XMLTV GUI gives empty EPG when internet connection is down.

[JP23]

Hi,

I have a scheduled task set to run a XMLTV GUI once a day and grab new listings, and have GVPVR set to do a full EPG reload. If my internet connection happens to be down when the grab is scheduled then I end up with an empty EPG.

Is there any possible way of making XMLTV GUI abort the grab when the connection is down, rather than making me a less than useful xml file?

[McBainUK]

There was a bat file on the forum or wiki (I can't remember) that checked the xml file was over a certain size before updating the EPG.

Sorry I can't link - probably worth a search or two though as it seems to be exactly what you want

[Elmo Putney]

have a look here:

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=39023

I still havent got around to doing this.

[JP23]

Thanks, lots of useful information there. Currently I have XMLTV GUI run as a windows scheduled task, and then the epg update time is set in GBPVR config to be about half an hour later.

Following on from what's been done here: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=25695 , and trying to keep it as basic as possible, instead of just running the grab with this command line:

C:\XMLTVG~1\XmltvGUI.exe /grab /d14

I've decided to just run a .bat file with the following:

ping http://www.radiotimes.co.uk
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 goto END

C:\XMLTVG~1\XmltvGUI.exe /grab /d14

:END

[bgowland]

Are you using the latest version of XMLTV GUI? According to the change log, it's not supposed to write anything if it doesn't grab anything - not put that to the test myself though.

Version 3.11.00 W (941KB) L (1107KB) (19/12/2008)
Changes:
-Fixed bug in time fixer
-Added Virgin 1 to Radio Times freeview limit script
-Made grabber not write xml if no programs have been downloaded
-Added BBC World timezone corrector script
-Fixed handling of digiguide channels with no ids
-Added more details from misc field in digiguide grabber

Cheers,
Brian

[martint123]

Yup, I updated to the latest version and if my connection is down when it comes out of hibernate then it keeps the old data file and doesn't overwrite it with an empty one.

p.s. I use /d7 and it has helped a lot with the problems of show times shifting by a few minutes in the EPG and ending up as overlapping duplicates - they only seem to do this a week before the transmission time, so a 7 day EPG avoids it (and speeds things up a lot).

[bgowland]

Coincidentally, I can confirm the latest version won't overrwrite the data.xml file if the connection is unavailable. My line was disconnected this morning at my normal xmltv download time. From the log (edited)...

06:50:19 - Starting pass 1 of grabber UK_RT
...
06:50:34 - Error downloading "http://xmltv.radiotimes.com/xmltv/94.dat" : Socket Error # 11004

06:50:34 - Grab failed on channel "94"
06:50:34 - Clearing cache
06:50:34 - Finished pass 1 of grabber UK_RT
06:50:34 - 0 programs found
...
06:50:34 - Sorting Programs
06:50:34 - Programs Sorted
06:50:34 - Writing XML
06:50:34 - No programs found, aborting xml writing

Cheers,
Brian

[gEd]

I've been running the latest version but I confess I never noticed that new feature in the change log. So that's a few more lines thast I can remove from the bat file.

I need to check if xmltvgui returns errorlevel 1 if it is unable to download so I avoid running these EPG update commands if there is no EPG update

"C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\pvrx2.exe" -EmptyEPGOnly
"C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\pvrx2.exe" -deletependingrecurring
"C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\pvrx2.exe" -OnlyUpdateEPG

I too only download d7 days to keep things as accurate as possible. The commands above help avoid those annoying overlaps you occasionally get when they move a show.

A very gentle reminder: don't forget to donate to the xmltvgui if you are able to - it would be a sad day if we lost it.