UPDATED FOR NEW NETFLIX FORMAT 5/19/05

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Who knew there was so much interest in Netflix, and related plugins for MovableType? Just when I thought I was finished up tweaking Ben's original plugin to display the Netflix Queue, I began to get other requests for other lists and various features.

So, I have decided to just put three plugins in one zip file and name it, presumptuously, the Netflix Suite.

Here are the plugins enclosed:

NOTE: The Image Tags return a URL to the small image for each movie. This uses Netflix's bandwidth, and I don't recommend it. It has been heavily requested, though, so it is included.

NetflixQueue

Displays movies in your rental queue.

Available tags are:
<MTNetflixQueue>
<$MTNetflixQueueTitle$>
<$MTNetflixQueueURL$>
<$MTNetflixQueueImage$>
<$MTNetflixQueueGenre$>
<$MTNetflixQueueRating$>
<$MTNetflixQueueAvailability$>
<$MTNetflixQueuePosition$>

Additional arguments for <MTNetfilxQueue> are "lastn" "firstn" and "randomn"
These treat your queue as such, i.e., FIFO, but they allude to weblogs where
the "lastn" are the "n" most recent posts. In this plugin , "lastn" returns the
list of "n" movies at the top of your queue, and "firstn" returns the list of
"n" movies at the bottom. "randomn" returns "n" random movies selected from your
queue. So, <MTNetflixQueue session_id = "<your session ID>" lastn = "10"> will
return the next 10 movies you will be viewing. Caution: Use of the image tag uses THEIR bandwith.

NetflixOutstanding

Displays list of movies you currently have on rental from NetFlix.

Available tags are:
<MTNetflixOutstanding>
<$MTNetflixOutstandingTitle$>
<$MTNetflixOutstandingURL$>
<$MTNetflixOutstandingImage$>
<$MTNetflixOutstandingGenre$>
<$MTNetflixOutstandingRating$>
<$MTNetflixOutstandingShipped$>
<$MTNetflixOutstandingArrival$>

Additional arguments for <MTNetfilxOutstanding> are "lastn" "firstn" and "randomn"
These treat your "oustanding" queue as such, i.e., FIFO, but they allude to weblogs where
the "lastn" are the "n" most recent posts. In this plugin , "lastn" returns the
list of "n" movies at the top of your "outstanding" queue, and "firstn" returns the list of
"n" movies at the bottom. "randomn" returns "n" random movies selected from your
"outstanding" queue. So, <MTNetflixOutstanding session_id = "<your session ID>" lastn = "3"> will
return the next 3 movies you have out. Caution: Use of the image tag uses THEIR bandwith.

Netflix History

Displays movies you have recently rented and presumably watched.

Available tags are:
<MTNetflixHistory>
<$MTNetflixHistoryTitle$>
<$MTNetflixHistoryURL$>
<$MTNetflixHistoryImage$>
<$MTNetflixHistoryShipDate$>
<$MTNetflixHistoryReturnDate$>
<$MTNetflixHistoryRating$>
<$MTNetflixHistoryRatingGraphic$>

An additional argument for <MTNetfilxHistory> is "lastn"
This treats your "history" queue as such, i.e., FIFO, but alludes to weblogs where
the "lastn" are the "n" most recent posts. In this plugin , "lastn" returns the
list of "n" movies at the top of your "history" queue.
So, <MTNetflixHistory session_id = "<your session ID>" lastn = "3"> will
return the top 3 movies you have out.

Caution: Caution: Use of the image tag uses THEIR bandwith.

Download: NetflixSuite

Comments

123 Responses to NetFlix Suite

Jaynee Says:
December 13th, 2004 at 03:25 pm
Hey there, Oscar! I love the plugin (I’ve been using it for quite a while now). I fixed the shoppedID problem that has recently cropped up for most folks, but I’m still having a problem with the NetflixHistory stuff - both the Queue and the Outstanding work with no problem for me, but the History does not even though the code matches perfectly. Any ideas?
Oscar Says:
December 10th, 2004 at 06:49 pm
Ya know, John, I have been getting so many emails about things still not working, and then when we go through the process of deleting cookies and getting a fresh Shopper ID, then it works!

