Movie Showtime java plug-in

[ToonGal]

Downloads: ShowTimes v0.0.3 - 3:22 PM 9/1/2004
ShowTimes.doc (http://toongal.stoneindian.com/HTPC/ShowTimes/ShowTimes.doc)
ShowTimes.class (http://toongal.stoneindian.com/HTPC/ShowTimes/ShowTimes.class)

Since I don't have Studio / source code to play with and Frey has made the decryption of the wiz.bin file difficult (encryption was my specialty in a previous life, but intellectual curiosity at best), I decided to force my way onto the SageTV productivity scene.

Now that I'm starting to fall in love with the STV side of things, I'm finding less of a need for Meedio. Since Meedio is long-term out, I have to start replacing plug-ins/utilites I need in SageTV. In this realm, the first project to tackle was to integrate movie showtimes.

I don't know Java, but I spent free bits of my day learning it and building a prototype. The output is currently just printing on the screen which can be redirected to a ">file" easily enough. If/when there is interest in STV integration, I can generate any STV friendly input format on demand. I didn't want to mimic the weather output, in case that wasn't the desired one.

I'm probably just leaving development at this v0.0.1 version, until there's definate plans on STV integration. Then I can coordinate a file format for STV input to spec.

In the mean time, please feel free to play with the toy and let me know if there's any issues. Basically, it's just a command line utility at this point, format: java ShowTimes <zip> <theaters>. For example, I type "java ShowTimes 99999 20" to generate the output. Each zip I tried had some minor anomaly, so any issues, just post the zip/theaters used, so I can debug.

Enjoy! :)

[mls]

I like your attitude and ambition ToonGal, however, I do kind of wonder how many Windows users know what a .rar file is (even though I do)?

Heck, some Windows users still don't know what a .zip file is, but that's beside the point.

I'm sure those interested to this level would know though, just wondered why a .rar file from your end? Sound's more like a Linux programmer to me (which is just ok fine by me lol).

[Jere_Jones]

Toongal,

Do you ever peruse the newsgroups? The reason I ask is because rar is much more common there due to it's flexible spanning, better compression, etc.

How many people know what a .par is? There's a marvel of modern programming!!!

WinRar is just an all around better program than WinZip (IMHO).

Jere

PS - Linux tends to use .tar not .rar

[ToonGal]

Son went to bed and spent about 20 minutes checking other zip codes. Looks pretty robust at this point. Data done for "by theater"; just need a final format. I'm also set for "by movie" and "coming soon" easily enough. Afterwards, movie posters. Now just have to establish interest and/or coordination w/ an end-user.

@mls:
Linux, somewhat. More old school. UC Berkely grad, and Unix all the way, baby! :) It's .tar on Unix too, not .zip/.rar, both more Windows standards. I compressed it so I could keep everything in one file. As I'm thinking about it, if you don't know what a .rar file is, it's unlikely a java kernel environment thread is of great use anyway...

@Jere:
Newsgroups, and everything made of that yummy internet and computer goodness... :) Not only .par, but .par2, .md5, .sfv, .nfo, and all the rest of the gang. WinRAR the only way to fly, IMHO, as well.

@all:
Has anyone else actually TRIED it yet??? ANY positive / negative / neutral results...? I have so many plug-in ideas I've researched, including sports scores, stock quotes, comic strips, and almost anything readily available on a portal page.

Now that I can manipulate all this data easily enough, I just need a Studio in which to plug it all...!

[chrysek]

I realy do like it ToonGal, I think this can be a great addition along with Weather information. How many times my wife wanted to check whats plaing in the movie theatre near us... such would just implement my htpc by adding great feature to it... :)

Great work!!!

[salsbst]

I'm psyched.

[salsbst]

FYI, I took a look at your code and at the movies.yahoo.com site. movies.yahoo.com html is, as one might suspect, pretty darned ugly, and thus I would worry that their format may be a bit of a moving target to chase. Have you ever looked at their reduced interface? Might make for less brittle parsing code if you find that yahoo's full featured format keeps changing on you:

http://acid1.oa.yahoo.com/raw?dp=movie&pdadid=%deviceid

BTW, I found this at Small Sites (a great resource for informative sites that emit clean html, thinking of going nutes and developing a few STV menus from this list):
http://209.221.153.18/smallsites/

[ToonGal]

v0.0.3 up, but last version until necessary. Reformatted the output to match the 'weather' one, in case it was a stumbling block to anyone wondering how it worked.

