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FeedWordPress / 0.95
FeedWordPress v0.95
trunk 0.8 0.9 0.91 0.95 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.981 0.99 0.991 0.992 0.993 2008.1030 2008.1101 2008.1105 2008.1214 2009.0612 2009.0613 2009.0618 2009.0707 2009.1111 2009.1112 2010.0127 2010.0528 All 65 releases
← All changes | README.text +406 -307 0.99 → 0.95 View file →
@@ -1,269 +1,192 @@
1 1 FeedWordPress
2 2 =============
3 3
4 -* Author: [Charles Johnson](http://radgeek.com/contact)
5 -* Version: 0.99
4 +* Author: [Charles Johnson](http://www.radgeek.com/contact)
5 +* Version: 0.95
6 6 * Project URI: <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress>
7 -* License: GPL 2. See License below for copyright jots and tittles.
7 +* License: GPL. See License below for copyright jots and tittles.
8 8
9 9 Introduction
10 10 ------------
11 -FeedWordPress is an Atom/RSS aggregator for the WordPress weblog software. It
12 -syndicates content from newsfeeds that you choose into your WordPress webblog;
13 -if you syndicate several newsfeeds then you can use WordPress's posts database
14 -and templating engine as the back-end of an aggregation ("planet") website. I
15 -originally developed it because I needed a more flexible replacement for
16 -[Planet][] to use at [Feminist Blogs][].
11 +FeedWordPress is an Atom/RSS aggregator for WordPress. It syndicates content
12 +from newsfeeds that you select into your WordPress blog; if you syndicate
13 +several newsfeeds then you can WordPress's posts database and templating engine
14 +as the back-end of an aggregation ("planet") website. I originally developed it
15 +because I needed a more flexible replacement for [Planet][] to use at
16 +[Feminist Blogs][].
17 17
18 18 [Planet]: http://www.planetplanet.org/ "Planet Planet"
19 19 [Feminist Blogs]: http://www.feministblogs.org/
20 20
21 21 FeedWordPress is designed with flexibility, ease of use, and ease of
22 -configuration in mind. You'll need a working installation of WordPress (version
23 -[2.3][], [2.2][], [2.1][], [2.0][] or [1.5][]), and also FTP or SFTP access to
24 -your web host. The ability to create cron jobs on your web host would be very
25 -helpful but it's not absolutely necessary. You *don't* need to tweak any
26 -plain-text configuration files and you *don't* need shell access to your web
27 -host to make it work. (Although, I should point out, web hosts that *don't*
28 -offer shell access are *bad web hosts*.)
22 +configuration in mind. You'll need a working installation of [WordPress 1.5][]
23 +and FTP or SFTP access to your web host. The ability to create cron jobs on your
24 +web host would be very helpful but it's not absolutely necessary. You *don't*
25 +need to tweak any plain-text configuration files and you *don't* need shell
26 +access to your web host to make it work. (Although, I should point out, web
27 +hosts that *don't* offer shell access are *bad web hosts*.)
29 28
30 - [2.3]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.3
31 - [2.2]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.2
32 - [2.1]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.1
33 - [2.0]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.0
34 - [1.5]: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_1.5
29 + [WordPress 1.5]: http://wordpress.org/development/2005/02/strayhorn/
35 30
36 -Installation
37 -### Requirements ###
31 +Installation & Requirements
32 +---------------------------
33 +You'll need a website with WordPress 1.5 installed and configured and FTP or
34 +SFTP access to your web space. You'll probably also want to have either (1)
35 +the ability to create cron jobs on your web host, or (2) a computer of your
36 +own that has always-on Internet access.
38 37
39 -To use version 0.99 of FeedWordPress, you will need:
40 -
41 -1. an installed and configured copy of WordPress 2.3.x, 2.2.x, 2.1.x,
42 - 2.0.x, or 1.5.x. (FeedWordPress currently *will not work* with older
43 - versions of WordPress, or with WordPress MU.)
44 -
45 -2. FTP or SFTP access to your web host
46 -
47 -### Installation ###
48 -
49 -#### Upgrades ####
50 -
51 -To *upgrade* an existing installation of FeedWordPress to version 0.99:
52 -
53 -1. Download the FeedWordPress archive in zip or gzipped tar format and
54 - extract the files on your computer.
55 -
56 -2. If you are upgrading from version 0.98 or earlier, then you need to
57 - create a new directory named `feedwordpress` in the `wp-content/plugins`
58 - directory of your WordPress installation, and you also need to *delete*
59 - your existing `wp-content/update-feeds.php` and
60 - `wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress.php` files. The file structure for
61 - FeedWordPress has changed and the files from your old version will not
62 - be overwritten, which could cause conflicts if you leave them in place.
63 -
64 -3. Upload the new PHP files to `wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress`,
65 - overwriting any existing FeedWordPress files that are there. Also be
66 - sure to upgrade `wp-includes/rss.php` and
67 - `wp-includes/rss-functions.php` if you use the optional MagpieRSS
68 - upgrade, or don't use it yet but do want to syndicate Atom 1.0 feeds.
69 -
70 -3. If you are upgrading from version 0.96 or earlier, **immediately** log
71 - in to the WordPress Dashboard, and go to Options --> Syndicated. Follow
72 - the directions to launch the database upgrade procedure. The new
73 - versions of FeedWordPress incorporate some long-needed improvements, but
74 - old meta-data needs to be updated to prevent duplicate posts and other
75 - possible maladies. If you're upgrading an existing installation, updates
76 - and FeedWordPress template functions *will not work* until you've done
77 - the upgrade. Then take a coffee break while the upgrade runs. It should,
78 - hopefully, finish within a few minutes even on relatively large
79 - databases.
80 -
81 -4. If you are upgrading from version 0.98 or earlier, note that the old
82 - `update-feeds.php` has been eliminated in favor of a (hopefully) more
83 - humane method for automatic updating. If you used a cron job for
84 - scheduled updates, it will not work anymore, but there is another,
85 - simpler method which will. See [Setting Up Feed Updates][] below to get
86 - scheduled updates back on track.
