How to use iView (ABC Australia) downloaders

[Anywho]

Originally Posted by MickJT

So, I notice my AmigaOS version hasn't been update since the 30th of July last year. Thing is, I haven't needed to update it at all, it just keeps on working. Must be something special I do ;-)

Not quite... I noticed it was broken when they were flipping the index file between compressed/uncompressed a couple of few weeks back.

Lately though, they seem to have stopped that tom-foolery.

[MickJT]

One thing I do differently is when scanning for .flv's and .mp4's, I don't really parse the file properly at all, I simply have it check for .mp4 and .flv, then backtrack until it hits a comma, quote or something that can't be part of a filename. So whatever formatting change they make to that particular area won't have any effect at all.

Where it can be done, I also don't rely on any particular ordering when parsing any other files.

[gxdata]

Examining the iView Player and comparing the JSON files, I can decipher most of the series/episode metadata, except for about 4 or 5.

Can someone take a guess at what the JSON elements (for Episodes) "k", "l", "m" represent?

eg, for Escape from Scorpion Island

"k":"Go to website"
"l":"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/abc3\/scorpionisland\/"
"m":"G"

"k" - ?

My guess is that "l" is the show's website (if the element is absent, there isn't one), and "m" = Classification - but I haven't encountered some 'missing' Episode element letters - c, o, p, t

Also, iView Player shows whether Captions are available (compare for example, Eps 1 and 14 of Scorpion Island) - and I can't see that in the JSON.

Any ideas?

[blood.eaglz]

a: Episode ID number
b: Episode Name

d: Description
e: Category
f: Date Added
g: Date Expires
h: Date Broadcast
i: File Size
j: Duration (in Seconds)
k: "go to website" Text for hyperlink
l: URL used in hyperlink

m: maturity classification (if missing then I think is the equivalent of "E" I've only seen it happen on news/current affairs)
n: file name

s: series screenshot

u: season number
v: episode number

http://tviview.abc.net.au/iview/api2/?series=3134038,3159328,3130146,3121597,3142826,3132936,2765543,3169248,3158494,2955433

my best guess as to why c doesn't exist is that c in the xml series section (a to f prior to the stepped episode info) contains the description of the series, and if memory serves me there have been shows where each episode merely contains the series description, ergo if episodes d does not exist use series c .

unable to find an indicator for captions, though judging by the slight delay by the iview player showing the availability and the fact that the caption files match the name given in n (except of course the extension) it appears it may simply do a search in http://www.abc.net.au/iview/captions/ for n.xml if matches then is available if not then no captions available

Anywho or mce can tell you for certain

anyway hope this helps

[gxdata]

Originally Posted by blood.eaglz

k: "go to website" Text for hyperlink
l: URL used in hyperlink

m: maturity classification (if missing then I think is the equivalent of "E" I've only seen it happen on news/current affairs)

k, l seem logical - m with the "E" variant, is something I haven't seen*.

my best guess as to why c doesn't exist is that c in the xml series section (a to f prior to the stepped episode info) contains the description of the series, and if memory serves me there have been shows where each episode merely contains the series description, ergo if episodes d does not exist use series c .

Yes, logical enough

unable to find an indicator for captions, though judging by the slight delay by the iview player showing the availability and the fact that the caption files match the name given in n (except of course the extension) it appears it may simply do a search in http://www.abc.net.au/iview/captions/ for n.xml if matches then is available if not then no captions available

Yes, that is the way I have been getting them - the config.xml points to that location -

<param name="categories" value="xml/categories.xml"/>
<param name="classifications" value="xml/classifications.xml" />
<param name="captions" value="http://www.abc.net.au/iview/captions/"/>

* The classifications should be equivalent to "m" ?

Anywho or mce can tell you for certain

anyway hope this helps

Thanks - appreciate it.

[blood.eaglz]

Originally Posted by gxdata

m with the "E" variant, is something I haven't seen

You wouldn't technically see it as 'E' meaning exempt is represented by m: being non-existant in the xml data (so skips straight from l to n), which is why when you look at a news program on the iview player the entire rating row is missing on the show info box.

[mce]

Anywho or mce can tell you for certain

I agree with what blood.eagles posted. (not that that means anything)

[gxdata]

Originally Posted by mce

I agree with what blood.eagles posted. (not that that means anything)

Too modest! Not that I have experience of the other platforms (Windows-only here), but you've done a great job.

[blood.eaglz]

Originally Posted by mce

I agree with what blood.eagles posted. (not that that means anything)

well personally it means I wasn't talking out my ass

though when you think about it it makes sense, this way they can add/remove/update captions at anytime, all without breaking the player or misleading viewers.

[gxdata]

More on these elements in the JSON - I decided to use the "h" = Broadcast Date one, and (experimenting a bit) found that 3 separate Series don't have it (!), so I need to code around the (.NET) KeyNotFoundException.

(It is 1April2011 - but I'm not joking )

the Series -
mister maker, raymond, five minutes more *

* Kids shows are convenient