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FeedWordPress / 0.981
FeedWordPress v0.981
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1 1 FeedWordPress
2 2 =============
3 3
4 -* Author: [Charles Johnson](http://www.radgeek.com/contact)
5 -* Version: 0.8
4 +* Author: [Charles Johnson](http://radgeek.com/contact)
5 +* Version: 0.981
6 6 * Project URI: <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress>
7 -* License: GPL. See License below for copyright jots and tittles.
7 +* License: GPL 2. See License below for copyright jots and tittles.
8 8
9 9 Introduction
10 10 ------------
11 -FeedWordPress is an Atom/RSS aggregator for WordPress. It syndicates content
12 -from newsfeeds that you select; if you syndicate several newsfeeds then you can
13 -WordPress's posts database and templating engine as the back-end of an
14 -aggregation ("planet") website.
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][].
15 17
16 -FeedWordPress is similar in conception to software such as [Planet][]--in fact,
17 -I started developing it because I needed a more flexible replacement for
18 -Planet at to run [Feminist Blogs](http://www.feministblogs.org/). Since it
19 -works on top of WordPress's database and templating system, however, it boasts
20 -far more flexibility than many other aggregators. It is also designed with ease
21 -of configuration and use in mind.
18 + [Planet]: http://www.planetplanet.org/ "Planet Planet"
19 + [Feminist Blogs]: http://www.feministblogs.org/
22 20
23 -You'll need a working installation of [WordPress 1.5][] and FTP or SFTP access
24 -to 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*.)
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 +[2.1][], [2.0][] or [1.5][]), and also FTP or SFTP access to your web host. The
24 +ability to create cron jobs on your web host would be very helpful but it's not
25 +absolutely necessary. You *don't* need to tweak any plain-text configuration
26 +files and you *don't* need shell access to your web host to make it work.
27 +(Although, I should point out, web hosts that *don't* offer shell access are
28 +*bad web hosts*.)
29 29
30 - [WordPress 1.5]: http://wordpress.org/development/2005/02/strayhorn/
31 - [Planet]: http://www.planetplanet.org/ "Planet Planet"
30 + [2.1]: http://wordpress.org/development/2007/01/ella-21/
31 + [2.0]: http://wordpress.org/development/2005/12/wp2/
32 + [1.5]: http://wordpress.org/development/2005/02/strayhorn/
32 33
33 -Installation & Requirements
34 -You'll need a website with WordPress 1.5 installed and configured and FTP or
35 -SFTP access to your web space. You'll probably also want to have either (1)
36 -the ability to create cron jobs on your web host, or (2) a computer of your
37 -own that has always-on Internet access.
34 +Installation
35 +------------
36 +### Requirements ###
38 37
39 -1. Install `feedwordpress.php` in your WordPress `plugins` directory and
40 - `update.php` in your WordPress `wp-content` directory.
38 +To use version 0.981 of FeedWordPress, you will need:
39 +
40 +1. an installed and configured copy of WordPress 2.1, 2.0.x, or 1.5.x.
41 + (FeedWordPress currently *will not work* with older versions of
42 + WordPress, or with WordPress MU.)
43 +
44 +2. FTP or SFTP access to your web host
45 +
46 +And you'll probably also want to have either:
47 +
48 +1. the ability to create cron jobs on your web host, or at least
49 +
50 +2. a computer of your own and always-on Internet access
51 +
52 +### Installation ###
53 +
54 +#### Upgrades ####
55 +
56 +To *upgrade* an existing installation of FeedWordPress to version 0.981:
57 +
58 +1. Download the FeedWordPress archive in zip or gzipped tar format and
59 + extract the files on your computer. Replace your existing FeedWordPress
60 + files with the new files. Be sure to upgrade `rss.php` and
61 + `rss-functions.php` if you use the optional MagpieRSS upgrade, or don't
62 + use it yet but do want to syndicate Atom 1.0 feeds.
63 +
64 +2. If you are upgrading from version 0.96 or earlier, **immediately** log
65 + in to the WordPress Dashboard, and go to Options --> Syndicated. Follow
66 + the directions to launch the database upgrade procedure. The new
67 + versions of FeedWordPress incorporate some long-needed improvements, but
68 + old meta-data needs to be updated to prevent duplicate posts and other
69 + possible maladies. If you're upgrading an existing installation, updates
70 + and FeedWordPress template functions *will not work* until you've done
71 + the upgrade.