Maybe NetFlix purged all their Shopper IDs and the site redesign didn’t have much effect. I really only needed to upgrade Queue, which for me, didn’t work before upgrade, and did after - SEEMED to have to do with the changes I made, but maybe not!

This I DO know - if folks have downloaded the latest and they still don’t work, sign out of NetFlix on your browser and sign back in. Use NEW Shopper ID number in cookie. Worst case, sign out, delete cookies, re-sign in, use new number. So far, that has solved every problem.
John Kenneth Fisher Says:
December 10th, 2004 at 05:31 pm
As an odd side note, even though I can visually see the design change when I visit Netflix via my browser, the plug-ins have been working right along just as they always have.

No real point, and I’ll go and upgrade to these newest versions in case I’ve just been lucky, but I thought I’d point out that, as of today, I’ve seen no problems with the plugins (besides the whole replacement issue, which isn’t what we’re talking about now.)
Oscar Says:
December 8th, 2004 at 09:23 pm
Okay folks, I think they’re working again, at least as well as they were before they broke.

If you have trouble, try logging out of NetFlix on your browser, and then back in. Copy your new ShopperID from your new cookie and paste that into your code where it belongs.

And, Kim, thanks again for your help with the ID number! And testing.
Oscar Says:
December 8th, 2004 at 06:48 pm
Hiya Kim! Didn’t mean to sound like an ingrate. I had emailed you another time yesterday that that number seems to be expired. Maybe if you re-log on, you will get a new cookie.

When I didn’t hear back from you, I thought you were probably either busy with real work or out for the day. I figured I would jump on it today just to get the thing finished up. Sounds like my emails didn’t go through though!

But, let me know if you have another number! Thanks again for all your help.

Oh, and John, I still haven’t forgotten the mislabeled shipment problem. I know it’s a big one. It’s been all I can do to just keep the thing running at all these days because of my “day job” ... I hope either to get it all fixed sometime in the near future, or else to re-think the plugin. Wish I knew more about the NetFlix site’s inner workings, as the author of Netflix Freak obviously does!
kim Says:
December 8th, 2004 at 06:17 pm
Did my Netflix number not work for you?
Oscar Says:
December 8th, 2004 at 06:11 pm
Thanks Iki! Appreciate it.

Also, can anyone send me their working ShopperID number? I promise not to rent a bunch of flixks on your account! It’s just that I haven’t used NetFlix in over 90 days, so I have no History to view, and thus cannot fix or test the Histiry Plugin. I have fixed the other two, and will post the suite as soon as I can fix the third. Thanks!

Guess I need to watch more movies!
Iki Says:
December 5th, 2004 at 10:58 pm
Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the work you’ve done with this plugin. I love it! It’s convenient to be able to see what’s in my queue from my own site instead of going to theirs.

I just noticed it wasn’t working, saw Netflix’s redesign, went “Ahhhhhh” and then dropped by to see if you knew. Of course you’re already on it. I’ll go ahead and subscribe here so I get a heads up when you’ve tweaked it.

Thanks again, and happy holidays! (If you’re of the persuasion that celebrates… if not, disregard. )
Oscar Says:
December 5th, 2004 at 02:08 pm
Looks to me as though Netflix has done a total re-design of the site again, and I think the plugins are pretty throughly broken. The RSS feeds don’t seem to be comprehensive enough to meet the plugin’s needs either, though I haven’t thought this all the way through yet.

