new TheaterListPlugin info

[srchuck]

I've edited my above post with availabilty of the HTML library I use for parsing HTML. A binary-only package and a source+binary package are now available.

If you make changes to the HTML source and are using those changes in what will be a grabber plugin, please use a different name for your binary or include the changes directly into your project's source - this will help us in avoiding DLL ####.

Also, please submit back any changes that are made to the source of the HTML parser, as I'd be interested to see what people come up with that improves things!

Cheers,
SrChuck

[srchuck]

I've sketched up a quick outline of what elements I believe would belong in an XML document describing the available films and theaters for a given location. Here is a quick annotated skeleton:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">
<database> // root element
<theater name="GBPVR Theater"> // one or more can be present; name of theater
<address>1 GBPVR Way|Earth, Galaxy, Universe AreaCode</address> // optional, postal address of theater, lines separated by |
<phone>theaterphonenumber</phone> // optional
<film name="filmtitle"> // one or more required per theater
<showtimes>12:00am, 11:00pm, ...</showtimes> // required
<posterimage>url/of/poster/image</posterimage> // optional, recommended
<extrainfo> // optional
<rating>G</rating> // optional; film advisory board rating
<genre>Comedy, Drama, Action</genre> // optional
<length>1:30</length> // optional, requires no special formatting
<releasedate>Oct. 10, 2004</releasedate> // optional, date released to theater
<cast>GBPVR forum members</cast> // optional, film cast
<director>sub</cast> // optional, director of film
<synopsis>sub creates a free PVR application; forum members create plugins</synopsis> // optional
</extrainfo>
</film>
</theater>
<theater...>
</database>
[/QUOTE]

That's it, in a nutshell. Any additions, changes, etc. please direct comments as replies!

[srchuck]

New config dialog screenshot!



I've been hard at work adding all kinds of new features, such as
the ability to download names of theaters per area and exclude the ones that you don't want to get listings for. That functionality is not yet complete, but progress is steady.

[srchuck]

New! Improved! Here's an example of the XML format that will be used by the TheaterList plugin:
<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"><?xml version="1.0"?>
<database>
<theater name="Cinema 4" location="6301 University Avenue|Cedar Falls, IA 50613" number="319-277-1061">
<film title="First Daughter" showtimes="12:30, 2:45, 4:50">
<extrainfo rating="PG - language, sexual situations and alcohol-related material" genre="Comedy, Drama, Kids/Family" runningtime="1 hr. 45 min." releasedate="September 24, 2004" cast="Michael Keaton, Katie Holmes, Marc Blucas" director="Forest Whitaker" posterURL="http://images.fandango.com//images/posters/small/firstdaughter2_sm.jpg" synopsis="First daughter Samantha Mackenzie's life in the spotlight begins to take its toll. Excited about her first year away at college, she demands to be allowed to go away without having to be followed by a fleet of omnipresent secret service agents. She is elated when her father reluctantly agrees, and the chance to finally be on her own. But, without her knowing, her father assigns one of the youngest Secret Service agents to follow her around on campus disguised as a student anyway." />
</film>
</theater>
</database>[/QUOTE]

Putting data in named attributes is easier to parse than having a boatload of elements with children.. This is a (truncated) live capture from my Fandango grabber; progress is good! Pretty soon I'll start work on the plugin's user interface. I'll try to get my sketches of the layout I want scanned in and posted so people can comment on them. When the dust of experimental development has settled, I'll post the grabber interface stuff as well. I'm still tweaking things here and there.

[srchuck]

Here's a mockup of the planned UI for selecting theaters to get listings from:



I thought it would be best to keep the UI consistent with the rest of the app; I really felt the layout of the recordings section fit very well for this application.

&quot;Get Info&quot; will return a popup with information about the theater (name, address, phone number) that won't all fit nicely in the selector.

The area as defined in the config is what shows up under the theater name in the selector.

Selecting a theater will take you to a similar-looking selector with a film and its showtimes in each box. Selecting a film will return a popup with extended information about the film.

Please post your comments on this proposal!

Thanks,
SrChuck

[jorm]

The screen shots look great.

[srchuck]

Here's the kind of thing you'll see when you click on &quot;Get Info&quot; in the Select a Theater page:


(not a mockup)

[arttext]

This all looks very nice.
I can't wait to present my wife with more detailed listings of Portland OR although we live some 6000 miles away.
THX for all the work.

cheers, arttext

ps.
Hope somebody in NL finds a way to modify this for use over here

[srchuck]

Quote[/b] (arttext @ Oct. 10 2004,16:20)]This all looks very nice.
I can't wait to present my wife with more detailed listings of Portland OR although we live some 6000 miles away.
THX for all the work.

cheers, arttext

ps.
Hope somebody in NL finds a way to modify this for use over here

Thank you!

The goal of my enhanced plugin is that you won't have to rewrite it to get listings for other locations. All that needs to happen is a new grabber needs to be written, and it plugs easily into the main plugin.

If you can provide me with some translations of whichever site looks most promising for getting listings for the Netherlands, I can work on a grabber. I'd be glad to help. I'll probably not work actively on it until I've got the rest of the plugin settled down more though.

[arttext]

Quote[/b] (srchuck @ Oct. 10 2004,22:26)]

Quote[/b] (arttext @ Oct. 10 2004,16:20)]This all looks very nice.
I can't wait to present my wife with more detailed listings of Portland OR although we live some 6000 miles away.
THX for all the work.

cheers, arttext

ps.
Hope somebody in NL finds a way to modify this for use over here

Thank you!

The goal of my enhanced plugin is that you won't have to rewrite it to get listings for other locations. All that needs to happen is a new grabber needs to be written, and it plugs easily into the main plugin.

If you can provide me with some translations of whichever site looks most promising for getting listings for the Netherlands, I can work on a grabber. I'd be glad to help. I'll probably not work actively on it until I've got the rest of the plugin settled down more though.

OK I will look into it and gt back at you, no hurry's needed

cheers, arttext