Windows Media Center Guide Listings Format

Article
07/23/2009

Microsoft Corporation

July 2009

Applies to: Windows® Media Center is included in Windows® 7 Home Premium, Windows® 7 Professional, Windows® 7 Ultimate, and Windows® 7 Enterprise.

Summary: This document describes how to import program data into the Electronic Program Guide data store for Windows Media Center on a Windows 7 computer. The main audience for this document is developers who want to build applications to import external Guide data into Windows Media Center and are familiar with Guide and MXF file format.

Introduction

Program Data Disclaimer

LoadMXF

Format of the Guide Data File

MXF File Structure

MXF Elements and Attributes

Sample MXF File

Reindexing Guide Data

Recovering a Corrupted Guide Data Store

For More Information

Introduction

This document describes how to use LoadMXF.exe, a tool released as part of Windows Media Center, to load program data in MXF format into an existing Electronic Program Guide data store for Windows Media Center. This document describes how to use this tool with the MXF file format to author Guide data. A detailed example is also provided.

Program Data Disclaimer

Microsoft makes no representations regarding and will not be responsible for any liability, failure, or inaccuracies in this document that relate to or result from:

Importation of external program data with a third-party application.
Utilization of any external program data.
Upgrading imported program data from Windows 7 to future Windows releases.

LoadMXF

The LoadMXF.exe tool loads data from an MXF file into a Windows Media Center Guide data store. LoadMXF.exe is located in the in %windir%\ehome folder of a Windows Media Center PC.

Syntax

LoadMXF [-s storeFilename] -i inputFilename

Parameters

-s storeFilename

The filename of the data store. If this is not specified, the default data store is used.

-i inputFilename

The name of the MXF file to load.

Example

The following command loads the data from the sample.mxf file into the default Guide data store:

LoadMXF –i sample.mxf

Format of the Guide Data File

The listings file is in XML format.

The following table provides an overview of the main element types in the Guide data file.

Element	Description	Example
Program	A movie or episode.	An episode of Lost, titled "The others strike".
SeriesInfo	A series of a particular program.	Lost
Season	A season of a particular program.	Lost Season 1
Service	A content provider.	KOMO
Affiliate	Identifies who the service is affiliated to, if anyone.	ABC
ScheduleEntry	Defines when a program will be broadcast on a service.	Lost "The others strike" will air on KOMO at 8pm to 9pm on 2008/04/01.
Channel	The number used to tune to a particular service.	Channel 4 tunes to KOMO.
Lineup	Defines a collection of channels.
Person	A name of a person associated with the program.	Joe Blogs
ActorRole WriterRole GuestActorRole HostRole ProducerRole DirectorRole	Defines the person's role with the program (actor, writer, guest star, host, producer, or director).	Joe Blogs is an actor in Lost "The others strike".
Keyword	A named attribute that a program can be tagged with. Keywords are displayed in the details for a program and used in the Search By Category functionality.	Drama
KeywordGroup	A set, or group, of keywords. The keyword group has a primary keyword name that identifies the group and is used to define the hierarchy in the Search By Category functionality.	A KeywordGroup might have a Keyword name of Movies, and group the following keywords: Comedy, Drama, Horror, and Sci-Fi.
Provider	Provides information and copyright about who provided the listing data.
GuideImage	Specifies an image to be displayed in the Guide.	A channel logo or program image.

MXF File Structure

The following XML shows the general structure of the MXF file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MXF>
  <Assembly name="mcepg"/>
  <Assembly name="mcstore" />
  <Providers>
    <Provider id="1" name="FooListings" displayName="Foo Listings" copyright="© 2008 Foo Corporation. All Rights Reserved." />
  </Providers>
  <With provider="1">
    <Keywords />
    <KeywordGroups />
    <GuideImages />
    <People />
    <SeriesInfos />
    <Seasons />
    <Programs />
    <Affiliates />
    <Services />
    <ScheduleEntries />
    <Lineups />
  </With>
</MXF>

When the MXF file is loaded into Windows Media Center, the file is loaded into an internal database. Generally speaking, each XML element is transformed into a record row in a table in the database. The element name (for example, <Program>) describes the table in which to load the record.

