[Module] Customizable RSS feed module

[Tom M]

Where do I find that?
It's somewhere within the new CMPS configuration. Since I don't have that installed yet I'm not sure exactly where it's located.

Sorry I can't be more help on this.

[cdc oner]

Where do I find that?

vbA CMPS -> Default Settings -> Main Options -> Bottom of the page.

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[1996 328ti]

vbA CMPS -> Default Settings -> Main Options -> Bottom of the page.Thanks! All working now. :)

[Bozza]

I would like to use this but I would like it to be a lot more extended. I can imagine that what I'm asking is too much but I would like to have the option to use multiple feeds and have the topics of these feeds appear in one box. I would also want to have the date+time to be mentioned.

Does anyone perhaps know how to do the last one? It's now that I've got the newstopic shown on my home but you can't see when the newstopic was made.

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[Tom M]

I would like to use this but I would like it to be a lot more extended. I can imagine that what I'm asking is too much but I would like to have the option to use multiple feeds and have the topics of these feeds appear in one box. I would also want to have the date+time to be mentioned.

Does anyone perhaps know how to do the last one? It's now that I've got the newstopic shown on my home but you can't see when the newstopic was made.Which version of vBulletin are you using? If it's one of the later ones you could always set up to collect rss feeds using the built-in functionality and then pull the info from that forum.

OTOH - It wouldn't be that difficult to modify the php file to pull multiple feed names and then fetch them. How you deal with the display at that point would be up to you.

[Joe Blow]

Whenever I click on one of the navbar drop down menus such as 'Quick Links' for some reason the content of the module drops down an equivalent amount.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Just wondering if anyone has figured out how to fix this bug?

It's frustrating as hell as it makes my site look unprofessional but I really need a RSS feed module to display up-to-date news.

[Tom M]

Just wondering if anyone has figured out how to fix this bug?

It's frustrating as hell as it makes my site look unprofessional but I really need a RSS feed module to display up-to-date news.Since it only seems to do this with IE I really don't know what to tell you. As a workaround you could shorten or eliminate the descriptions and kill the scrolling capability which would remove the problem.

There is another RSS feed module available you can try to see if that will do what you need.

[chyron2000]

When I disable "Process PHP File Modules Within A Function" my News modules disappear. Is this common?

Jon
Radiosoapbox.com (http://www.radiosoapbox.com)

[Tom M]

When I disable "Process PHP File Modules Within A Function" my News modules disappear. Is this common?

Jon
Radiosoapbox.com (http://www.radiosoapbox.com)If you are referring to the normal vBa News module disappearing I have no idea why that would be as the 2 modules don't interact.

Make sure you have the following set for the RSS module...

Use Module Wrapper Template -> No
Clean File Output -> No
Process PHP File Modules with a Function -> No

Since you are using a custom style make sure the templates got loaded into that style as otherwise the output won't show up. Do you have anything in the Data qualification or Data modification sections of the module?

I was able to get your critical feed to work on my pre-vBa 3.0 version though it did barf once before displaying the output.

I'll be happy to take a look at things for you if you want to provide me access. Feel free to PM me the needed information.

[chyron2000]

Use Module Wrapper Template -> No Correct
Clean File Output -> No Correct
Process PHP File Modules with a Function -> No Correct

Since you are using a custom style make sure the templates got loaded into that style as otherwise the output won't show up. We're good here

Do you have anything in the Data qualification or Data modification sections of the module? No, empty

I was able to get your critical feed to work on my pre-vBa 3.0 version though it did barf once before displaying the output.

Good to hear. I was also able to get this feed to behave as well. VB's own RSS routine has had trouble with this source before so I was relieved to see it finally worked.

However, I can literally toggle whether the News Module will appear on home or the RSS by selecting "Process PHP File Modules Within A Function" Y=News but no RSS, N=RSS but no News. It's presently not allowing both modules to exist on the home.

Jon Thomas
RadioSoapbox.com - Radio Industry Message Boards (http://www.radiosoapbox.com)

[Tom M]

Good to hear. I was also able to get this feed to behave as well. VB's own RSS routine has had trouble with this source before so I was relieved to see it finally worked.

