TV schedule software

[web_stalker]

Hi,
I don't know if it is a coding snack idea, but here it goes. I downloaded the .xml file of my region's tv schedule by using mc2xml from http://mc2xml.hosterbox.net/, but could not find any software as a frontend to show the details. If I missed any existing free tv schedule software (for south asia) kindly let me know, otherwise I would like to know if it is possible for any autoit gurus to code it. I am a recent autoit convert, but definitely not good enough to code anything like this. Thanks.

[skwire]

That URL doesn't seem to lead to a site where one can download mc2xml.  Some further cursory searches just led to a lot of dead ends.

[tomos]

That URL doesn't seem to lead to a site where one can download mc2xml.  Some further cursory searches just led to a lot of dead ends.

-skwire (October 08, 2015, 02:10 PM)

it works here atm, if you scroll down the page -- here's the download link for windows --
http://phatic.tk/?h=906pduy

[ayryq]

I wrote one [a frontend to xmltv files] a long time ago. It still sort of works, in some browsers, and it's really easy to try.

http://ericandchar.com/xsltvgrid/

Basically extract my archive, stick your xml file in the same directory, name it "tv.xml" and open up "tv.html" in a web browser.

[4wd]

TV Scheduler Pro - I've used a commercial fork of this software for the last 5+ years and it has never once failed.

You can set it to automatically grab the XML for you, and if you have any DVB-T/S devices connected (using standard Windows BDA drivers), you can set it to automatically record based on various match criteria.

[web_stalker]

That URL doesn't seem to lead to a site where one can download mc2xml.  Some further cursory searches just led to a lot of dead ends.

-skwire (October 08, 2015, 02:10 PM)

As tomos said the links are found further down the page. Here's another link from the same page: MC2XML.

I wrote one [a frontend to xmltv files] a long time ago. It still sort of works, in some browsers, and it's really easy to try.

http://ericandchar.com/xsltvgrid/

Basically extract my archive, stick your xml file in the same directory, name it "tv.xml" and open up "tv.html" in a web browser.

-ayryq (October 08, 2015, 03:02 PM)

That's a quick and dirty script. I tried it and was pleasantly surprised.
Wishlist:
- options to select favourite channels and show only them. I've already got a .chl file to include only selected channels, but it would be preferable to do it with GUI.
- option to automatically download the xml data on demand/startup would also be welcome.
- now it shows only the channel number and not the channel name. Option to show the channel name will be appreciated
Update: I changed the option in mc2xml to show the channel name rather than channel number first and now the listing shows channel name.

I've got few more ideas, but maybe they are more relevant for an .exe version rather than a script?
For the present I am using your script. I wonder why it never showed in my search. Thanks for coding it.

Having said this, if anybody  would take up the project to create a standalone .exe/.ahk version I am willing to beta test it.

TV Scheduler Pro - I've used a commercial fork of this software for the last 5+ years and it has never once failed.

You can set it to automatically grab the XML for you, and if you have any DVB-T/S devices connected (using standard Windows BDA drivers), you can set it to automatically record based on various match criteria.

-4wd (October 08, 2015, 05:59 PM)

Alas, I don't have any device attached to the PC and the auto scan option (if no device is attached) is only available for the following countries, and it is not available for my country
    Australia
    United Kingdom
    Finland
    Germany
    Netherlands
    Sweden
    Taiwan
    France
Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Will keep an eye on it.

[ayryq]

Appreciate the positive feedback. I always intended this script to just show what the xml contains, nothing further. It was the end of a mostly automated (via cron) command-line workflow. My grabber let me specify favorite channels (but this could be scripted, probably), command line tools automated weekly data downloads and sorted the data, etc.

You may have noticed that rendering the grid is fairly slow. If you have channels you don't want to see, it would be much better for my little program if they were excluded from the xml entirely.

now it shows only the channel number and not the channel name. Option to show the channel name will be appreciated

-web_stalker (October 08, 2015, 10:14 PM)

It should be possible to show both. Have a look at the source of tv.xsl.
Lines 92 and following define the channel number
Lines 113 and following define a short channel name which should show in the left column
Lines 130 and following define a long channel name which (if I remember right) shows in the popup.

So you can see that each of these blocks has a conditional based on what grabber you're using. For example, lines 94-96:

[Select]

<xsl:when test="$Grabber = 'tv_grab_na_dd'">
<xsl:value-of select="display-name[3]"/>
</xsl:when>

So that's telling the script to use the third (or maybe fourth? I don't remember) display-name parameter from the xml file for the channel number. It should be pretty simple to customize those three blocks for the particulars of your xml file.

Or, if you want to send me your file, I can add a new option to the preferences customized for your grabber. Always fun to try to figure out what code does 9 years later.