man IMDB::Film () - OO Perl interface to the movies database IMDB.

NAME

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

VERSION

IMDB::Film 0.16

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 and initialization

new()
Object's constructor. You should pass as parameter movie title or IMDB code. 
        my $imdb = new IMDB::Film(crit => <some code>);
or 
        my $imdb = new IMDB::Film(crit => <some title>);
or my CW$imdb = new IMDB::Film(crit => <HTML file>); Also, you can specify following optional parameters: - proxy - define proxy server name and port; - debug - switch on debug mode. Can be 0 or 1 (0 by default); - cache - cache or not of content retrieved pages. Can be 0 or 1 (0 by default); - timeout - timeout for HTTP connection in seconds (10 sec by default); - user_agent - specify an user agent ('Mozilla/5.0' by default). 
        my $imdb = new IMDB::Film(      crit            => 'Troy',
                                                                user_agent      => 'Opera/8.x',
                                                                timeout         => 2,
                                                                debug           => 1,
                                                                cache           => 1
                                                        );
For more infomation about base methods refer to IMDB::BaseClass.
_init()
Initialize object.
full_plot_url()
Define a full plot movie url.

Object Private Methods

_search_film()
Implemets functionality to search film by name.
_get_simple_prop()
Retrieve a simple movie property which surrownded by <B>.

Object Public Methods

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();
year()
Get film year: 
        my $year = $film->year();
cover()
Retrieve url of film cover: 
        my $cover = $film->cover();
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()
Retrieve film plot summary: 
        my $plot = $film->plot();
rating()
In scalar context returns film user rating, in array context returns film rating and number of votes: 
        my $rating = $film->rating();

        or

        my($rating, $vnum) = $film->rating();
        print "RATING: $rating ($vnum votes )";
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()
Retrieve film duration in minutes: 
        my $duration = $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();
avards()
Retrieve a general information about movie avards like 1 win & 1 nomination: 
        my $avards = $film->avards();
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();

Class Variables

%FIELDS
Contains list all object's properties. See description of pragma CWfields.
@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

AUTHOR

Michael Stepanov (stepanov.michael@gmail.com)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2004 - 2005, Michael Stepanov. All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.