87 -
88 -5. Enjoy your new installation of FeedWordPress.
89 -
90 -#### New Installations ####
91 -
92 -1. Download the FeedWordPress archive in zip or gzipped tar format and
93 - extract the files on your computer.
94 -
95 -2. Create a new directory named `feedwordpress` in the `wp-content/plugins`
96 - directory of your WordPress installation. Use an FTP or SFTP client to
97 - upload the contents of the `wp-content/plugins/feedwordpress` directory
98 - in the FeedWordPress archive to the new directory that you just created
99 - on your web host.
100 -
101 -3. (Optional) Upgrade the copy of MagpieRSS packaged with WordPress by
102 - installing the new `rss.php` and `rss-functions.php` (archived in
38 +1. Install `feedwordpress.php` in your WordPress `plugins` directory and
39 + `update.php` in your WordPress `wp-content` directory.
40 +
41 +2. (Optional) Upgrade the copy of MagpieRSS packaged with WordPress by
42 + installing the new `rss-functions.php` (archived in
103 43 `OPTIONAL/wp-includes`) into your WordPress `wp-includes` directory.
104 - Upgrading MagpieRSS is necessary if you want to take advantage of
105 - support for Atom 1.0, multiple post categories, RSS enclosures, and
106 - multiple character encodings. (Note, however, that support for
107 - transliterating between character encodings is a very complex and
108 - iffy prospect in some PHP environments, so if you intend to use
109 - a lot of feeds with alternate encodings you should make sure that
110 - your installation of PHP is up-to-date and that you keep a copy of
111 - the old MagpieRSS around to compare results.)
112 44
113 -4. Log in to the WordPress Dashboard and activate the FeedWordPress
114 - plugin.
45 +3. Log in to the WordPress Dashboard and activate the FeedWordPress plugin.
46 + Go to Options --> Syndication to set up initial settings for the
47 + syndication link category ("Contributors") by default and the RPC secret
48 + word (blank by default, but you should probably set it to something.)
115 49
116 -5. While you're at the Dashboard, once the plugin is activated, you can
117 - go to **Syndication --> Options** and set (1) the link category that
118 - FeedWordPress will syndicate links from (by default, "Contributors"),
119 - and (2) whether FeedWordPress will use automatic updates or only
120 - manual updates.
50 +4. Set up links for syndication from the WordPress Dashboard using
51 + Links --> Syndicated or Links --> Import.
121 52
122 -5. Go to the main **Syndication** page to set up the list of sites that
123 - you want FeedWordPress to syndicate onto your blog. (If you have the
124 - feeds you want to aggregate in a service such as Bloglines,
125 - you may prefer to export them to an OPML file and use WordPress's
126 - **Blogroll --> Import Links** to import them into the contributors
127 - category.)
53 +5. FeedWordPress is now *ready* to feed syndicated content into WordPress.
54 + In order for it to actually receive that content, either (1) have your
55 + contributors add WordPress's XML-RPC URI to their blog's list of URIs
56 + to ping when they update posts, (2) set up a cron job to check in on all
57 + the feeds on a regular basis, or (3) both. If you do (2), you can either
58 + set up a job to run `php update-feeds.php` on your web host, or set one
59 + up on any computer with always-on Internet access to request
60 + `update-feeds.php` over the web.
61 +
62 + If your copy of WordPress is installed at <http://www.zyx.com/blog>, and
63 + you set the secret word for XML-RPC pings to "foo", then your XML-RPC
64 + URI will be <http://www.zyx.com/blog/xmlrpc.php>, and the URI to request
65 + for `update-feeds.php` to update all feeds will be
66 + <http://www.zyx.com/blog/wp-content/update-feeds.php?shibboleth=foo>
128 67
129 -#### Setting Up Feed Updates ####
68 +For detailed installation instructions, point your web browser to
69 +<http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/install>.
130 70
131 -FeedWordPress is now ready to accept posts from its syndication sources. The
132 -next thing to do is to make sure it knows *when* to go get them.
71 +Basic Concepts
72 +--------------
73 +FeedWordPress is written as a plugin for [WordPress 1.5][]. It is designed to
74 +store all the data it needs within the WordPress database and to make that data
75 +easy to manage from within the WordPress Dashboard.
133 76
134 -**N.B.:** If you are upgrading from version 0.981 or earlier of FeedWordPress,
135 -the system for checking for new posts has been overhauled, hopefully making it
136 -more humane, and also easier to use for people who do not have access to task
137 -scheduling tools such as `cron`. You will need to re-read this section and
138 -change your set-up accordingly.
77 +### Contributors / Newsfeeds ###
139 78
140 -FeedWordPress allows you to choose whether it will check for new posts
141 -automatically, or only when you manually request for it to check. By default,
142 -FeedWordPress opts for the **manual** option -- so that you can get your feeds
143 -set up properly before FeedWordPress begins importing new posts. If you want
144 -to use automatically scheduled updates, remember to enable them in
145 -**Syndication --> Options** after you finish setting up FeedWordPress.
79 +FeedWordPress uses the WordPress Links database to keep a list of the feeds from
80 +which it will syndicate content. WordPress allows you to place links in
81 +categories; FeedWordPress will treat all and only the links in one category
82 +(by default, this is a category named "Contributors"; you can change the
83 +category that FeedWordPress will use using Options --> Syndication).
146 84
147 -##### Manual Feed Updates #####
85 +From WordPress's perspective, the list of Contributors are normal links, and
86 +they can be manipulated like other links through the WordPress Dashboard. If
87 +you need to add, remove, or change information for any contributors, you can
88 +do so easily under Links --> Syndicated. If you want to distribute the labor of
89 +adding, updating, and managing feeds, you can use the WordPress login and
90 +access privileges system. Users with an access level of 5 or greater can add,
91 +delete, and modify Contributors; users with an access level of 6 or greater can
92 +change syndication options.
