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WhatsOn for the Palm Computing Platform is a tool that allows you to display TV listing data in an easy-to-use grid format. Carry your TV Listings schedule with you everywhere you bring your Palm. WhatsOn comes with a utility, XMLTV, to download TV listing data from the world wide web. Using this tool, you can regularly and automatically update your Palm Organizer with current TV listing information. WhatsOn also comes with a conduit that allows you to effortlessly hotsync your TV listing data to your Palm Organizer. And best of all, WhatsOn is FREE.
The biggest change is elimination of the shareware fee, so WhatsOn is now FREE.
WhatsOn now uses XMLTV to generate program data. Utilizing this fantastic open source project (thanks XMLTV), we can now count on a stable source of data long into the future. Furthermore, XMLTV adds excellent international support. At present there is support for the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Denmark.
The WhatsOn conduit now supports xmltv format as input, so take advantage of your favorite xmltv filters to pre-process the listings data before sending to your Palm.
WhatsOn.prc has been updated to support Palm OS 5.X. Furthermore, there is now support for Sony's virtual silk screen, so 320x480 devices such as the Clie PEG-NX70V, can take advantage of the entire display to show listings data.
WhatsOn is now free. However, registration (at no cost) is still required to activate all the features. You are encouraged to download a limited functionality version of WhatsOn and try it until you are ready to register.
Running WhatsOn is Simple
Download WhatsOn .zip file and install. WhatsOn is automatically installed into your pilot directory. In addition to WhatsOn.prc (the palm application), the WhatsOn conduit, xmltv.exe, a set of shortcuts, sample data and this documentation are installed.
Install WhatsOn.prc on your Palm. Do this by selecting the "Install WhatsOn.prc" shortcut in Start->Programs->WhatsOn. Alternatively, you can install WhatsOn.prc using the install tool as you would with any pilot software. WhatsOn.prc is located in the WhatsOn directory in your Palm root directory. Now hotsync your Palm to install the .prc on your device
Hotsync a second time. The sample TV listing data is downloaded to your Palm. Use the goto button to jump to Sep 16, 2003. You should now see the sample TV listing data.
Grab current TV listing data.
First, you must register for an account from zap2it.com. Go to http://labs.zap2it.com and walk through the registration procedure there. You'll need to provide the XMLTV certificate code "ZYZM-TE5O-SBUT" (Letter O)
Go to the WhatsOn shortcuts under Start->Programs->WhatsOn and select "Grab TV data for Your Name". This will start a script that will first run a configuration and then grab your TV listing data.
After the data is downloaded, hotsync your Palm Organizer and you're ready to go--or should I say sit (in front of your TV). Maybe lie down lifeless like a sack of potatoes.
From now on simply run the select "Grab TV data for Your Name" and hotsync your Palm Organizer whenever you want to update your data. It is possible to configure xmltv.exe to run automatically every several days. By doing this, your TV listing data is automatically brought up-to-date every time you hotsync your palm.
The TV listing data is downloaded from the file WhatsOn.xml located in the WhatsOn directory under your palm user directory (this is different from the directory where WhatsOn.prc was installed). The path for this file should be something like: c:/palm/username/whatson/whatson.xml. Open this file using any text editor (e.g. notepad) and look at the format of the data. If you are having problems getting listings data to your Palm, make sure WhatsOn.xml is in the right place and the data inside looks OK.
Hint: The WhatsOn conduit will remember the last modified date of the WhatsOn.xml file it last hotsynced. It will only hotsync data if the last modified date has changed. If your WhatsOn.xml data is not hotsyncing, try changing the last modified date of the WhatsOn.xml file.
Hint: To get show details, click on the small "i" in the upper right corner of the show box.
Hint: If the details information shows more than one screen of data, use your stylus to scroll down by selecting the text and dragging below the window's bottom edge.
Hint: Try using the silk screened find button to determine when your favorite shows are on.
Hint: If you would like to download more than 1 days worth of data at one time, edit the DAYS variable in the grab.bat file.
WhatsOn conduit and WhatsOn Web scraper requires Windows 95/98/2000/NT/XP. There is no Mac support at this time.
WhatsOn.prc is the name of the Palm Pilot application that must be installed on the Palm Pilot. Once it is installed, you must hotsync program data to it from the WhatsOn.xml file located in the WhatsOn directory of you pilot user directory. You are encouraged to use any means convenient to generate the WhatsOn.xml file.
Operation of the Whats On PalmPilot application is straight forward. Use the arrow keys or up and down buttons to navigate through the program grid. You can use the "goto" button to go to a specific day. Remember that the grid will appear empty unless you have downloaded program data for that particular day. If you don't see anything after you have hotsynced the sample data, take a look at the WhatsOn.txt file to see what dates the data is for. Then, use the "goto" button to go to that date.
For more detailed information about a show, press and hold the show grid box with your stylus. A text box with more detailed information will appear on the top of your screen.
XMLTV.exe, a win32 executable, is included with the WhatsOn installation package. This is a utility that pulls TV listings data from the web and outputs it in xml format. Further information is available at the XMLTV home, and the most current version is available for download from sourceforge. For complete command line options, the README for the included version of the North American XMLTV grabber is included with the WhatsOn documentation.
WhatsOn includes to .bat scripts to help automate the xmltv configuration and execution process. You can also run xmltv.exe manually from a DOS prompt. Run xmltv.exe -- help for additional information. As installed, xmltv is configured to run in North America. To change your location, edit the GRABBER variable, in the "grab.bat" and "configure.bat" scripts in the c:/palm/whatson directory. You can also edit the DAYS variable to change the number of days worth of data grabbed at one time.
There are two shortcuts created at installation to configure and grab TV data that execute these scripts. Use these shortcuts at any time to update your TV listing information. You can also have these shortcuts executed as a scheduled task to automate the data grab process. On XP, select all "program->accessories->system tools->scheduled tasks" and add grab.bat. Some example data would be:
run:
"C:\Palm\WhatsOn\grab.bat" UserName
start in:
"C:\Palm\WhatsOn"
Congratulations. You have now successfully downloaded and installed WhatsOn giving you access to TV listings everywhere you bring your Palm!
These features are planned for future releases:
Additionally:
Unfortunately there is no Mac support. Sorry.
If you are having problems syncing the sample data (sample or your own current data), please check the following:
- 50% improved performance on first form display
- new channel label support in addition to channel number
- enhanced gui with day of week selection
- improved find functionality
- bug fix for certain incorrect data displays
WhatsOn is sponsored by ZookWare, LLC. Feel free to send any questions, comments, or feature requests to the developer. I would love to hear your comments on WhatsOn. You are strongly encouraged to make a monetary donation in exchange for using WhatsOn. It is a small price to pay to ensure the continued survival of independent software vendors.
Daniel Zucker
zucker@stanfordalumni.org