Note the following attributes:

id identifies the element, but only within the document. This identifier (ID) is unique within the XML document and is referenced by other elements when defining references to this element in the document. The id value is not loaded into the database.
uid is a universal ID that is persisted in the database. The uid allows the document to be loaded many times and allows the document to update an existing record in the database (rather than creating a new one each time). If the element has specified a uid, the loader first attempts to find the record in the database with this uid. If found, the record is updated with the values from the XML document. If not found, a new record row is created in the database, tagged with the uid and given the element's values.

Note Everything in the file is case sensitive. When lists of IDs are specified, spaces are not allowed—only the comma (,) delimiter is allowed. Boolean values can either be "true" or "false", or "1" or "0".

MXF Elements and Attributes

This section describes each element in detail, including the following information about each attribute:

Attribute: The name of the attribute
Type: The type of value expected for the attribute.
Default value: The value to use if the attribute is not specified. If the database record is updated, the corresponding value is not changed.
Description: A description of the attribute.
Notes: Additional comments about the attribute.

ActorRole

An ActorRole element is defined within a Program element and defines a relationship between a Person element and the surrounding Program element (whether the person is an actor).

The ActorRole element and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
person	string	""	A reference to the id value of the Person element.
rank	integer	0	Used to sort the names that are displayed.	Lower numbers are displayed first.

Affiliate

The Affiliate element defines a network (such as BBC, ABC, or MSNBC).

The Affiliate element has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
name	string	""	The display name of the network.
uid	string	""	An ID that uniquely identifies the affiliate.	This value should take the form "!Affiliate!name", where name is the value of the name attribute.
logoImage	string	""	Specifies a network logo to display.	This value contains a GuideImage id attribute.

Assembly

The Assembly element and its nested elements are standard header elements of the document and do not change.

Channel

A Channel element defines how to access a service (the channel number the user enters to tune to the service).

The Channel element has the following attributes:

Name	Type	Default	Description	Notes
uid	string		A unique ID that is consistent between loads.	This value should take the form "!Channel!uniqueLineupName!number_subNumber", where uniqueLineupName is the Lineup element's uid, and number and subNumber are the values from the number and subNumber attribute.
lineup	string	""	A reference to the Lineup element.	This value should always be "l1".
service	string	""	The service to reference.	This value should be the Service id attribute.
matchName	string	""	Used to automatically map this channel of listings onto the scanned channel.	If not specified, the value of the Service element's callSign attribute is used as the default value. If matchName is specified, it should take the following format according to the signal type: PAL/NTSC: The call sign DVB-T: The call sign, or a string of format "DVBT:onid:tsid:sid" DVB-S: A string of format "DVBS:sat:freq:onid:tsid:sid" Where: onid is the originating network ID. tsid is the transport stream ID. sid is the service ID. sat is the satellite position. freq is the frequency, in MHz. Note All of these values are expressed as decimal integer numbers.
number	integer	-1	The number used to access the service.	Do not specify this value if you want Windows Media Center to assign the channel number.
subNumber	integer	0	The subnumber used to access the service.

DirectorRole

An DirectorRole element is defined within a Program element and defines a relationship between a Person element and the surrounding Program element (whether the person is a director).

The DirectorRole element and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
person	string	""	A reference to the id value of the Person element.
rank	integer	0	Used to sort the names that are displayed.	Lower numbers are displayed first.

GuestActorRole

An GuestActorRole element is defined within a Program element and defines a relationship between a Person element and the surrounding Program element (whether the person is a guest actor).

The GuestActorRole element and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
person	string	""	A reference to the id value of the Person element.
rank	integer	0	Used to sort the names that are displayed.	Lower numbers are displayed first.

GuideImage

The GuideImage element defines an image to be displayed and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	Use IDs such as i1, i2, i3, and so forth. GuideImage elements are referenced by the Series, SeriesInfo, Program, Affiliate, and Channel elements.
imageUrl	string	""	The URL of the image.	This value can be in the form of file://URL.

HostRole

An HostRole element is defined within a Program element and defines a relationship between a Person element and the surrounding Program element (whether the person is a host).

The HostRole element and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
person	string	""	A reference to the id value of the Person element.
rank	integer	0	Used to sort the names that are displayed.	Lower numbers are displayed first.

Keyword

A Keyword is a named attribute that a Program element can be tagged with. These keywords are displayed in the details for a program and used in the Search By Category functionality.