148 93
149 -To manually check for new posts, log in to the WordPress Dashboard and go to the
150 -main page under **Syndication**. You can use the "Update feeds now" button to
151 -check for new posts on feeds that are due for a scheduled update, or use the
152 -checkboxes and "Update Checked Feeds" button to force FeedWordPress to check one
153 -or more specific feeds for new posts. FeedWordPress will check the selected
154 -feed or feeds for new posts, and import any new content available.
94 +When FeedWordPress looks for new posts, it does so by retrieving one or all of
95 +the links from the Contributors category (depending on whether it has been told
96 +to scan for new posts on one or all of the feeds).
155 97
156 -##### Automatic Feed Updates #####
98 +__Feed settings:__ All of the information for a syndicated feed is stored in
99 +the WordPress Links database. Feeds in the category to be syndicated (by
100 +default, "Contributors") use several fields of the standard WordPress Link
101 +record:
157 102
158 -If you choose an automatic update schedule, then FeedWordPress will
159 -automatically check for new posts based on a schedule you determine. When
160 -automatic updates are enabled, FeedWordPress will check for new posts when
161 -(1) at least ten minutes have passed since the last update, and (2) a viewer
162 -visits your FeedWordPress-enabled blog. (If you want the interval of time to
163 -be shorter or longer, you can change the interval in the Dashboard under
164 -**Syndication --> Options**.)
103 +- The RSS URI is used to store the URI for the feed to be syndicated.
104 + (Note that this is *not* the same as the Link URI. The Link URI points
105 + to the human-readable *front page* of the website that the feed
106 + syndicates.)
165 107
166 -Note that this is not quite the same thing as precisely scheduled updating.
167 -If you get at least one viewer every ten minutes, then FeedWordPress will be
168 -regularly checking for new posts on schedule; if not, not. But for a relatively
169 -active aggregator blog this is probably close enough for government work.
108 +- The Link URI is used to store a URI to the human-readable front page
109 + (*not* the feed!) of the syndicated website. FeedWordPress automatically
110 + updates this URI using the URI that is reported by the newsfeed whenever
111 + it checks the feed for new posts, so if the page moves this will be
112 + reflected automatically on your Contributors links list.
170 113
171 -However, if you want to ensure regular updates, and you have access to a
172 -task-scheduling tool such as `cron`, you can use it to schedule regular
173 -checks for updates on a fixed schedule. For example, using `cron`, you can
174 -easily ensure that FeedWordPress checks for new posts regularly by adding the
175 -following line to your crontab, substituting the actual address of your
176 -WordPress installation for "http://www.zyx.com/blog/":
114 +- The Link Name is used to store the title of the syndicated website.
115 + By default, FeedWordPress automatically updates the name of the link
116 + whenever it checks for new posts, using the title that the
117 + newsfeed reports (so that if a Contributor changes the title of her
118 + website, this is reflected automatically on your Contributors links
119 + list). This behavior can be turned off for all feeds through the
120 + settings in Options --> Syndication. The default behavior can be
121 + overridden for specific feeds using the feed setting
122 + `hardcode name`.
177 123
178 - */15 * * * * curl http://www.zyx.com/blog/ > /dev/null
124 +- The Short Description is used to store the tagline of the syndicated
125 + website. By default, FeedWordPress automatically updates the description
126 + whenever it checks for new posts, using the tagline or description that
127 + the newsfeed reports (so that if a Contributor changes the tagline of
128 + her website, this is reflected automatically on your Contributors links
129 + list). his behavior can be turned off for all feeds through the
130 + settings in Options --> Syndication. The default behavior can be
131 + overridden for specific feeds using the feed setting
132 + `hardcode description`.
179 133
180 -If you don't have direct access to `cron` or a similar scheduling tool, you
181 -can use online tools such as [WebCron](http://www.webcron.org/?lang=en) to
182 -schedule a regular fetch of your blog's front page to much the same effect.
134 +- The Link Notes are used to store a collection of manually-encoded and
135 + automatically-generated settings that apply to this feed. The format of
136 + settings in Link Notes is:
137 +
138 + key1: value1
139 + key2: value2
140 + feed/key1: value1
141 + feed/key2: value2
142 +
143 + And so on. Values that are prefixed by 'feed/' are automatically
144 + generated from feed data every time the feed syndicated by this link is
145 + checked for updates. Values without the prefix are set manually by the
146 + user.
183 147
184 -##### Feed Updates using XML-RPC #####
148 +The Link Notes section can be used to add, remove, and change custom feed
149 +settings. For example, if you want to *add* the feed setting for
150 +`unfamiliar author` with the value `filter`, you can do so by going to Links -->
151 +Syndicated, clicking the "Edit" link for the feed that you wish to add this
152 +setting for, and then adding the following, on a line by itself, to the Link
153 +Notes section:
185 154
186 -FeedWordPress also allows syndicated blogs to notify you of updates using the
187 -XML-RPC "recently updated" pings (in the standard format accepted by
188 -Weblogs.com, Ping-O-Matic, Technorati, and other blogging services). Most
189 -blogging software allows users to add a URI to the list of URIs that get pinged
190 -with each new update -- see, for example, **Options --> Writing --> Update
191 -Services** in WordPress, or **Configuration --> Preferences --> Publicity /
192 -Remote Interfaces / TrackBack** in Movable Type. If you can get a contributor
193 -to add your XML-RPC URI to her list of update services to ping, then whenever
194 -she updates her blog, her blogging software will notify your FeedWordPress
195 -installation, and FeedWordPress will look up her feed to grab the new posts off
196 -of it. (If you have WordPress installed at <http://www.zyx.com/blog>, say, the
197 -URI for her to ping should be <http://www.zyx.com/blog/xmlrpc.php>).
155 + unfamiliar author: filter
198 156
199 -Basic Concepts
200 -FeedWordPress is written as a plugin for the WordPress weblog software. It is
201 -designed to store all the data it needs within the WordPress database and to
202 -make that data easy to manage from within the WordPress Dashboard.
157 +To remove the setting, follow the same procedure, but find the line for the
158 +feed setting that you want to remove and remove it. To change the value, simply
159 +change the text that follows after the colon.