However, I can literally toggle whether the News Module will appear on home or the RSS by selecting "Process PHP File Modules Within A Function" Y=News but no RSS, N=RSS but no News. It's presently not allowing both modules to exist on the home.

Jon Thomas
RadioSoapbox.com - Radio Industry Message Boards (http://www.radiosoapbox.com)I installed the module on a clean vb 3.6.7 and vBa 3.0 RC1 configuration. Everything behaved properly and as expected. As noted elsewhere, Process PHP File Modules Within A Function must be set to 'No' fo the RSS module to work and doing so had no impact on the News module..

[Paulo]

After upgrade cmps 3.0rc1, the text of category is align left or in template is
style="float:right"

Why this bug now?
You can see this in mys site: http://www.astunet.net

Thank you

[Tom M]

After upgrade cmps 3.0rc1, the text of category is align left or in template is


Why this bug now?
You can see this in mys site: http://www.astunet.net

Thank youLooking at the HTML source for the page shows that the style="float:right" is missing. Not sure why that would be unless the template was modified.

[Paulo]

The HTML source is correct. I have too much problem with 3.0rc1 and i come back to 2.2.
I wait ultime 3.0

Thank you

[Tom M]

The HTML source is correct. I have too much problem with 3.0rc1 and i come back to 2.2.
I wait ultime 3.0

Thank youIf the HTML source is correct then that's why the category is on the left. ;) I have no real idea why that would change in a 3.0 install unless the variables used to determine the column position (which is what I think the problem is) have changed. If so then it should be an easy fix or just modify the template to remove the conditional when you go back to 3.0.

[Joe Blow]

Tom, just noticed another issue with Internet Explorer.

Whenever I click on one of the navbar drop down menus such as 'Quick Links' for some reason the content of the module drops down an equivalent amount.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Okay, this issue has become so frustrating to me I am willing to pay someone to figure out how to make the scrolling work properly with I.E. I simply can't do without the scrollbar with this module.

Unfortunately this bug takes what is a very useful module and makes it seem unprofessional to users of Internet Explorer. (80% of my users)

Any takers?

[abjds.com]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me posting to ask this...

I've just installed your great plugin today, had a bit of trouble at first but with the help of this thread I managed to get it working fine. :) Only problem is... the RSS feed I'm trying to call is in Japanese and it looks as if your mod is garbling the Japanese characters. I've set my page to be able to show Japanese characters, and furthermore tested and if I paste Japanese characters locally into the templates, they are read correctly -- but the Japanese characters coming through the RSS are coming up as total gibberish.

The page is here if you would like to take a look:
http://www.abjds.com/cmps_index.php
The RSS feed is at the bottom.
(There's no locally read Japanese any more, it's all through the RSS at the moment. But I've messed with everything I can think of that normally get the Japanese to show, including the encoding, making a specific span class with a Japanese font, etc, etc... :/ )

Basically I just wanted to ask if you think I'm on the right track in assuming that it's your mod that is mangling the Japanese characters? If you think that is possible? And if so, whether it's fixable? Even if it's some sort of hack I could do or something, I'd be happy to if it would work.

If you don't think it's your mod but do happen to by chance have any idea of what it might be, I would be most grateful for any assistance!

(However, I do understand that it's a random and obscure problem, so I'll understand if you can't help.)

Thank you in advance.

Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention but realised it might be important; I had to use the CURL version that you offered somewhere in the thread because the initial rss_cmps2.php one just gave me constant errors despite fixing everything mentioned throughout this thread.. but as soon as I used the CURL one it worked right away.

Edit2: And... now I can sheepishly say thank you very much for your help, I should've looked further before posting! I found a post where you explained about charsets and linked to this:
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?p=78754#post78754
And I modified it to convert to shift_jis instead, which worked like a charm! :D
I then had trouble getting the page to default to shift_jis, but after altering the language on my forum to be 'jp' rather than 'en' I've now got it working fine and the RSS feeds are showing up great in Japanese. Thank you for this wonderful plugin, I'm definitely going to make the most of it!