72 +
73 +3. Take a coffee break while the upgrade runs. It should, hopefully, finish
74 + within a few minutes even on relatively large databases.
75 +
76 +4. `update-feeds.php` has been overhauled to improve performance and ease
77 + of use, and also to make errors easier to detect and eliminate. The
78 + overhaul doesn't require any changes to your set up *if* you used
79 + XML-RPC pings, or command-line PHP, to do scheduled updates. It *does*
80 + affect you if you used curl or some other tool to send HTTP requests to
81 + `update-feeds.php`: your old cron job will probably not work anymore.
82 + See [Setting Up Feed Updates][] below to get scheduled updates back on
83 + track.
84 +
85 +5. Enjoy your new installation of FeedWordPress.
86 +
87 +#### New Installations ####
88 +
89 +1. Install `feedwordpress.php` in your WordPress `plugins` directory
90 + and `update-feeds.php` in your WordPress `wp-content` directory.
41 91
42 92 2. (Optional) Upgrade the copy of MagpieRSS packaged with WordPress by
43 - installing the new `rss-functions.php` (archived in
93 + installing the new `rss.php` and `rss-functions.php` (archived in
44 94 `OPTIONAL/wp-includes`) into your WordPress `wp-includes` directory.
95 + Upgrading MagpieRSS is necessary if you want to take advantage of
96 + support for Atom 1.0, multiple post categories, RSS enclosures, and
97 + multiple character encodings. (Note, however, that support for
98 + transliterating between character encodings is a very complex and
99 + iffy prospect in some PHP environments, so if you intend to use
100 + a lot of feeds with alternate encodings you should make sure that
101 + your installation of PHP is up-to-date and that you keep a copy of
102 + the old MagpieRSS around to compare results.)
45 103
46 -3. Log in to the WordPress Dashboard and activate the FeedWordPress plugin.
47 - Go to Options --> Syndication to set up initial settings for the
48 - syndication link category ("Contributors") by default and the RPC secret
49 - word (blank by default, but you should probably set it to something.)
104 +3. Log in to the WordPress Dashboard and activate the FeedWordPress
105 + plugin.
50 106
51 -4. Set up links for syndication from the WordPress Dashboard using
52 - Links --> Syndicated or Links --> Import.
107 +4. While you're at the Dashboard, once the plugin is activated, you can
108 + go to Options --> Syndication and set (1) the link category that
109 + FeedWordPress will syndicate links from (by default, "Contributors"),
110 + and (2) a "secret word" for your RPC-XML updating interface. This
111 + provides some light security by keeping passing ruffians from saying
112 + "Update all the feeds" at will to your FeedWordPress installation.
53 113
54 -5. FeedWordPress is now *ready* to feed syndicated content into WordPress.
55 - In order for it to actually receive that content, either (1) have your
56 - contributors add WordPress's XML-RPC URI to their blog's list of URIs
57 - to ping when they update posts, (2) set up a cron job to check in on all
58 - the feeds on a regular basis, or (3) both. If you do (2), you can either
59 - set up a job to run `php update-feeds.php` on your web host, or set one
60 - up on any computer with always-on Internet access to request
61 - `update-feeds.php` over the web.
114 +5. Go to Blogroll --> Syndicated or Links --> Syndicated to set up the list
115 + of sites that you want FeedWordPress to syndicate onto your blog. (If
116 + you have the feeds you want to aggregate in a service such as Bloglines,
117 + you may prefer to export them to an OPML file and use WordPress's Links
118 + --> Import to import them into the contributors category.)
119 +
120 +#### Setting Up Feed Updates ####
121 +
122 +FeedWordPress is now ready to accept posts from its syndication sources.
123 +Unfortunately, it doesn't yet know *when* to go get them. (**This may be true
124 +even if you are upgrading an existing installation of FeedWordPress:** your old
125 +cron job will still work if you used command-line PHP or blogging software pings
126 +to do updates, but it will need to be fixed if you used curl or another tool to
127 +send HTTP requests to `update-feeds.php`.)
