Read xmltv with PHP #4

LordHelmchen666 · 2023-10-23T18:09:54Z

LordHelmchen666
Oct 23, 2023

I have done a quick test to show what is possible. Here is a quick example

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>

<?php
$path = 'https://YOURURL/xmltv/XMLTV-FILE.xml';

    $xml=simplexml_load_file($path);
    #print_r($xml);
            $me = "sub-title";
            foreach($xml->programme as $item){
                echo "<b>" .date("G:i", strtotime(substr($item["start"], 0,  -6))) . " Uhr </b>" . date("d.m.Y", strtotime(substr($item["start"], 0,  -6))) . '<br>';
                echo " bis  " .date("G:i d.m.Y", strtotime(substr($item["stop"], 0,  -6))) . ' <br>';
                echo "<b><i> ".$item->title. "</i></b><br>";
                echo "<i>".$item->$me. "</i><br>";
                echo "".nl2br($item->desc). "<br>";
                echo "<br><hr>";
            }

?> 


</body>
</html>

https://demo.helmut-mueller-online.de/readxmltv.php

Moonbase59 · 2023-10-23T22:46:05Z

Moonbase59
Oct 23, 2023
Maintainer

Cool, I love creative ideas!

Now we only have to convince @BusterNeece that playlist and schedule item descriptions would be really useful. Just imagine getting nicer show descriptions than "Playlist: MyPlayListName". ;-)

I think using PHP SimpleXML is a good choice, but be warned that it becomes a real memory hog if you start parsing larger EPG files, which can happen when using AzuraCast servers with many stations, or xTeve. My xTeVe xteve.xml is already ~20 MB in size, and I’ve seen some using ~50 MB. (xTeVe aggregates all sources you give it and produces two large files containing all stations and their EPG. Another reason to use the gzip format…)

For creating an XMLTV EPG in PHP I’d use the well-written and actively developed XMLTV library by @jaylinski: https://github.com/jaylinski/xmltv.

4 replies

BusterNeece Oct 24, 2023

I mean, we can do that...did you submit it?

Moonbase59 Oct 24, 2023
Maintainer

@BusterNeece: I think I put something like that on the FR page once or twice… Only that page is so limited, and I wanted to see a real use case first, apart from displaying that on the schedules page as a hover text or the like (might still be nice). We really have to get this Discord thingy going…

I still wonder what the more logical place(s) would be: Put a, say 256-512 char description in schedules, playlists (description already there), or both?

I think this should be a two-step process:

Allow entering a playlist description (allowing newlines) for a playlist.
When creating a scheduled item, also allow entering a description (and add the field to DB+API), which can be prefilled from the playlist description. (A scheduled item could also come from a live DJ show or remote stream (syndicated content), and to have a description for that would really be neat.)
Allow a one-liner as kind of a "heading" (title of the description), which would make the EPG just beautiful, since that could be used as subtitle in the EPG.

Reason for not just using playlist description: Accessing the playlists needs an API key (good so), but schedules are public. So if the schedules would have a (sub-)title and description, we could generate a real neat EPG programme entry from other stations, too.

I’d then use the schedule’s JSON like

name → EPG Programme Title
title → EPG Programme Subtitle
description → EPG Programme Description

This should guarantee the best user experience end-to-end, with the least changes, since you already thought of having a name, a title, and a description!

Looking into the bright future, we might also, when all this is finished, think about adding a composer require jaylinski/xmltv to AzuraCast, re-emulate all my crude logic into PHP, and do what azuracast_xmltv does natively within AzuraCast… 😉

Moonbase59 Oct 27, 2023
Maintainer

EPGs support having an icon per programme, we might even think about adding an image per playlist/schedule. Or would that be a little overkill?

When devising these ideas, I also think of AzuraCast’s built-in public "Schedule" page—image, title, and description could well be used for a hover- or click-type "show description" an thus enrich the native software.

Moonbase59 Oct 27, 2023
Maintainer

Added AzuraCast Feature Request.

Provide feedback

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Read xmltv with PHP #4

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Read xmltv with PHP #4

LordHelmchen666 Oct 23, 2023

Replies: 1 comment · 4 replies

Moonbase59 Oct 23, 2023 Maintainer

BusterNeece Oct 24, 2023

Moonbase59 Oct 24, 2023 Maintainer

Moonbase59 Oct 27, 2023 Maintainer

Moonbase59 Oct 27, 2023 Maintainer

LordHelmchen666
Oct 23, 2023

Replies: 1 comment 4 replies

Moonbase59
Oct 23, 2023
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Moonbase59 Oct 24, 2023
Maintainer

Moonbase59 Oct 27, 2023
Maintainer

Moonbase59 Oct 27, 2023
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