[towermatt]

I love this one too, very cool.

Glad to hear you got it worked out.

[Olly_K]

is Tom still supporting this, I'm having real trouble getting it to display. I have read every single post in this thread and it still doesnt work.

using vb 3.6.8 and vba 3.x. Cache folder has feeds in and none of them have 0 bytes.

module is active, set to homepage,
Use Module Wrapper Template -> No
Clean File Output -> No
Process PHP File Modules with a Function -> No

I dont know what else it could be.

The really annoying thing is I installed this mod about a year ago on another site and it works perfectly. different versions though of vba and vb. have cross-referenced every single setting and it still will not show up

[Tom M]

is Tom still supporting this, I'm having real trouble getting it to display. I have read every single post in this thread and it still doesnt work.

using vb 3.6.8 and vba 3.x. Cache folder has feeds in and none of them have 0 bytes.

module is active, set to homepage,
Use Module Wrapper Template -> No
Clean File Output -> No
Process PHP File Modules with a Function -> No

I dont know what else it could be.

The really annoying thing is I installed this mod about a year ago on another site and it works perfectly. different versions though of vba and vb. have cross-referenced every single setting and it still will not show up
See if this version works for you. I just finished upgrading to vb 3.6.8 and vBa 3.0. I've tested it with Process PHP File Modules with a Function set to both Yes and No and it seems to work OK for me.

[geoff]

See if this version works for you. I just finished upgrading to vb 3.6.8 and vBa 3.0. I've tested it with Process PHP File Modules with a Function set to both Yes and No and it seems to work OK for me.

This verstion works great for me.

Thanks Tom

[Olly_K]

Can also confirm that this version of the file works for me too. You are a genius and thank you for helping us with this a year down the line.

if you accept donations, please could you pm me your paypal address or any other means of accepting a small donation from me for taking the time to get it working.

Thanks again
Olly

[Tom M]

Can also confirm that this version of the file works for me too. You are a genius and thank you for helping us with this a year down the line.

if you accept donations, please could you pm me your paypal address or any other means of accepting a small donation from me for taking the time to get it working.

Thanks again
OllyNo problem. There's a paypal link in the first post ;)

[Olly_K]

T'is done :)

[Tom M]

T'is done :)Much appreciated.

[Tom M]

The updated version for vb 3.6.x and vBa 3.0 has been posted here. All support for that version will be handled in that thread.

[abjds.com]

Hi, I installed this on our portal roughly three weeks ago (I posted here earlier about it) and everything was working great up until today. Today suddenly it completely stopped working and our portal page no longer shows the RSS feeds at all, not even a box for them, nada. I checked the html for the pages and it's not even showing any of the html from the modules at all.

I haven't changed anything in the settings and it still lists them as being active modules so I am absolutely stumped as to why this would occur. I came over and looked at this thread and saw the new 3.6.x version so I went and tried to install that in case maybe there was something I was missing... but it doesn't show up either.

Could there have been some setting editing by my webhost that would make something like this happen? (we had a mail server issue today as well and tech support had to fix something there, but I just can't see how that would be related...)

If you have any ideas or advice I would be most grateful to hear them, though I realise this is pretty random and strange. I'm just totally stumped and have no idea where to go from here, and my users are sad because they really liked the RSS feeds.

[Tom M]

Hi, I installed this on our portal roughly three weeks ago (I posted here earlier about it) and everything was working great up until today. Today suddenly it completely stopped working and our portal page no longer shows the RSS feeds at all, not even a box for them, nada. I checked the html for the pages and it's not even showing any of the html from the modules at all.

I haven't changed anything in the settings and it still lists them as being active modules so I am absolutely stumped as to why this would occur. I came over and looked at this thread and saw the new 3.6.x version so I went and tried to install that in case maybe there was something I was missing... but it doesn't show up either.

Could there have been some setting editing by my webhost that would make something like this happen? (we had a mail server issue today as well and tech support had to fix something there, but I just can't see how that would be related...)