128 +
129 +You can load in syndicated posts for the first time by pointing your web browser
130 +to `update-feeds.php`. If you have WordPress installed at, say,
131 +<http://www.zyx.com/blog> then you should point your browser to
132 +<http://www.zyx.com/blog/wp-content/update-feeds.php> and log in as any user in
133 +the user database. (You may want to create a new "dummy" user for doing
134 +scheduled updates, using **Users --> Authors & Users --> Add New User**. Tell
135 +FeedWordPress to update all feeds, and you'll get the first wave of posts
136 +imported into the database.
137 +
138 +Congratulations! You should now have an aggregator site full of delicious
139 +syndicated content hot off of the newswires. Now you just need a way to *keep*
140 +the content freshly updated. Unless you enjoy manually browsing to
141 +`update-feeds.php` every hour on the hour, you'll probably want to do this by
142 +setting up your site for automated updates.
143 +
144 +You can pull that off in one of two ways, or by a mixture of both:
62 145
63 - If your copy of WordPress is installed at <http://www.zyx.com/blog>, and
64 - you set the secret word for XML-RPC pings to "foo", then your XML-RPC
65 - URI will be <http://www.zyx.com/blog/xmlrpc.php>, and the URI to request
66 - for `update-feeds.php` to update all feeds will be
67 - <http://www.zyx.com/blog/wp-content/update-feeds.php?shibboleth=foo>
146 +1. **The Blogging Software Ping Method:** You can get all of your
147 + contributors to add you to the list of URIs that they notify of updates:
148 + while FeedWordPress is activated, it will accept XML-RPC "recently
149 + updated" pings in the standard format accepted by Weblogs.com,
150 + Ping-O-Matic, Technorati, and other services. Most blogging software
151 + allows users to add a URI to the list of URIs that get pinged on each
152 + update. (See, for example, Options --> Writing --> Update Services in
153 + WordPress, or Configuration --> Preferences --> Publicity / Remote
154 + Interfaces / TrackBack in Movable Type.)
155 +
156 + If you can get a contributor to add your XML-RPC URI to her
157 + services-to-ping list (if you have WordPress installed at
158 + <http://www.zyx.com/blog>, say, the URI to add should be
159 + <http://www.zyx.com/blog/xmlrpc.php>), then whenever she updates her
160 + blog, her blogging software will ping your FeedWordPress installation,
161 + and FeedWordPress will look up her feed to grab the new posts off of
162 + it.
68 163
69 -For detailed installation instructions, point your web browser to
70 -<http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/install>.
164 +2. **The Scheduled Update Job Method:** You may very well not be able to
165 + get all your contributors to add your site to their blogging software's
166 + ping list, and even if you do you may want to have a back-up option to
167 + catch updates later even if the ping fails to go through on one
168 + particular occasion. You'll need to create a scheduled job to
169 + periodically check for updates on *all* the feeds. You'll need either
170 + (a) the ability to create cron jobs on your web host or (b) access to
171 + another computer with a reliable, always-on Internet connection.
172 +
173 + If you *can* create a crontab on your web host, then the best thing to
174 + do is to create a cron job that will run update-feeds.php through the
175 + PHP command-line interface. For example, if you have WordPress installed
176 + in `~/www/wp` (where ~ is your home directory), you might insert the
177 + following line into your crontab:
178 +
179 + 25 * * * * cd $HOME/www/wp/wp-content ; php -q update-feeds.php
71 180
72 -Feed Settings
73 -### Feed Settings ###
181 + If you *don't* have access to (a), you can still save the day using
182 + another computer with always-on Internet access that sends a POST
183 + request to the `update-feeds.php` URI on a regular schedule. So, for
184 + example, if you have WordPress installed at <http://www.zyx.com/blog>,
185 + and you have a dummy user in your WordPress database with the login name
186 + 'login' and the password 'pass', then you could add the following line
187 + to the crontab on a home Linux box:
188 +
189 + 25 * * * * curl --user login:pass http://www.zyx.com/blog/wp-content/update-feeds.php -d update=quiet
74 190
75 -Once you have your links configured and regular feed updates scheduled, you can
76 -mostly leave FeedWordPress to run on its own. If you need to add, remove, or
77 -change information for any contributors, you can do so from the WordPress
78 -Dashboard under Links --> Syndicated. If you want to distribute the labor of
79 -adding, updating, and managing feeds, you can use the WordPress login and access
80 -privileges system. Users with an access level of 5 or greater can add or modify
81 -syndicated links, and change syndication options.
