RSS Basic Module - version 0.7

[Nick]

Description of RSS Basic:
Include multiple RSS/Atom feeds on your site, e.g. in the sidebar or in the footer. Use it to make a "news box". This module also lets users import a feed to display in their profiles. See the attached images.

UPDATED TO VERSION 0.7 - Feb. 14th, 2009

Revision History:

• v0.7 Bug fixes.
• v0.6 General improvements and fixes. Changed to standard module hooks.
• v0.5 Extended to allow users to add a feed to their profiles.
• v0.4 Manage multiple feeds (stored in the database), name changed.
• v0.3 Added a configuration section to Admin.
• v0.2 Rewritten to use SimplePie RSS and support caching.
• v0.1 First version (using MagpieRSS, no caching).

General Instructions:

• Upload the rss_basic folder to your modules folder.
• Install it from Module Management in Admin.
• Configure your feeds in the Admin panel.
• Add the following in the template file where you want the feed to display (change X to feed ID):
        { assign var="feed_number" value=X }
        { checkActionsTpl location="tpl_rss_basic" }

Instructions for Feeds in Profiles:

• In the RSS Basic Configuration panel in Admin, click "Edit 'RSS in Profile' Settings..." and configure the settings. Note that these settings will be applied to ALL profiles.
• Add the following to /templates/your_template/profile_center.tpl (unnecessary in SWCMS 2.0+):
        { checkActionsTpl location="tpl_profile_center_bottom" }
• Copy this into /templates/your_template/user_center.tpl:
        { checkActionsTpl location="tpl_user_center_pre_bookmarklet" }
• Then users will be able to add the url of a feed in profile "Modify".

Miscellaneous:

• You should change the "tabindex" value in /modules/rss_basic/templates/rss_basic_edit_profile.tpl so that it follows on from the tabindexes in /templates/your_template/profile_center.tpl.

What it doesn't do:

• It doesn't import feeds as submitted stories (you'll want the RSS Importer module for that).
• Users have no control over the display of their feed (only Admin does).
• Feeds in profiles don't show the feed name.
• The module doesn't delete its database table when you uninstall it.

[catchpen]

This is really a powerful module thanks LCD! This mod + your scores mod = really cool site 

One thing though the module hook in profile_center.tpl comes up with 2 duplicate text fields.
So -
A. It doesn't need the additional { checkActionsTpl location="tpl_rss_basic_edit_profile" } hook because the extra profile fields module hooks it for you.
or 
B. The mod doesn't need extra profile fields module installed with it because it's all inclusive!

I'm not sure about B because I just didn't add the extra hook and it works fine.

[Nick]

This was one of my first modules and still the most complex, so if that's the only problem you had with it, I'm very happy.  Looking at my template again, I may have removed the default { checkActionsTpl location="tpl_show_extra_profile" } and used mine instead to get the placement right. Thanks for pointing it out.

[catchpen]

One more tiny hiccup - I was getting a warning that it couldn't write the cache in the simplepie folder because there wasn't a folder named "cache" in there. I created the folder and the warning went away.

Thanks again!

[Nick]

One more tiny hiccup - I was getting a warning that it couldn't write the cache in the simplepie folder because there wasn't a folder named "cache" in there. I created the folder and the warning went away.

Thanks Catchpen. It seems my zip program removes empty folders. Anyway, I've updated the download file to include the folder this time. 

[landshark]

This is great, I am able to post latest blog entries on from the word press blog I have installed as the "Admin" blog.

This might be the wrong place to ask but is there a tutorial/documentation on how to make a sidebar wrapper for a module like this? I'll keep looking but i haven't found one yet. I have very limited coding skill and don't know where to start.

[Nick]

This might be the wrong place to ask but is there a tutorial/documentation on how to make a sidebar wrapper for a module like this?

Here's an example:

Open sidebar.tpl in your template folder and add:

Code:

{assign var=sidebar_module value="sidebar_example"}{include file=$the_template_sidebar_modules."/wrapper.tpl"}

Then create a file called sidebar_example.tpl with the following, and put it in /swcms/templates/your_template/sidebar_modules/ (or use the file I've attached to this message).

Code:

<div class="tlb">

{* This first part if for the title of the box and the button to make it open and close *}

<span>
<a onclick="new Effect.toggle('examplebox','blind', {ldelim}queue: 'end'{rdelim});"> 
<img src="{$my_base_url}{$my_pligg_base}/templates/{$the_template}/images/expand.png" alt="expand" />
</a>
</span>
<a href="{$my_base_url}{$my_pligg_base}">EXAMPLE SIDEBAR BOX</a>

{* End of first part *}
</div>
<div id="examplebox" style="padding-bottom:2px">

{* This second part is for the content of the box *}

HELLO WORLD

{* End of second part *}
</div>

Now when you look at your sidebar, you should see the example box you created.

EDIT: I've updated the attached file to actually match the code above! 

[landshark]

perfect, I get it now. I should be able to use this to eventually hold my banner adds from my openx ad server too. Thanks again. I'm learning more and more.

[Nick]

Updated RSS Basic module to version 0.6.

Changes:
1. It doesn't need the User/Profile Extra Fields module anymore.
2. It features a number of general improvements and fixes.
3. The module hooks for profiles have been renamed for use with other modules.

If you are upgrading, please change the following:

1. In /templates/your_template/profile_center.tpl.

Change:

{ checkActionsTpl location="tpl_rss_basic_edit_profile" }

to:

{ checkActionsTpl location="tpl_profile_center_bottom" }

2. In /templates/your_template/user_center.tpl.

Change:

{ checkActionsTpl location="tpl_rss_basic_show_profile" } 

to:

{ checkActionsTpl location="tpl_user_center_pre_bookmarklet" } 

[athanasiusrc]

Your SQL doesn't seem to work for me. I had to decrease the length of text fields to 255 because they are all 256 in your code.

[athanasiusrc]

Another problem: the styles for before and after items adds an extra <p></p> every time I submit and the style after the feed adds a <p>

[Nick]

RSS Basic module updated to version 0.7

Changes:
- Corrected varchar lengths
- Fixed bug where paragraph tags were automatically added around feeds and items (this bug only affects v.0.6).

Thank you to athanasiusrc for finding these bugs.

[athanasiusrc]

Thanks! That did it.

Here's the page I'm working on.

[athanasiusrc]

Can you make it so that if a feed (like from Flickr and Youtube) contains images, those would be displayed instead of the image title?

[Nick]

Not with the current version of this module, but I'll look into it for a future version. Good suggestion.