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    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 7th 2006 edited
     # 1
    In my forum I needed an extension to show up our common del.icio.us links in the sidebar. So, I developed this extension that does exactly this: reads any RSS/Atom/RDF feed and displays titles and links in a side panel.

    FeedReader extension

    It should be able to read RSS, Atom and RDF feeds without problems.

    It's labeled as 0.3 since I'm still working on it: I have to improve something here and there, plus improve customizability.

    I'm also trying to make it as modular as possible. At this time in this package you will find that the fetch, parse and cache operations are handled by separate classes, so you might find useful to reuse the code for other extensions. Plus I'm working on an "easier" way to add Settings Panels.
    If you're an Extensions developer, you might be interested on the classes ready inside this package.

    If you want to give some feedback, it will be very appreciated. :)


    Thanks a lot to SirNotAppearingOnThisForum since I've used its FlickrFeed extension as a base for mine (main code, RSSCache, Snoopy).
    Thanks also to everyone that's supporting this Extensions and helping me to find bugs.
  1.  # 2
    Great extension, folletto!

    I put it on my website tonight and it works a treat.

    Tho I did try various rss links that I found across the web and all threw up problems......so I ended up going back and using an rss link from the main url in your default.php page. It works really well.

    Many thanks!
    • CommentAuthorLoOkHerE
    • CommentTimeJul 8th 2006
     # 3
    Yes, great extension folleto. Thanks.

    It works fine, with the default feed, however, I'm getting the error:

    Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/.../public_html/forum/extensions/FeedReader/default.php on line 138

    after changing to the feed source. Any ideas?
  2.  # 4
    I can't seem to get this extension to work. I've activated it and changed the feed-adress. The fetching seems to work, because the cache-file contains my feed.

    But it doesn't show in my forum. Do i have to edit somthing in the theme?

    Here is my forum: http://bloggywood.se/forum
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 8th 2006
     # 5
    @strawberries
    If you could give me the feeds that doesn't work I'll try to get them working. :)

    @LoOkHerE
    I need if possible the feed source, still I can do something already with the current error. I'll see. :)

    @bloggywood
    The theme shouldn't be cause of any problem, since I'm using standard functions. Could I ask also to you the feed causing the problem? With the del.icio.us feed does it work?
    • CommentAuthorLoOkHerE
    • CommentTimeJul 8th 2006 edited
     # 6
    I've tried a few, but this is for the wp blog I'm developing now:edit

    Thanks for your help.
  3.  # 7
    Hi folletto!

    I have tried to in the "Attach"-section of default.php to use the one feed that is commented. On line 126 (http://im.digitalhymn.com/feed/). But there were no change. The feed still didn't show...
  4.  # 8
    Hi again foletto!
    I've just installed the extension AGAIN. Now it worked! The del.icio.us-feed shows up... I've must have done something wrong earlier...
  5.  # 9
    As soon as i changed the feed from del.icio.us to my own (http://bloggywood.se/feed/) it disappeard. I've checked the cache-directory, and the latest cache-file is from my feed with my content... strange? What could be the problem?

    As you have probably noticed, i'm no expert. :) So i'm thankful for all the help i can get...
    •  
      CommentAuthor0bvious
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006
     # 10
    Great stuff...

    There was a similar feed reader ext in the older vanilla. The ability to alter the title and length of feed cached was in there. Possibility in a future update?

    Cheers
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006
     # 11
    There was a similar feed reader ext in the older vanilla. The ability to alter the title and length of feed cached was in there. Possibility in a future update?

    In fact, it's in 0.1 release due to this: I've got to make a few improvements before labeling it 1.0, those two are in the list. :D

    At this time I'm trying to manage the bugs above, improving the cache and the parser and adding a preferences panel. :)
  6.  # 12
    Folletto, sorry for taking over a day to get back to you, but I had to look out some of the typiacal rss feeds that I had tried with no luck. They are all travel/vacation based feeds.

    Here are three - I pasted three variations of each feed.

