Introduction

Do you blog about movies or tv shows? It can be a tedious job adding movie information such as synopsis, genres, directors, cast and crew, or finding the correct artwork. Why not use a simple WordPress shortcode to do all the hard work for you.

F13s Movie Shortcode allows you to insert movie, tv show or episode information using an IMDB ID or a title and year, cutting out all the hard work.

Artwork is copied directly to your WordPress Media Library to ensure it’s always available when it’s needed and the whole plugin is cached using transient to ensure a faster page loading time.

Features:

  • Responsive design
  • Shows film title, year, release date
  • If showing a series, the total number of seasons is displayed
  • If showing an episode, the season and episode number are displayed
  • Displays the plot or synopsis
  • Displays a poster image if one is available
  • If a poster image is available it is added to your media library and loaded locally
  • Displays movie stats such as the runtime, genre, awards, director, writer, Actors
  • Displays the available languages and country of origin
  • Provides the IMDB rating, including a star rating image
  • Adds a link to the movie on IMDB
  • Utilizes transient caching to reduce page load times and api calls

Movie Shortcode

The movie shortcode allows information to be gathered about a movie, tv show or episode such as ratings, plot, artwork and general information.

Arguments:

  • imdb: An IMDB ID such as “tt13842136”
  • title: A movie title such as “The Matrix”
  • Year: The year a movie was released (optional)
  • type: The type you are adding, one of [“movie”, “series” or “episode”] (optional)
  • information: default “0”, if set to “1” the information box will be open by default (optional)
  • cachetime: the desired cache timeout in minutes (optional)
  • disable: a comma separated list of blocks to disable. Options include – image,plot,information,rating (optional)
  • trailer: a YouTube video ID. Adds a YouTube video to the movie widget (optional)
  • image_size: the maximum image size (in pixels) for the cover image. This option is only available when using the OMDB API (optional) (default: 1200)
  • api: set an individual widget to use an API other than the default. Options include – omdb,tmdb (optional) (default: configured in admin settings)

Please note: One of “imdb” or “title” must be set.

Basic usage

Retrieving move information using a title:

[movie title="The Matrix"]
The Matrix
The Matrix
Plot: Thomas A. Anderson is a man living two lives. By day he is an average computer programmer and by night a hacker known as Neo. Neo has always questioned his reality, but the truth is far beyond his imagination. Neo finds himself targeted by the police when he is contacted by Morpheus, a legendary computer hacker branded a terrorist by the government. As a rebel against the machines, Neo must confront the agents: super-powerful computer programs devoted to stopping Neo and the entire human rebellion.
Internet Movie Database: 8.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 73/100
Information
Runtime: 136 min
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Awards: Won 4 Oscars. 42 wins & 52 nominations total
Writer: Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Actors: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
Language: English
Country: United States, Australia
Data provided by OMDB API

Retrieving movie information using an IMDB ID:

[movie imdb="tt0073486"]
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Plot: A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.
The Movie DB: 8.4/10
Information
Runtime: 133 min
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Budget: $3,000,000
Revenue: $108,981,275
Homepage:
Release date: November 19 1975
The Movie Database

Open information

To open the information pane by default, include the argument information=1:

[movie imdb="tt13842136" information="1"]
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Game of Boyles
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Game of Boyles
Plot: Terry, Jake and Charles visit the Boyle Family Farm; Amy and Rosa help out Capt. Holt.
Internet Movie Database: 7.9/10
Information
Runtime: 22 min
Season: 8
Episode: 7
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Awards: N/A
Writer: Dan Goor, Michael Schur, Paul Welsh
Actors: Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews
Language: English
Country: United States
Data provided by OMDB API

Refining search results

If you are receiving incorrect results, for example if there are multiple versions of the movie, include other optional arguments to refind the results:

[movie title="it" year="1990" type="series"]
It
It
Plot: In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.
The Movie DB: 7.241/10
Information
Runtime: 135 min
Genre: Horror
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Budget: $35,000,000
Revenue: $703,000,000
Release date: September 6 2017
The Movie Database

Custom cache timeout

Other than ratings, movie information is rarely updated. For this reason it is recommended to cache the data rather than run API calls on every page load. Newer releases may have rapidly changing ratings, whereas older releases are less likely to drastically change on an hourly basis. A custom cache timout can be included in the shortcode, set in minutes:

