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NANY 2014 Release - epCheck

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skwire:
I have a question about TVmaze: how easy/difficult would it be to add as an option to use the TVmaze API? I mean in addition to TVDB, as a selectable option. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's probably not trivial, but I'm interested to know.

The main reason is that often for very recent episodes, TVmaze has the correct info, i.e. ep title and airdate sooner than TVDB. Occasionally it's the other way round but I find I often have to check their website when something doesn't match up.-ganymede4 (October 19, 2019, 02:56 PM)
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This a bit disjointed to explain, so let me preface it a bit:


* I'm not a huge fan of most web-browser based interfaces.  Some are awesome, though.
* I like to think that I have a decent knack for desktop interface design.
* I enjoy working with standard REST/SOAP APIs such as TVDB, OMDB, ChartLyrics, Subsonic, etc.  Most of these APIs return data in XML or JSON format -- I can easily work with either.
* I enjoy making desktop apps for said APIs (frontends, basically).  A lot of the programs I've written are exactly this type of application.  Ask mouser...I have something of a listview fetish.   :P
So, that said, working with the TVmaze API wouldn't be any easier or harder than working with the TVDB API.  It's a matter of figuring out the particular endpoints you need for the data you want.  However, it gets tricky when you want to combine multiple APIs into one interface.  Namely:


* You have to put up with the extra time it takes to query multiple websites.  This is more time-consuming than you might think.  Something as simple as adding a show becomes more complex.  Multiple searches for the show name, multiple user confirmations, and, now, multiple show IDs to deal with for a single show.  Because the show IDs are not going to match between sites, you basically have to maintain separate sets of data for each API you're dealing with.  It gets to be a clusterf@#$ really quickly.
* You have to put up with potential API changes on multiple fronts now.
* What if one (or more) of the sites is down?
* What if one (or more) of the sites goes down permanently?
* Which database's information takes precedence for a given field?
* I often pay out of my own pocket for premium API access in order to make my apps better for the end user.  Faster API response times, more allowed API hits per day, access to more data, etc.  While I'm gainfully employed and writing freeware is a hobby, this type of investment is not insignificant.  Think hundreds of dollars per year across all the apps I've written that use APIs.    More APIs can mean more costs.
Indeed, all of this can be dealt with, but, as you can imagine, it can be a bit of a hot mess at times.  I really hope some of the above helps to clarify things.

Bonus question: Have you ever considered open sourcing the project to Github or similar?
-ganymede4 (October 19, 2019, 02:56 PM)
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Nope.  There's really no voodoo or magic going on here.  It's simple API calls and munging the returned text into an interface.

dallas7:
you can manually add a show using this process-skwire (October 19, 2019, 10:52 AM)
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That did it!

I tried something like that last week but it didn't work, no doubt being ignorant of the correct steps to take.

Thanks so much for the insight and exacting details.  I've saved 'em as a txt file in my epCheck folder; I'm sure in the probably unlikely event I'll need to repeat the process for some other program.

Good health and prosperity to you and yours.

msteph:
Jody & zzynx: I think this time I'm referencing an actual problem with the API, not the website v3.

:)

For the last couple of days I've not been able to refresh a series' data - in fact doing so erases all the existing data.  Additionally, trying a search for a new series returns nothing. 

Now I see that TVDB is having lots of similar complaints, so it's definitely their problem and not epCheck's but I just wanted to mention it:

https://forums.thetvdb.com/viewtopic.php?f=122&t=60034

Mike S.

msteph:
Also:

https://forums.thetvdb.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=60029

dallas7:
erases all the existing data-msteph (November 16, 2019, 09:35 AM)
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Same here.  Those thetvdb forum discussions are way over my pay grade but it does show it's not just us epCheck users. Hope the problem gets resolves soon.

Thanks for posting up.

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