IMDB::Film(3)

NAME
IMDB::Film - OO Perl interface to the movies database IMDB.

SYNOPSIS
        use IMDB::Film;

        #
        # Retrieve a movie information by its IMDB code
        #
        my $imdbObj = new IMDB::Film(crit => 227445);

        or

        #
        # Retrieve a movie information by its title
        #
        my $imdbObj = new IMDB::Film(crit => 'Troy');

        or

        #
        # Parse already stored HTML page from IMDB
        #
        my $imdbObj = new IMDB::Film(crit => 'troy.html');

        if($imdbObj->status) {
                print "Title: ".$imdbObj->title()."\n";
                print "Year: ".$imdbObj->year()."\n";
                print "Plot Symmary: ".$imdbObj->plot()."\n";
        } else {
                print "Something wrong: ".$imdbObj->error;
        }

DESCRIPTION

  Overview
IMDB::Film is an object-oriented interface to the IMDB. You can use that module to retrieve information about film: title, year, plot etc.

  Constructor

new()
    Object's constructor. You should pass as parameter movie title or IMDB code.

            my $imdb = new IMDB::Film(crit => <some code>);

    or

            my $imdb = new IMDB::Film(crit => <some title>);

    or
        my $imdb = new IMDB::Film(crit => <HTML file>);

    For more infomation about base methods refer to IMDB::BaseClass.

_init()
    Initialize object.

  Options

year
    Define a movie's year. It's useful to use it to get the proper movie by its title:

            my $imdbObj = new IMDB::Film(crit => 'Jack', year => 2003);
            print "Got #" . $imdbObj->code . " " . $imdbObj->title . "\n"; #0379836

proxy
    defines proxy server name and port:

            proxy => 'http://proxy.myhost.com:80'

    By default object tries to get proxy from environment

debug
    switches on debug mode to display useful debug messages. Can be 0 or 1 (0 by default)

cache
    indicates use cache or not to store retrieved page content. Can be 0 or 1 (0 by default)

cache_root
    specifies a directory to store cache data. By default it use /tmp/FileCache for *NIX OS

cache_exp
    specifies an expiration time for cache. By default, it's 1 hour

clear_cache
    indicates clear cached data before get request to IMDB.com or not

timeout
    specifies a timeout for HTTP connection in seconds (10 sec by default)

user_agent
    specifies an user agent for request ('Mozilla/5.0' by default)

full_plot_url
    specifies a full plot url for specified movie

host
    specifies a host name for IMDB site. By default it's www.imdb.com

query
    specifies a query string to get specified movie by its ID. By defualt it's 'title/tt'

search
    specifies query string to make a search movie by its title. By default it's 'find?tt=on;mx=20;q='

    Example:

            my $imdb = new IMDB::Film(      crit            => 'Troy',
                                                                    user_agent      => 'Opera/8.x',
                                                                    timeout         => 2,
                                                                    debug           => 1,
                                                                    cache           => 1,
                                                                    cache_root      => '/tmp/imdb_cache',
                                                                    cache_exp       => '1 d',
                                                            );

    It'll create an object with critery 'Troy', user agent 'Opera', timeout 2 seconds, debug mode on, using cache with directory '/tmp/imdb_cache' and expiration time in 1 day.

  Object Private Methods

_search_film()
    Implemets functionality to search film by name.

  Object Public Methods

status()
    Indicates a status of IMDB object:

    0 - empty object; 1 - loaded from file; 2 - loaded from internet request; 3 - loaded from cache.

status_descr()
    Return a description for IMDB object status. Can be 'Empty', 'Filed', 'Fresh' and 'Cached':

            if($film->status) {
                    print "This is a " . $film->status_descr . " object!";
            } else {
                    die "Cannot retrieve IMDB object!";
            }

title()
    Retrieve film title from film page. If was got search page instead of film page this method calls method _search_film to get list matched films and continue to process first one:

            my $title = $film->title();

kind()
    Get kind of movie:

            my $kind = $film->kind();

            Possible values are: 'movie', 'tv series', 'tv mini series', 'video game', 'video movie', 'tv movie', 'episode'.

year()
    Get film year:

            my $year = $film->year();

connections()
    Retrieve connections for the movie as an arrays of hashes with folloeing structure

            {
                    follows                 => [ { id => <id>, title => <name>, year => <year>, ...,  } ],
                    followed_by     => [ { id => <id>, title => <name>, year => <year>, ...,  } ],
                    references              => [ { id => <id>, title => <name>, year => <year>, ...,  } ],
                    referenced_in   => [ { id => <id>, title => <name>, year => <year>, ...,  } ],
                    featured_in     => [ { id => <id>, title => <name>, year => <year>, ...,  } ],
                    spoofed_by              => [ { id => <id>, title => <name>, year => <year>, ...,  } ],
            }

            my %connections = %{ $film->connections() };

full_companies()
    Retrieve companies for the movie as an array where each item has following stucture:

            {
                    production              => [ { name => <company name>, url => <imdb url>, extra => <specific task> } ],
                    distributors    => [ { name => <company name>, url => <imdb url>, extra => <specific task> } ],
                    special_effects => [ { name => <company name>, url => <imdb url>, extra => <specific task> } ],
                    other                   => [ { name => <company name>, url => <imdb url>, extra => <specific task> } ],
            }

      my %full_companies = %{ $film->full_companies() };

company()
    Returns a list of companies given for a specified movie:

      my $company = $film->company();

    or

     my @companies = $film->company();

episodes()
    Retrieve episodes info list each element of which is hash reference for tv series - { id => <ID>, title => <Title>, season => <Season>, episode => <Episode>, date => <Date>, plot => <Plot> }:

            my @episodes = @{ $film->episodes() };

episodeof()
    Retrieve parent tv series list each element of which is hash reference for episode - { id => <ID>, title => <Title>, year => <Year> }:

            my @tvseries = @{ $film->episodeof() };

cover()
    Retrieve url of film cover:

            my $cover = $film->cover();

recommendation_movies()
    Return a list of recommended movies for specified one as a hash where each key is a movie ID in IMDB and value - movie's title:

