C / C++ / MFC

22-Dec-02 0:29

Hi, am the author of a movie collection organizer and I have noticed that there are other ones like it that have the capability to extract movie information from the IMDb and add it to dialog boxes in their program. I would like to add this functionality to mine as well but I have no idea where to start from. Does the data access depend on the layout of the site and how they store their data or there are different ways to do the same thing. If anyone is familiar with this site and some tricks on how to extract data from it please help me out on this. Thanks in advance.

C^hris L^osinger22-Dec-02 14:56

C^hris L^osinger

22-Dec-02 14:56

first, contact a lawyer. what you're describing will likely be fair game for a copyright lawsuit.

-c

Please stand by

ThumbNailer

georgiek5022-Dec-02 15:23

22-Dec-02 15:23

Are you serious? How can the other companies be doing it themselves. Besides they offer free access/downloads to all their info for non-commercial use, which is what I am doing since I am offering it for free.

C^hris L^osinger22-Dec-02 15:37

C^hris L^osinger

22-Dec-02 15:37

georgiek50 wrote:
Besides they offer free access/downloads to all their info for non-commercial use

hmm. i didn't know that. then there's no problem, i guess Smile | :)

-c

Please stand by

ThumbNailer

georgiek5022-Dec-02 23:54

22-Dec-02 23:54

Ok, now that we got the legality issue out of the way, do you have any idea of how to do it?

Scott H. Settlemier23-Dec-02 5:06

23-Dec-02 5:06

Since the information online is likely to change frequently.
Decide on a report format that your program would like and
then put the parsing code on your web site. Make your program
download the parsing code (probably a small dll, or (my
preference) a perl script.) each session (hey, you're online
anyhow right?) and use that to parse the fetched web pages.

All you are doing then is acting on behalf of the user
legitimately. I mean, what's the big difference between
grabbing html and presenting it one way (most browsers)
and grabbing html and presenting it another (your program's
format)? Your web site would never see the web pages-- your
app is just a variation of browser. I don't think there
would be any legal issues in this case, but then that's
just a reasonable opinion.

georgiek5023-Dec-02 6:53

23-Dec-02 6:53

So basically what you think is going on is that people who have done this just wrote a routing to search through the html code, parse it, extract the details and just present it. Would an HTML session through Wininet suffice?

Scott H. Settlemier23-Dec-02 7:46

23-Dec-02 7:46

Yeah. I think that route is more robust. You can try to arrange
a method between yourself and the web site owners, but if you do
that you put yourself at the mercy of their support for that
interface.

I prefer to use perl in these cases, cause it is very good at
just this kind of work. There are tons of freely available
modules to make parsing html a snap. You can either pass on
the data to your web site for parsing or hand down the parsing
code to your app. (I don't recommend that your web site ever
try to contact the source site directly 'cause that could get
blocked.)

HTML through WININET is perfect.

georgiek5023-Dec-02 8:29

23-Dec-02 8:29

Thanks for the info, maybe you can help me out a little more. Am I correct in thinking that an HTTP session through WININET is basically getting the contents of the HTML file the same way as if you were to "View Source" from Internet Explorer? (Meaning in that format). You also mentioned that Perl is perfect for this kind of stuff. Where can I get some online tutorials on Perl? Thanks again.

Scott H. Settlemier23-Dec-02 8:51

23-Dec-02 8:51

Yes, exactly. You also get the headers which don't show up in the "view source" option of IE.

Check out Perl.com [^]for Perl documentation.

The information you will want may require redirection and loading other
pages. So make your parser conversational.. i.e. hand it the first page,
let it parse and request further pages, hand it those pages and so forth
until it says done.

georgiek5023-Dec-02 12:23

23-Dec-02 12:23

Thanks again for all your help. Merry Christmas to all. If you need a movie collection organizer try mine at www.movietrack.0catch.com.

linking problem

Luke Murray22-Dec-02 0:19

Luke Murray

22-Dec-02 0:19

Hey I have a linking problem that i can't seem to get rid of. I have a base class say:

class Base {
public:
    void draw();
private:
    ....
};

Then I have a class from that..

class Something : public Base {
public:
    void draw();
private:
    ....
};

I then have a std::list<Base> which I add objects to of type Something. i then go through the list and call each draw method.

// objects is the std::list
std::list<Base>::iterator item;
for ( item = objects.begin(); item != objects.end(); item++) {
    Base obj = *item;
    obj.draw();
}

But I get this error
error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "public: void __thiscall Base::draw(void)" (?draw@Base@@QAEXXZ) referenced in function "public: bool __thiscall Sence::update(void)" (?update@Sence@@QAE_NXZ)

The std::list and the iteration of the list is done in another class. Reading the MSDN description of the error I can not firgure out whats wrong. commenting out the obj.draw(); line fixing it.

Any ideas? thanks.

Luke.

Mike Nordell22-Dec-02 0:32

Mike Nordell

22-Dec-02 0:32

You haven't missed a keyword you think? Like virtual. :->

Luke Murray22-Dec-02 0:51

Luke Murray

22-Dec-02 0:51

Thanks Mike, I should've got that one. oh well, thanks again

Luke.

Michael Dunn22-Dec-02 5:37

Michael Dunn

22-Dec-02 5:37

The error says your code is calling Base::draw() but you did not provide a definition of that function. Adding virtual does no good in your case because that still doesn't provide the function definition, and anyway you are not calling draw() through a Base* variable.

--Mike--
If it doesn't move and it should: WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't: duct tape.

1ClickPicGrabber - Grab & organize pictures from your favorite web pages, with 1 click!
My really out-of-date homepage
Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm

Luke Murray22-Dec-02 19:43

Luke Murray

22-Dec-02 19:43

Hey thanks Mike, sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by "and anyway you are not calling draw() through a Base* variable."
I have the definition but my problem is now I add some class that extends from Base into the std::list but using

std::list<GlObject>::iterator item;
for ( item = objects.begin(); item != objects.end(); item++) {
	item->draw();
}

it always executes the code in Base::draw() and not SomeOtherClass::draw(), any ideas? or more a good reference on the net that could help me out. thanks

Luke.

Scott H. Settlemier23-Dec-02 6:01

where can i download visual c++ setup!!

23-Dec-02 6:01

Your list is of Base objects, not pointers, so there is
no polymorphism here.
Create a list of Base pointers, and point them at some
of those other objects, or a mix or what-have-you.

dianazheng21-Dec-02 23:23

dianazheng

21-Dec-02 23:23

Hi all
Can i know anywhere or anyone have visual c++ setup for me to download them..
Thanks

Mike Nordell22-Dec-02 0:34

Mike Nordell

22-Dec-02 0:34

Sure, microsoft.com. The MSDN member download section.

Mind you it's probably >2GB.

Brian Delahunty22-Dec-02 3:12

Brian Delahunty

22-Dec-02 3:12

Mike Nordell wrote:
Mind you it's probably >2GB.

And will probably cost quiet a bit! Smile | :)

Regards,
Brian Dela Smile | :)

"There should be an amendment to the constitution, that every president must be examined for paranoia before moving into office." - peterchen

dianazheng22-Dec-02 14:35

dianazheng

22-Dec-02 14:35

Thanks for your help, i will be more greatful if you give me the links to the direct page of the site where i can download the software..