custom_cnn_headlines

[Pete]

Wondering if anyone out there is having problems with this script today?

[Alconnell]

Working here at 2:37PM. What probs are you having?

[Pete]

Looks like it this and not sure why:

[Skibum]

Same problem here....

[GreenAcres]

Same Here

Thom

[Thickman]

Same....

Terry

[Rupp]

They are putting advertising in the headlines which is messing up the script. This is a scraping script and may soon go the way of all the other scraping scripts of the past.

[anogee]

Fixed it for now with the line:
body = hs.StringItem(body,1,"<")

Basically this just strips out the text after the first "<" which is the part you don't want. Place this line just before where it sets the device in the script.

But CNN is revamping their web pages so we may want to wait before making more permanent changes.

[Pete]

Rupp, yes its an advertisement for a CNN video. Its coming up at the end of the news alert (custom_cnn.txt
) not the beginning of the headlines (custom_cnn_headlines.txt) as I thought previously. Where does the line go? Thanks Anogee.

[Thickman]

What do I need to do to fix my "Status" screen? The script is hanging up the page.

Thanks,
Terry

[Alconnell]

Mine is still working fine this morning. I haven't done anything to it. Here it is if it will help anyone.
OOPS, just saw previous post. My Breaking News IS putting html code in as well. I use the one Rupp fixed up.

[Pete]

Anogee, what are the before and after lines for your recommended patch? OR should we wait until CNN finished their "upgrades"?

[anogee]

I'm hesitant to give an exact location because I know there are a few versions of the script out there but if your running ver 2.5 (I think is the latest)

Look for this section of code:

body = Mid(body,x, len(body) - x)
iStart = Instr(1,body,"<div id=""cnnNarrowBulletinText"">")
iEnd = Instr(1,body,"<a href")
if iEnd = 0 then
iEnd = Instr(1,body,"</div>")
end if

if iStart + 32 > len(body) OR iEnd - (iStart+33) > len(body) OR iEnd - (iStart+33) < iStart + 32 then
exit sub
end if
body = Mid(body,iStart + 32, (iEnd - (iStart+33)))

Then after this place this additional line:

body = hs.StringItem(body,1,"<")

The StringItem command is not the most elegant way to do this, but it is the easiest. Basically this command parses a line and extracts items based on a delimiter, in this case "<". Since we want the text BEFORE the inserted ads, a 1 says first item. Not a whole lot of thought here, because I know CNN will be changing it soon, but this seems to work for now.

[Pete]

Thank you anogee - works great. Guess I am pretty used to seeing it and miss it a lot when its gone.