Not sure that movies.yahoo.com is a problem; the Meedio MovieShowtimes plug-in uses the same method. (I reverse engineered his modus-operandi, by tracking the data output compared to the various web sources.) In my own implementation case, the parsing isn't that bad. The main issues revolved around enough sample data (i.e. "Starts on Sep 3" was unexpected until I hit a zip code that had it) and finding the construct in Java corresponding to the way it is done in C/Fortran/Pascal/Basic/etc. At least college OOP-ish languages (lisp, logo) have come in handly to play around w/ Java. :)

As for other sites, you have the idea of what I'm thinking. For example, here's an interesting Dilbert comic site:
http://www.tickertape.org/ticker_log/messages.jsp?group=dilbert&id=last&count=-100
Basically, it looks like a perl script that parses out the link for the daily Dilbert strip from the www.comics.com home page. Easy enough to have a scheduled 'image fetch' program to get this type of data (movie posters, comic strips, weather maps, etc.) for display through SageTV.

Really wonder if Studio is more 'layout manager' (FrontPage), 'programming environment' (VisBasic), or some 4GL sitting on top of the base SageTV java code. Would help in knowing what/how to write code to cull info from the internet.

Thanks for the positive feedback. Guess interesting only on the intellectual side so far. Too bad, because had some spare time this week. Want so much to tailor the entire HTPC side of things, and chomping at the bit. :)

[KJake]

I just tried this out and I have to say it friggin rocks! Great job, now let's get this into a couple of STV's!

[salsbst]

Really wonder if Studio is more 'layout manager' (FrontPage), 'programming environment' (VisBasic), or some 4GL sitting on top of the base SageTV java code. Would help in knowing what/how to write code to cull info from the internet.Can't talk about what Studio is or isn't, but you can take a look at the open source Java code that forms the basis of a few of the custom menus: http://sourceforge.net/projects/sageplugins/ . The Weather Report Suite culls information from the internet.

[ToonGal]

@salbst:
You say "open source Java code"...? I found the latest file in the release package, ati_rw_plugin v 2.0.02, dated 2004-05-02 15:00. This archive file has three included files:
- Readme.txt - documentation on installation / tips
- SageTV.dll - object file executable
- SageTV.ini - config file for arguments to the sendmessage function

Am I missing something, or are you? The only good news is that this is written in 'C' instead of Java. Were I able to write in 'C', I could fly instead of crawl. :)

I've heard those who have Studio can't talk about it; fair enough. But don't get my hopes up so salbst, then yank the rug out from under me...! ;)

Without breaking your code of silence for Studio, I think you can answer this. Is the .ini-ish output format I mimicked here the input method of choice for STV/Studio/SageTV developers?

Also, if you can answer, does it provide some 'cron' (Unix term; scheduled task processor) utility to run things in the background? If it did, I'd have for all my plug-ins a daily program run so end-users don't have to wait for output.

For this plug-in, I'd have a background program running to generate the output files, especially the movie poster fetch (not written) and movie detail fetch (also, not written). It's quick to basically reformat yahoo's 'by theater' and display run-time, but additional information is time consuming.

For the comic strip one, there are so many ways to implement this. If some 3rd party server could contribute space, my utility could run daily there and generate a complete set out output files for SageTV users to access. Then they would just load indvidiual comic files on run-time. Even better, in my post-writing research, I've found some really neat utilties (written in perl, python, and others, NOT java) that could run locally. They could configure strips desired with one config file and download the files to view locally on their system daily. More detail on this in the other thread, written right after this one.

Any info you can provide WITHOUT GETTING IN TROUBLE (do NOT say more than you can / should) that would help me produce something more useful than the two toys I've written, would be appreciated. :) Especially if you have ideas on methods of output that would be useful.

I'm not really interested in writing this so one STV can use it. The goal should be to make it modular so any SageTV STV can use it. I don't know if SageTV has any utilities that read .ini, XML, or other format for input.