The Keyword element has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	The top level keywords use IDs such as k1, k2, k3, and so forth. The second-level keywords have IDs in the corresponding 100s, such as k100 and k101. Keywords are referenced by Program and KeywordGroup elements.
word	string	""	The keyword name that is displayed.	The maximum length is 64 characters.

KeywordGroup

A KeywordGroup element defines a set of keywords. It has a primary Keyword that identifies the name of the group. This is used to define the hierarchy in the Search By Category functionality.

The KeywordGroup has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
groupName	string	""	The value of a Keyword id attribute, and defines the name of the KeywordGroup.	Each KeywordGroup name is displayed as the top-level words in the Search By Category page.
uid	string	""	A unique ID that will remain consistent between multiple versions of this document.	This uid should start with "!KeywordGroup!".
keywords	string	""	A comma-delimited ordered list of keyword IDs. This defines the keywords in this group.	Used in the Search By Category page to display the list of keywords in the KeywordGroup element. The first keyword in this list should always be the "All" keyword. Programs should not be tagged with this keyword because it is a special placeholder to provide the localized value of "All".

Lineup

A Lineup element defines a collection of Channel elements and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	Use the value l1.
uid	string	""	An ID that uniquely identifies the lineup.	The uid value should be in the form "!Lineup!uniqueLineupName", where uniqueLineupName is a unique ID for this lineup across all Lineup elements.
name	string	""	The name of the lineup.
primaryProvider	string	""	The primary provider.	This value should always be set to "!MCLineup!MainLineup".

MXF

The MXF element is the main document element of the XML file.

Person

The Person element defines the name of a person and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	Use IDs such as p1, p2, and p3. Person elements are referenced by the ActorRole, GuestActorRole, HostRole, WriterRole, ProducerRole, and DirectorRole elements.
name	string	""	The name of the person.	The maximum length is 160 characters.
uid	string	""	A unique ID that will remain consistent between multiple versions of this document.	This uid should take the form "!Person!name", where name is the value of the name attribute.

ProducerRole

An ProducerRole element is defined within a Program element and defines a relationship between a Person element and the surrounding Program element (whether the person is a producer).

The ProducerRole element and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
person	string	""	A reference to the id value of the Person element.
rank	integer	0	Used to sort the names that are displayed.	Lower numbers are displayed first.

Program

A Program element defines a unique episode or movie. For instance, Program can refer to a particular episode of a TV series.

The Program element is one of the main elements in the listings file and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	This value should be an integer without a letter prefix. Program elements are referenced by ScheduleEntry elements.
uid	string	""	A unique ID that will remain consistent between multiple versions of this document.	This uid should start with "!Program!".
title	string	""	The title of the program (for example, Lost).	The maximum length is 512 characters.
episodeTitle	string	""	The episode title of the program (for example, The others attack).	The maximum length is 512 characters.
description	string	""	The description of this program.	The maximum length is 2048 characters.
shortDescription	string	""	A shorter form of the description attribute, if available.	The maximum length is 512 characters. If a short description is not available, do not specify a value.
language	string	""	The language of the program.
year	integer	0	The year the program was created.	If unknown, this value is 0.
seasonNumber	integer	0	The season number of the program (for example, 1).	If unknown, this value is 0.
episodeNumber	integer	0	The episode number of the program in the season.	If unknown, this value is 0.
originalAirdate	dateTime	""	The original air date (in local time) of the program. Use this value to determine whether this program is a repeat.
keywords	string	""	A comma-delimited list of keyword IDs. This value specifies the Keyword attributes that this program has.
season	string	""	The ID of the season that this program belongs to, if any.	If this value is not known, do not specify a value.
series	string	""	The ID of the series that this program belongs to, if any.	If this value is not known, do not specify a value.
halfStars	integer	0	The star rating of the program.	Each star equals two points. For example, a value of "3" is equal to 1.5 stars.
mpaaRating	integer	0	The MPAA movie rating.	Possible values are: 0 = Unknown 1 = G 2 = PG 3 = PG13 4 = R 5 = NC17 6 = X 7 = NR 8 = AO
isMovie	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a movie.	This value determines whether the program appears in the Movies category of the Guide grid and in other movie-related locations.
isMiniseries	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a miniseries.
isLimitedSeries	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a limited series.
isPaidProgramming	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is paid programming.
isSerial	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a serial.
isSeries	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is part of a series.
isShortFilm	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a short film.
isSpecial	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a special.	This value is used in the Guide's grid view categories.
isSports	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a sports program.	This value is used in the Guide's grid view categories.
isNews	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a news show.	This value is used in the Guide's grid view categories.
isKids	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is for children.	This value is used in the Guide's grid view categories.
isReality	bool	false	Indicates whether the program is a reality show.
hasAdult	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasBriefNudity	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasGraphicLanguage	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasGraphicViolence	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasLanguage	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasMildViolence	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasNudity	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasRape	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasStrongSexualContent	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
hasViolence	bool	false	This value indicates the reason for the MPAA rating.
guideImage	string	""	This value contains an image to display for the program.	Contains the value of a GuideImage id attribute. When a program is selected in the UI, the Guide searches for an image to display. The search order is first the program, its season, then its series.