191 + The `-d update=quiet` switch ensures that (1) `update-feeds.php` will
192 + receive an HTTP POST request rather than an HTTP GET request (which
193 + is important, since it won't take any actions with side-effects -- such
194 + as checking for new posts -- unless it receives an HTTP POST); it also
195 + tells it to suppress the HTML output that it would generate for normal
196 + web browsers, and only to output text if it encounters errors (this will
197 + keep the number of e-mails you receive from the Cron Daemon to a
198 + minimum).
82 199
83 -All the information for a syndicated feed is managed through the WordPress Links
84 -database. Feeds in the category to be syndicated (by default, "Contributors")
85 -use several fields of the standard WordPress Link record:
200 + If you are using Windows XP and have a version of curl (such as the
201 + version included in [Cygwin][]), you can create a Scheduled Task to
202 + similar effect.
86 203
87 -- The Link URI is used to store a URI to the front page (*not* the feed!)
88 - of the syndicated website.
204 + [Cygwin]: http://www.cygwin.com/
89 205
90 -- The Link Name is used to store the title of the syndicated website.
206 +Basic Concepts
207 +--------------
208 +FeedWordPress is written as a plugin for the WordPress weblog software. It is
209 +designed to store all the data it needs within the WordPress database and to
210 +make that data easy to manage from within the WordPress Dashboard.
91 211
92 -- The Short Description is used to store the tagline of the syndicated
93 - website.
212 +### Contributors / Newsfeeds ###
94 213
95 -- The RSS URI is used to store the URI for the feed to be syndicated.
96 -
97 -- The Link Notes are used to store a collection of manually-encoded and
98 - automatically-generated settings that apply to this feed. The format of
99 - settings in Link Notes is:
100 -
101 - key1: value1
102 - key2: value2
103 - key3: value3
104 - feed/key1: value1
105 - feed/key2: value2
106 -
107 - And so on. Values that are prefixed by 'feed/' are automatically
108 - generated from feed data every time the feed syndicated by this link is
109 - checked for updates. Values without the prefix are set manually by the
110 - user.
214 +FeedWordPress uses the WordPress Links database to keep a list of the feeds from
215 +which it will syndicate content. WordPress allows you to place links in
216 +categories; FeedWordPress will make use of all and only the links in one
217 +category (by default, this is a category named "Contributors"; you can change
218 +the category that FeedWordPress will use using **Options --> Syndication**).
111 219
112 -Most settings in the Link Notes have no effect on FeedWordPress, but can be
113 -accessed from templates using the ``get_feed_meta()`` template function in a
114 -post context. For example, many aggregator sites use a "face" image for each
115 -feed to visually distinguish posts from different feeds. To implement a face
116 -feature, you could add a line like this to each feed's Link Notes section:
220 +From WordPress's perspective, the list of Contributors are normal links, and
221 +they can be manipulated like other links through the WordPress Dashboard.
222 +However, FeedWordPress provides a nicer interface for adding, removing, or
223 +changing information for the Contributor Links from the WordPress Dashboard,
224 +under **Links --> Syndicated**.
117 225
118 - face: http://www.zyx.com/mugs/ugly
226 +If you want to distribute the labor of adding, updating, and managing feeds
227 +between several people, you can use the WordPress login andaccess privileges
228 +system. Any users with an access level of 5 or greater can add, delete, and
229 +modify Contributors; users with an access level of 6 or greater can change
230 +syndication options.
119 231
120 -The URI should be changed out for each feed to point to the appropriate image,
121 -of course. Then, to use the setting from within a template:
232 +When FeedWordPress looks for new posts, it retrieves one or all of the links
233 +from the Contributors category (depending on whether it has been told to scan
234 +for new posts on one or all of the feeds), determines which of them should be
235 +polled for updates (based on how long it has been since the last time each feed
236 +was polled for updates), and then uses an HTTP conditional GET to check for
237 +updates at the "RSS URI" for each Link that it selects. Any new posts are added
238 +to the database, and old posts that have been updated since the last poll are
239 +updated to reflect the new version.