203 160
204 -### Contributors / Newsfeeds ###
161 +Most settings in the Link Notes have no effect on FeedWordPress, but you can use
162 +them to store information for templates to retrieve using the `get_feed_meta()`
163 +template function in a post context (see Template API below). For example, many
164 +aggregator sites use a "face" image for each feed to visually distinguish posts
165 +from different feeds. To implement a face feature, you could add something
166 +like this to each feed's Link Notes, on a line by itself:
205 167
206 -FeedWordPress uses the WordPress Links database to keep a list of the feeds from
207 -which it will syndicate content. WordPress allows you to place links in
208 -categories; FeedWordPress will make use of all and only the links in one
209 -category (by default, this is a category named "Contributors"; you can change
210 -the category that FeedWordPress will use using **Options --> Syndication**).
168 + face: http://www.zyx.com/mugs/ugly
211 169
212 -From WordPress's perspective, the list of Contributors are normal links, and
213 -they can be manipulated like other links through the WordPress Dashboard.
214 -However, FeedWordPress provides a nicer interface for adding, removing, or
215 -changing information for the Contributor Links from the WordPress Dashboard,
216 -under **Links --> Syndicated**.
170 +The URI should be changed out for each feed to point to the appropriate image,
171 +of course. Then, to use the setting from within a template:
217 172
218 -If you want to distribute the labor of adding, updating, and managing feeds
219 -between several people, you can use the WordPress login andaccess privileges
220 -system. Any users with an access level of 5 or greater can add, delete, and
221 -modify Contributors; users with an access level of 6 or greater can change
222 -syndication options.
173 + // In a post context
174 + <?php $img = get_feed_meta('face'); if (strlen($img) > 0): ?>
175 + <img src="<?=$img?>" alt="" />
176 + <?php endif; ?>
223 177
224 -When FeedWordPress looks for new posts, it retrieves one or all of the links
225 -from the Contributors category (depending on whether it has been told to scan
226 -for new posts on one or all of the feeds), determines which of them should be
227 -polled for updates (based on how long it has been since the last time each feed
228 -was polled for updates), and then uses an HTTP conditional GET to check for
229 -updates at the "RSS URI" for each Link that it selects. Any new posts are added
230 -to the database, and old posts that have been updated since the last poll are
231 -updated to reflect the new version.
232 -
233 -__Feed settings:__ All of the information for a syndicated feed is stored in the
234 -WordPress Links database, and can be easily edited using an interface that
235 -FeedWordPress provides under **Links --> Syndicated**. (If you're curious about
236 -the technical details of how the information is stored, you can find out more
237 -under [API: How feed information is stored][].)
238 -
239 -You can use a feed's **Edit** link under **Links --> Syndicated** to affect how
240 -FeedWordPress prcesses posts from that feed. (Most of these options can either
241 -be set for *one particular feed* using **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit**, or set
242 -as the default for *all feeds* using **Options --> Syndication**.) The **Edit**
243 -link also allows you to set **Custom Feed Settings** for use in templates,
244 -through the use of the [`get_feed_meta()`][get_feed_meta] template function in a
245 -post context (see [Template API][]). For example, many aggregator sites use a
246 -"face" image for each feed to visually distinguish posts from different feeds.
247 -To implement a face feature, you could add a custom setting for each Contributor
248 -Link, with the key of "face" and a URI such as "http://www.zyx.com/mugs/ugly"
249 -for the value. (The URI should be changed out for each feed to point to the
250 -appropriate image, of course.) Then, to use the setting from within a template,
251 -add something like:
252 -
253 - // In a post context
254 - <?php $img = get_feed_meta('face'); if (strlen($img) > 0): ?>
255 - <img src="<?=$img?>" alt="" />
256 - <?php endif; ?>
257 -
258 178 ... which will display the image, if any, whose URI is set in the "face" setting
259 179 for the feed that post comes from. If there is no "face" setting for a
260 -particular feed, [`get_feed_meta()`][get_feed_meta] will return an empty string
261 -and no image will be displayed.
180 +particular feed, ``get_feed_meta()`` will return an empty string and no image
181 +will be displayed.
262 182
263 - [API: How feed information is stored]: http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/api#how-feed-information-is-stored
183 +Not all feed settings are only for templates. Some affect how FeedWordPress
184 +processes posts from that feed. Currently, the settings with special effects
185 +on FeedWordPress are `cats`, `hardcode name`, `hardcode description`,
186 +`hardcode categories`, `post status`, `comment status`, `ping status`,
187 +`unfamiliar author`, and `unfamiliar categories`. For descriptions of their
188 +effects, see Special Feed Settings below.
264 189
265 190 ### Syndicated Posts ###
266 191
267 192 Whenever FeedWordPress updates, it scans one or more of the feeds in its
@@ -271,16 +194,14 @@
271 194 database. Syndicated posts are displayed on your WordPress pages like any other
272 195 posts: they can be listed in archives by category, author, or date; they can be
273 196 found with the search box; and they are included in the newsfeed of your blog.
274 197
275 -In your WordPress templates (**Presentation --> Theme Editor**) you can access
276 -special information about syndicated posts using [functions provided by
277 -FeedWordPress][Template API], such as [`is_syndicated()`][is_syndicated],
278 -[`the_syndication_source()`][the_syndication_source],
279 -[`the_syndication_source_link()`][the_syndication_source_link], and
280 -[`get_feed_meta()`][get_feed_meta]. For example, here is the template code that
281 -I use (in a post context) to display both the author's name and the original
282 -source of the post in the templates for [Feminist Blogs][]:
198 +In your WordPress templates (Presentation --> Theme Editor) you can access
199 +special information about syndicated posts using functions provided by
200 +FeedWordPress, such as `is_syndicated()`, `the_syndication_source()`,
201 +`the_syndication_source_link()`, and `get_feed_meta()`. For example, here is
202 +the template code that I use (in a post context) to display both the author's
203 +name and the original source of the post in the templates for [Feminist Blogs][]:
283 204
284 205 <cite class="feed">from <?php the_author_posts_link()?><?php
285 206 if (is_syndicated() and (get_the_author() !== get_syndication_source())):
286 207 echo ' @ <a href="'; the_syndication_source_link(); echo '">';
@@ -287,9 +208,9 @@
287 208 the_syndication_source();
288 209 echo '</a>';
289 210 endif; ?></cite>
290 211
291 -For more information on template functions, see [Template API][].
