Re: IMDb API

In article <go845194gnkglm981ohlmqr38bshg7lfg6@xxxxxxx>, debbs@xxxxxxxxx says...
> Hi,
> Does any1 know how to rerieve programatically the various fields
> stored in imdb? Hoping there's an api ?
>
> thx in adv
> Njoy!
>

Take a look here:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Languages/Delphi/Q_20793404.html

Here is the colution, in case you can not access it:

OK, here's something to get you started. I used a component
called extIEParser, available from the Delphi-WebBrowser Yahoo
group Files section, not sure if you have to be a member to
download it but if you aren't let me know via email and I'll
send it to you.

The edit is the title to search for, I am the catcher in the
oil field scene in "The Rookie", BTW. Enter the title, click
GO and then in the listbox, click the one you want to view.
Now I'm leaving the parsing of the results to you. I have an
example where I modify the '(more)' to 'Plot Summary' so you
can see how to do it. If you have any more questions, let me
know and good luck...

DFM:
object Form1: TForm1
Left = 316
Top = 143
Width = 870
Height = 640
Caption = 'Form1'
Color = clBtnFace
Font.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET
Font.Color = clWindowText
Font.Height = -11
Font.Name = 'MS Sans Serif'
Font.Style = []
OldCreateOrder = False
OnCreate = FormCreate
OnDestroy = FormDestroy
PixelsPerInch = 96
TextHeight = 13
object ListBox1: TListBox
Left = 0
Top = 41
Width = 288
Height = 572
Align = alLeft
ItemHeight = 13
TabOrder = 0
OnClick = ListBox1Click
OnMouseMove = ListBox1MouseMove
end
object Panel1: TPanel
Left = 0
Top = 0
Width = 862
Height = 41
Align = alTop
BevelOuter = bvNone
TabOrder = 1
object Edit1: TEdit
Left = 16
Top = 10
Width = 201
Height = 21
TabOrder = 0
Text = 'The Rookie'
end
object Button1: TButton
Left = 232
Top = 8
Width = 75
Height = 25
Caption = 'GO'
Default = True
TabOrder = 1
OnClick = Button1Click
end
end
object Panel2: TPanel
Left = 288
Top = 41
Width = 574
Height = 572
Align = alClient
BevelInner = bvRaised
BevelOuter = bvLowered
Caption = 'Panel2'
TabOrder = 2
object WebBrowser1: TWebBrowser
Left = 2
Top = 2
Width = 570
Height = 568
Align = alClient
TabOrder = 0
ControlData = {
4C000000E93A0000B43A00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
000000004C000000000000000000000001000000E0D057007335CF11AE690800
2B2E126208000000000000004C0000000114020000000000C000000000000046
8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000}
end
end
object IdHTTP1: TIdHTTP
MaxLineAction = maException
AllowCookies = True
ProxyParams.BasicAuthentication = False
ProxyParams.ProxyPort = 0
Request.ContentLength = -1
Request.ContentRangeEnd = 0
Request.ContentRangeStart = 0
Request.Accept = 'text/html, */*'
Request.BasicAuthentication = False
Request.UserAgent =
'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.' +
'4322)'
HTTPOptions = [hoForceEncodeParams]
Left = 776
Top = 8
end
object extIEParser1: TextIEParser
DownloadOnly = False
DownloadOptions = [DLCTL_DOWNLOADONLY, DLCTL_NO_FRAMEDOWNLOAD, DLCTL_RESYNCHRONIZE, DLCTL_PRAGMA_NO_CACHE,
DLCTL_NO_BEHAVIORS, DLCTL_OFFLINE]
parseNoFrames = False
OnAnchor = extIEParser1Anchor
Left = 816
Top = 8
end
end

