browser. This will parse the xml and make sure everything it ok.
17. Load webEPG-channels.exe it will automaticall find the new channels
18. Give the new channels a more friendly name. Save
19. Open the Webepg-conf.exe and the new channels should appear with their friendly name ready for use.
Guide to creating channel IDs in webepg:
1. use the domain url of the channel provider
2. if the channel provider has a url in multiple countries (and these channels are not different) ie same content, then use the one from the country of origin or the international one. (check these channel may already be in use by other grabbers - so always use an existing ID when possible). If still no idea post here.
3. if the channel provider doesn't have a web site, then create a url like id with -'s instead of .'s.
See how you go and post here for help. Send me your grabber config and and channels.xml file when finished and I'll merge them into one.
Cheers,
/James
I was asked how to add channels for the US to WebEPG. First WebEPG is currently able to get guide information from tv.yahoo.com. I know many people are currently using zap2it, however, yahoo requires no login and I've been told the data is just as good. So to start with its supported now. If there is interest I can add other sites (zap2it for example). Let me know. However, have a look at yahoo first and see if it is ok.
Anyway on to the guide.
Adding channels to the US yahoo grabber:
1. Open the grabber config file "grabbers\US\tv_yahoo_com.xml" with notepad. (replace with new version above)
2. Look at the BaseURL and SearchURL
<entry name="BaseURL">http://tv.yahoo.com</entry>
<entry name="SearchURL">/tvpdb?d=tvs&#ID&.intl=us&startdate=#EPOCH_TIME</entry>
3. Load tv.yahoo.com in your web browser
4. Select TV Listings
5. Enter your zip code
6. Enter your provider
7. A list of all your channels comes
8. Click on a channel on the left side
9. A listing of that channels comes for today
10. choose another date (tomorrow for example)
11. tomorrows listing comes up. The URL displayed should now look something like that from the Grabber config file:
http://tv.yahoo.com/tvpdb?d=tvs&id=...channels=us_MTV&.intl=us&startdate=1123632000
12. What is important is the bit "id=166031202&lineup=us_KY16673&channels=us_MTV".
13. Enter this value in the <section name="ChannelList"> in the Grabber config file like so:
<entry name="mtv.com">id=166031202&lineup=us_KY16673&channels=us_MTV</entry>
Note: & must be followed by amp; so "&"
14. Set the channel ID used by webepg for this channel this is the name="xxxx". This is really the hard part. To try and reduce the number of channels in the webepg db (currently a flat file). It is very important to not make too many channel IDs. So if this channel is a national channel the same all over the US then everyone should use the same ID. If it is a state channel then everyone in the state should use the same ID, and so on. I the case of national channels they only need to be added once (MTV might be an example of such a channel). In general if the guide is the same (same programs, same time) then the ID should be the same, even if we grab the channel using a different location code (the web site is just making a copy of the data for different location codes).
15. Save the grabber config file.
16. Test the grabber file by opening it in a web browser. This will parse the xml and make sure everything it ok.
17. Load webEPG-channels.exe it will automaticall find the new channels
18. Give the new channels a more friendly name. Save
19. Open the Webepg-conf.exe and the new channels should appear with their friendly name ready for use.
Guide to creating channel IDs in webepg:
1. use the domain url of the channel provider
2. if the channel provider has a url in multiple countries (and these channels are not different) ie same content, then use the one from the country of origin or the international one. (check these channel may already be in use by other grabbers - so always use an existing ID when possible). If still no idea post here.
3. if the channel provider doesn't have a web site, then create a url like id with -'s instead of .'s.
See how you go and post here for help. Send me your grabber config and and channels.xml file when finished and I'll merge them into one.
Cheers,
/James