upgrade to new TVDB API

[eprenamer]

TheTVDB implemented a new, JSON-based API a while ago. They are really discouraging people from using the old API, and plan to shut it down within six months.

Note that one of the very specific test-cases TVRenamer uses, "Steven Seagal: Lawman", no longer works with the old API. The show is not found with the query we create, nor with any reasonable query we could create.

Unlike the other issues I've opened :) this is NOT something I've done already. I'd be very happy to see someone else get this done!

[vipuldelwadia]

I can't promise anything (as you can guess, I've had no time to commit to this project lately) but I'll try to have a look sometime in the next week or so.

[eprenamer]

The old API is not working right now. Maybe they'll fix it, maybe they won't. I think we definitely need to upgrade if we want the application to be reliable going forward.

[vipuldelwadia]

I started work on the swagger API over the weekend, using swagger-codegen, however I didn't get very far - got bogged down on issues talking to the API. I'll have another go today using gson and a regular http client

[daveharris]

@vipuldelwadia As luck would have it I have been working on a tiny Java application at work (after many many many years) and I got a really long way with using:

• okhttp
• org.json

I was posting well-formed JSON to an API endpoint and parsing the data back into JSON. I did look into using Gson but it's very much built around the idea of binding objects to JSON which I didn't need. I guess we could use it here. I also investigated jackson-jr but found that org.json was so much simpler for what I needed.

Definitely take a look at okhttp, I was very impressed but how easy it was. Steer clear from Apache commons HTTP!

[vipuldelwadia]

Yep I was planning to use okhttp. I had a play last night, got a couple of the calls implemented already - looks pretty straight forward.

Square have a JSON library called Moshi which looks like it could work for our purpose so I'll use that to parse the JSON response - I'd much rather create POJOs and use an object-binding library like Gson or Moshi than create/parse the JSON by hand.

[eprenamer]

I was getting back to this. Interesting note: last night, the Swagger API stopped working temporarily, while the old API actually did still work. So it might be worthwhile to release a version that could fall back on the old API in the case of failure.

[eprenamer]

@vipuldelwadia @daveharris

Hey guys, I'm kind of using this issue as a way to write a note. :-)

My activity slowed down a lot after the 0.8 release. I'm getting back to it now, a bit.

I actually started to do a release, like an 0.8b4 thing, but I guess it turns out that doesn't really work as a "new version". To be a new version, it (seems that it) needs to be 0.9.

So, if I was going to call the release 0.9, I thought there were a few small things to get in. But I keep finding more "small" things to get in. :-)

Anyway, I just wanted to update you. I plan to get a 0.9 out pretty soon.

I haven't forgotten at all about the new API and the existing PR, and I've continued updating the tvdbswagger branch. That will be a 1.0b0 release.

I wanted to see if you wanted to weigh in on some other matters. If not, that's fine. I will tag you in other issues for specific questions. Again, I just wanted to write a note here and update you.

[vipuldelwadia]

Hey @eprenamer thanks for the heads up! I've been keeping up with the changes you're making, all look good from my point of view so carry on 👍. I'll let you know if there is anything I am unsure on.

I can't remember if you've done a release before or not, either way if you need any help just shout out :).

Exciting to see a 1.0 soon! Thanks for all your work on this project!