ztk-tvguide 1a review

This is a Perl/Tk frontend to the tv programming database available at http://labs.zap2it.com, and uses the CPAN module XMLTV to do t

License: Public Domain File size: 0K Developer: Joseph B. Milosch

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This is a Perl/Tk frontend to the tv programming database available at http://labs.zap2it.com, and uses the CPAN module XMLTV to do the fetching.

This is a multi-threaded perl application, which will download and display concurrently.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. You need to go to http://labs.zap2it.com and sign up for an account. You need to use the xmltv developer certificate code C< ZYZM-TE5O-SBUT > (Letter O) to register. When registering, I have found it is better to NOT answer anything with a blank or zero. Always give a "true" answer.
After registering, you must set up your configuration, and choose your service provider, and personal channel selection. Write down your given username and password.
Your registration will be good for 3 months, and can be renewed after re-filling out the questionaire.
2. You must install the XMLTV module from http://membled.com/work/apps/xmltv/ It comes with a very nice README file explaining what you need to do. If you have already done Step(1) above, you will need to run your area's grabber script from the xmltv distribution. For North America it is tv_grab_na_dd You must run your grabber script once, to configure and setup your .xmltv directory and configuration....so.... tv_grab_na_dd --configure
Answer the questions, and select UTC as your default time. That way, you download files in UTC time, and the display program will convert it to local time.
After running --configure, you should have file ~/.xmltv/tv_grab_na_dd.conf with your channels and username. To make the downloading of new files run without prompting for a password, put your password in ~/.xmltv/tv_grab_na_dd.conf. Your file should look similar to this:

username: zentara
password: xc78vjk3n4
timezone: UTC
lineup: MI21648:-
channel: 46 AMC
channel: 45 ARTS
channel: 62 BET

3. Run the ztk-tvguide script. If you don't have any XML files downloaded it will prompt you to Download files at the first run. Just click the Download button, and you will be asked "how many days forward?" Today is day 0, so 8 will get you 1 week ahead. If you already have a file for that day, it will not be downloaded again. If you need to redownload it, for some odd reason, just delete it manually from the xml storage location, which is ~/.xmltv/ztk_tvguide/
The display program is multi-threaded, so you can download and browse at the same time. There are 2 display indicators, one for downloading, and one for converting the xml.

What's New in This Release:
This release fixes a UTC-to-local time conversion problem.
The script now relies on xmltv's downloader script (and configuration file) to adjust to local time.
You may need to edit your xmltv configuration file tv_grab_na_dd.conf to adjust your timezone offset from UTC to local.
It also fixes a bug which could cause cross-linking of programs across days.