Provider

The Provider element provides information and copyright about who provided the listing data.

The Provider element has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.
name	string	""	The name of the supplier of the listings.	The maximum length is 255 characters.
displayName	string	""	More information about the supplier of the listings.	The maximum length is 255 characters.
copyright	string	""	The copyright notice from the supplier of the listings.	The maximum length is 1024 characters.

ScheduleEntry

A ScheduleEntry element defines when a program will be broadcast on a service. ScheduleEntry elements are grouped by service and specified in increasing chronological order. The first ScheduleEntry element is specified with a start time and a duration. Subsequent ScheduleEntry elements in the group have only the duration attribute. If you need to specify a gap in the schedule, a new group for that Service element is defined.

Note ScheduleEntry elements are never tagged with a uid attribute.

A ScheduleEntry has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
program	string	""	An ID of a Program element.
startTime	dateTime		Specifies the start time of the broadcast.	The dateTime type is in UTC. This attribute is only specified for the first ScheduleEntry element in a group.
duration	integer	0	The duration of the broadcast, in seconds.
isCC	bool	false	Indicates whether this broadcast is closed captioned.
audioFormat	integer	0	Indicates the audio format of the broadcast.	Possible values are: 0 = Not specified 1 = Mono 2 = Stereo 3 = Dolby 4 = Dolby Digital 5 = THX
isLive	bool	false	Indicates whether this is a live broadcast.
isLiveSports	bool	false	Indicates whether this is live sports event.
isTape	bool	false	Indicates whether this program has been taped and is being replayed (for example, a sports event).
isDelay	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is being broadcast delayed (for example, an award show such as the Academy Awards).
isSubtitled	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is subtitled.
isPremiere	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is a premiere.
isFinale	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is a finale.
isInProgress	bool	false	Indicates whether this program was joined in progress.
isSap	bool	false	Indicates whether this program has a secondary audio program broadcast at the same time.
isBlackout	bool	false	Indicates whether this program has been blacked out.
isEnhanced	bool	false	Indicates whether this program has been broadcast with an enhanced picture.
is3D	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is broadcast in 3D.
isLetterbox	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is broadcast in letterbox format.
isHdtv	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is broadcast in high definition (HD).	Determines whether the HD icon is displayed.
isHdtvSimulCast	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is broadcast simultaneously in HD.
isDvs	bool	false	Indicates whether this program is broadcast with Descriptive Video Service (DVS).
part	integer	0	Specifies the part number (for instance, if this is part 1 of 3, use "1").
parts	integer	0	Specifies the total number of parts (for instance, if this is part 1 of 3, use "3").

Season

The Season element defines a season of a particular program, although it is not often specified because the season information may not be known. The Season element has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	Use IDs such as sn1, sn2, and sn3. Seasons are referenced by Program elements.
uid	string	""	A unique ID that will remain consistent between multiple versions of this document.	This uid should start with "!Season!".
series	string	""	The series ID to which this season belongs.	This value should be specified because it doesn't make sense for a season to not be part of a series.
title	string	""	The name of this season.	The maximum length is 512 characters.
studio	string	""	The name of the studio that created this season.	The maximum length is 512 characters.
year	int	0	The year this season was aired.
guideImage	string	""	An image to display for this season.	This value contains the GuideImage id attribute.