122 240
123 - // In a post context
124 - <?php $img = get_feed_meta('face'); if strlen($img) > 0): ?>
125 - <img src="<?=$img?>" alt="" />
126 - <?php endif; ?>
241 +__Feed settings:__ All of the information for a syndicated feed is stored in the
242 +WordPress Links database, and can be easily edited using an interface that
243 +FeedWordPress provides under **Links --> Syndicated**. (If you're curious about
244 +the technical details of how the information is stored, you can find out more
245 +under [API: How feed information is stored][].)
127 246
247 +You can use a feed's **Edit** link under **Links --> Syndicated** to affect how
248 +FeedWordPress prcesses posts from that feed. (Most of these options can either
249 +be set for *one particular feed* using **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit**, or set
250 +as the default for *all feeds* using **Options --> Syndication**.) The **Edit**
251 +link also allows you to set **Custom Feed Settings** for use in templates,
252 +through the use of the [`get_feed_meta()`][get_feed_meta] template function in a
253 +post context (see [Template API][]). For example, many aggregator sites use a
254 +"face" image for each feed to visually distinguish posts from different feeds.
255 +To implement a face feature, you could add a custom setting for each Contributor
256 +Link, with the key of "face" and a URI such as "http://www.zyx.com/mugs/ugly"
257 +for the value. (The URI should be changed out for each feed to point to the
258 +appropriate image, of course.) Then, to use the setting from within a template,
259 +add something like:
260 +
261 + // In a post context
262 + <?php $img = get_feed_meta('face'); if (strlen($img) > 0): ?>
263 + <img src="<?=$img?>" alt="" />
264 + <?php endif; ?>
265 +
128 266 ... which will display the image, if any, whose URI is set in the "face" setting
129 267 for the feed that post comes from. If there is no "face" setting for a
130 -particular feed, ``get_feed_meta()`` will return an empty string and no image
131 -will be displayed.
268 +particular feed, [`get_feed_meta()`][get_feed_meta] will return an empty string
269 +and no image will be displayed.
132 270
133 -Not all feed settings are only for templates. Some affect how FeedWordPress
134 -processes posts from that feed. Currently, the special settings are:
271 + [API: How feed information is stored]: http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/api#how-feed-information-is-stored
135 272
136 -- `cats:` a colon-separated list of default categories for any post coming
137 - from this feed. So, for example, a this line in its Notes section:
273 +### Syndicated Posts ###
138 274
139 - cats: computers:web
275 +Whenever FeedWordPress updates, it scans one or more of the feeds in its
276 +Contributors list and adds any new posts that it finds to the WordPress
277 +database. Syndicated posts are displayed on your WordPress pages like any other
278 +posts: they can be listed in archives by category, author, or date; they can be
279 +found with the search box; and they are included in the newsfeed of your blog.
140 280
141 - ... will make FeedWordPress place any posts syndicated from that feed in
142 - the "computers" and "web" categories (*in addition to*, not *instead of*
143 - any categories that are applied to the post in the feed)
281 +In your WordPress templates (**Presentation --> Theme Editor**) you can access
282 +special information about syndicated posts using [functions provided by
283 +FeedWordPress][Template API], such as [`is_syndicated()`][is_syndicated],
284 +[`the_syndication_source()`][the_syndication_source],
285 +[`the_syndication_source_link()`][the_syndication_source_link], and
286 +[`get_feed_meta()`][get_feed_meta]. For example, here is the template code that
287 +I use (in a post context) to display both the author's name and the original
288 +source of the post in the templates for [Feminist Blogs][]:
144 289
145 -- `hardcode name: (yes|no)`
290 + <cite class="feed">from <?php the_author_posts_link()?><?php
291 + if (is_syndicated() and (get_the_author() !== get_syndication_source())):
292 + echo ' @ <a href="'; the_syndication_source_link(); echo '">';
293 + the_syndication_source();
294 + echo '</a>';
295 + endif; ?></cite>
146 296
147 - A yes/no setting. By default, FeedWordPress updates the value of the
148 - Link Name field automatically to reflect the title that is reported by a
149 - syndicated feed. (So, for example, if one of your contributors changes
150 - the title of her weblog, the change will be reflected on your
151 - Contributors list after the next update.) To override that behavior for
152 - a particular feed (e.g. to force WordPress to use an abbreviated form of
153 - the site's title for reasons of space), add a line like this to the Link
154 - Notes section:
297 +For more information on template functions, see [Template API][].
