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Originally Posted by scottlindner
It isn't possible to write a generic format parser that does not require you to get deeply involved in the process of screen scraping, or data reformatting for each host for show information. You're going to need to do this, one way or another. OR.. the plugin will need to be hard coded and updated for each and every host of movie information and every time that source is updated. This is exactly what XSLT was made for, and it can be used to transform an HTML document just as well as an XML document. You won't need to screen scrape if it's a web page.
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Exactly, one way or another it has to be done. In my example, the original web pages are not necessarily formatted nicely, and I want to aggregate a few different local theater companies data. The idea is that the plugin would NOT be hard coded for each example. I am already heavily involved with screen scraping in situations and with my case it seems like the way I would probably do it unless I find a single clean local source to transform.
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Originally Posted by scottlindner
Maybe this is what you're suggesting and I'm missing it. Are you looking for this plugin to define an XML Schema for showtime information with an endpoint of sorts to allow for anyone else to write their own adaptor to fetch the information? If this is the case, it seems like it should be easy to support. Maybe it should be added as an XSLT call.. which will in turn be the trigger to fetch the updated information.
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Bingo. Everyone could make their own "adapter" if they are able. Also, perhaps it could be made easier for when the existing supported sites make changes. The plugin would not need to be updated for that, just the adapter for that country.
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Originally Posted by scottlindner
Hmm... I'm just starting to brush up on my XSLT.. I'm doing more examples to get better at it. Maybe this should be one of my examples to force me to learn a bit more....
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Sounds like an offer.
