Automating the download of magazines - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Automating the download of magazines

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
rollo
May 27, 2010 9:56:38
So, is there a way that i can automatically download dungeon and dragon? As far as I know I have to go on the website each month and download them individually. I can read the articles as they are publish (which I do like) but now that I have an iPad I wish there was a way to automatically download the complete version so that I can have it on my device.

Alternatly an RSS feed with a download link would be OK.. but wouldn't really fit the bill.

#2
jedrious
May 28, 2010 11:31:18 that all depends, does the ipad support scripting?

if so, the download link does not change very much each month, really at most it will be 6 characters to change, if you could set a script to run every 31 days in just increment the issue number on each run, you could automate the download, assuming of course Jobs hasn't decided that D&D is evil and must be purged from all things apple.
#3
rollo
May 31, 2010 8:36:57 The download wouldn't happen on my iPad, it would happen on my desktop and then sync to the iPad.

Since no one else had any ideas, I am going to assume this is going to get difficult.
#4
DrOct
Jun 03, 2010 10:15:57 Well if the download is happening on your computer then you'll definitely be able to set up the above mentioned script. (I'm not expert in scripting but that's something you can definitely do on a full fledged computer).
#5
rcuhljr
Jun 15, 2010 12:15:17 If you have any programming experience or a friend with it it shouldn't be too hard to throw together a python or ruby script to login, grab the newest pdf, and then do whatever you want with it. If you're in windows just set up a service to run the script once a day (or once a month if they are good about not slipping dates on the pdf's) or a cron job under linux. I'm assuming mac offers something similar but I have no idea what. Beer and pizza should probably be a fair exchange.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 rollo May 27, 2010 9:56:38	So, is there a way that i can automatically download dungeon and dragon? As far as I know I have to go on the website each month and download them individually. I can read the articles as they are publish (which I do like) but now that I have an iPad I wish there was a way to automatically download the complete version so that I can have it on my device. Alternatly an RSS feed with a download link would be OK.. but wouldn't really fit the bill.
#2 jedrious May 28, 2010 11:31:18	that all depends, does the ipad support scripting? if so, the download link does not change very much each month, really at most it will be 6 characters to change, if you could set a script to run every 31 days in just increment the issue number on each run, you could automate the download, assuming of course Jobs hasn't decided that D&D is evil and must be purged from all things apple.
#3 rollo May 31, 2010 8:36:57	The download wouldn't happen on my iPad, it would happen on my desktop and then sync to the iPad. Since no one else had any ideas, I am going to assume this is going to get difficult.
#4 DrOct Jun 03, 2010 10:15:57	Well if the download is happening on your computer then you'll definitely be able to set up the above mentioned script. (I'm not expert in scripting but that's something you can definitely do on a full fledged computer).
#5 rcuhljr Jun 15, 2010 12:15:17	If you have any programming experience or a friend with it it shouldn't be too hard to throw together a python or ruby script to login, grab the newest pdf, and then do whatever you want with it. If you're in windows just set up a service to run the script once a day (or once a month if they are good about not slipping dates on the pdf's) or a cron job under linux. I'm assuming mac offers something similar but I have no idea what. Beer and pizza should probably be a fair exchange.