212 +For more information on template functions, see Template API below.
292 213
293 214 ### Categories ###
294 215
295 216 WordPress allows for posts to be placed in *categories*. Each syndicated post
@@ -299,31 +220,34 @@
299 220
300 221 1. Categories (or "tags") that the original author placed the post in on
301 222 her blog
302 223
303 -2. Categories that you set explicitly for each feed using the
304 - **Categories** checkbox under **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit**. For
305 - example, if you wanted all the posts from Alas, A Blog to be placed in
306 - the "Pacific Northwest" category and the "Cartoonists" category (*in
307 - addition to* any other categories that they were placed in on Alas, A
308 - Blog), you could do this by creating the categories, going to **Links
309 - --> Syndicated**, clicking the "Edit" link for Alas, A Blog, and
310 - checking those two categories under the checkbox captioned "Categories."
224 +2. Categories that you set explicitly for each feed using the `cats`
225 + feed setting. For example, if you wanted all the posts from Alas, A Blog
226 + to be placed in the "Pacific Northwest" category and the "Cartoonists"
227 + category (in addition to any categories that they were placed in on
228 + Alas, A Blog), you could do this by going to Links --> Syndicated,
229 + clicking the "Edit" link for Alas, A Blog, and adding the following line
230 + to the Link Notes section:
231 +
232 + cats: Pacific Northwest:Cartoonists
311 233
234 + (The colon separates one category name from the next.)
235 +
312 236 Given the list of category names, FeedWordPress looks for categories in the
313 237 WordPress database with the same name as either (1) the category name, or
314 238 (2) one of the "aliases" listed in the category description.
315 239
316 -__Aliases:__ Different often authors use slightly different names for categories
317 -that mean the same thing (contributors to Feminist Blogs, for example, used
318 -categories including "Feminism", "feministy stuff", "Women's Issues", "Gender
319 -Issues", "Gender Equality", and so on). If you want FeedWordPress to treat one
320 -category name as a synonym for another, you can do so by creating an "alias" for
321 -the category. For example, to make FeedWordPress treat posts that are placed in
322 -the category "feministy stuff" as if they had been placed in the category
323 -"Feminism", go to **Manage --> Categories**, find the category "Feminism" and
324 -click the "Edit" link for it, and then add the following to the Description
325 -field, on a line by itself:
240 +__Aliases:__ Different often authors use slightly different names for
241 +categories that mean the same thing (contributors to Feminist Blogs, for
242 +example, used categories including "Feminism", "feministy stuff",
243 +"Women's Issues", "Gender Issues", "Gender Equality", and so on). If you want
244 +FeedWordPress to treat one category name as a synonym for another, you can
245 +do so by creating an "alias" for the category. For example, to make
246 +FeedWordPress treat posts that are placed in the category "feministy stuff" as
247 +if they had been placed in the category "Feminism", go to Manage --> Categories,
248 +find the category "Feminism" and click the "Edit" link for it, and then add
249 +the following to the Description field, on a line by itself:
326 250
327 251 a.k.a.: feministy stuff
328 252
329 253 You can add as many aliases as you like. You can also add any other text that
@@ -329,38 +253,38 @@
329 253 You can add as many aliases as you like. You can also add any other text that
330 254 you like to the Description without interfering with FeedWordPress's ability to
331 255 use the aliases. Each alias must be on a line by itself.
332 256
333 -__Unfamiliar categories:__ If one of the category names that a newsfeed provides
334 -is *unfamiliar* -- that is, if there is not yet any category in your WordPress
335 -database that either has that name, or uses that name as an alias -- then by
336 -default FeedWordPress will *automatically create* a new category with that name
337 -and place the current post in it. The default behavior can be changed so that
338 -unfamiliar categories will *not* be added to the database, using the
339 -**Unfamiliar categories** setting, either for *all* feeds (under **Options -->
340 -Syndication**) or for *one particular feed* (under **Links --> Syndicated**).
257 +__Unfamiliar categories:__ By default, if one of the category names that a
258 +newsfeed provides is unfamiliar -- that is, if there is not yet any category
259 +with that name (or with that name as an alias) in your WordPress database --
260 +then by default FeedWordPress will *automatically create* a new category with
261 +that name and place the current post in it. The default behavior can be changed,
262 +using either the global settings in Options --> Syndication or the
263 +`unfamiliar categories` feed setting (see Feed Settings above), so that unfamiliar
264 +categories will not be added to the database. If you choose to disable the
265 +creation of new categories, you can also choose whether or not FeedWordPress
266 +should syndicate posts that do not match *any* of the categories that are
267 +currently in the database.
341 268
342 -If you choose to disable the creation of new categories, either for all feeds or
343 -for one particular feed, then you can also choose whether or not FeedWordPress
344 -should syndicate posts that do not match *any* of the categories that are
345 -currently in the database. This allows you to do some simple filtering of posts
346 -by category: if you want to your blog to syndicate only the posts in one
347 -particular category from a feed that has several categories, you could do so by
348 -creating a category by that name, adding the new feed(s), and then setting
349 -**Unfamiliar categories** under **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit** to "don't
350 -create new categories and don't syndicate posts unless they match at least one
351 -familiar category".
269 +One of the uses of this feature is filtering posts by category: if you want to
270 +your blog to syndicate only the posts in one particular category from a feed
271 +that has several categories, you could do so by creating a category by that
272 +name, adding the new feed(s), and then adding the following line to the Link
273 +Notes section of the feed(s) that you want to filter:
352 274
275 + unfamiliar categories: filter
276 +
353 277 Since only posts in categories that are in your database will be included, and
354 278 only the category or categories that you wanted posts from has been added to
355 -your database, this will filter out all the posts that aren't in the category or
356 -categories that you defined ahead of time. (Similarly, you could set up
279 +your database, this will filter out all the posts that aren't in the category
280 +or categories that you defined ahead of time. (Similarly, you could set up
357 281 FeedWordPress so that *all* the feeds are filtered by author by creating the set
358 282 of users named after the authors you want to syndicate, and then setting the
359 -default behavior for *all* feeds at **Options --> Syndication**).