[movie imdb="tt0067023" cachetime="14400"]
Duel
Duel
Plot: While traveling through the desert for an appointment with a client, the businessman David Mann from California passes a slow and old tanker truck. The psychotic truck driver feels offended and chases David along the empty highway trying to kill him.
Internet Movie Database: 7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 81/100
Information
Runtime: 90 min
Genre: Action, Thriller
Awards: Won 1 Primetime Emmy. 3 wins & 5 nominations total
Writer: Richard Matheson
Actors: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone
Language: English
Country: United States
Data provided by OMDB API

Including a movie trailer

Should you wish to include a trailer in the movie widget, include the optional “trailer” attribute to specify a YouTube video ID

[movie imdb="tt0106912" trailer="4qR9a2u8ojI"]
Fire in the Sky
Fire in the Sky
Plot: A group of men who were clearing brush for the government arrive back in town, claiming that their friend was abducted by aliens. Nobody believes them, and despite a lack of motive and no evidence of foul play, their friends' disappearance is treated as murder.
The Movie DB: 6.602/10
Information
Runtime: 109 min
Genre: Science Fiction, Drama, Mystery
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Budget: $15,000,000
Revenue: $19,885,552
Homepage:
Release date: March 12 1993
The Movie Database

Changing the API

Although a default API is configured in the administration settings, it is possible to manually select the API to be used for each widget. This can be useful if one API provides more desirable data. To specify a different API, include an “api” attribute in the shortcode. Valid APIs are:

  • omdb – Open Movie Databsae
  • tmdb – The Movie Database
[movie imdb="tt0073195" api="omdb"]
Jaws
Jaws
Plot: It's a hot summer on Amity Island, a small community whose main business is its beaches. When new Sheriff Martin Brody discovers the remains of a shark attack victim, his first inclination is to close the beaches to swimmers. This doesn't sit well with Mayor Larry Vaughn and several of the local businessmen. Brody backs down to his regret as that weekend a young boy is killed by the predator. The dead boy's mother puts out a bounty on the shark and Amity is soon swamped with amateur hunters and fisherman hoping to cash in on the reward. A local fisherman with much experience hunting sharks, Quint, offers to hunt down the creature for a hefty fee. Soon Quint, Brody and Matt Hooper from the Oceanographic Institute are at sea hunting the Great White shark. As Brody succinctly surmises after their first encounter with the creature, they're going to need a bigger boat.
Internet Movie Database: 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 87/100
Information
Runtime: 124 min
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 16 wins & 20 nominations total
Writer: Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb
Actors: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
Language: English
Country: United States
Data provided by OMDB API
[movie imdb="tt0073195" api="tmdb"]
Jaws
Jaws
Plot: When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled hunter embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again.
The Movie DB: 7.664/10
Information
Runtime: 124 min
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Adventure
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Budget: $7,000,000
Revenue: $470,653,000
Release date: June 20 1975
The Movie Database

Disabling blocks

Should you wish to remove blocks from the movie widget, these can be defined using the optional “disable” attribute. The four blocks that can be disabled are:

  • title
  • image
  • plot
  • rating
  • information

Should you wish to only show the title, rating and information blocks, define the remaining two blocks in the disable attribute:

[movie imdb="tt0083907" disable="image,plot"]
The Evil Dead
Internet Movie Database: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Metacritic: 71/100
Information
Runtime: 85 min
Genre: Horror
Awards: 5 wins & 1 nomination
Writer: Sam Raimi
Actors: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor
Language: English
Country: United States
Data provided by OMDB API

Should you wish to only show the title and plot, define the remaining three block in the disable attribute:

[movie imdb="tt0083907" disable="image,rating,information"]
The Evil Dead
Plot: In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.
The Movie Database

Should you wish to only show the image and plot without the title, rating and information blocks:

[movie imdb="tt0083907" disable="title,rating,information"]
The Evil Dead
Plot: Five college students take time off to spend a peaceful vacation in a remote cabin. A book and audio tape is discovered, and its evil is found to be powerful once the incantations are read out loud. The friends find themselves helpless to stop the evil as it takes them one by one, with only one survivor left with the evil dead and desperately tries to fight to live until morning.
Data provided by OMDB API

Actor shortcode

The actor shortcode allows information to be gathered about an actor or notable person within the film industry. This information is only provided by “The Movie Database”.