SeriesInfo

The SeriesInfo element defines a series of a particular program (such as Lost) and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	Use IDs such as si1, si2, and si3. SeriesInfo is referenced by the Program and Season elements.
uid	string	""	A unique ID that will remain consistent between multiple versions of this document.	This value starts with "!Series!". Using the format "!Series!seriesName" is somewhat unique, but won't handle cases such as a remake of a series (for example, Knight Rider or Battlestar Galactica).
title	string	""	The title name of the series.	The maximum length is 512 characters.
shortTitle	string	""	A shorter form of the title attribute (if available).	The maximum length is 512 characters. If this value is not available, use the same value as the title attribute.
description	string	""	A description of the series.	The maximum length is 512 characters.
shortDescription	string	""	A shorter form of the description attribute, if available.	The maximum length is 512 characters. If this value is not available, use the same value as the description attribute.
startAirdate	XMLTime	""	The date the series was first aired.
endAirdate	XMLTime	""	The date the series ended.
guideImage	string	""	An image to show for the series.	This value contains the GuideImage id attribute.

Service

A Service element defines a content provider and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
id	string		An ID that is unique to the document and defines this element.	Use IDs such as s1, s2, s3, and so forth.
uid	string	""	An ID that uniquely identifies the service.	Should be of the form "!Service!name", where name is the value of the name attribute.
name	string	""	The display name of the service.
callSign	string	""	The call sign of the service.	For example, "BBC1".
affiliate	string	""	The ID of an Affiliate element that to which this service is affiliated.
logoImage	string	""	Specifies a logo image to display.	This value contains a GuideImage id attribute. When searching for a logo to display, the service is searched first, and then its affiliate.

WriterRole

An WriterRole element is defined within a Program element and defines a relationship between a Person element and the surrounding Program element (whether the person is a writer).

The WriterRole element and has the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Default value	Description	Notes
person	string	""	A reference to the id value of the Person element.
rank	integer	0	Used to sort the names that are displayed.	Lower numbers are displayed first.

Sample MXF File

The following shows an example of how these elements are used in an MXF file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MXF xmlns:sql="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:XML-sql" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Assembly name="mcepg" version="6.0.6000.0" cultureInfo="" publicKey="0024000004800000940000000602000000240000525341310004000001000100B5FC90E7027F67871E773A8FDE8938C81DD402BA65B9201D60593E96C492651E889CC13F1415EBB53FAC1131AE0BD333C5EE6021672D9718EA31A8AEBD0DA0072F25D87DBA6FC90FFD598ED4DA35E44C398C454307E8E33B8426143DAEC9F596836F97C8F74750E5975C64E2189F45DEF46B2A2B1247ADC3652BF5C308055DA9">
    <NameSpace name="Microsoft.MediaCenter.Guide">
      <Type name="Lineup" />
      <Type name="Channel" parentFieldName="lineup" />
      <Type name="Service" />
      <Type name="ScheduleEntry" groupName="ScheduleEntries" />
      <Type name="Program" />
      <Type name="Keyword" />
      <Type name="KeywordGroup" />
      <Type name="Person" groupName="People" />
      <Type name="ActorRole" parentFieldName="program" />
      <Type name="DirectorRole" parentFieldName="program" />
      <Type name="WriterRole" parentFieldName="program" />
      <Type name="HostRole" parentFieldName="program" />
      <Type name="GuestActorRole" parentFieldName="program" />
      <Type name="ProducerRole" parentFieldName="program" />
      <Type name="GuideImage" />
      <Type name="Affiliate" />
      <Type name="SeriesInfo" />
      <Type name="Season" />
    </NameSpace>
  </Assembly>
  <Assembly name="mcstore" version="6.0.6000.0" cultureInfo="" publicKey="0024000004800000940000000602000000240000525341310004000001000100B5FC90E7027F67871E773A8FDE8938C81DD402BA65B9201D60593E96C492651E889CC13F1415EBB53FAC1131AE0BD333C5EE6021672D9718EA31A8AEBD0DA0072F25D87DBA6FC90FFD598ED4DA35E44C398C454307E8E33B8426143DAEC9F596836F97C8F74750E5975C64E2189F45DEF46B2A2B1247ADC3652BF5C308055DA9">
    <NameSpace name="Microsoft.MediaCenter.Store">
      <Type name="Provider" />
      <Type name="UId" parentFieldName="target" />
    </NameSpace>
  </Assembly>
  <Providers>
    <Provider id="provider1" name="GuideListingsInc" displayName="Guide Listings Inc" copyright="© 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved." />
  </Providers>
  <With provider="provider1">
    <Keywords>
      <Keyword id="k1"   word="General" />
      <Keyword id="k100" word="All" />
      <Keyword id="k101" word="Action/Adventure" />
      <Keyword id="k102" word="Comedy" />
      <Keyword id="k103" word="Documentary/Bio" />
      <Keyword id="k104" word="Drama" />
      <Keyword id="k105" word="Educational" />
      <Keyword id="k106" word="Family/Children" />
      <Keyword id="k107" word="Movies" />
      <Keyword id="k108" word="Music" />
      <Keyword id="k109" word="News" />
      <Keyword id="k110" word="Sci-Fi/Fantasy" />
      <Keyword id="k111" word="Soap" />
      <Keyword id="k112" word="Sports" />
      <Keyword id="k113" word="Other" />