PAS:
unit Unit1;

interface

uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, IdBaseComponent, IdComponent, IdTCPConnection,
IdTCPClient, IdHTTP, OleCtrls, SHDocVw, extIEParser, ExtCtrls,Clipbrd ;

type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
IdHTTP1: TIdHTTP;
extIEParser1: TextIEParser;
ListBox1: TListBox;
Panel1: TPanel;
Edit1: TEdit;
Button1: TButton;
Panel2: TPanel;
WebBrowser1: TWebBrowser;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
procedure extIEParser1Anchor(Sender: TObject; href, target, rel, rev,
urn, Methods, name, host, hostname, pathname, port, protocol, search,
hash, accesskey, protocolLong, mimeType, nameProp: String;
Element: TElementInfo);
procedure FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
procedure ListBox1Click(Sender: TObject);
procedure ListBox1MouseMove(Sender: TObject; Shift: TShiftState; X,
Y: Integer);
private
{ Private declarations }
public
{ Public declarations }
slAnchorHrefs: TStringList;
end;

var
Form1: TForm1;

implementation

uses Unit2;

{$R *.dfm}

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
src: TStringStream;
x: Integer;
begin
ListBox1.Items.Clear;
src := TStringStream.Create('');
WebBrowser1.Navigate('http://www.imdb.com/Tsearch?title='+ Edit1.Text+'&restrict=Movies+only');
extIEParser1.Url := 'http://www.imdb.com/Tsearch?title='+ Edit1.Text+'&restrict=Movies+only';
extIEParser1.Execute;
for x := 0 to ListBox1.Items.Count-1 do
if Pos(Edit1.Text, ListBox1.Items.Names[x]) > 0 then
ShowMessage(ListBox1.Items.Values[ListBox1.Items.Names[x]]);
end;

procedure TForm1.extIEParser1Anchor(Sender: TObject; href, target, rel,
rev, urn, Methods, name, host, hostname, pathname, port, protocol,
search, hash, accesskey, protocolLong, mimeType, nameProp: String;
Element: TElementInfo);
var
LinkText: String;
begin
if Trim(Element.outerText) = '' then
LinkText := 'Unassigned'
else
LinkText := Element.outerText;
if LinkText <> 'Unassigned' then
begin
if (LinkText = '(more)') and (Pos('plotsummary', href)> 0) then
LinkText := 'Plot Summary';
slAnchorHrefs.Add(href);
ListBox1.Items.Add(LinkText);
end;
end;

procedure TForm1.FormDestroy(Sender: TObject);
begin
slAnchorHrefs.Free;
end;

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
slAnchorHrefs := TStringList.Create;
end;

procedure TForm1.ListBox1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
WebBrowser1.Navigate(slAnchorHrefs[ListBox1.ItemIndex]);
extIEParser1.Url := slAnchorHrefs[ListBox1.ItemIndex];
slAnchorHrefs.Clear;
ListBox1.Items.Clear;
extIEParser1.Execute;
end;

procedure TForm1.ListBox1MouseMove(Sender: TObject; Shift: TShiftState; X,
Y: Integer);
var
APoint : TPoint ;
Index : Integer ;
HW : THintWindow ;
Rec : TRect ;
sHint : String ;
begin
APoint.X := X;
APoint.Y := Y;

Index := ListBox1.ItemAtPos(APoint, True);
if Index >= 0 then
begin
HW := THintWindow.Create(nil);
try
GetCursorPos(APoint);
sHint := slAnchorHrefs[Index];
Rec.Top := APoint.Y + 20 ;
Rec.Left := APoint.X ;
Rec.Right := Rec.Left +
HW.Canvas.TextWidth(sHint)+6;
Rec.Bottom := Rec.Top +
HW.Canvas.TextHeight(sHint)+4;
HW.ActivateHint(Rec,sHint);
HW.Refresh ;
Sleep(400);
HW.ReleaseHandle ;
finally
HW.Free ;
end;
end;
end;

end.

BTW, MAKE SURE you modify the Request.UserAgent for idHTTP as shown
above because otherwise, IMDB will give you a 403 Forbidden error.
Seems too many peple have been accessing it using Indy
components...HA! HA!

.