    GLOBENOTES FEED
    url: http://www.globenotes.com/rss/rss.aspx
    RSS2HTML link: http://2RSS.com/rss2html.php?rss_url=http://www.globenotes.com/rss/rss.aspx
    RSS2JS (<script src="...">): http://2RSS.com/rss2js.php?rss_url=http://www.globenotes.com/rss/rss.aspx

    HOBOTRAVELLER FEED
    url: http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/hobotraveler_com_travel_blog/rss
    RSS2HTML link: http://2RSS.com/rss2html.php?rss_url=http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/hobotraveler_com_travel_blog/rss
    RSS2JS (<script src="...">): http://2RSS.com/rss2js.php?rss_url=http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/hobotraveler_com_travel_blog/rss

    TRAVELLERSPOINT FEED
    url: http://www.travellerspoint.com/feeds/forum/all.xml
    RSS2HTML link: http://2RSS.com/rss2html.php?rss_url=http://www.travellerspoint.com/feeds/forum/all.xml
    RSS2JS (<script src="...">): http://2RSS.com/rss2js.php?rss_url=http://www.travellerspoint.com/feeds/forum/all.xml

    Any tips at all would be welcomed. And thanks again for a great extension.

    I have it working over at my site: http://www.love2escape.com/chat/
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006
     # 13
    Thank you very much. I'll check them out. :D
    • CommentAuthorMr K
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006
     # 14
    Hey there

    I too found the bug with your feed reader (which is cool btw). You built it using the delics guys RDF based feed which is different from most RSS based feeds

    where you have the FOREACH loop you have $x->document->item becuase the RDF feeds list their items outside the channel
    RSS however lists inside the channel node

    So I changed it to $x->document->channel[0]->item and now it works for RSS
    However ... an improvement I'm tinkering around with is auto detecting the feed type (RSS, RDF, ATOM) and processing accordingly
    • CommentAuthorLoOkHerE
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006 edited
     # 15
    @Mr K: You're a genius... well, a very intelligent and kind man. Thanks for sharign, that sorted it for me ; )
    • CommentAuthorMr K
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006
     # 16
    me a genius? (cough cough) now now .. ha ha :) No no .... I just happend to stumble apon that while hacking the FeedReader into the PageManager to create a new page that reads feeds rather than a panel insert
    It's given me an idea for a new extension I'll try to create over the week
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006
     # 17
    Thank you, at this time I was working on the Settings Panel in order to make the extension configurable. :)

    One of the steps needed to be the detection of the feeds, if you are already doing something like that as a standalone class based on XMLPlainParser I'll skip that part and work on something elese. :)

    I have to say that adding a panel is quite "hard", so since I'm already working on this I'm also creating a class to easy integrate a Settings Panel. Will be in with the next release of the extension.
    • CommentAuthorLoOkHerE
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006 edited
     # 18
    Mr K. that sounds brilliant. Good luck.

    @folleto: Is there a way to limit the amount of posts that the extension lists in the Control Panel, to, let's say, 3?
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006 edited
     # 19
    Ok, version 0.2 is online... it should be able to read Atom, RSS, RDF now.

    I'm quite there also for the configuration panel. At this time it just shows you the feed URL. ;)
    For the configuration panel it's based on a meta-class that makes "easy" to create a configuration panel. It's in "beta" but still I'm quite there.

    @ LoOkHerE
    As soon I'm there with the Settings Panel it should be a configurable option. Incoming... ;)
    • CommentAuthorMr K
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006
     # 20
    to behonest I've not had a chance to tinker much yet ... so I'll go grab your version 0.2 and see what you've done.
    Maybe you already are doing much of what I was thinking ... in which case I'll let you do it :) he he he
  7.  # 21
    great work folletto and great tips, Mr K.

    gonna download the new version now.

    Many thanks.
  8.  # 22
    Dont some of marks classes already let you make settings panels pretty easily? I'd be amazed if they didnt...
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 9th 2006 edited
     # 23
    Dont some of marks classes already let you make settings panels pretty easily? I'd be amazed if they didnt...

    Depends what is the meaning you give to "easy". ;)

    Mark did an excellent work (apart from the capitalization gh :D) but adding a panel means something like 300 lines of code, looking at his own Style extension.

    Since adding a panel I think should be something like: one line for the init, one line for a panel and then the content, I'm wrapping all the working/framework code inside a class to make everything straight.

