i am a fairly technical person, and i already know java and php, as well the fundamentals of object oriented programming. i developed a server array administration tool using php a while back, so it's not like i'm just some random guy who said "hey, i think making a python script would be fun!"
anyways, as it says in the topic title, i want to develop a proper podcast client script for xbmc. what i mean by this is a script that would effectively duplicate most of the functionality found in itunes with regard to podcasts.
from what i understand, the script would work in the following way:
first, the script would check for an active internet connection, and shutdown if one is not found. is there some way to verify the system's current date & time? anyways, then the following procedure would be called for each subscription:
-the script pulls down & parses the rss feed for the current podcast.
-it compares the pre-defined local download directory against the rss feed to find any missing (aka "new") shows. probably a better way to do this would be to keep track of episodes downloaded. anyways, for each "new" episode found, prompt the user for a confirmation to download (this behavior optional?).
-get properties of file to be downloaded to determine size (this is do-able i hope), compare against free space on partition where download directory is located. if insufficient space, halt processing of subscription & prompt user, else continue
-after download is complete, proceed to next subscription & repeat procedure.
as you can probably tell, this is just a sketch for the roughs on how this script would work. i believe i can pull this off simply because podcasting is actually dirt simple.
can any of the developers here offer advice & comments to a python novice? are there any nice things already built for handling the rss parsing? i haven't screwed around with rss on this side of things before so it'll be a learning experience for me