[mythtv-users] American EPG Data Provider Found?

[Andrew Close]

On 7/26/07, Jarom McDonald <jarom_mcdonald at byu.edu> wrote:
> I think there's a general misunderstanding about how mythfilldatabase
> actually works. First of all, it's not just as simple as saying "point
> this at a URL at get what is returned." Mythfilldatabase doesn't do
> anything other than initialize the grabber and then take the returning
> data and put in into the database. It is the grabber, thus, which has to
> interface with the outside site, and it is that which will need to be
> upgraded (along with whatever config files or database entries exist
> that tell mythfilldatabase which grabber to use).
>
> As far as the grabber goes, it, too, is much more complex than a simple
> URL pointing. Because every region has different requirements, a simple
> config file cannot be written to account for all the possibilities. Many
> places need screen scraping, so the grabber for that region has to know
> the URLs to go to, the regexes to parse it into XMLTV format, etc. Other
> places, such as in North America, have the web service option, but
> constructing a web service query, too can't necessarily be handled by a
> simple config file.
>
> So the solution that the XMLTV folk came up with was to have a different
> grabber script for each region, which would contain all the rules,
> parameters, etc. necessary to get the data, get it into XMLTV format,
> and present it to whatever needs it (and many more software packages use
> XMLTV--it's not a myth product). It's a pretty good solution in my
> opinion, given the wide disparity in data needs around the world. The
> different scripts, in essence, ARE the config file.
>
>
> Perhaps there is more in the works as well, but given that XMLTV is
> participating with MythTV and others on the schedulesdirect program, I
> can't see why they wouldn't continue to follow this model. So when the
> new schedule delivery system in North America is ready, it will most
> likely be a web service. Then, a new XMLTV grabber will be written to
> get data from it (so that all the other people who rely on XMLTV can use
> it as well). Your Myth installation will just need a simple database
> change to tell mythfilldatabase to initialize this new grabber; however,
> you will have to update XMLTV so the new grabber is there to begin with.
> This is what Chris meant when he said there would be a URL change.

cool, thanks for providing the underlying detail.
my comment wasn't to poke anyone in the eye, especially since it was
made in ignorance of how the system currently works. :)  but just
stating that in general hard-coding is bad.  however, everything has
its place and after your explanation it makes much more sense.

thanks!