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Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for TV v1.3


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#1 toralf

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Posted 03 February 2006 - 11:33 PM

In January I started to work on a Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for TV (GUI, Data).

The idea came from an article in the c't magazine. It was about Konfabulator which is now Yahoo Widget Engine. In that article they stated that even an EPG exists, so I got the idea to do one in AHK.

The EPG for Yahoo Widget Engine is from Alexis LAIGNEL and its called WhatsOnTV. The AHK EPG uses the same yahoo sites to get the data.

Now I think the script is ready to be put into the script section.

I'm sorry, but there are no comments in the code. For history of changes see comments in code. Download code

And a screenshot of version 1.2
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#2 garry

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 11:34 AM

nice, used everyday
(1954 , first I was thinking it's your birth-year, but it is the number of your post's :) )

#3 Chris

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 12:23 PM

I tried it. Really cool interface! It's so intuitive that almost instantly you have your area's TV stations, shows, and movies.

#4 toralf

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 12:58 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I have fixed some minor things. Thus I changed the code to v1.0. And uploaded it to AutoHotkey.net.

#5 garry

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 04:49 PM

like to use, very quick
a question about a search function, maybe to complicated
example in:
<!-- m -->http://www.20min.ch/...ltung/tv-guide/<!-- m -->
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#6 BoBo

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 09:14 PM

Als super Detailversessen bekannt :shock: möchte ich vorschlagen die untere Begrenzungslinie des "Programs shown"-ListViews als Verlängerung des "Export TV"-Buttons anzupassen und dies ebenfalls für das "Program Details"-ListView vorzunehmen. Quasi GUI Kosmetik. Btw. beeindruckende Arbeit. Chapeau ! 8)

#7 toralf

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 09:41 PM

@garry: That would require to download all the TV stations and their programs and all their details. This will be a lot of download. The code I wrote isn't designed for this. I doubt that I will add such a feature.

@BoBo: You would like to have all three controls to be aligned at the bottom line, right? Currently I use the rXX option for the ListBox, ListView and Edit control. Unfortunately It is not possible any more to use float numbers with the r option (It was possible in the past, but Chris disabled that feature. Can't remeber why :| ). So the only way would be to use the h option. I dislike the look as well, but I like the r option for coding. If it is too much pain for you to look at the GUI, you are always free to change the r option to h and adjust the height.

#8 polyethene

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 10:24 PM

Very nice.

May I suggest some features:

- The date is confusing :p you could convert the ISO date into the local computer format. Here's an example:
ISODate = 2006-02-04 ; Example date

StringReplace, date, ISODate, -, , 1
FormatTime, date, %date% D1 R
StringTrimRight, date, date, % StrLen(date) - InStr(date, " ") + 1

MsgBox, % date ; Output result

- Could you improve the TV program list so that the enter key can be pressed to show the details. Also a single click rather than a double click is much better.

- Nucleated text looks congested. I see you're using relative control positioning, why not turn up the values a little for more padding around the controls.

- This may be a bug: you can select multiple items in the TV programs list but only one of the programs details can be displayed at a time. You might want to put -Multi in that ListViews options.

- Being able to resize the window would be fantastic. You've used relative positioning so before the Gui is shown, get their absolute values with GuiControlGet, Pos and use the Anchor function in the GuiSize label to reposition them while the GUI is resized.

- This may be hard and you may not want to do it but it would be uber useful for frequent users. When the program closes, save all the selections like the locale and stations in an INI file so when the user opens the program later, all the options are the same.

- 'What TV-program do you want to be listed' is pretty ambiguous when it's really asking 'for which area do you wish to view TV listings' but I'm sure you could change the label to something more meaningful.

You must hate me for bringing up all these issues :p I only thought I'd mention it because it's a great app and the enhancements would make it all the more better. Thanks.

#9 Micha

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Posted 04 February 2006 - 10:50 PM

WOW. Very cool.
I'll test it and if it is sufficient for my needs, I can change from TV-Browser which is slow and needs a lot of RAM for the JAVA-VM.