Unfortunately, real-life work is making it hard for me to get right on this one as quickly as I would like. I am hoping to be able to attack it later this week. It usually doesn’t take long to fix, but I always have to have a little chunk of uninterrupted time to re-orient myself to the whole thing!
Oscar Says:
November 20th, 2004 at 12:06 am
None of that should be a problem Michael. I would need more info to know why you’re having trouble. What I do for testing is to make a template that only has the Netflix Queue display code in it. Then I rebuild that template only, and see what I get. If THAT doesn’t work for you, then you may be missing some Perl module (unlikely). Anyway, I would double check your code. Feel free to send it to me or post it also.
Michael Says:
November 19th, 2004 at 03:30 pm
I cannot seem to get anything to display on my webpage while using the NetflixQueue plugin from the Suite. I’m using it on an includes page for my sidebar. Could that be an issue? Also, I have noticed that my Netflix shopper ID switches with each login.
John Kenneth Fisher Says:
October 18th, 2004 at 01:58 pm
John - I�ve just been preoccupied with other stuff and haven�t gotten to the plugin yet. I will try to one of these days soon. Sorry!

Okey-doke. I just remembered it as I ran into it again on one of my friends’ sites.

(mainly juist putting this comment on to renew the ‘notify of followups’)
gpf Says:
October 11th, 2004 at 10:14 pm
thanks for the tips oscar. my php and perl knowledge consists of tiny little hacks to existing scripts, but i know some folks who might be able/willing to take it to the next stage for b2evo

i’ll post here if/when it happens.

take care,
gpf
Oscar Says:
October 11th, 2004 at 09:27 pm
Hi gpf - Well, I just haven’t had the time to do much on this these days, but the good news is I did some rudimentary work on this (in another entry) to make the Perl script php accessible so it could be used with any php blogging system. But I ran out of steam on it, and got sidetracked.

That’s good news? Yes, because some folks picked it up and adapted the scripts for Wordpress (I think) and got them working in php, so they’ll work in b2evolution I would be pretty sure.

See if this Wordpress Forum entry helps get you started. Also, there is an Expression Engine Netflix plugin which is written in php which would be easy to extract and adapt if you’re handy with php.

Hope that helps!
gpf Says:
October 11th, 2004 at 09:12 pm
hi,

i’m drooling over the netflix suite and wonder if you have any plans to port it to b2evolution (http://b2evolution.net)

is there any hope that such a joyous thing might happen?

tia,
gpf
Oscar Says:
October 10th, 2004 at 10:36 pm
hubs - I don’t have IE in front of me, but it stores cookies in a directory called Cookies. You can search for it, and then examine the files in it to find the number. It’s in different places depending on which Windows you are on, but you could start by looking for C:\Windows\Cookies.

John - I’ve just been preoccupied with other stuff and haven’t gotten to the plugin yet. I will try to one of these days soon. Sorry!
hubs Says:
October 6th, 2004 at 05:25 pm
hey, oscar. i want to use your plugin but i have no idea how to open or view my cookie in order to get my session id. could you help me out with those steps. i’m using IE. thanks.
Oscar Says:
September 17th, 2004 at 05:17 pm
Hi John - I got your emails with the info also (thanks! this is incredibly helpful). I couldn’t possibly be busier with other things at this exact moment, but if I possibly can, I will take a look at this over the weekend, and if not, I should be able to get to it sometime next week. It should be an easy fix in and of itself. At some point, I hope to re-think the methods and see if there is a better way, so that the thing doesn’t fail as badly when it does. Thanks again for all the info - I really appreciate it.
John Kenneth Fisher Says:
September 17th, 2004 at 04:29 pm
That obviously lost much of my HTML pastings. I’ll send it to you in email.
John Kenneth Fisher Says:
September 17th, 2004 at 04:28 pm
Your (excellent) plugin seems to fail, and fail HARD, when you have had to mark movies as mislabeled. I’m pasting in below the HTML from Netflix’s queue page when this happens:

<style=“padding-left:50px;”>Original Shipment (Reported mislabeled on 09/16/04.)<style=“padding-left:50px;”>Replacement Shipment
09/17/04 09/20/04

with MTOutstandingQueueTitle in the template, the page won’t even build at all. When I removed that specific tag, but left many of the others, the scraper added in all kinds of extraneous table elements (I assume cause it doesn’t know to ignore these extra lines. Anyway, thanks in advance. Truly is a phenomenal plugin, and I hope you keep maintaining it as MT’s plugin architecture and Netflix’s interface changes. If you need more info, please feel totally free to email me. I’d be happy to help resolve this anyway I can.

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