Arguments:

  • tmdb: The Movie Database person ID
  • name: a notable persons name
  • cachetime: the desired cache timeout in minutes (optional)

Please note: you must provide either one of “tmdb” or “name”.

Basic usage

Using ID numbers

Showing information about Clint Eastwood, by providing the TMDB ID of “190”

[actor tmdb=190]
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Known for:
Unforgiven
Release date: August 7 1992Character William Munny
Absolute Power
Release date: February 14 1997Character Luther Whitney
Million Dollar Baby
Release date: December 15 2004Character Frankie Dunn
A Fistful of Dollars
Release date: September 12 1964Character Joe
For a Few Dollars More
Release date: December 18 1965Character Manco
Bio: Clinton "Clint" Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and former politician. Following his breakthrough role on the TV series "Rawhide" (1959–65), Eastwood starred as the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti westerns ("A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More," and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly") in the 1960s, and as San Francisco Police Department Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films ("Dirty Harry," "Magnum Force," "The Enforcer," "Sudden Impact," and "The Dead Pool") during the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, along with several others in which he plays tough-talking no-nonsense police officers, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.

Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor, for his work in the films "Unforgiven" (1992) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004). These films in particular, as well as others including "Play Misty for Me" (1971), "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976), "Pale Rider" (1985), "In the Line of Fire" (1993), "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995), and "Gran Torino" (2008), have all received commercial success and/or critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been "Every Which Way but Loose" (1978) and its sequel "Any Which Way You Can" (1980); despite being widely panned by critics they are the two highest-grossing films of his career after adjusting for inflation.

Eastwood has directed most of his own star vehicles, but he has also directed films in which he did not appear such as "Mystic River" (2003) and "Letters from Iwo Jima" (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations and "Changeling" (2008), which received Golden Globe Award nominations. He has received considerable critical praise in France in particular, including for several of his films which were panned in the United States, and was awarded two of France's highest honors: in 1994 he received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal and in 2007 was awarded the Légion d'honneur medal. In 2000 he was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

Since 1967 Eastwood has run his own production company, Malpaso, which has produced the vast majority of his films. He also served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, from 1986 to 1988. Eastwood has seven children by five women, although he has only married twice. An audiophile, Eastwood is also associated with jazz and has composed and performed pieces in several films along with his eldest son, Kyle Eastwood.

Description above adapted from the Wikipedia article Clint Eastwood, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Date of birth: May 31 1930
Place of birth: San Francisco, California, USA
Known for: Acting
The Movie Database

Searching by name

Showing information about Billy Idol, by providing the name attribute

[actor name="Billy Idol"]
Billy Idol
Billy Idol
Known for:
The Wedding Singer
Release date: February 13 1998Character Himself
The Filth and the Fury
Release date: March 29 2000Character Self (archive footage)
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
Release date: January 3 1988Character Self - Audience Member
Heavy Metal 2000
Release date: April 19 2000Character Odin (voice)
Billy Idol: In Super Overdrive Live
Release date: November 17 2009Character Vocals
Bio: William Michael Albert Broad (born November 30, 1955), better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. He first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X. He then embarked on a successful solo career, aided by a series of stylish music videos, making him one of the first MTV stars. Idol continues to tour with guitarist Steve Stevens and has a worldwide fan base.
Date of birth: November 30 1955
Place of birth: Middlesex, England, UK
Known for: Acting
The Movie Database

Setting a custom cache time

Actor information rarely changes, as such it is advised to cache the data locally as API calls are much slower than local database queries to retrieve the cached data. By default, data is cached for 1,440 minutes (24 hours); if you wish to cache data for 48 hours, set the cachetime to 2,880 minutes.

[actor name="Michael Gambon" cachetime="2880"]
Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Known for:
Forbidden Passion: The Oscar Wilde Movie
Release date: March 26 1985Character
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Release date: December 10 2004Character Oseary Drakoulias
The Good Shepherd
Release date: December 11 2006Character Dr. Fredericks
Open Range
Release date: August 11 2003Character Denton Baxter
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Release date: May 31 2004Character Albus Dumbledore
Bio: Sir Michael John Gambon (October 19, 1940 – September 27, 2023) was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career, he received three Olivier Awards and four BAFTA TV Awards. In 1998, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.

