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FeedWordPress |
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============= |
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|
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* Author: [Charles Johnson](http://www.radgeek.com/contact) |
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* Version: 0.9 |
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* Project URI: <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress> |
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* License: GPL. See License below for copyright jots and tittles. |
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|
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Introduction |
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------------ |
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FeedWordPress is an Atom/RSS aggregator for WordPress. It syndicates content |
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from newsfeeds that you select; if you syndicate several newsfeeds then you can |
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WordPress's posts database and templating engine as the back-end of an |
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aggregation ("planet") website. |
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|
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FeedWordPress is similar in conception to software such as [Planet][]--in fact, |
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I started developing it because I needed a more flexible replacement for |
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Planet at to run [Feminist Blogs](http://www.feministblogs.org/). Since it |
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works on top of WordPress's database and templating system, however, it boasts |
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far more flexibility than many other aggregators. It is also designed with ease |
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of configuration and use in mind. |
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|
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You'll need a working installation of [WordPress 1.5][] and FTP or SFTP access |
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to your web host. The ability to create cron jobs on your web host would be very |
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helpful but it's not absolutely necessary. You *don't* need to tweak any |
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plain-text configuration files and you *don't* need shell access to your web |
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host to make it work. (Although, I should point out, web hosts that *don't* |
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offer shell access are *bad web hosts*.) |
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|
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[WordPress 1.5]: http://wordpress.org/development/2005/02/strayhorn/ |
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[Planet]: http://www.planetplanet.org/ "Planet Planet" |
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|
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Installation & Requirements |
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--------------------------- |
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You'll need a website with WordPress 1.5 installed and configured and FTP or |
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SFTP access to your web space. You'll probably also want to have either (1) |
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the ability to create cron jobs on your web host, or (2) a computer of your |
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own that has always-on Internet access. |
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|
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1. Install `feedwordpress.php` in your WordPress `plugins` directory and |
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`update.php` in your WordPress `wp-content` directory. |
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|
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2. (Optional) Upgrade the copy of MagpieRSS packaged with WordPress by |
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installing the new `rss-functions.php` (archived in |
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`OPTIONAL/wp-includes`) into your WordPress `wp-includes` directory. |
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|
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3. Log in to the WordPress Dashboard and activate the FeedWordPress plugin. |
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Go to Options --> Syndication to set up initial settings for the |
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syndication link category ("Contributors") by default and the RPC secret |
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word (blank by default, but you should probably set it to something.) |
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|
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4. Set up links for syndication from the WordPress Dashboard using |
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Links --> Syndicated or Links --> Import. |
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|
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5. FeedWordPress is now *ready* to feed syndicated content into WordPress. |
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In order for it to actually receive that content, either (1) have your |
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contributors add WordPress's XML-RPC URI to their blog's list of URIs |
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to ping when they update posts, (2) set up a cron job to check in on all |
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the feeds on a regular basis, or (3) both. If you do (2), you can either |
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set up a job to run `php update-feeds.php` on your web host, or set one |
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up on any computer with always-on Internet access to request |
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`update-feeds.php` over the web. |
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|
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If your copy of WordPress is installed at <http://www.zyx.com/blog>, and |
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you set the secret word for XML-RPC pings to "foo", then your XML-RPC |
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URI will be <http://www.zyx.com/blog/xmlrpc.php>, and the URI to request |
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for `update-feeds.php` to update all feeds will be |
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<http://www.zyx.com/blog/wp-content/update-feeds.php?shibboleth=foo> |
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|
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For detailed installation instructions, point your web browser to |
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<http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/install>. |
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|
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Feed Settings |
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------------- |
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|
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Once you have your links configured and regular feed updates scheduled, you can |
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mostly leave FeedWordPress to run on its own. If you need to add, remove, or |
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change information for any contributors, you can do so from the WordPress |
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Dashboard under Links --> Syndicated. If you want to distribute the labor of |
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adding, updating, and managing feeds, you can use the WordPress login and access |
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privileges system. Users with an access level of 5 or greater can add or modify |
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syndicated links, and change syndication options. |
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|
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All the information for a syndicated feed is managed through the WordPress Links |
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database. Feeds in the category to be syndicated (by default, "Contributors") |
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use several fields of the standard WordPress Link record: |
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|
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- The Link URI is used to store a URI to the front page (*not* the feed!) |
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of the syndicated website. |
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|
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- The Link Name is used to store the title of the syndicated website. |
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|
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- The Short Description is used to store the tagline of the syndicated |
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website. |
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|
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- The RSS URI is used to store the URI for the feed to be syndicated. |
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|
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- The Link Notes are used to store a collection of manually-encoded and |
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automatically-generated settings that apply to this feed. The format of |
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settings in Link Notes is: |
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|
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key1: value1 |
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key2: value2 |
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key3: value3 |
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feed/key1: value1 |
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feed/key2: value2 |
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|
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And so on. Values that are prefixed by 'feed/' are automatically |
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generated from feed data every time the feed syndicated by this link is |
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checked for updates. Values without the prefix are set manually by the |
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user. |
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|
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Most settings in the Link Notes have no effect on FeedWordPress, but can be |
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accessed from templates using the ``get_feed_meta()`` template function in a |
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post context. For example, many aggregator sites use a "face" image for each |
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feed to visually distinguish posts from different feeds. To implement a face |
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feature, you could add a line like this to each feed's Link Notes section: |
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|
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face: http://www.zyx.com/mugs/ugly |
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|
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The URI should be changed out for each feed to point to the appropriate image, |
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of course. Then, to use the setting from within a template: |
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// In a post context |
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<?php $img = get_feed_meta('face'); if strlen($img) > 0): ?> |
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<img src="<?=$img?>" alt="" /> |
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<?php endif; ?> |