Thanks for the feedback gang. :)

[salsbst]

You need to look at the actual code in the SourceForge project, not the released files. It's in a system called CVS that is used for sharing source code. There's a way to look at it file by file through a web browser, or to attach to the SourceForge CVS server and "check out" the entire project (which contains several java libraries).

[Grey_Goose]

Nice.

Btw, I've got to ask... weren't you just appalled at the Daredevil movie? The whole Frank Miller Elektra/Daredevil/Bullseye saga was one of comic's greats. Such a shame.

[heffe2001]

I'd love to see this incorporated into Nielm's STV, on the Info screen...

[ckron]

I like your attitude and ambition ToonGal, however, I do kind of wonder how many Windows users know what a .rar file is (even though I do)?

Heck, some Windows users still don't know what a .zip file is, but that's beside the point.

I'm sure those interested to this level would know though, just wondered why a .rar file from your end? Sound's more like a Linux programmer to me (which is just ok fine by me lol).

:soapbox:
.rar is very popular in the news groups for windows users because of its superior support for multiple part archives. As a matter of fact, rar is my prefered format. The utilities for file recovery are out of this world.

[ckron]

Toongal,

Do you ever peruse the newsgroups? The reason I ask is because rar is much more common there due to it's flexible spanning, better compression, etc.

How many people know what a .par is? There's a marvel of modern programming!!!

WinRar is just an all around better program than WinZip (IMHO).

Jere

PS - Linux tends to use .tar not .rar


I am with you there Jere :coffee:
Par recovery files are amazing :nod:

[zubblwump]

Has any progress been made on this front? I loved this feature on myHTPC, but am currently trying to see if I can get by with Sage alone.

The links to the .doc and .class files in this thread are dead, so I can't even play around with them.

I've thought of ways to get this going in an almost seamless looking method using the myhtpc grabber, but my ideas are still really just hacks and tricks, and I haven't tried them to see if they would even work.

A movie showtime "plugin" would be great, but what about a generic SageTV xml reader that would work with anything xml? Is this possible?

[mightyt]

Has any progress been made on this front? I loved this feature on myHTPC, but am currently trying to see if I can get by with Sage alone.

The links to the .doc and .class files in this thread are dead, so I can't even play around with them.

I've thought of ways to get this going in an almost seamless looking method using the myhtpc grabber, but my ideas are still really just hacks and tricks, and I haven't tried them to see if they would even work.

A movie showtime "plugin" would be great, but what about a generic SageTV xml reader that would work with anything xml? Is this possible?

It is a great idea and I have asked a couple of times if anyone of the developer persuasion would consider it. ToonGal split this forum some time ago and I was hoping someone else would pick up on the idea. I was also hoping for a Traffic Map plug-in as well ... :rolleyes2

T.

[abasu2003]

mightyt, what kind of traffic map plugin? do you have a traffic site in mind?
Technically, if its just an animated gif, you could just add it into the WRS

[RedCoat999]

I was just thinking about this today too! Flyout menus's (cut down on those slow remote clicks), WRS and a theatre listing is my ultimate desire for Sage

[mightyt]

mightyt, what kind of traffic map plugin? do you have a traffic site in mind?
Technically, if its just an animated gif, you could just add it into the WRS

Thanks abasu2003 ... Well, I'm not too picky ... any good Traffic Map will do ... All commuters can relate!

Here's a couple I view ...

http://traffic.tann.net/lartraffic/

http://ktla.trb.com/news/traffic/ktla-traffic-sanbernardino,0,7079465.framedurl?coll=ktla-newstraffic-3

http://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?Region=San+Bernardino

Sigalert is my favorite though ...

Is this possible? If so ... How can I do it?

Thanks VERY much! T.

[abasu2003]

Well, this probably isn't what you really had in mind, but you can get at least the map, without the hover points. Just add this to the top

<view name="traffic" speed="750" delay="3000" maxage="0.25">
<layer type="image" name="base" href="http://www.sigalert.com//Sponsors/Sigalert/SanBernardino.png" imageType="png"/>
<layer type="image" name="roads" href="http://www.sigalert.com/MapGraphicForeground.asp?Region=San+Bernardino" imageType="png"/>

</view>

And then in one of your other menus, add the view, like this:

<rotan
label="Traffic"
view="traffic"/>

That should at least give you some basic traffic info. I'm guessing that should stay updated. let me know how it works out. I'd imagine maybe someone could make something to parse out more of the info, but without a standardized website, i'm thinking it would be hard.

