[mythtv-users] PATCH: enable mythweb streaming via .asx

[Dave Pearson]

Rich West wrote:
> This is modeled slightly after the TivoWebPlus functionality (for the
> Tivo, obviously. :) ) where a small .asx file is generated and
> downloaded to the client.  When that file is opened (usually
> automatically), the respective player (Windows Media Player, mplayer,
> totem, etc) reads the contents of the .asx file, and accesses the media
> directly (as defined in the .asx file, which, in this case, is the
> direct URL to the media file).  The client then buffers and plays the
> media as it is being downloaded.
>
> The current handler.pl implementation did not allow for this
> functionality as it required the entire mpg to be downloaded to the
> client before the client would act upon it.
>
> I started writing it thinking that this was a Windows-only solution, but
> I quickly discovered that both totem (on FC5) and my mplayer on FC5
> understood the contents of the .asx file and did the right thing. :)
>
> -Rich
>
>
> --- /var/www/html/mythweb/modules/stream/handler.pl  2006-11-06
> 12:03:37.000000000 -0500
> +++ /var/www/html/mythweb/modules/stream/handler.pl.patch    2006-11-06
> 12:02:33.000000000 -0500
> @@ -7,6 +7,53 @@
>  # @author    $Author: xris $
>  #
>  
> +##
> +# Create the small .asx file based upon the information that we have for
> +# this particular piece of media.  .ASX files are pretty simplistic and are
> +# truly made for this purpose.
> +#
> +# The benefit is that the client has the ability to view/play the
> downloaded
> +# content as it is being downloaded, rather than waiting until the
> completion
> +# of the entire download.
> +#
> +# While it was originally geared towards Windows, it was discovered that
> +# Linux clients understand .asx files and can act upon them in the same
> way.
> +##
> +sub generate_asx
> +{
> +   my ($title, $subtitle, $filename) = @_;
> +   my ($file) = "";
> +
> +   $file = "<ASX version = \"3.0\">
> +<TITLE>$title</TITLE>
> +    <ENTRY>
> +    <TITLE>$title - $subtitle</TITLE>
> +    <AUTHOR>MythTV - MythWeb</AUTHOR>
> +    <COPYRIGHT>GPL</COPYRIGHT>
> +        <REF HREF =
> +\"http://" . $ENV{'HTTP_HOST'} . "/mythweb/" . $filename . "\" />
> +    </ENTRY>
> +</ASX>\n";
> +   return ($file)
> +}
> +
> +##
> +# Here we simply send the small asx file to the client and exit quietly.
> +##
> +sub send_asx
> +{
> +   my ($title, $subtitle, $filename) = @_;
> +   my ($file) = &generate_asx($title, $subtitle, $filename);
> +   print header(-type                => 'text/html',
> +                -Content_length      => length($file),
> +                -Content_disposition => " attachment;
> filename=\"$title.asx\"",
> +                );
> +   print $file;
> +   exit;
> +}
> +
> +
> +
>  # Necessary constants for sysopen
>      use Fcntl;
>  
> @@ -45,6 +92,12 @@
>          exit;
>      }
>  
> +&send_asx($title, $subtitle, $filename);
> +
> +#-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-#
> +#-#-#-##   We don't utilize any of the code past this point.  ##-#-#-#
> +#-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-##-#-#-#
> +
>  # File size
>      my $size = -s $filename;
>  
>
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>   
Rich,

I've applied your patch and I've obviously introduced an error somewhere 
because the downloaded file has a .htm extension added after the .asx! 
Do you have any idea what I have done to break it? Incidentally, if I 
save the file and remove the .htm extension, the program plays in 
Windows Media Player correctly.

Regards,
Dave.