283 +default behavior for *all* feeds at Options --> Syndication).
360 284
361 285 If you need a category filter with more complex logic, you can always create a
362 -`syndicated_item` filter in PHP (see [Plugin API][]) that manipulates the
286 +`syndicated_item` filter in PHP (see Plugin API below) that manipulates the
363 287 `['categories']` array of a syndicated item.
364 288
365 289 ### Authors ###
366 290
@@ -368,10 +292,10 @@
368 292 (If a feed doesn't, then FeedWordPress will create an author's name based on
369 293 the title of the feed from which the item was taken.) This information is used
370 294 to determine the WordPress user that the post will be attributed to. Given the
371 295 name of the author, FeedWordPress looks for authors in the WordPress database
372 -with the same name as either (1) their login, (2) their display name, (3) their
373 -e-mail address (if given), or (4) one of the "aliases" listed in the
296 +with the same name as either (1) their login, (2) their first name, (3) their
297 +nickname, (4) their full name, or (5) one of the "aliases" listed in the
374 298 user's profile.
375 299
376 300 __Aliases:__ If there is an author who posts under more than one name (for
377 301 example, one of our contributors at [Feminist Blogs][] posts on several
@@ -378,13 +302,13 @@
378 302 different blogs, sometimes using her full name and sometimes using only her
379 303 first name), then you can ensure that FeedWordPress will attribute those posts
380 304 to the same author by creating "aliases" for the author. For example, to make
381 305 FeedWordPress treat posts by "Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger" and posts by "Pope
382 -Benedict XVI" as having the same author, go to **Users --> Authors & Users**,
383 -click on the "Edit" link for Pope Benedict XVI, and add a line like this to the
306 +Benedict XVI" as having the same author, go to Users --> Authors & Users, click
307 +on the "Edit" link for Pope Benedict XVI, and add a line like this to the
384 308 Profile text:
385 309
386 - a.k.a.: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
310 + a.k.a.: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
387 311
388 312 You can add as many aliases as you like. You can also add any other text that
389 313 you like to the Profile without interfering with FeedWordPress's ability to use
390 314 the aliases. Each alias must be on a line by itself.
@@ -393,31 +317,207 @@
393 317 unfamiliar -- that is, if there is no-one with that name registered in the
394 318 WordPress author's database -- then by default FeedWordPress will automatically
395 319 create a new user account with the given name and attribute the post to the new
396 320 user. The default behavior can be changed, using either the global settings in
397 -**Options --> Syndication** or the [feed settings][] under **Links -->
398 -Syndicated --> Edit**, so that posts by unfamiliar authors will either be
399 -attributed to a default author (instead of creating a new user account to
400 -attribute them to), or filtered out and not syndicated at all.
321 +Options --> Syndication or the `unfamiliar author` feed setting (see Feed
322 +Settings above), so that posts by unfamiliar authors will either be attributed
323 +to a default author (instead of creating a new user account to attribute them
324 +to), or filtered out and not syndicated at all.
401 325
402 -One of the uses of this feature is to filtering posts by author: if you want to
326 +One of the uses of this feature is filtering posts by author: if you want to
403 327 your blog to syndicate only the posts by one particular author from a feed that
404 328 has several authors, you could do so by creating a user account with that
405 -author's name, adding the new feed(s), and then setting **Unfamiliar authors**
406 -under **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit** to "don't syndicate the post". Since
407 -only posts by authors that are in your database will be included, and only the
408 -author that you wanted posts from has been added to your database, this will
329 +author's name, adding the new feed(s), and then adding the following line to the
330 +Link Notes section of the feed(s) that you want to filter:
331 +
332 + unfamiliar author: filter
333 +
334 +Since only posts by authors that are in your database will be included, and only
335 +the author that you wanted posts from has been added to your database, this will
409 336 filter out posts by anyone else on the feeds with that setting. (Similarly, you
410 337 could set up FeedWordPress so that *all* the feeds are filtered by author by
411 338 creating the set of users named after the authors you want to syndicate, and
412 -then setting the default behavior for *all* feeds at **Options -->
413 -Syndication**).
339 +then setting the default behavior for *all* feeds at Options --> Syndication).
414 340
415 341 If you need an author filter with more complex logic than this allows, you can
416 -always create a `syndicated_item` filter in PHP (see [Plugin API][]) that
342 +always create a `syndicated_item` filter in PHP (see Plugin API below) that
417 343 manipulates the `['author_name']` or `['dc']['creator']` elements of a
418 344 syndicated item.
419 345
346 +Special Feed Settings
347 +---------------------
348 +Most feed settings (see Feed Settings above) have no effect on FeedWordPress
349 +itself, but can be useful because they can be accessed from templates using the
350 +`get_feed_meta()` template function in a post context (see Feed Settings above
351 +for an example). However, you can use some feed settings to affect how
352 +FeedWordPress will process posts from that particular feed. Currently, these
353 +special settings are:
354 +
355 +- `cats:` a colon-separated list of default categories for any post coming
356 + from this feed. So, for example, a this line in its Notes section:
357 +
358 + cats: computers:web
359 +
360 + ... will make FeedWordPress place any posts syndicated from that feed in
361 + the "computers" and "web" categories. Note that by default,
362 + FeedWordPress will place them in those categories *in addition to* any
363 + categories that the author of the post put them in on her own website.
364 + If you want to place posts from a feed *only* in the categories you
365 + explicitly set, then you should use the `cats` setting together with
366 + the `unfamiliar categories` setting. (See Categories above and
367 + `unfamiliar categories` below for the nitty-gritty.)