[mightyt]

Well, this probably isn't what you really had in mind, but you can get at least the map, without the hover points. Just add this to the top

That should at least give you some basic traffic info. I'm guessing that should stay updated. let me know how it works out. I'd imagine maybe someone could make something to parse out more of the info, but without a standardized website, I’m thinking it would be hard.

AWESOME !!!! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Thank you :goodjob:

Maybe it doesn't have the hover points or refresh, but I can wait for someone to figure that out ... This at least allows me to easily click the button on demand and check out traffic conditions before leaving in the morning.

I appreciate the tip and attached a screen shot to show how I integrated it in my WRS ... ;)

Again, THANKS!!! ... T.

P.S. - Now that wasn't so bad ... OK who's up for Theater Listings??? Hmm??? :jump:

[mightyt]

Oh, BTW ... I notice that it takes about 45 to 60 seconds to download the traffic map in to WRS ... that's about twice as long as it takes through the browser ... Any reason for that differnece???

Thanks, T.

[DIBU]

here comes the traffic card for germany (hessen)

http://www.verkehr.hessen.de/vis/card.jsp

cu
DIBU

[salsbst]

Oh, BTW ... I notice that it takes about 45 to 60 seconds to download the traffic map in to WRS ... that's about twice as long as it takes through the browser ... Any reason for that differnece???

Thanks, T.Bandwidth consumption in WRS is throttled so that it doesn't interfere with TV. There's an attribute in weatherconfig.xml that controls this. Something like maxBytesNetworkPerSecond.

[srothwell]

Hi....

I tried to d/l the files for movie times plugin, but the links seem to be broken.

Does anyone else have them?

Thanks

[mightyt]

Hi....

I tried to d/l the files for movie times plugin, but the links seem to be broken.

Does anyone else have them?

Thanks


OK ... forgive my ignorance (please) ... what is d/l ?? I usually can figure out an acronym ... and will probably end up saying Duh!!!

Thanks, T.

[srothwell]

download

:)

[RedCoat999]

download

[mightyt]

download

:)

Ummm ... did I say DUH !!!! OK ... Mental lapse of the obvious ... :blush:

Actually you answer is in Post #18

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=68335&postcount=18

It appears ToonGal ripped out her links ... :confused:

I am hopful that some other brilliant devloper would be challenged by this ... :D

T.

[salsbst]

For consistency's sake and the greater good, please use this thread for WRS issues:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=8160

(and yes, post your weatherconfig.xml in that thread for support).

[KJake]

Hi....

I tried to d/l the files for movie times plugin, but the links seem to be broken.

Does anyone else have them?

Thanks


Got it!
http://www.kjake.net/sage/ShowTimes.class
http://www.kjake.net/sage/ShowTimes.doc
http://www.kjake.net/sage/ShowTimes.java

Has anyone tried emailing her at toongal1021@hotmail.com? She might share the actual Java source code. I just decompiled it to get the output there, but it looks like it's right on.

Have fun!

[mightyt]

Has anyone tried emailing her at toongal1021@hotmail.com? She might share the actual Java source code. I just decompiled it to get the output there, but it looks like it's right on.

Have fun!

I just did ... Hopefully she will reply .... I'll let you know ...

Thanks, T.

[ToonGal]

The files posted are complete as well as the reverse engineered source code. In the immediate term, I decided to take down my home page. My spouse asked me for a divorce about the same time as my last post(s), and things have been very busy since then. TV in general, never mind SageTV, haven't been of high import recently. That's the main reason I didn't accept the invitation to accept studio at the time, and why I haven't been active since then.

This is the first time I've been "ToonGal" in months, so sorry to all the e-mails, posts, etc. that I haven't had the time to respond to. My divorce is in the 'active' phase right now, and given the complexities, I won't have the time to add onto the movie showtimes. I had a minor updated version since then, but the goal was to genericize this one. Too bad on the timing of things, because I had/have some good ideas on how to make a movie showtime program engine that would be generic enough to use/integrate with SageTV/Meedio as well as use multiple scrapers.