Gambon appeared in many productions of works by William Shakespeare such as Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth and Coriolanus. Gambon was nominated for thirteen Olivier Awards, winning three times for A Chorus of Disapproval (1985), A View from the Bridge (1987), and Man of the Moment (1990). In 1997, Gambon made his Broadway debut in David Hare's Skylight, earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination.

Gambon made his film debut in Othello (1965). His other notable films include The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Wings of the Dove (1997), The Insider (1999), Gosford Park (2001), Amazing Grace (2006), The King's Speech (2010), Quartet (2012), and Victoria & Abdul (2017). Gambon also appeared in the Wes Anderson films The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). Gambon gained wider recognition through his role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series from 2004 to 2011, replacing Richard Harris following his death in 2002.

For his work on television, he received four BAFTA Awards for The Singing Detective (1986), Wives and Daughters (1999), Longitude (2000), and Perfect Strangers (2001). He also received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Path to War (2002) and Emma (2009). Gambon's other notable projects include Cranford (2007) and The Casual Vacancy (2015). In 2017, he received the Irish Film & Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, he was listed at No. 27 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Date of birth: October 19 1940
Place of birth: Cabra, Dublin, Ireland
Date of death: September 27 2023
Known for: Acting
The Movie Database

Screenshots

F13 Movie Shortcode

Example output of F13 Movie Shortcode, showing Shuan of the Dead.


Installation

Installing is as simple as 1,2,3 –

Via WordPress

  1. navigate to WP Admin > Plugins > Add New
  2. search for “F13 Movie”
  3. install and activate

Manual

  1. download the source code
  2. upload the “f13-movie” folder to your “wp-content/plugins” folder
  3. activate the plugin in wp-admin

Configuration

  1. Visit your WordPress admin panel, usually located at www.domain.com/wp-admin
  2. From the menu, select “F13 Admin” > “Movie”
  3. Follow the instructions to obtain API keys for OMDB and TMDB
  4. Select your preferred default API

GitHub

GitHub repository: f13dev/f13-movie
Created: July 17, 2016 - 01:47pm
Last commit: October 30, 2021 - 09:11am
Forks: 0
Open issues: 1
Stars: 0
Watchers: 0
Description: Shortcode to add movie information to a WordPress blog, utilising the OMDB API
git clone https://github.com/f13dev/f13-movie

WordPress

Author:F13Dev
Rating: (0/5 from 0 rating)
Description:Using Movie Shortcode you can easily add information about a movie, tv show, episode or actor to a blog post. Simply enter the shortcode: [movie imdb=”an IMDB ID”] or [movie title=”A...
Tags:
embedepisodemovieshortcodetv show
Downloads:4744
Requirements
Version:2.1.4Requires WordPress:3.0.1+Tested with WordPress:6.2.6Requires PHP:+Created:July 21, 2016Last updated:July 8, 2023 10:51am

9 tags for "WordPress Plugin: Movie Shortcode"

30 comments on "WordPress Plugin: Movie Shortcode"

  • Shahzab Khan says:

    I have been using F13 Movie Embed Shortcode plugin and it was awsome.
    But recently It got some errors and failed to fetch data from IMDB.
    Instead it shows error “The movie, show or episode you requested could not be found. ” formy new and older posts too.

    • jim says:

      Hello Shahzab Khan.

      First of all, I apologise for the delay in my reply. After checking the plugin at my end I can see the same issue is happening here; this is most likely a case where IMDB have altered their API.

      I will look into resolving this issue and update the plugin accordingly. At some point over the next couple of weeks you should receive an update notification for the plugin via your WordPress sit admin panel.

      Regards
      Jim

  • Hi,
    Is it possible to show the plot in any other language than English?

    • jim says:

      Hi Attila, I was unaware that IMDB provided other languages unitl now. From what I can see, the use of other languages requires the account to be logged in which would require considerable modification of the plugin. An alternative would be to utilise a translate API such as Google translate on the plot. The downside to this is that automatic translations can be far from perfect.
      I’ve got a reasonably heavy work load at the moment, once this has been cleared I will look into the fesability of allowing the plugin access to an IMDB account to scrape the alternate languages.
      Regards
      Jim

  • gabut review says:

    how to disable plot?
    how to show only rating/scroe?