            $recommendation_movies = $film->recommendation_movies();

    For example, the list of recommended movies for Troy will be similar to that:

            __DATA__
            $VAR1 = {
              '0416449' => '300',
              '0167260' => 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King',
              '0442933' => 'Beowulf',
              '0320661' => 'Kingdom of Heaven',
              '0172495' => 'Gladiator'
            };

directors()
    Retrieve film directors list each element of which is hash reference - { id => <ID>, name => <Name> }:

            my @directors = @{ $film->directors() };

writers()
    Retrieve film writers list each element of which is hash reference - { id => <ID>, name => <Name> }:

            my @writers = @{ $film->writers() };

    <I>Note: this method returns Writing credits from movie main page. It maybe not contain a full list!</I>

genres()
    Retrieve film genres list:

            my @genres = @{ $film->genres() };

tagline()
    Retrieve film tagline:

            my $tagline = $film->tagline();

plot()
    Returns a movie plot:

            my $plot = $film->plot;

storyline()
    Retrieve film plot summary:

            my $storyline = $film->storyline();

rating()
    In scalar context returns film user rating, in array context returns film rating, number of votes and info about place in TOP 250 or some other TOP and avards:

            my $rating = $film->rating();

            or

            my($rating, $vnum, $avards) = $film->rating();
            print "RATING: $rating ($vnum votes)";

    Note, that $avards is array reference where the first elemen is a TOP info if so, and the next element is other avards - Oscar, nominations and etc

cast()
    Retrieve film cast list each element of which is hash reference - { id => <ID>, name => <Full Name>, role => <Role> }:

            my @cast = @{ $film->cast() };

    <I> Note: this method retrieves a cast list first billed only! </I>

duration()
    In the scalar context it retrieves a film duration in minutes (the first record):

            my $duration = $film->duration();

    In array context it retrieves all movie's durations:

            my @durations = $film->duration();

country()
    Retrieve film produced countries list:

            my $countries = $film->country();

language()
    Retrieve film languages list:

            my $languages = $film->language();

also_known_as()
    Retrieve AKA information as array, each element of which is string:

            my $aka = $film->also_known_as();

            print map { "$_\n" } @$aka;

trivia()
    Retrieve a movie trivia:

            my $trivia = $film->trivia();

goofs()
    Retrieve a movie goofs:

            my $goofs = $film->goofs();

awards()
    Retrieve a general information about movie awards like 1 win & 1 nomination:

            my $awards = $film->awards();

mpaa_info()
    Return a MPAA for the specified move:

            my mpaa = $film->mpaa_info();

aspect_ratio()
    Returns an aspect ratio of specified movie:

            my $aspect_ratio = $film->aspect_ratio();

summary()
    Retrieve film user summary:

            my $descr = $film->summary();

certifications()
    Retrieve list of film certifications each element of which is hash reference - { country => certificate }:

            my @cert = $film->certifications();

full_plot
    Return full movie plot.

            my $full_plot = $film->full_plot();

official_sites()
    Returns a list of official sites of specified movie as array reference which contains hashes with site information - URL => Site Title:

            my $sites = $film->official_sites();
            for(@$sites) {
                    print "Site name - $_->{title}; url - $_->{url}\n";
            }

release_dates()
    Returns a list of release dates of specified movie as array reference:

            my $sites = $film->release_dates();
            for(@$sites) {
                    print "Country - $_->{country}; release date - $_->{date}; info - $_->{info}\n";
            }

    Option info contains additional information about release - DVD premiere, re-release, restored version etc

    Retrieve a list of plot keywords as an array reference:

            my $plot_keywords = $film->plot_keywords();
            for my $keyword (@$plot_keywords) {
                    print "keyword: $keyword\n";
            }

  Class Variables

%FIELDS
    Contains list all object's properties. See description of pragma "fields".

@FILM_CERT
    Matches USA film certification notation and age.

EXPORTS
Nothing

HOWTO CACTH EXCEPTIONS
If it's needed to get information from IMDB for a list of movies in some case it can be returned critical error:

        [CRITICAL] Cannot retrieve page: 500 Can't read entity body ...

To catch an exception can be used eval:

        for my $search_crit ("search_crit1", "search_crit2", ..., "search_critN") {
        my $ret;
        eval {
                $ret = new IMDB::Film(crit => "$search_crit") || print "UNKNOWN ERROR\n";
        };

        if($@) {
                # Opsssss! We got an exception!
                print "EXCEPTION: $@!";
                next;
        }
        }

BUGS
Please, send me any found bugs by email: stepanov.michael@gmail.com or create a bug report: http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=IMDB-Film

SEE ALSO
IMDB::Persons IMDB::BaseClass WWW::Yahoo::Movies IMDB::Movie HTML::TokeParser

http://videoguide.sf.net

AUTHOR
Michael Stepanov AKA nite_man (stepanov.michael@gmail.com)

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2004 - 2007, Michael Stepanov. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.

POD ERRORS
Hey! The above document had some coding errors, which are explained below:

Around line 1522:
    Expected text after =item, not a bullet