I will be returning as an active SageTV member, as this is an interesting and fun 'work', as well as a personally fulfilling project. Just have to get through my personal life issues first. Hopefully, a Studio invitation is still available later, because I'll soon have lots of time and energy to focus on something 'fun'. In the mean time, thanks for the interest in the things I had done.

[abasu2003]

welcome back. sage seems like its moving at a mile a minute these days. no doubt you'll help that along

[edbmdave]

Sorry to hear about all you have gone through.. Glad to have you back..

[mightyt]

Same here ... Hoping you are able to get to a better place very soon ... and ... this project can be considered a good distraction ... :)

[mightyt]

I had/have some good ideas on how to make a movie showtime program engine that would be generic enough to use/integrate with SageTV/Meedio as well as use multiple scrapers.

I will be returning as an active SageTV member, as this is an interesting and fun 'work', as well as a personally fulfilling project. Just have to get through my personal life issues first. Hopefully, a Studio invitation is still available later, because I'll soon have lots of time and energy to focus on something 'fun'. In the mean time, thanks for the interest in the things I had done.

Hey ToonGal ... Hope all is well with you these days ... Know you were going through some rough times ...

Any updates on the Showtime plug-in?? Would still love to see it!! ;)

Thanks T.

[ToonGal]

Hey ToonGal ... Hope all is well with you these days ... Know you were going through some rough times ...

Any updates on the Showtime plug-in?? Would still love to see it!! ;)

Thanks T.
As it pertains to this, and every other idea I ever had, all are DOA for the same reason. I never did get Studio, nobody ever answered any of the technical questions about what output was necessary from my modules, and not enough outcry to generate further attention.

I mentioned it many times before, but web scrapers are easy. The hard part is the "black box" that gets it into SageTV in some useful fashion... Personally, I really liked the ESPNMotion one most of all, since it's the easiest / quickest to integrate.

Times still rough. Divorce not smooth, but didn't expect it to be. Thanks for the kind thoughts, though...

[Cayars]

If you had studio, would you have time to work on the integration?

[ToonGal]

If you had studio, would you have time to work on the integration?

Short answer: today, no. That's why I initially turned it down. But "soon" (I hope) will have lots of time and desire for fun distractions.

Ironically, my timing has been horrible. I was writing / structuring my various prototypes a week before I was told of my impending divorce. I was offered Studio a day or so before the news. Ultimately, I only turned it down because I figured that my time would no longer be my own. It was a good assumption.

I start arbitration on Tuesday to determine the fate of my short-term custody for my son, whose recommendation has a long-term implication. Bigger proceedings start early February. Fun fun...

I tanked my Las Vegas / CES tickets (SageTV booth a major goal when plane tix were bought) because of my daily 'issues'. I'm playing around on my computer / personal e-mail / forums / TV-NFL today to relieve stress, but not exceptionally focused. Probably not a good idea to start something I can't really support / finish. Soon enough though.

EDIT:
PS. Still never got that dithered matte working on your STV. Another problem for another day in another thread when I make another effort... ;)

[Cayars]

Keep us informed.

[nielm]

PS. Still never got that dithered matte working on your STV. Another problem for another day in another thread when I make another effort... ;)Just to let you know: in the 2.2 beta, this is built-in to the Sage core and OriginalV2 STV: Select Overlay renderer, Color Keying Enabled, 3d Accelleration disabled...

[Cayars]

We tried this and for some reason it didn't work on her system and neither did the old style matte. Something strange going on.

[zubblwump]

Toongal,

Well, obviously real life has to take a front seat, so take your time getting things straight there. When you do again find time for this I'll still be anxiously waiting for some sort of Sage Showtimes integration. This was my absolute favorite part of myHTPC.

[mightyt]

Thanks for the replies ToonGal ... Sorry to hear you are still wading through though times ... Hopefully it will be over soon ... and you can move forward ... Hang in there!!! :)

[Brent94Z]

Hey Toongal,

As others have mentioned, when you have the time again to "play" I know I sure would like to see ya active here. My local movie place has a phone number to call to see what movies are playing but it's nearly always busy and when you do get through, you have to listen to 4 minutes of movies you don't care about to get to the time of your movie at the end :D Your ideas here are so much better ;)

Good luck to ya!!!