155 298
156 - hardcode name: yes
157 -
158 - If `hardcode name` is absent, or set to a value other than `yes`,
159 - FeedWordPress will take that as a 'no' and follow the default behavior.
299 +### Categories ###
160 300
161 -- `post status:` sets the default post status for posts from this feed
162 - This can be 'publish', 'draft', or 'private'. By default, it is set to
163 - 'publish' (syndicated posts go online immediately).
301 +WordPress allows for posts to be placed in *categories*. Each syndicated post
302 +that FeedWordPress adds to the WordPress database is placed into a set of
303 +categories. FeedWordPress gets the list of category names to use from two
304 +sources:
164 305
165 -- `comment status:` sets the default status for comments on posts
166 - syndicated from this feed. By default, all comments on syndicated posts
167 - are closed, but you can set it to 'open', 'closed', or 'registered_only'
168 - for particular feeds.
306 +1. Categories (or "tags") that the original author placed the post in on
307 + her blog
169 308
170 -- `ping status:` sets the default status for receiving TrackBack and
171 - PingBack pings on posts syndicated from this feed. By default,
172 - syndicated posts are closed to pings, but you can set this to 'open' or
173 - 'closed' for particular feeds.
309 +2. Categories that you set explicitly for each feed using the
310 + **Categories** checkbox under **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit**. For
311 + example, if you wanted all the posts from Alas, A Blog to be placed in
312 + the "Pacific Northwest" category and the "Cartoonists" category (*in
313 + addition to* any other categories that they were placed in on Alas, A
314 + Blog), you could do this by creating the categories, going to **Links
315 + --> Syndicated**, clicking the "Edit" link for Alas, A Blog, and
316 + checking those two categories under the checkbox captioned "Categories."
174 317
318 +Given the list of category names, FeedWordPress looks for categories in the
319 +WordPress database with the same name as either (1) the category name, or
320 +(2) one of the "aliases" listed in the category description.
321 +
322 +__Aliases:__ Different often authors use slightly different names for categories
323 +that mean the same thing (contributors to Feminist Blogs, for example, used
324 +categories including "Feminism", "feministy stuff", "Women's Issues", "Gender
325 +Issues", "Gender Equality", and so on). If you want FeedWordPress to treat one
326 +category name as a synonym for another, you can do so by creating an "alias" for
327 +the category. For example, to make FeedWordPress treat posts that are placed in
328 +the category "feministy stuff" as if they had been placed in the category
329 +"Feminism", go to **Manage --> Categories**, find the category "Feminism" and
330 +click the "Edit" link for it, and then add the following to the Description
331 +field, on a line by itself:
332 +
333 + a.k.a.: feministy stuff
334 +
335 +You can add as many aliases as you like. You can also add any other text that
336 +you like to the Description without interfering with FeedWordPress's ability to
337 +use the aliases. Each alias must be on a line by itself.
338 +
339 +__Unfamiliar categories:__ If one of the category names that a newsfeed provides
340 +is *unfamiliar* -- that is, if there is not yet any category in your WordPress
341 +database that either has that name, or uses that name as an alias -- then by
342 +default FeedWordPress will *automatically create* a new category with that name
343 +and place the current post in it. The default behavior can be changed so that
344 +unfamiliar categories will *not* be added to the database, using the
345 +**Unfamiliar categories** setting, either for *all* feeds (under **Options -->
346 +Syndication**) or for *one particular feed* (under **Links --> Syndicated**).
347 +
348 +If you choose to disable the creation of new categories, either for all feeds or
349 +for one particular feed, then you can also choose whether or not FeedWordPress
350 +should syndicate posts that do not match *any* of the categories that are
351 +currently in the database. This allows you to do some simple filtering of posts
352 +by category: if you want to your blog to syndicate only the posts in one
353 +particular category from a feed that has several categories, you could do so by
354 +creating a category by that name, adding the new feed(s), and then setting
355 +**Unfamiliar categories** under **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit** to "don't
356 +create new categories and don't syndicate posts unless they match at least one
357 +familiar category".
358 +
359 +Since only posts in categories that are in your database will be included, and
360 +only the category or categories that you wanted posts from has been added to
361 +your database, this will filter out all the posts that aren't in the category or
362 +categories that you defined ahead of time. (Similarly, you could set up
363 +FeedWordPress so that *all* the feeds are filtered by author by creating the set
364 +of users named after the authors you want to syndicate, and then setting the
365 +default behavior for *all* feeds at **Options --> Syndication**).