    At this time I have one line for the init and one class with a function for each "PostBackAction". Simple to understand, simple to implement, does right what you expect to.

    I still have to get a few details on the Vanilla workings for the Settings Panel and the wrapper class is ready for anyone that wants to add a configuration panel with just its code. :)

    Take a look at the Mark's code on the Style extension and my code on the FeedReader extension and you'll notice a huge difference. :)

    ~

    Context: I'm a user interface and user experience designer and before that a developer... and I've got a big concern on how the "developer" side needs to get a user-centric mind. It's quite crazy if you think that very little has changed since text editors to write code, for example. Now the "world" is trying -with many difficulties- to understand what means "user centric" for the final product... but still I think that there should be a sort of "developer centric" development, if you forgive me the word joke. :)

    In this case, it's not a Mark's fault, since the project IS BIG, just I think that to make extensions development easier there should be an easier way to create a configuration panel. With this I mean that a developer should have a choice: the "core" Mark's classes and a "simple" alternative for an easier implementation, that on a not-time-critical task like the settings panel could handle a little overhead and simplification.


    Mmmm... I made myself clear? :)

    ~

    To define better my position: I think that Vanilla is one of the projects around with the best source code, well designed and parametrized, with an excellent architecture and good modules support... and of course, a class-based estensions system. Ode to Mark for this. :)
  9.  # 24
    Oh dont get me wrong i'm certainly not complaining about your desire to make adding panels as easy as possible; i was just surprised mark hadnt already catered for this. As you say this is a huge project for 1 man and he has a lot on his plate so if your classes are successful he might even want to use your classes anyway i dunno. Sounds pretty neat though.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2006 edited
     # 25
    Sorry, I've been (and I am) a little lenghty, but I prefer to write too much and being unread than writing less and missing something important. :)

    On the other side, I enjoy to write a "good" architecture so it isn't a problem at all for me to wrap a class instead of writing plain code... It isn't a loss of time at all, even if I will be the only one using it. :)
    •  
      CommentAuthor0bvious
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2006
     # 26
    Not sure why, but after a few days of successful use I get this message with feedreader:<blockquote>Fatal error: Call to a member function on a non-object in /home/content/d/a/n/danrourke/html/forum/extensions/FeedReader/default.php on line 131</blockquote>Is it failing because the feed is failing perhaps?

    This would be fine if it just brought up an error message in the sidebar, as it is the whole forum is disabled.
    • CommentAuthorMr K
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2006
     # 27
    have you updated to the new version?
    I'd recommend that and see if it fixes it
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2006
     # 28
    Yes, please upgrade: the line pointed by that error message quite clearly is from the 0.1 release. :)

    If the problem happens also with the 0.2 paste the error here. :)
    •  
      CommentAuthor0bvious
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2006
     # 29
    OK, so I just got the same type of error in the new version, this time alluding to line 176...

    The feed I use comes from a delicious account, and I know that delicious sometimes has a moment or two of frozen time issues. If it was possible to display the errors message for the ext in the sidebar instead, or either revert to a 'default' feed if the main one isn't working.

    The main problem with this error coming up is that if you have just typed and posted a message it will be lost completely.

    VERY annoying for forum users who like to type long posts
    • CommentAuthorbloggywood
    • CommentTimeJul 12th 2006
     # 30
    Foletto, i hade some trouble eralier with the feed reader. I just wanted to tell you that when i upgraded it, it worked just fine!

    I have a small problem thou... It seems like it's shortening the title on my feeds.
    For example:
    I have a post with the title: "Fearless premiär i USA skjuts upp"
    But in the feed-panel it reads as: "är i USA skjuts upp"
    It cuts the first letters every time a swedish extended letter appears. For example the letters Å Ä Ö and å ä ö.

    Here is my forum: http://bloggywood.se/forum

    //Daniel
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 12th 2006 edited
     # 31
    Ok, thankyou again.

    I'll check the error issue on line 176 and the parser problem on - as it seems - non-ascii chars. :)

    [EDIT]
    At a first look, it seems an encoding problem, maybe related to UTF-8 and mb php strings.