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|
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... which will display the image, if any, whose URI is set in the "face" setting |
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for the feed that post comes from. If there is no "face" setting for a |
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particular feed, ``get_feed_meta()`` will return an empty string and no image |
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will be displayed. |
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|
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Not all feed settings are only for templates. Some affect how FeedWordPress |
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processes posts from that feed. Currently, the special settings are: |
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- `cats:` a colon-separated list of default categories for any post coming |
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from this feed. So, for example, a this line in its Notes section: |
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cats: computers:web |
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... will make FeedWordPress place any posts syndicated from that feed in |
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the "computers" and "web" categories (*in addition to*, not *instead of* |
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any categories that are applied to the post in the feed) |
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- `hardcode name: (yes|no)` |
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A yes/no setting. By default, FeedWordPress updates the value of the |
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Link Name field automatically to reflect the title that is reported by a |
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syndicated feed. (So, for example, if one of your contributors changes |
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the title of her weblog, the change will be reflected on your |
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Contributors list after the next update.) To override that behavior for |
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a particular feed (e.g. to force WordPress to use an abbreviated form of |
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the site's title for reasons of space), add a line like this to the Link |
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Notes section: |
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hardcode name: yes |
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|
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If `hardcode name` is absent, or set to a value other than `yes`, |
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FeedWordPress will take that as a 'no' and follow the default behavior. |
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|
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- `post status:` sets the default post status for posts from this feed |
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This can be 'publish', 'draft', or 'private'. By default, it is set to |
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'publish' (syndicated posts go online immediately). |
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|
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- `comment status:` sets the default status for comments on posts |
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syndicated from this feed. By default, all comments on syndicated posts |
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are closed, but you can set it to 'open', 'closed', or 'registered_only' |
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for particular feeds. |
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|
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- `ping status:` sets the default status for receiving TrackBack and |
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PingBack pings on posts syndicated from this feed. By default, |
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syndicated posts are closed to pings, but you can set this to 'open' or |
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'closed' for particular feeds. |
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|
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Template API |
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------------ |
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When activated, FeedWordPress makes the following functions available for use by |
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themes/templates: |
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|
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* ``is_syndicated()``: in a post context, returns ``TRUE`` if the post was |
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syndicated from another website, or ``FALSE`` if it was originally |
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posted here |
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|
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* ``get_syndication_permalink()``: in a post context, returns the URI of |
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the permalink for this post *on the website it was syndicated from* |
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|
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* ``the_syndication_permalink()``: in a post context, outputs the value |
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returned by ``get_syndication_permalink()`` |
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|
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* ``get_syndication_source_link()``: in a post context, returns the URI of |
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the front page (*not* the feed) of the website this post was syndicated |
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from |
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|
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* ``the_syndication_source_link()``: in a post context, outputs the URI |
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returned by ``get_syndication_source_link()`` |
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|
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* ``get_syndication_source()``: in a post context, returns the |
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human-readable title of the website that a syndicated post was |
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syndicated from |
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|
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* ``the_syndication_source()``: in a post context, outputs the value |
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returned by ``get_syndication_source()`` |
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|
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* ``get_syndication_feed():`` in a post context, returns the URI of the |
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feed (*not* the front page) that this post was syndicated from |
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|
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* ``the_syndication_feed()``: in a post context, outputs the value |
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returned by ``get_syndication_feed()`` |
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|
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* ``get_feed_meta($key)``: in a post context, returns the value, if any, |
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of the feed setting ``$key`` for the feed that this post was syndicated |
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from |
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|
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By default, FeedWordPress also places a filter on the standard functions |
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``get_permalink()`` and ``the_permalink()`` that substitutes the URI returned by |
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``get_syndication_permalink()`` for the URI generated by WordPress. This means |
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that by default the permalinks listed on your website and in your newsfeed will |
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link to the location of the posts on the source website, *not* to their location |
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on your website. You can switch this behavior on or off at Options --> |
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Syndication in the WordPress Dashboard. |
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|
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### Plugin API ### |
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|
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FeedWordPress creates five hooks through the WordPress plugin architecture that |
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you can plug in to using PHP WordPress plugins, to supplement ordinary |
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FeedWordPress behavior, or to filter posts according to criteria that you set. |
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The hooks are the action ``feedwordpress_update``, the action |
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``feedwordpress_check_feed``, the action ``feedwordpress_update_complete``, the |
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filter ``syndicated_item``, the filter ``syndicated_post``, the action |
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``post_syndicated_item``, and the action ``update_syndicated_item``. |
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|
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For more information, see <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/use>. |
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|
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License |
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------- |
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The FeedWordPress plugin is copyright (c) 2005 by Charles Johnson. It uses code |
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derived or translated from: |
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|
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- [wp-rss-aggregate.php][] by [Kellan Elliot-McCrea](kellan@protest.net) |
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- [HTTP Navigator 2][] by [Keyvan Minoukadeh](keyvan@k1m.com) |
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- [Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder][] by [Mark Pilgrim](mark@diveintomark.org) |
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|
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according to the terms of the [GNU General Public License][]. |
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|
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This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under |
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the terms of the [GNU General Public License][] as published by the Free Software |
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Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later |
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version. |
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|
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This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY |
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WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A |
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PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. |
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|
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[wp-rss-aggregate.php]: http://laughingmeme.org/archives/002203.html |
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[HTTP Navigator 2]: http://www.keyvan.net/2004/11/16/http-navigator/ |
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[Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder]: http://diveintomark.org/projects/feed_finder/ |
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[GNU General Public License]: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html |
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