    Btw.. its a good plug-in. fast and works

    • jim says:

      Hi,

      At the moment there is no method of enabling/disabling elements of the view. I can have a look into this and release an update nearer the end of the week. This will likely be added as an additional shortcode attribute i.e.

      [movie imdb="..." hide="plot,information"]

      Thank you for the suggestion, they all help to make the plugin more flexible.

      Jim

    • jim says:

      Hi Gabut Review,

      Version 2.0.2 has been launched via the WordPress SVN, updating to this version will add an aditional attribute “disable”.

      To disable the plot use the shortcode [movie imdb="..." disable="plot"]

      To show only the ratings, disable the image, plot and information blocks: [movie imdb="..." disable="image,plot,information"]

      The four blocks can be included in the disable attribute in any combination, separated by commas (without spaces).

      I have updated the documentation to show how these options work.

      Please let me know if any further features/improvements will help.

      Regards
      Jim

  • jowchar says:

    Tried installing this plugin and when trying to activate it I get the following error:
    Class not found: F13\Movies\Controllers\Control

    • jim says:

      Hello Jowchar,

      I have tried to replicate this issue by installing the plugin via WordPress admin and manually uploading the files from GitHub. Niether method caused this error on my test site.

      The “Class not found” error would imply that the main control file is missing on the server – /wp-content/plugins/f13-movie-shortcode/controllers/control.php

      If you have access to the files on the server, can you verify if that file exists? If the file doesn’t exist, it can be downloaded from here – https://raw.githubusercontent.com/f13dev/f13-movie/master/controllers/control.php

      Alternatively, uninstalling and re-installing the plugin should resolve this issue as it sounds like there was an error retrieving one or more files at the time of installation.

      Jim

      • jowchar says:

        The control.php file is there. Reinstalling results in the same error. I’m building my site on my localhost for now, would that make a difference?

        • jim says:

          Hi Jowchar,

          It is quite possible that the localhost setup is using emulated paths instead of real paths, on a live server this shouldn’t be a problem.

          For testing on the localhost dev environment, commenting out the realpath check should allow the plugin to operate. In reality the realpath check isn’t required, but is included to enhance the security for any third party inclusion of plugin files (it ensures files it includes are within the plugin folder).

          Commenting out lines 44, 45, 46 and 48 of wp-content/plugins/f13-movie/f13-movie.php should resolve the issue.

          Before:
          44: if ($file !== realpath($file) || !file_exists($file)) {
          45: wp_die(‘Class not found: ‘.htmlentities($name));
          46: } else {
          47: require_once $file;
          48: }

          After:
          44: //if ($file !== realpath($file) || !file_exists($file)) {
          45: // wp_die(‘Class not found: ‘.htmlentities($name));
          46: //} else {
          47: require_once $file;
          48: //}

          Regards
          Jim

  • Cinemadude says:

    I installed 5-6 movie library plugins and I found yours quite fine. So, first of all thanks for your work. Really appreciative. Second, I want to write titles by myself. So, is there any way I can remove titles (“The Matrix”, “It”, “The Evil Dead”), like I can remove images, plots, and info?

    • jim says:

      Hello Cinemadude,

      Thank you for your feedback, it’s always nice to hear suggestions for how this plugin can be improved.

      I have released version 2.0.4 via the WordPress SVN, this should show in the “Dashboard” > “Updates” section on your WP site soon

      This release adds the ability to disable the title in a similar way to disabling other blocks. E.g. the following shortcode will show information about “It” without the title block.

      [movie title="it" year="1990" type="series" disable="title"]

      Kind regards
      Jim

  • Farhan Momin says:

    Hi Jim,

    First of all, thanks for creating this plugin.. After having tried multiple options, i can safely say that your plugin seems to be the simplest, fastest and cleanest one I have seen so far. It has all the features and functionalities I was looking for.

    I have two requests please, if possible..
    1. Can we have the option to control the image resolution?
    2. Can we have the option (attribute) to include trailer (either embedded or even external link to youtube etc should suffice.)

    Thanks in advance.

    Cheers,
    FM

    • jim says:

      Hi Farhan,

      First of all, apologies for the long delay in getting back to you.

      For point 1, this would be entirely possible, the API can provide images of varying sizes, at present the plugin retrieves the larger image (1200px max). I will look into adding the option to select the image size.

