floobar

Just pushed version 0.3.2. Some minor fixes but mainly for it to work with the new backend code. The extension will need to be updated for it to function properly. Hopefully the rewrite allows for quicker queries and easier updates for video stuff (which I broke months ago but nevermind that!). Possibly more refined filters too if performance holds up.

Also added a Github link in the original post.

Oh hey, this thing is still here. And it's all broken!

There should be an update pushed out sometime later today.

v0.3.0 (Oct 7) released

• Form data retrieved from the server should now save properly (may require a page reload).

v0.2.9 (Oct 4) released

• Finally fixed queue buttons in the innate Giant Bomb video tab. They will correctly appear if you change categories or pages. You can add any video you see there to your playlist.
• The video content area will now display a loading animation (yay!) when a request is sent.

v0.2.8 (Oct 2) released

• Contained some minor UI bug fixes and changes.
• Embiggen/debiggen should no longer mess up the page. Seems like the GB javascript was looking for a certain class I ended up using as well.

v0.2.7 released, bringing fixes and adds a few things.

• The filter content area should hide properly again.
• Pagination links now match the site styling again.
• Queue all should be fixed.
• Changed the UI slightly to accommodate the random video link while grouping together queueing the entire result and form reset links.
• Random video works with the existing filters if you choose to use them.

I've also added a button at the top that links directly to the options page which still looks as great as it did months ago!

And just a mysterious thing I saw several months ago. Nearly 10,000 hits from a single IP. I wonder what that was about.

I'll probably try fixing some other so obviously broken features I paid no attention to while fudging with the UI a bit in the next few days. There are a few things I do want to try to implement but they will have to wait until I re-factor a bunch of code.

@stimpack: Thanks!

I haven't put much time into the extension for a while but here's a minor update with a bunch of backend nonsense that won't be noticed.

• From now on, playlists will be toggled through the menu as shown in the screenshot below which should be nicer for whoever uses both this extension and the GB Season Pass
• Smoother/more animations all around
• When the playlist is opened, it will scroll to the currently selected video
• Playlist (max) height should now take up as much space as its container
• Cleaned up the options page a little

lol, that's really unusual timing on the both of us. There's a certain elegance to this solution though for this use case. Looks really nice and compact.

I'm hoping the next update today will help alleviate those of the issues. Currently, queuing a single video naively checks the servers each time to see if it's a video I have data on, if yes then store for later. This is on top of every query you're already doing from just looking at the tab. That felt like a good idea while I was testing on my own!

The next version should cache data on whichever page you're already looking at removing the additional need to hit my servers except for queuing entire search results. The playlist button was also just a hover effect, it'll now time out after 2 seconds if you don't move or leave the video container.

On that note, I also added an options page to allow people to choose on which pages where the filter tab default to being selected. This is in hopes to further lower the number of needless accidental hits (say on the trailers page, likely you won't be using it there). In additional to that will be some buttons that let you directly clear a few specific things in storage.

Random video wouldn't be too hard I suppose, tracking might be a little more work. We'll see how it goes next week!

If it's an event category video, none of that is in my database. The only video I found was a E3 2012 video shoot in the premium section. I should mention more specifically that the most complete data are from videos in quick looks, unfinished, and encyclopedia. The rest are mixed bags.

Thanks everyone that have liked what they've seen. Getting a lot of 500 errors so if nothing really loads, my server is probably crying somewhere. ;) I'll probably double check to see if it's really from the increased traffic since it didn't appear that I was using too many resources.

I've also pushed an update (0.2.3) out, you can queue the search result (button is by the pagination, the form is getting a bit cramped now!) by newest or oldest. Some form of notifications appear at the bottom now when you queue videos, queue too many videos, save the playlist, and clear the playlist.

I didn't plan for anything yet since I kind of just cobbled the extension together for Chrome this past week. It would be nice.

As for Github, I'll probably toss the extension up eventually although I'm not sure when that'll happen.

Yeah, I wanted it in too at first but was deciding how badly the request would be designed. Should be in later today.

I'd say even organizing a broad search of all topics just listed in the description sounds pretty daunting. A lot of variable data there.

Thanks although not too closely, the code is not pretty!

Hi,

So a year after creating a website to filter videos (link to the API forum thread for reference), I found I never really used it much. Either the video options were more limited, I may not have updated my database quick enough, or I was unsure how to include premium content. About a month ago, I considered taking a cue from Enhanced Steam and create a Chrome extension to build functionality directly onto the Giant Bomb website instead.

The Extension (Giant Bomb Plus)

The Chrome extension for the most part blends into the existing layout. It becomes active on specific video sections (which can be modified).

• The currently tracked categories with my own data are: Quick Looks, Unfinished, Encyclopedia Bombastica, Features, Subscriber, and Endurance Runs.
• You can search by title, people (up to 5), platform and tags.
• Use filters on searches or a random video.
• Videos can be added to the playlist (only one currently).
• Queue videos through the custom filter tab or from any category in the Giant Bomb's video tab.
• The playlist is capped at 200 videos.
• While playing videos from the playlist, it should auto-load the next video as the current one ends.
• There is an options page with a direct link inserted at the top right of a video page where you can change some settings and erase data saved from the extension.

It can be found in the Chrome Web Store.

Source Code

You can take a look at it on Github here.

Images

Caveats/Issues

• Since there has been talk about the engineers have started working on the site again, maybe the extension becomes outdated soon.
• There are some broken images due to bad links from the API. I'm looking into a way to fix it without entirely searching by hand.
• Zero notifications/feedback from actions.
• Not all videos have been cataloged with my own data quite yet.
• Maybe my server will blow up or it doesn't work at all.

Comments/Questions/Suggestions?

I'd love to hear it!

So I'm going to throw up a new post anyways. I might have one remaining major update after this one but I'm actually quite pleased with what I have thus far (at least with what's visible). A lot of the backend on the other hand needs to be tightened, scripting to be cleaned up and potential interface modifications need to be made (especially visual cues to say if it site is actively doing/not doing something).

On to update 12/05/2013:

• Filter by tags - they are just mostly random things I kept track of like Secret Endurance Runs, game show shovelware, flight club, etc

• HTML5/Flash player with playlist (100 video limit, Javascript and cookies required)

  • You can add any video or any filter results directly to the playlist as long as it's fewer than 100 videos

  • Add/rearrange/remove videos from the playlist

  • Low or high quality toggle

  • Remembers the most recent video you played

  • Note: The data is stored only in sessions so however long the data stays in there may vary outside of their lifetime being set to 30 days (refreshed on every visit). Video player and layout for that page is kind of wonky when I tried it on my phone.

Yes, right now I'm using Codeigniter with Twitter Bootstrap on top of it. User stat tracking wasn't what I was thinking of rather I wanted more "silly" statistics about the videos themselves. Just need to decide on what library to use for graphing.

At first glance, a way to do it might be a bit hackish and limited. And as stated above, with the large number of missing videos on youtube makes that method a little more complicated.