Tech Forum

Hi Sam,
Thanks for the link and the program.
Although I don't code in Python, as a UNIX/Linux System Engineer I'm usually pretty self sufficient in getting stuff to run. However, this script is throwing about 9 or so errors. Python is installed, and I believe I have your code installed correctly as well.
My command line is this:
.\gen_conf_downloader.py -start 2017 -dest .\Conferences

I'm reluctant to post the entire error list here. Here is what I think is the first of the cascading errors.

File "C:\Users\larry\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\json\decoder.py", line 357, in raw_decode
raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

Thanks,
Larry Autry

That's interesting. Would you be kind enough to run it with the additional `-verbose` argument, and then post the output?

Here is the verbose output. The only additional output I noticed was the URL. Thanks for offering to review the output.

C:\Users\larry\GenConfDownloader>.\gen_conf_downloader.py -verbose -start 2017 -dest .\Conferences
https://www.lds.org/languages
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\larry\GenConfDownloader\gen_conf_downloader.py", line 395, in <module>
validate_args(cli_args)
File "C:\Users\larry\GenConfDownloader\gen_conf_downloader.py", line 343, in validate_args
langs_list = get_html_results(args, f'{LDS_ORG_URL}/languages', GET_LANGS_REGEX)
File "C:\Users\larry\GenConfDownloader\gen_conf_downloader.py", line 236, in get_html_results
return re.findall(regexpr, get(args, url), flags=flags)
File "C:\Users\larry\GenConfDownloader\gen_conf_downloader.py", line 244, in get
add_headers(req)
File "C:\Users\larry\GenConfDownloader\gen_conf_downloader.py", line 283, in add_headers
headers = json.load(f)
File "C:\Users\larry\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\json\__init__.py", line 299, in load
parse_constant=parse_constant, object_pairs_hook=object_pairs_hook, **kw)
File "C:\Users\larry\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\json\__init__.py", line 354, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
File "C:\Users\larry\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\json\decoder.py", line 339, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
File "C:\Users\larry\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\json\decoder.py", line 357, in raw_decode
raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

Thanks,
Larry Autry

Did you clone the entire repo? It looks like the script is having trouble finding the conference_headers.json file (https://github.com/simmeringratchet/LDS ... aders.json) which should be sitting next to it. Perhaps you could check if it's there?

This is the first time I've downloaded this type of repo from github. The method I was using introduced an extra line ending character to the raw file. This morning I noticed the Zip file method (sorry). I replaced the entire repo and got a different error. This one looks like it may be more easily resolvable..
C:\Users\larry\GenConfDownloader>.\gen_conf_downloader.py -verbose -start 2017 -dest .\Conferences
https://www.lds.org/languages
Problem with http request (https://www.lds.org/languages: 'charmap' codec can't encode character '\uea09' in position 17389: character maps to <undefined>The given language (eng) is not available. Please choose one of the following:

Thanks,
Larry Autry

simoncain wrote:Have you tried the LDS General Conference Downloader tool found here: https://github.com/simmeringratchet/LDS ... Downloader
Shameless plug - my son, a serving missionary, asked for a download of all conference talks, so I created this little tool to do it. I hope it's helpful to others.

Hi. I tried your tool but it gave me a syntax error as follows:

File "gen_conf_downloader.py", line 36
ALL_CONFERENCES_URL = f'{LDS_ORG_URL}/general-conference/conferences'
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax


I do not know if you'll happen to check this reply, but if you do, will you check how I can fix this error?
Thank you.

Same here.

Unfortunately, I know nothing about Python, so I've no idea what to try.

It looks like the author has not updated the tool to point to the current church web site for conference talks - it points to the old "lds.org" site.

The syntax error problem was an old version of Python (3.4).

Running the script through https://pythonbuddy.com/ pointed me in the right direction. "Format strings are only supported in Python 3.6 and greater (, line 36)"

Also, Ryan Lindeman responded to a post I made on GitHub with several suggestions.

Now I'm getting: "Problem with http request (https://www.lds.org/languages: HTTP Error 403: ForbiddenThe given language (eng) is not available. Please choose one of the following:"

So that's some progress. The error doesn't change if/which language I specify (other than the language referenced).

Altering lds.org to churchofjesuschrist.org in the script makes no difference. lds.org appears to still be valid, even if it redirects to churchofjesuschrist.org

Ryan Lindeman's fixed version is here:

https://github.com/GatorQue/LDSGeneralC ... th-numbers