Vague Feelings of "It Should be easier"
I decided that while Fionn was having his midday nap, I was going to get the DVD DB sorted, so I plugged my CueCat into Lindsay's MacBook and started scanning.
The idea, if I haven't discussed it before, is that I scan an assload of barcodes with a $10 barcode scanner, plug them into a perl script I wrote which takes the barcode, figures out if it's a UPC or EAN barcode and then queries Amazon appropriately, ascertaining data from each barcode like Title, Director, Actor, Writer, Date of Release etc. The script can output to HTML or CSV (eventually XML, just cos I wanted to learn how). CSV can then be fed into a database (MySQL or whatever), or rendered as a spreadsheet etc. etc.
Unfortunately Amazon draws a blank on about 5% of barcodes, so I have to do the scanning/lookup in batches, and debug as appropriate.
Anyway, I'd written the script on my work laptop under linux, which I'd backed up. So I go and grab the script onto Lindsay's laptop. Go to run it on the first batch.
Can't find Net::Amazon . Fair enough, to be expected, I hadn't downloaded it on the laptop before. So I go into CPAN, which has also never been used on the laptop before, and start doing the manual configuration - telling it where all the necessary programs and stuff are.
Where is your Make program? . I don't have Make on the laptop. Hmm. I know, I'll install DarwinPorts - that's the best way to get Unixy packages onto a Mac.
DarwinPorts requires Xcode Nuts. I go to Apple Developer Connection, and realise I need an ADC membership to get Xcode. The Basic one is free, so I try to sign up with my spam-mail address.
You've used this address for an ADC membership before. Please login using this ADC Membership I can't for the life of me remember doing so, and retrieving the lost username/password requires filling out a contact form, not an auto reminder thingy. I don't want to wait around, so I create a new membership ID.
You are now Downloading Xcode... at last! but it's 999MB or so, so it'll take 2.5 hours to download, by which time I'll be playing lap-standing or somesuch with my son. Oh and,
...for Leopard . The MacBook is running Tiger.
Sigh.
The idea, if I haven't discussed it before, is that I scan an assload of barcodes with a $10 barcode scanner, plug them into a perl script I wrote which takes the barcode, figures out if it's a UPC or EAN barcode and then queries Amazon appropriately, ascertaining data from each barcode like Title, Director, Actor, Writer, Date of Release etc. The script can output to HTML or CSV (eventually XML, just cos I wanted to learn how). CSV can then be fed into a database (MySQL or whatever), or rendered as a spreadsheet etc. etc.
Unfortunately Amazon draws a blank on about 5% of barcodes, so I have to do the scanning/lookup in batches, and debug as appropriate.
Anyway, I'd written the script on my work laptop under linux, which I'd backed up. So I go and grab the script onto Lindsay's laptop. Go to run it on the first batch.
Can't find Net::Amazon . Fair enough, to be expected, I hadn't downloaded it on the laptop before. So I go into CPAN, which has also never been used on the laptop before, and start doing the manual configuration - telling it where all the necessary programs and stuff are.
Where is your Make program? . I don't have Make on the laptop. Hmm. I know, I'll install DarwinPorts - that's the best way to get Unixy packages onto a Mac.
DarwinPorts requires Xcode Nuts. I go to Apple Developer Connection, and realise I need an ADC membership to get Xcode. The Basic one is free, so I try to sign up with my spam-mail address.
You've used this address for an ADC membership before. Please login using this ADC Membership I can't for the life of me remember doing so, and retrieving the lost username/password requires filling out a contact form, not an auto reminder thingy. I don't want to wait around, so I create a new membership ID.
You are now Downloading Xcode... at last! but it's 999MB or so, so it'll take 2.5 hours to download, by which time I'll be playing lap-standing or somesuch with my son. Oh and,
...for Leopard . The MacBook is running Tiger.
Sigh.