366 +
367 +If you need a category filter with more complex logic, you can always create a
368 +`syndicated_item` filter in PHP (see [Plugin API][]) that manipulates the
369 +`['categories']` array of a syndicated item.
370 +
371 +### Authors ###
372 +
373 +Most newsfeeds include information about the author of the items on them.
374 +(If a feed doesn't, then FeedWordPress will create an author's name based on
375 +the title of the feed from which the item was taken.) This information is used
376 +to determine the WordPress user that the post will be attributed to. Given the
377 +name of the author, FeedWordPress looks for authors in the WordPress database
378 +with the same name as either (1) their login, (2) their display name, (3) their
379 +e-mail address (if given), or (4) one of the "aliases" listed in the
380 +user's profile.
381 +
382 +__Aliases:__ If there is an author who posts under more than one name (for
383 +example, one of our contributors at [Feminist Blogs][] posts on several
384 +different blogs, sometimes using her full name and sometimes using only her
385 +first name), then you can ensure that FeedWordPress will attribute those posts
386 +to the same author by creating "aliases" for the author. For example, to make
387 +FeedWordPress treat posts by "Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger" and posts by "Pope
388 +Benedict XVI" as having the same author, go to **Users --> Authors & Users**,
389 +click on the "Edit" link for Pope Benedict XVI, and add a line like this to the
390 +Profile text:
391 +
392 + a.k.a.: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
393 +
394 +You can add as many aliases as you like. You can also add any other text that
395 +you like to the Profile without interfering with FeedWordPress's ability to use
396 +the aliases. Each alias must be on a line by itself.
397 +
398 +__Unfamiliar authors:__ By default, if the author named by the newsfeed is
399 +unfamiliar -- that is, if there is no-one with that name registered in the
400 +WordPress author's database -- then by default FeedWordPress will automatically
401 +create a new user account with the given name and attribute the post to the new
402 +user. The default behavior can be changed, using either the global settings in
403 +**Options --> Syndication** or the [feed settings][] under **Links -->
404 +Syndicated --> Edit**, so that posts by unfamiliar authors will either be
405 +attributed to a default author (instead of creating a new user account to
406 +attribute them to), or filtered out and not syndicated at all.
407 +
408 +One of the uses of this feature is to filtering posts by author: if you want to
409 +your blog to syndicate only the posts by one particular author from a feed that
410 +has several authors, you could do so by creating a user account with that
411 +author's name, adding the new feed(s), and then setting **Unfamiliar authors**
412 +under **Links --> Syndicated --> Edit** to "don't syndicate the post". Since
413 +only posts by authors that are in your database will be included, and only the
414 +author that you wanted posts from has been added to your database, this will
415 +filter out posts by anyone else on the feeds with that setting. (Similarly, you
416 +could set up FeedWordPress so that *all* the feeds are filtered by author by
417 +creating the set of users named after the authors you want to syndicate, and
418 +then setting the default behavior for *all* feeds at **Options -->
419 +Syndication**).
420 +
421 +If you need an author filter with more complex logic than this allows, you can
422 +always create a `syndicated_item` filter in PHP (see [Plugin API][]) that
423 +manipulates the `['author_name']` or `['dc']['creator']` elements of a
424 +syndicated item.
