In this episode I explain how I use python to track the number of shows in the HPR queue and then turn on a blinkstick to indicate the size of the queue.
Stack exchange
http://stackoverflow.com/
urllib (Python 3), urllib2 (Python 2)
https://docs.python.org/2/library/urllib.html
re - regular expressions in python
https://docs.python.org/2/library/re.html
Blinkstick
https://www.blinkstick.com/
Python code included below
#!/usr/bin/env python3
### This is a scratchpad file I've created to try out snippets of code in python
# The script below is for use with Python 3
# This script should work out of the box on most systems running a version of Python 3
# If you happen to have a blinkstick lying about then your can uncomment the blinkstick module
# and uncomment the references at the bottom of the program that call the blinkstick functions
# Regards, Mr X
# Imported modules
from time import sleep # used to pause program
#from blinkstick import blinkstick # used to control blinkstick nano attached to usb port of raspberry pi
import urllib.request # used to capture hpr webpage content to get the number of HPR shows in the que
import re # regular expressions, used to find sting in HPR webpage (get_hpr_que)
# These functions control a blink stick nano attached to my raspberry pi USB port #################
# They can be ignored or deleted if you don't have one
def bstick_off():
# Search for all attached blinksticks and turn them all off
for bstick in blinkstick.find_all():
bstick.turn_off() # Turn front blinkstick LED off
bstick.set_color(channel=0, index=1, name="black") # Turn rear blinkstick led off
print("Blinkstick: " + bstick.get_serial() + " turned off")
def bstick_on(colour):
# Turn blinkstick on and set led colour to string value stored in var colour
# valid colours are, black, silver, gray, white, maroon, red, purple, fuchsia, green, lime, olive, yellow, navy, blue, teal, aqua
for bstick in blinkstick.find_all():
bstick.set_max_rgb_value(30) # Sets max blinkstick RGB value to 15, makes LED dimm
bstick.set_color(name=colour) # Turn blinkstick on, var colour determines colour
print ("Blinkstick: " + bstick.get_serial() + " | Colour: " + bstick.get_color(color_format="hex") + " [" + colour + "]")
#hex
def bstick_on_random():
# Turn blinkstick on colour random
for bstick in blinkstick.find_all():
bstick.set_random_color()
print ("Blinkstick: " + bstick.get_serial() + " | Colour: " + bstick.get_color(color_format="hex"))
def bstick_blink_red():
# Flash blinkstick colour red
for bstick in blinkstick.find_all():
bstick.blink(name="red")
print ("Blinkstick: " + bstick.get_serial() + " | Colour: " + bstick.get_color(color_format="hex"))
################################################################################
def get_hpr_que():
# Goto hacker public radio calendar page and extract the number of shows in the queue
# then return the number of shows as an integer
# also turns on blinkstick LED and sends number of HPR shows in the que to the display
url = 'http://hackerpublicradio.org/calendar.php' # HPR url for calendar page
try:
html_content = urllib.request.urlopen(url).read() # Try to read hpr calendar page
except:
print("ERROR: Pro
