[plugin] Mixed Drinks (May 18 Update)

[SSDNAdmin]

Author: 79DieselRabbit
Short Description: Get mixing instructions for your favorite drinks without leaving your couch.
Long Description: Get mixing instructions for your favorite drinks without leaving your couch.
Version Number: 2.0 Beta 1
Status: Stable
Last Updated: 5/18/2006
Homepage:
Installation Instructions:
Release Notes:

Changes from tech preview 1:
*Web scraping code modified to work with most recent version of web site.
*My Drinks feature now requires set up of a free login on the web site drinksmixer.com. (explained below)

Additions from tech preview 1:
*Quick Search on each drink list. (explained below)
*Advanced Search feature. (explained below)

Changes from v1.0:
* Instead of a supplied list of drinks, it is downloaded from the internet.
* The complete drink list contains over 13,000 drinks.
* The details for each drink are downloaded as you view them.
* List of drinks and details for drinks you have viewed are stored in a local XML file to ease web traffic. * Random drink selection works with the My Drinks feature (explained below).

Additions from v1.0:
* My Drinks/My Bar feature (explained below).
* Selection of drinking games.
* Paged lists, with configurable options and page jump feature.
* My Drinks/My Bar feature: The My Drinks option gives you a list of drinks you can make with the ingredients you have at home. You can use the Setup My Bar option to select from a list of over 400 ingredients, those which you have at home. When you save that list, the Mixed Drinks plugin will populate your My Drinks list with the drinks you can make at home. The list of ingredients, which ones you've selected, and which drinks you can make, are saved to the local XML file to ease web traffic. You can modify the ingredients in your "bar" at any time using the Setup My Bar option. Random drink selection will now check to see if you have any drinks in your My Drinks list and choose from them if so. If not, it will choose from all drinks.

My Drinks.My Bar Setup (NOW REQUIRED): To use the My Drinks/My Bar feature you must now have a free account on drinksmixer.com (Don't worry, it's quick and easy). To create one, browse to http://www.drinksmixer.com and click on the "My Cabinet" link at the top of the page. Now click the "Need to register?" link next to the Username field. Fill out all the required info (username, password, and email) and click "Register Now!". IMPORTANT -> The next step must be done on the computer you plan to use this plug-in on. The previous steps don't have to be. Cookies should also be enabled.<-IMPORTANT. Now, log in using the Username and Password you registered with. Once you've logged in on the computer you are going to use this plug-in on, you should be all set and can close your browser. The Mixed Drinks plug-in should be able to read the necessary information from the cookie that was created when you logged in on the web site.

Quick Search feature: There is now a search option on each drink list that will allow you to search the current list (all pages) by drink name. Note: This function uses a default BM search function that returns results after each letter you enter. On the All Drinks page (over 13,000 entries), this causes quite a bit of lag for the first few letters. I hope to fix this in the future by using my a modified version.

Advanced Search feature: There is now an Advanced Search option from the main menu. Selecting this option will take you to the Search Builder page. Start building you search by selecting the Add Rule option on the left. This will present a list of rules to filter your results by. Currently, only Drink Name and Ingredient rules are available. Select a rule to add and enter the phrase to search by. The newly added rule will appear in a list to the right. Now, either add additional rules, or start you search by selecting the Start Search option to the left and wait for your results. Note: Error checking of phrases, and parsing of errors returned by the web site is non-existent ATM. If any result is returned from the web site other than success, a generic error message will be displayed. The most common cause of a search error is an Ingredient phrase the web site does not recognize. In this case, try simplifying your Ingredient phrase, ie. using "whiskey" instead of "Jack Daniel's ". Future releases of this plug-in will have more helpful search error messages.

General Notes:
* Make sure you are connected to the internet when running Beyond Media with this plug-in installed. Otherwise you get an annoying pop-up message saying the download failed.
* Unit of Measure setting in Settings menu has no effect.
* Per Letter option in Items per Page setting does not work.
* Initial drink list download will take about a minute (with a high-speed connection) after Beyond Media first loads to complete. Until then, the All Drinks list will not be "set up". This particular download will only happen the first time you run Beyond Media after installing the plug-in.
* Random drink selection will use only the drinks listed in your My Bar list, even if there is only one there. This is not intended.
* You should not see any HTML in any of the texts. Please report any you do see.
* This should be installed fresh and not over any previous Mixed Drinks plug-ins. If you really need to save your drinkslist, post here and I'll walk you through the process.
* Let me know what you think.

License:
Requirements: Beyond Media v1.0
Title: Mixed Drinks (formerly Beyond Drunk)

Download MixedDrinks.bmplugin

[Edgarmoon]

Has this been set up so we can add/import drinks conveniently, ex MMC (mealmaster) files? Lacking that it is a novelty but not a truly useful database.

[79DieselRabbit]

Not yet. I started to add it but decided it would really be dependent on some of the future online integration (hint hint) I would like to do. Unfortunately, it's not set in stone yet. It's definitely still a novelty in it's current form.

[Edgarmoon]

If there was a way to imprt text files like the mealmaster files (which I like since there are a lot of programs that read and write to that format) you could use this plugin for drinks as well as food recipes. I am using a recipe plugin like that with Media Portal, which I've added a drink section to. Other thought is to have it read from a spreadsheat or database where you can mark fields...

[dequire]

Originally Posted by 79DieselRabbit

Not yet. I started to add it but decided it would really be dependent on some of the future online integration (hint hint) I would like to do. Unfortunately, it's not set in stone yet. It's definitely still a novelty in it's current form.

Any updates to report on this front? Hmmmm? Just curious . Not trying to be a pain...really . Just checking. Following up, if you will. Not letting it fall through the cracks. Due dilligence . Keeping the iron to the fire...

[ScAtMaN]

Bumpy bumpy

[79DieselRabbit]

Shoot, I thought I had subscribed to this thread. Sorry guys. An update huh? Well ok. Currently I'm working 68 hrs a week and in my free time, I've been finishing up the BTVSmartie plugin. When that's taken care of, MixedDrinks web scraping/integration is at full throttle... Well, as full throttle as my little free time can give... I've already started on some "proof-of-concept" stuff and hopefully things will go a lot smoother then trying to develop for BeyondTV on a different computer without a BTVLink license...

But that's

[dequire]

LOL... Thanks for the upate, Diesel! The Smartie plugin is important to...

BTW - 68 Hours a week: Ouch!!

[79DieselRabbit]

[tease]
A little free time while stuck at work has produced this.

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[ScAtMaN]

Oohhh!

How long before this can be combined into the main plugin?

[79DieselRabbit]

That I don't know....

Once I get the time at home, it should go quick, but getting that time at home is another story...

I know I'll have the time in Sepember...

[twodaend]

Just wondering if any updates are in the works and if there is an ETA.

[79DieselRabbit]

A little more testing and I think I'll be able to release a tech preview of sorts.

[Tease]
[OLD IMG REMOVED]
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[draiko4]

That looks really really good!

[dequire]

Originally Posted by 79DieselRabbit

A little more testing and I think I'll be able to release a tech preview of sorts.

Looking at the post date, there must be a lot more (taste?) testing lol.