XSLTv

Summary:

XSLTv is a grid viewing program for XMLTV data files. It requires only an xmltv data file and a modern browser. All processing is completely client-side and is done as-needed, resulting in a very simple installation.

Download:

xsltv.zip version 1.3 - Compressed .zip file (161k)

See Changes Old Versions

Notice: If you see weirdness, first try sorting your xml data with tv_sort --by-channel, which adds end-times if they're missing and makes sure there is no overlap of programs. Listings in some countries have "gaps," e.g. program one 1:00-1:45, program two 2:00-2:30. If you have this you should click the "fix gaps" option in XSLTv. (Checking this option if you don't need it slows processing down.)

Update: XSLTv is an officially approved Schedules Direct application, so you can use this non-profit grabber to feed XSLTv. (The previous North-American grabber which used labs.zap2it.com has been discontinued.)

Features:

No complex installation - it could run off of your windows desktop.
Everything controlled by stylesheets - css files mimicking seven common web-based tv listings grids are included.
Configurable DHTML popups show more information about shows (e.g. description, rating, original airdate or release year)
Supports xmltv channel icons.
Clicking on a program optionally searches IMDB for the title, or uses a url encoded in the xml file
Supports dynamic loading of daily xml files, instead of a single master file.
Preferences allow changing grid width and number of columns.
Will automatically refresh hourly to keep a current grid showing at all times.
Works in new versions of both Mozilla and Internet Explorer. Seems to work OK in new webkit browsers (Chrome, Safari).
Works for North American, French, Spanish, Swedish, and German listings.
German, English, Spanish (by Raul), French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Swedish translations included.
This software is free. (The data usually have non-free licenses).

Installation:

Get XMLTV installed and working. (This is easy, especially in Windows!)
Drop all the files into a directory on your webserver. Note: This software does not require a webserver; it works perfectly from a directory on a windows machine.
Put a current xmltv file (which must be either titled tv.xml, or with today's date YYYYMMDD.xml) in the same directory. You could use a series of cron jobs to automate this. Note: The smaller the xml file available to the program, the quicker this will run. Sorting seems to help with speed, but is not required.
Load tv.html in a webbrowser. Note: This file (and only this file) may be freely renamed (e.g. to index.html).

Optionally, put your icons directory (which should be called "icons" and should contain the images referenced in the xml tree) in the web tree. In North America, obtain icons with tv_grab_na_icons; subsequent tv_grab_na_dd calls will add the necessary references to your xml file. Note: Where I live, several icons are .gif files with a .jpg extension. Don't correct them. The links in the xml are to the .jpg extension, and the browser will display it anyhow.

Support/Comments

Email me. I'm eric, at this domain name.

Problems:

It's slow. A seven-day file can take forever. Download or split into one- or two-day files to speed things up. Clicking the earlier/later links makes a browser appear to freeze for a moment.
It doesn't know anything about time zones. Put a time zone correction in your tv_grab_XX.conf file.
Most translations are bad. Please post in the forum if you can help.
A bug in tv_split means that you can't exactly make "daily" xml files that divide at midnight. Where I live, they divide at 8:00 PM.

Screenshots (updated for version 0.9):

AOL theme	Excite theme	MeeVee theme	MSN theme	TitanTV theme	TVGuide theme	Yahoo theme

Screenshots of the preferences screen: Page One, Page Two, Page Three, Page Four

Similar Projects

XMLTV-to-HTML converter, by August Hörandl. This is a perl script to be run server-side. (XSLTv doesn't require perl)
xmltv2html is a Ruby script that transforms XMLTV into HTML Requires Ruby, generates a grid for all dates and times in the xml file. (XSLTv displays a configurable "window" of current shows.) I got the idea for DHTML popups from this project.
tv2html converts an XMLTV file into an HTML TV guide. This perl script generates a UK-style grid, with channels across the top and times on the side.
XMLTVdb is one of the best looking grids I've seen; it loads your tv data into a postgresql database, then renders html with perl, modperl, and several modules. I never got this working.
XML-XSL TV Guide by Dave Whitehead. Has many of the same features as mine, plus support for "favorite programs. Hasn't been updated in a while, but a new version is promised soon.

Credits

DynamicDrive provided the Show Hint script used in the preferences screen.
http://www.shiningstar.net provided the routine which checks that input is numeric.
BoxOver is the script used to provide the popups descriptions.
SimplyTheBest.net provided the script for the real-time clock.
Ivan Georgiev wrote the routine which shows and hides divs.
FastDatePicker is the script used for the popup calendar.
The code to find the icon filename came from here.
The code to escape urls properly came from here.
The for-loop which is used for star-ratings and other things is from here.