368 +
369 +- `hardcode name: (yes|no)`
370 +
371 + By default, FeedWordPress updates the value of the Link Name field
372 + automatically to reflect the title that is reported by a syndicated
373 + feed--so that if one of your contributors changes the title of her
374 + website, the change will be reflected on your Contributors list after
375 + the next update. If you want to stop this behavior (so that you can
376 + set the title of a Contributor link manually -- e.g. so that you can use
377 + an abbreviated form for reasons of space), you can change the default
378 + behavior for *all* feeds using the settings in Options --> Syndication.
379 + If you want to override the default behavior for only *one* feed, you
380 + can use the `hardcode name` feed setting. If FeedWordPress updates the
381 + title of all feeds by default, but you wish to use a manually-set title
382 + for one particular feed, you can add a line like this to the Link Notes
383 + section of the feed that you want to manually set the title for:
384 +
385 + hardcode name: yes
386 +
387 + Similarly, if FeedWordPress uses your manually-entered titles for all
388 + feeds by default, but you wish to use an automatically updated title for
389 + one particular feed, you can add a line like this to the Link Notes
390 + section of the feed that you want to manually set the title for:
391 +
392 + hardcode name: no
393 +
394 + If `hardcode name` is absent, or set to a value other than `yes` or
395 + `no`, FeedWordPress will follow the default behavior set under
396 + Options --> Syndication.
397 +
398 +- `hardcode description: (yes|no)`
399 +
400 + By default, FeedWordPress updates the value of the Link Description
401 + field automatically to reflect the tagline or description that is
402 + reported by a syndicated feed--so that if one of your contributors
403 + changes the tagline for her website, the change will be reflected on
404 + your Contributors list after the next update. If you want to stop this
405 + behavior (so that you can set the taglien of a Contributor link manually
406 + -- e.g. so that you can use it to provide information of another sort or
407 + use an abbreviated form for reasons of space), you can change the
408 + default behavior for *all* feeds using the settings in Options -->
409 + Syndication. If you want to override the default behavior for only *one*
410 + feed, you can use the `hardcode description` feed setting. If
411 + FeedWordPress updates the description of all feeds by default, but you
412 + wish to use a manually-set description for one particular feed, you can
413 + add a line like this to the Link Notes section of that particular feed:
414 +
415 + hardcode description: yes
416 +
417 + Similarly, if FeedWordPress uses your manually-entered descriptions for
418 + all feeds by default, but you wish to use an automatically updated
419 + description for one particular feed, you can add a line like this to the
420 + Link Notes section of that particular feed:
421 +
422 + hardcode description: no
423 +
424 + If `hardcode description` is absent, or set to a value other than `yes`
425 + or `no`, FeedWordPress will follow the default behavior set under
426 + Options --> Syndication.
427 +
428 +- `hardcode categories: (yes|no)`
429 +
430 + **This setting has been deprecated.** If set to `yes` it is now treated
431 + as equivalent to `unfamiliar categories: default`. (See below.)
432 +
433 +- `post status:` sets the default post status for posts from this feed
434 + This can be 'publish', 'draft', or 'private'. By default, it is set to
435 + 'publish' (syndicated posts go online immediately).
436 +
437 +- `comment status:` sets the default status for comments on posts
438 + syndicated from this feed. By default, all comments on syndicated posts
439 + are closed, but you can set it to 'open', 'closed', or 'registered_only'
440 + for particular feeds.
441 +
442 +- `ping status:` sets the default status for receiving TrackBack and
443 + PingBack pings on posts syndicated from this feed. By default,
444 + syndicated posts are closed to pings, but you can set this to 'open' or
445 + 'closed' for particular feeds.
446 +
447 +- `unfamiliar authors: (create|default|filter)`
448 +
449 + By default, FeedWordPress creates new author accounts whenever it finds
450 + a new post that is by an author whose name is not already in the
451 + WordPress database, and uses that account for this post and any future
452 + posts by an author of that name. FeedWordPress also allows you to
453 + attribute posts by unfamiliar authors to a *default* user account
454 + (currently, this means the System Administrator account), *instead of*
455 + creating a new author, or simply not to syndicate posts by unfamiliar
456 + authors (thus only syndicating posts by authors who are already in the
457 + database).
458 +
459 + Which of these FeedWordPress does by default can be set using the
460 + settings in Options --> Syndicated. You can also override the default
461 + behavior for specific feeds by adding the `unfamiliar author` feed
462 + setting to the Link Notes section of a feed. For example, to ensure that
463 + FeedWordPress filters out posts by unfamiliar authors for one particular
464 + feed, add the setting:
465 +
466 + unfamiliar author: filter
467 +
468 + To ensure that FeedWordPress assigns posts by unfamiliar authors to the
469 + default user account instead of creating a new user account, add the
470 + setting:
471 +
472 + unfamiliar author: default
473 +
474 + If you changed the default behavior under Options --> Syndicated but
475 + want to ensure that FeedWordPress creates new author accounts for
476 + unfamiliar authors on one specific feed, add the setting:
477 +
478 + unfamiliar author: create
479 +
480 + If the setting is anything other than `create`, `default`, or `filter`,
481 + FeedWordPress will ignore the setting and follow the default behavior
482 + that you specified under Options --> Syndication.
483 +
484 +- `unfamiliar categories: (create|default|filter)`
485 +
486 + By default, FeedWordPress creates categories whenever it finds a new
487 + post that is placed in categories whose names are not already in the
488 + WordPress database. FeedWordPress allows you to change this behavior,
489 + so that it will *not* create new category names. It also allows you to
490 + choose whether or not posts must match *at least one* familiar category
491 + to be syndicated at all.