      For point 2, the API doesn’t directly provide any video/trailer links. This would be possible using a secondary API to search for the trailer on youtube, although this would likely lead to errors.

      A more accurate method would be to add a new attribute to the shortcode – trailer=”Y_EviQj5tvA”, where “Y_EviQj5tvA” is the youtube ID for the trailer. This would require more manual work as a trailer would have to be added manually, but would offer a more reliable method of retrieving the trailer. I am happy to add this to the next release.

      Kind regards
      Jim

      • FARHAN MOMIN says:

        No need for apologies Jim.. Thanks for your response.. Looking forward to the next release

        • jim says:

          Hi Farhan,

          I have just released v2.1.0 which includes the ability to set the image size and include a trailer.

          * The attribute “image_size=1200” will select an image with a maximum size of 1200px (this is the default size).
          * The attribute “trailer=” will insert an embedded trailer within the movie widget.

          Many thanks for providing these suggestions, they are very useful in widening the audience for this plugin.

          Regards
          Jim

  • Mita says:

    Hi, is it possible to retrieve actor info? That is really what I am looking for. Thanks

    • jim says:

      Hi Mita,

      The OMDB API doesn’t include endpoints for actor information, although I am looking into the possibility of adding The Movie Database as a supplementary API, as it may be possible to retrieve actor information via this.

      Kind regards
      Jim

    • jim says:

      Hi Mita,

      Version 2.1.0 has just been released. This version allows both the Open Movie Database and The Movie Database to be used within the plugin. The latter has allowed for a new “actor” widget to be implemented.

      Example usage – [actor name="Morgan Freeman"]

      Regards
      Jim

      • Mita Frosthagen says:

        Thank you, that is great. However I have the actor ID (eg. nm0000142 for Clint Eastwood) in my database. Is it possible to make a shortcode that uses the name id instead of the TMDB ID as in your example?

        • jim says:

          Hi Mita,

          From memory I was experiencing issues searching actors by name at the time this feature was added, I can check over the code I was working with back then and see if the API is returning more accurate results now (or if there are any errors in the calls I was sending). While there I can also check if he IMDB actor ID’s can be used as they should guarantee accurate results.

          I’ll be unlikely to find time this week, although will be away from work next week.

          Regards
          Jim

          • Mita Frosthagen says:

            Thank you. Really appreciate that. Someone said IMDb has redesigned the actor pages, so what didn’t work before might work now and vice versa.

  • lodalassan says:

    how to customize the infobox, like changing the font, image placement, rating placement etc

    • jim says:

      Hi,

      The best way to change the font would be with custom CSS. Some themes offer additional CSS input, otherwise, the theme CSS file can be modified in “WP Admin > Appearance > Theme file editor”.

      The placement of sections within the widget would be fairly complex to add in the shortcode attributes, again custom CSS can be used to change the appearance of elements.

      Regards
      Jim

  • Doug says:

    Why does the TMDB API token retrieve info for when i choose IMDB but not TMDB?

    • jim says:

      Hi Doug,

      For movie / tv show information, the selected API should be the only one used.

      I.e. if TMDB is configured on the settings page, it should be the only API used unless its overridden in the shortcode.

      The only exception to this is when retrieving actor information, this will always use TMDB to retrieve the data.

      Time permitting, I’ll do some experimenting and see if I can replicate the issue. If possible, could you share the shortcodes being used?

      Regards
      Jim

  • Staze says:

    Hi Jim, love the plugin but I’m having trouble making it display the right movie. I’m trying to get it to show info for Pulse aka Kairo (Japan, 2001). It’s showing me different movies even with using these shortcodes:
    [movie title="Pulse" year="2001" type="movie"]
    [movie title="Kairo" year="2001" type="movie"]

    Tried using the movie imdb and api shortcodes too but they’re showing error messages on the published page.

    • jim says:

      Hi Staze,

      Apologies for the late reply – I’ve found that results via the API can be a little unpredictable at times when searching by name, although adding the year and type as you have done usually fixes this.

      The most reliable way is to use the IMDB ID [movie imdb="tt..."] as this should give the exact result – I fear you may have already tried this and are receiving an error though – what is the error message you are receiving on the active page?

      If you have access to the server via SSH (or access to the error logs via FTP), is an error being logged when using the IMDB ID in the shortcode?

      Many thanks
      Jim

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