IMDB::Film(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation IMDB::Film(3pm)

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

        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;
        }

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

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.

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
defines proxy server name and port: 

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

By default object tries to get proxy from environment

switches on debug mode to display useful debug messages. Can be 0 or 1 (0 by default)
indicates use cache or not to store retrieved page content. Can be 0 or 1 (0 by default)
specifies a directory to store cache data. By default it use /tmp/FileCache for *NIX OS
specifies an expiration time for cache. By default, it's 1 hour
indicates clear cached data before get request to IMDB.com or not
specifies a timeout for HTTP connection in seconds (10 sec by default)
specifies an user agent for request ('Mozilla/5.0' by default)
specifies a full plot url for specified movie
specifies a host name for IMDB site. By default it's www.imdb.com
specifies a query string to get specified movie by its ID. By defualt it's 'title/tt'
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.

_search_film()
Implemets functionality to search film by name.

Indicates a status of IMDB object:

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

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!";
        }
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();
Get kind of movie: 

        my $kind = $film->kind();
        Possible values are: 'movie', 'tv series', 'tv mini series', 'video game', 'video movie', 'tv movie', 'episode'.
Get film year: 

        my $year = $film->year();
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() };
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() };
Returns a list of companies given for a specified movie: 

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

or

 my @companies = $film->company();
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() };
Retrieve parent tv series list each element of which is hash reference for episode - { id => <ID>, title => <Title>, year => <Year> }: 

        my @tvseries = @{ $film->episodeof() };
Retrieve url of film cover: 

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

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

Retrieve film genres list: 

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

        my $tagline = $film->tagline();
Returns a movie plot: 

        my $plot = $film->plot;
Retrieve film plot summary: 

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

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>

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();
Retrieve film produced countries list: 

        my $countries = $film->country();
Retrieve film languages list: 

        my $languages = $film->language();
Retrieve AKA information as array, each element of which is string: 

        my $aka = $film->also_known_as();
        print map { "$_\n" } @$aka;
Retrieve a movie trivia: 

        my $trivia = $film->trivia();
Retrieve a movie goofs: 

        my $goofs = $film->goofs();
Retrieve a general information about movie awards like 1 win & 1 nomination: 

        my $awards = $film->awards();
Return a MPAA for the specified move: 

        my mpaa = $film->mpaa_info();
Returns an aspect ratio of specified movie: 

        my $aspect_ratio = $film->aspect_ratio();
Retrieve film user summary: 

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

        my @cert = $film->certifications();
Return full movie plot. 

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

%FIELDS
Contains list all object's properties. See description of pragma "fields".
@FILM_CERT
Matches USA film certification notation and age.

Nothing

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;
        }
        }

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

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

http://videoguide.sf.net

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

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.

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

Expected text after =item, not a bullet
2021-01-07 perl v5.32.0