425 +
175 426 Template API
176 427 ------------
177 428 When activated, FeedWordPress makes the following functions available for use by
178 429 themes/templates:
@@ -186,9 +435,9 @@
186 435 * ``get_syndication_permalink()``: in a post context, returns the URI of
187 436 the permalink for this post *on the website it was syndicated from*
188 437
189 438 * ``the_syndication_permalink()``: in a post context, outputs the value
190 - returned by ``get_syndication_permalink()``
439 + returned by [``get_syndication_permalink()``][get_syndication_permalink]
191 440
192 441 * ``get_syndication_source_link()``: in a post context, returns the URI of
193 442 the front page (*not* the feed) of the website this post was syndicated
194 443 from
@@ -193,9 +442,10 @@
193 442 the front page (*not* the feed) of the website this post was syndicated
194 443 from
195 444
196 445 * ``the_syndication_source_link()``: in a post context, outputs the URI
197 - returned by ``get_syndication_source_link()``
446 + returned by
447 + [``get_syndication_source_link()``][get_syndication_source_link]
198 448
199 449 * ``get_syndication_source()``: in a post context, returns the
200 450 human-readable title of the website that a syndicated post was
201 451 syndicated from
@@ -200,15 +450,15 @@
200 450 human-readable title of the website that a syndicated post was
201 451 syndicated from
202 452
203 453 * ``the_syndication_source()``: in a post context, outputs the value
204 - returned by ``get_syndication_source()``
454 + returned by [``get_syndication_source()``][get_syndication_source]
205 455
206 456 * ``get_syndication_feed():`` in a post context, returns the URI of the
207 457 feed (*not* the front page) that this post was syndicated from
208 458
209 459 * ``the_syndication_feed()``: in a post context, outputs the value
210 - returned by ``get_syndication_feed()``
460 + returned by [``get_syndication_feed()``][get_syndication_feed]
211 461
212 462 * ``get_feed_meta($key)``: in a post context, returns the value, if any,
213 463 of the feed setting ``$key`` for the feed that this post was syndicated
214 464 from
@@ -214,14 +464,26 @@
214 464 from
215 465
216 466 By default, FeedWordPress also places a filter on the standard functions
217 467 ``get_permalink()`` and ``the_permalink()`` that substitutes the URI returned by
218 -``get_syndication_permalink()`` for the URI generated by WordPress. This means
219 -that by default the permalinks listed on your website and in your newsfeed will
220 -link to the location of the posts on the source website, *not* to their location
221 -on your website. You can switch this behavior on or off at Options -->
222 -Syndication in the WordPress Dashboard.
468 +[``get_syndication_permalink()``][get_syndication_permalink] for the URI
469 +generated by WordPress. This means that by default the permalinks listed on your
470 +website and in your newsfeed will link to the location of the posts on the
471 +source website, *not* to their location on your website. You can switch this
472 +behavior on or off at **Options --> Syndication** in the WordPress Dashboard.
223 473
474 +Plugin API
475 +----------
476 +FeedWordPress creates five hooks through the WordPress plugin architecture that
477 +you can plug in to using PHP WordPress plugins, to supplement ordinary
478 +FeedWordPress behavior, or to filter posts according to criteria that you set.
479 +The hooks are the action ``feedwordpress_update``, the action
480 +``feedwordpress_check_feed``, the action ``feedwordpress_update_complete``, the
481 +filter ``syndicated_item``, the filter ``syndicated_post``, the action
482 +``post_syndicated_item``, and the action ``update_syndicated_item``.
483 +
484 +For more information, see <http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/api>.
485 +
224 486 License
225 487 -------
226 488 The FeedWordPress plugin is copyright (c) 2005 by Charles Johnson. It uses code
227 489 derived or translated from:
@@ -226,8 +488,9 @@
226 488 The FeedWordPress plugin is copyright (c) 2005 by Charles Johnson. It uses code
227 489 derived or translated from:
228 490
229 491 - [wp-rss-aggregate.php][] by [Kellan Elliot-McCrea](kellan@protest.net)
492 +- [MagpieRSS][] by [Kellan Elliot-McCrea](kellan@protest.net)
230 493 - [HTTP Navigator 2][] by [Keyvan Minoukadeh](keyvan@k1m.com)
231 494 - [Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder][] by [Mark Pilgrim](mark@diveintomark.org)
232 495
233 496 according to the terms of the [GNU General Public License][].
@@ -232,11 +495,11 @@
232 495
233 496 according to the terms of the [GNU General Public License][].
234 497
235 498 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
236 -the terms of the [GNU General Public License][] as published by the Free Software
237 -Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
238 -version.
499 +the terms of the [GNU General Public License][] as published by the Free
500 +Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
501 +later version.
239 502
240 503 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
241 504 WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
242 505 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
@@ -241,8 +504,10 @@
241 504 WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
242 505 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
243 506
244 507 [wp-rss-aggregate.php]: http://laughingmeme.org/archives/002203.html
508 + [MagpieRSS]: http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/
245 509 [HTTP Navigator 2]: http://www.keyvan.net/2004/11/16/http-navigator/
246 510 [Ultra-Liberal Feed Finder]: http://diveintomark.org/projects/feed_finder/
511 +
247 512 [GNU General Public License]: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
248 513