      <Keyword id="k2"   word="Educational" />
      <Keyword id="k200" word="All" />
      <Keyword id="k201" word="Arts" />
      <Keyword id="k202" word="Biography" />
      <Keyword id="k203" word="Documentary" />
      <Keyword id="k204" word="How-to" />
      <Keyword id="k205" word="Science" />
      <Keyword id="k206" word="Other" />
    </Keywords>
    <KeywordGroups>
      <KeywordGroup uid="!KeywordGroup!k1" groupName="k1" keywords="k100,k101,k102,k103,k104,k105,k106,k107,k108,k109,k110,k111,k112,k113" />
      <KeywordGroup uid="!KeywordGroup!k2" groupName="k2" keywords="k200,k201,k202,k203,k204,k205,k206" />
    </KeywordGroups>
    <GuideImages>
      <GuideImage id="i1" uid="!Image!JohnnyBoy" imageUrl="http://www.fakeurl.com/images/image1.jpg" />
      <GuideImage id="i2" uid="!Image!XYZNetworkLogo" imageUrl="http://www.fakeurl.com/images/image2.jpg" />
    </GuideImages>
    <People>
      <Person id="p1" name="Spring Chick" uid="!Person!Spring Chick" />
      <Person id="p2" name="Bruce Abbott" uid="!Person!Bruce Abbott" />
      <Person id="p3" name="John Producer" uid="!Person!John Producer" />
      <Person id="p4" name="David Director" uid="!Person!David Director" />
      <Person id="p5" name="Jimmy Writer" uid="!Person!Jimmy Writer" />
      <Person id="p6" name="Terry Talented" uid="!Person!Terry Talented" />
    </People>
    <SeriesInfos>
      <SeriesInfo id="si1" uid="!Series!CodeWars" title="Code Wars" shortTitle="Code Wars" description="Geeky children ponder mysteries of the universe." shortDescription="Kids ponder universal mysteries." startAirdate="2000-01-01T00:00:00" endAirdate="1900-01-01T00:00:00" guideImage="i1" />
    </SeriesInfos>
    <Seasons>
      <Season id="sn1" uid="!Season!164959780" series="si1" title="Code Wars: Season 01" year="2000" />
    </Seasons>
    <Programs>
      <Program id="1" uid="!Program!1" title="Code Wars" description="The kids ponder whether 1 was unfairly declared non-prime." shortDescription="Should 1 be prime?" episodeTitle="Divisible by one and itself" language="en-us" episodeNumber="1" originalAirdate="2001-09-10T00:00:00" keywords="k1,k2,k105,k106,k205" series="si1" isSeries="1" isKids="1">
        <ActorRole person="p1" rank="1" />
        <ActorRole person="p6" rank="2" />
      </Program>
      <Program id="2" uid="!Program!2" title="Code Wars" description="The kids drink tea all day long."  episodeTitle="Cup of Tea" language="en-us" episodeNumber="1" originalAirdate="2001-09-10T00:00:00" keywords="k1,k2,k105,k106,k205" series="si1" isSeries="1" isKids="1">
        <ActorRole person="p1" rank="1" />
        <ActorRole person="p6" rank="2" />
        <GuestActorRole person="p2" rank="1" />
        <DirectorRole person="p4" rank="1" />
        <ProducerRole person="p3" rank="1" />
        <WriterRole person="p5" rank="1" />
        <WriterRole person="p6" rank="2" />
      </Program>
      <Program id="3" uid="!Program!3" title="Spit the dummy" description="Jim-Bob starts a business but throws a wobbly." episodeTitle="The business" language="en-us" episodeNumber="167" originalAirdate="1985-11-22T00:00:00" keywords="k1,k105,k2,k204" >
        <ActorRole person="p1" rank="1" />
        <ActorRole person="p6" rank="2" />
        <GuestActorRole person="p2" rank="1" />
        <DirectorRole person="p4" rank="1" />
        <ProducerRole person="p3" rank="1" />
        <WriterRole person="p5" rank="1" />
        <WriterRole person="p6" rank="2" />
      </Program>
    </Programs>
    <Affiliates>
      <Affiliate name="ABC Affiliate" uid="!Affiliate!ABC Affiliate" logoImage="i2" />
    </Affiliates>
    <Services>
      <Service id="s1" uid="!Service!EducationChannel" name="Education Channel" callSign="EDUC"  />
      <Service id="s2" uid="!Service!Spike" name="Spike TV" callSign="SPIKE" affiliate="!Affiliate!ABC Affiliate" />
    </Services>
    <ScheduleEntries service="s1">
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" startTime="2008-09-27T00:00:00" duration="1800" isCC="1" isStereo="1" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="2" duration="1800" isCC="1" audioFormat="2" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="2" duration="1800" isCC="1" audioFormat="2" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" duration="1800" isCC="1" audioFormat="2" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="2" duration="7200" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="3" duration="7200" audioFormat="2" />
    </ScheduleEntries>
    <ScheduleEntries service="s2">
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" startTime="2008-09-27T00:00:00" duration="1800" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" duration="1800" isCC="1" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" duration="1800" isCC="1" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" duration="1800" isCC="1" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" duration="1800" />
      <ScheduleEntry program="1" duration="1800" />
    </ScheduleEntries>