492 +
493 + Which of these FeedWordPress does by default can be set using the
494 + settings in Options --> Syndicated. You can also override the default
495 + behavior for specific feeds by adding the `unfamiliar categories` feed
496 + setting to the Link Notes section of a feed. For example, to ensure
497 + that, when adding new posts from *one particular feed*, FeedWordPress
498 + does *not* create new categories, and filters out any posts that don't
499 + match *at least one* of the categories that you have already defined,
500 + add the setting:
501 +
502 + unfamiliar categories: filter
503 +
504 + To ensure that FeedWordPress does *not* create new categories, but
505 + *will* still syndicate categories even if they don't match any of the
506 + pre-defined categories, add the following to the feed settings:
507 +
508 + unfamiliar categories: default
509 +
510 + If you changed the default behavior under Options --> Syndicated but
511 + want to ensure that FeedWordPress creates new categories for posts
512 + from one particular feed, add the setting:
513 +
514 + unfamiliar categories: create
515 +
516 + If the setting is anything other than `create`, `default`, or `filter`,
517 + FeedWordPress will ignore the setting and follow the default behavior
518 + that you specified under Options --> Syndication.
519 +
420 520 Template API
421 521 ------------
422 522 When activated, FeedWordPress makes the following functions available for use by
423 523 themes/templates:
@@ -429,9 +529,9 @@
429 529 * ``get_syndication_permalink()``: in a post context, returns the URI of
430 530 the permalink for this post *on the website it was syndicated from*
431 531
432 532 * ``the_syndication_permalink()``: in a post context, outputs the value
433 - returned by [``get_syndication_permalink()``][get_syndication_permalink]
533 + returned by ``get_syndication_permalink()``
434 534
435 535 * ``get_syndication_source_link()``: in a post context, returns the URI of
436 536 the front page (*not* the feed) of the website this post was syndicated
437 537 from
@@ -436,10 +536,9 @@
436 536 the front page (*not* the feed) of the website this post was syndicated
437 537 from
438 538
439 539 * ``the_syndication_source_link()``: in a post context, outputs the URI
440 - returned by
441 - [``get_syndication_source_link()``][get_syndication_source_link]
540 + returned by ``get_syndication_source_link()``
442 541
443 542 * ``get_syndication_source()``: in a post context, returns the
444 543 human-readable title of the website that a syndicated post was
445 544 syndicated from
@@ -444,15 +543,15 @@
444 543 human-readable title of the website that a syndicated post was
445 544 syndicated from
446 545
447 546 * ``the_syndication_source()``: in a post context, outputs the value
448 - returned by [``get_syndication_source()``][get_syndication_source]
547 + returned by ``get_syndication_source()``
449 548
450 549 * ``get_syndication_feed():`` in a post context, returns the URI of the
451 550 feed (*not* the front page) that this post was syndicated from
452 551
453 552 * ``the_syndication_feed()``: in a post context, outputs the value
454 - returned by [``get_syndication_feed()``][get_syndication_feed]
553 + returned by ``get_syndication_feed()``
455 554
456 555 * ``get_feed_meta($key)``: in a post context, returns the value, if any,
457 556 of the feed setting ``$key`` for the feed that this post was syndicated
458 557 from
@@ -458,21 +557,21 @@
458 557 from
459 558
460 559 By default, FeedWordPress also places a filter on the standard functions
461 560 ``get_permalink()`` and ``the_permalink()`` that substitutes the URI returned by
462 -[``get_syndication_permalink()``][get_syndication_permalink] for the URI
463 -generated by WordPress. This means that by default the permalinks listed on your
464 -website and in your newsfeed will link to the location of the posts on the
465 -source website, *not* to their location on your website. You can switch this
466 -behavior on or off at **Options --> Syndication** in the WordPress Dashboard.
561 +``get_syndication_permalink()`` for the URI generated by WordPress. This means
562 +that by default the permalinks listed on your website and in your newsfeed will
563 +link to the location of the posts on the source website, *not* to their location
564 +on your website. You can switch this behavior on or off at Options -->
565 +Syndication in the WordPress Dashboard.
467 566
468 -Plugin API
567 +### Plugin API ###
568 +
469 569 FeedWordPress creates five hooks through the WordPress plugin architecture that
470 570 you can plug in to using PHP WordPress plugins, to supplement ordinary
471 571 FeedWordPress behavior, or to filter posts according to criteria that you set.
472 572 The hooks are the action ``feedwordpress_update``, the action
473 -``feedwordpress_check_feed``, the action ``feedwordpress_update_complete``, the
573 +``feedwordpress_check_feed``, the action ``feedwordpress_update_complete``, the
474 574 filter ``syndicated_item``, the filter ``syndicated_post``, the action
475 575 ``post_syndicated_item``, and the action ``update_syndicated_item``.
476 576
477 577 For more information, see <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/api>.
@@ -478,13 +577,12 @@
478 577 For more information, see <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/api>.
479 578
480 579 License
481 580 -------
482 -The FeedWordPress plugin is copyright (c) 2005-2007 by Charles Johnson. It uses
483 -code derived or translated from:
581 +The FeedWordPress plugin is copyright (c) 2005 by Charles Johnson. It uses code
582 +derived or translated from:
484 583
485 584 - [wp-rss-aggregate.php][] by [Kellan Elliot-McCrea](kellan@protest.net)
486 -- [MagpieRSS][] by [Kellan Elliot-McCrea](kellan@protest.net)
487 585 - [HTTP Navigator 2][] by [Keyvan Minoukadeh](keyvan@k1m.com)
488 586 - [Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder][] by [Mark Pilgrim](mark@diveintomark.org)
489 587
490 588 according to the terms of the [GNU General Public License][].
@@ -489,11 +587,11 @@
489 587
490 588 according to the terms of the [GNU General Public License][].
491 589
492 590 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
493 -the terms of the [GNU General Public License][] as published by the Free
494 -Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
495 -later version.
591 +the terms of the [GNU General Public License][] as published by the Free Software
592 +Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
593 +version.
496 594
497 595 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
498 596 WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
499 597 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
@@ -498,10 +596,8 @@
498 596 WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
499 597 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
500 598
501 599 [wp-rss-aggregate.php]: http://laughingmeme.org/archives/002203.html
502 - [MagpieRSS]: http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/
503 600 [HTTP Navigator 2]: http://www.keyvan.net/2004/11/16/http-navigator/
504 601 [Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder]: http://diveintomark.org/projects/feed_finder/
505 -
506 602 [GNU General Public License]: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
507 603