:oops: a resizing dialog would be cool :oops:

Ciao
Micha

#10 Guests

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Posted 05 February 2006 - 08:33 AM

May I suggest some features:

Yes, please

- The date is confusing :P you could convert the ISO date into the local computer format.

I will try

- Could you improve the TV program list so that the enter key can be pressed to show the details. Also a single click rather than a double click is much better.

Since each click will start a download, I initially thought it would b better to have a doubleclick, but I will try to change it to a single click or an Enter (in case the user uses the arrow keys to navigate

- Nucleated text looks congested. I see you're using relative control positioning, why not turn up the values a little for more padding around the controls.

I like compact GUIs. I will not change the padding, But I will have a look if I could add a var for you, that allows you to change the padding. I still have to understand "Nucleated text looks congested" !?!

- This may be a bug: you can select multiple items in the TV programs list but only one of the programs details can be displayed at a time. You might want to put -Multi in that ListViews options.

I will look into the code. -Multi makes sense

- Being able to resize the window would be fantastic.

Will be added, but without Anchors (too much code)

- This may be hard and you may not want to do it but it would be uber useful for frequent users. When the program closes, save all the selections like the locale and stations in an INI file so when the user opens the program later, all the options are the same.

I will add a feature that will remember the location and select it at start up. The rest I will not be rememered since it is dynamic data and might have changed, but I will have a look into it if it is possible.

- 'What TV-program do you want to be listed' is pretty ambiguous when it's really asking 'for which area do you wish to view TV listings' but I'm sure you could change the label to something more meaningful.

Please suggest text. I'm not a native speaker. I know that it is not perfect. Please advice.

You must hate me for bringing up all these issues

Not at all. That's why I posted it here. I even expect you to critize the app. That's one of the only ways to get to an "perfect" app.

#11 garry

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Posted 05 February 2006 - 08:38 AM

@garry: That would require to download all the TV stations and their programs and all their details. This will be a lot of download. The code I wrote isn't designed for this. I doubt that I will add such a feature.

thanks toralf, don't need, your program works very fine

#12 toralf

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Posted 05 February 2006 - 02:41 PM

Update to 1.1

v1.1 (thanks Titan and Micha)
- Gui can be resized
- A single click on program shows details
- Only a single program can be selected
- Gui remembers position
- Gui remembers location
- dates are shown in locale format



#13 polyethene

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Posted 06 February 2006 - 09:45 PM

(at another topic)":3n7sqmaf">

Could you help me to get the text on the GUI of the EPG into "native" english?

Your English is good. However since you asked, I put my recommendations below. A TV listing/guide would typically use the shorthand rather than more descriptive instructions, but I'll leave it for you to decide.

Replace: 'What TV-program do you want to be listed:'
With: 'Select the region you would like to view TV listings for:'
Shorthand: 'Region:'

Replace: 'Check the stations you want to see the program:'
Note: in the UK we call them channels (not stations) but I don't know what they call it in America
With: 'Check the channels for for a list of available programs'
Shorthand: 'Channels:'

Replace: 'These TV programs are shown:'
With: 'The following TV programs are listed (double-click for more details):'
Shorthand: 'Programs (double-click for details):'

Replace: 'Program details (DoubleClick in TV program list):'
With: 'Program information:'
Shorthand: 'Program info:'

Replace: 'Export TV program'
With: 'Export program' or 'Save to file'
Shorthand: 'Export' or 'Save'

#14 toralf

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Posted 07 February 2006 - 08:06 PM

New version 1.2 in first post

v1.2
- Change of text labels (thx Titan)
- add: statusbar, icon and tray menu
- add: tip in statusbar
- improved: details for Italy and UK



#15 Basile

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Posted 08 February 2006 - 12:28 AM

wowow !!! I've just to say that i'm very very impressed by your work!!!

I'm living in france, and IT WORKS PERFECTLY! Well Toralf, you have made a great stuff!! In one word: THANKS!