    <Lineups>
      <Lineup id="l1" uid="!Lineup!OuterLimits" name="OuterLimits, Kansas" primaryProvider="!MCLineup!MainLineup" >
        <channels>
          <Channel uid="!Channel!OuterLimits!1" lineup="l1" service="s1" number="1" />
          <Channel uid="!Channel!OuterLimits!2" lineup="l1" service="s2" number="2" />
        </channels>
      </Lineup>
    </Lineups>
  </With>
</MXF>

Reindexing Guide Data

After loading guide data, the data can be reindexed by running a Windows Media Center task from Task Scheduler. Reindexing makes the data searchable.

Close Windows Media Center.
Open Task Scheduler (go to Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Schedule Tasks).
In the console tree under Task Scheduler (Local), expand Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Media Center.
In the console window under Name, right-click ReindexSearchRoot, and then click Run.

Recovering a Corrupted Guide Data Store

The user can recover a corrupted Guide data store back to the last known good state by running a Windows Media Center task from Task Scheduler.

Close Windows Media Center.
Open Task Scheduler (go to Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Schedule Tasks).
In the console tree under Task Scheduler (Local), expand Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Media Center.
In the console window under Name, right-click ObjectStoreRecoveryTask, and then click Run.

The task may take several minutes to download the new Guide data to the recovered data store when the Microsoft Guide data service is available. Then, the user must reload the custom listings into the recovered Guide data store by running LoadMXF.exe.

The first time the user opens Windows Media Center, the following message is displayed:

Windows Media Center has corrected a problem with your recording data and will download the Guide again. You should review your recordings to verify they are still scheduled correctly.

For More Information

For the Windows Media Center SDK Help documentation, see the Windows Media Center SDK page on the MSDN® Web site.
To download the Windows Media Center SDK, go to the Windows Media Center Software Development Kit page on the Microsoft Web site.

Web addresses can change, so you might be unable to connect to the Web site or sites mentioned here.

Windows Media Center Guide Listings Format

Contents

Introduction

Program Data Disclaimer

LoadMXF

Format of the Guide Data File

MXF File Structure

MXF Elements and Attributes

ActorRole

Affiliate

Assembly

Channel

DirectorRole

GuestActorRole

GuideImage

HostRole

Keyword

KeywordGroup

Lineup

MXF

Person

ProducerRole

Program

Provider

ScheduleEntry

Season

SeriesInfo

Service

WriterRole

Sample MXF File

Reindexing Guide Data

Recovering a Corrupted Guide Data Store

For More Information

Additional resources