    Could you please check if your feed is encoded UTF-8?
    • CommentAuthorbloggywood
    • CommentTimeJul 12th 2006
     # 32
    Hi folletto!
    According to the cache-file the feed is encoded with UTF-8.
  10.  # 33
    altho it looked excellent for me and most others, one of my regulars reported that the rss feed pushed my discussion threads half way down th epage.ie he had to scroll to see the threads and comments.

    I took the rssfeeder extension off yesterday and he says it now looks perfect.

    Great shame, because I loved the extension.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 12th 2006
     # 34
    Uhm, the problem here could be related to something taken by the feed that "widens" the side panel, pushing everythhing down.

    Are you using a custom theme or the Vanilla classic?
  11.  # 35
    i am using the jazzman style/theme.....i think it relies/needs th evanilla theme to work

    http://www.love2escape.com/chat

    PS - i ended up also taking down the google adsense extension today because a regular poster reported that it was also pushing threads one quarter down the page on one of his pc's.
  12.  # 36
    PS - I will enable the rss extension now and let you see it in operation.

    I and every other didn't see any problem.
  13.  # 37
    breaking news - turned the rss feed extension back on again - and now the poster who had the problems says look sfine.

    So it may well have been the google adsense extension (sat at the top of each page) that was pushing everything down the page.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 12th 2006
     # 38
    Ok!
    Keep me informed: still since I'm using the default Vanilla function calls to render the Panel, problems like that should be CSS-dependant... :)
  14.  # 39
    folletto, again many many thanks for this extension. I love it.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 13th 2006
     # 40
    New release! Now 0.3.

    Changes:

    • The length of the list is configurable (MaxItems)

    • Now should be more stable in case of problems with the feed



    Please give me feedback on the second point, since I'm unable to get a "real" test case. :)
  15.  # 41
    brought my site down, folletto. :(

    Thus I had to disable the extension.

    the error was:

    Fatal error: Call to undefined function: mb_strtolower() in /home/mysitename/public_html/chat/extensions/FeedReader/XMLPlainParser.class.inc on line 209
    • CommentAuthorLoOkHerE
    • CommentTimeJul 13th 2006
     # 42
    ditto strawberries
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeJul 13th 2006 edited
     # 43
    For the time being, just remove mb_ from the function in that line and everything should be ok.

    My fault, I was working on the solution to the other issue and I've forgot a multybyte function inside :|

    I'll up a *fix* release in a while. I feel dumb in those situations :P

    --> 0.3 zip on the Add-ons list fixed. Thankyou.
  16.  # 44
    excellentae!

    Now working beautifully!

    Many thanks!
    • CommentAuthorBlueshark
    • CommentTimeAug 1st 2006
     # 45
    This a great extension.

    Would it be possible to have multiple feeds?

    Also can it be changed so the links open in a new window?
    •  
      CommentAuthorjcostom
    • CommentTimeAug 3rd 2006
     # 46
    Love it, great job. I've got it reading an RSS feed that comes out of phpicalendar with great results.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeAug 4th 2006
     # 47
    Multiple feeds, mmmm interesting.

    In a new window... mmmm.

    I have to manage the Settings panel, first, I see...

    I'm sorry but life is calling in those days. I'll do what I can ;)
    • CommentAuthorLoOkHerE
    • CommentTimeAug 20th 2006
     # 48
    @folletto: For the past few days I've been getting the "Feed is Sleeping" message, it refers to my own blog feed and everything appears to be fine there. My Vienna news aggregator reads the feed fine, as had my Vanilla FeedReader extension until a few days ago.

    Any suggestions?
    • CommentAuthorLoOkHerE
    • CommentTimeAug 21st 2006
     # 49
    In case anyone else is looking for a solution, I deleted the cache and it's now working again.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfolletto
    • CommentTimeAug 21st 2006
     # 50
    Sorry for the late answer...

    I noticed that the code I've just copy-pasted from another extension is somehow broken. I have to rewrite it entirely... but... er... I have my time dedicated to other tasks at this time.

    On my forum I've also noticed a few times a reference error, this also due to the cache management (and now wrapped in a nice error message in my beta).

    The real stopper (time aside) is the simplified settings manager. I have to put down a small structure for it and then the coding part shouldn't take long...


    Sorry again if I make you wait... also since the next release should be a good "1.0 RC1" :P