If you have any ideas or advice I would be most grateful to hear them, though I realise this is pretty random and strange. I'm just totally stumped and have no idea where to go from here, and my users are sad because they really liked the RSS feeds.
Check to see the dates on the files that are stored in the cache directory. If they are old then delete them and see if they get created again. One thing I have had happen is that the RSS feed url gets changed and unless it's noticed it looks like the feed just goes away. If the cache files are current, look at one to see what the contents are. If it's the correct rss data that's one thing but it may also be a message say the feed is no longer available. If, after deleting the feed, a new copy doesn't get made then check with your host as th permissions on the cache directory may have changed.

Those are about the only things I know of why a feed would just stop working.

[abjds.com]

Check to see the dates on the files that are stored in the cache directory. If they are old then delete them and see if they get created again. One thing I have had happen is that the RSS feed url gets changed and unless it's noticed it looks like the feed just goes away. If the cache files are current, look at one to see what the contents are. If it's the correct rss data that's one thing but it may also be a message say the feed is no longer available. If, after deleting the feed, a new copy doesn't get made then check with your host as th permissions on the cache directory may have changed.

Those are about the only things I know of why a feed would just stop working.

Thank you very much for the quick response, I really appreciate it!

I checked the date on the feeds and it was fairly recent.. but all the feeds had a file size of 0. I thought that was odd so I deleted them and then reloaded the page that holds them. Then I refreshed the directory again. They got recreated again but again with a file size of 0!

I checked the URLs of the feeds themselves and all three of them are still active, working feeds. In addition the directory still has permissions 777 like it did when I made it.

I totally can't imagine what's gone wrong! :( Does the 0 file size give you any ideas?

(Thank you again for your help, as I realise this is technically not your problem as it's not caused by anything you did!)

[Tom M]

I totally can't imagine what's gone wrong! :( Does the 0 file size give you any ideas?

(Thank you again for your help, as I realise this is technically not your problem as it's not caused by anything you did!)When that happened to me it turned out that the host had changed something related to the permissions on the directory. Instead of 777 I had to make it 755 for things to start working again. Give that a try and if it doesn't resolve the issue then I suggest you contact your host.

[abjds.com]

When that happened to me it turned out that the host had changed something related to the permissions on the directory. Instead of 777 I had to make it 755 for things to start working again. Give that a try and if it doesn't resolve the issue then I suggest you contact your host.

Thank you for the advice! I tried making it 755 but it didn't fix the problem, so I've contacted tech support and hopefully they'll be able to help me out. I appreciate your input as I wouldn't have known how to approach the issue otherwise, nor whether it was something I could fix myself or not.

[stokechat]

I have the following error message:
Warning: file_get_contents(http://www.delilahs.co.uk/wordpress/?feed=rss2) [function.file-get-contents]: failed to open stream: Connection refused in /modules/rss_cmps2.php on line 221

I've looked through all the pages but it appears that no-one else has this problem.

Any advice greatly recieved, Cache is Chmodded ok, and I have entries in the directory as well.

[Tom M]

You likely need a version that makes use of 'curl' instead of 'fopen'. The simplest thing to do is to download the 3.6 version of this module and extract the curl code, placing it in the 3.5 version. That, or upgrade to vb 3.6 :)

[stokechat]

You likely need a version that makes use of 'curl' instead of 'fopen'. The simplest thing to do is to download the 3.6 version of this module and extract the curl code, placing it in the 3.5 version. That, or upgrade to vb 3.6 :)

You've lost me there now, I've downloaded the 3.6 version and can't see anything about curl in there at all.

[expedition]

I try and try, but unsuccessful. :( :confused:
No chance.
... failed to open stream: HTTP wrapper does not support writeable connections. in /modules/rss_cmps_curl.php on line 241

Now I have to deinstall, I delete RSS Feed module, but how can I remove template adv_portal_rss and adv_portal_rssbits? And also RSS Feeds menu on the left side?

Thanks.

[Tom M]

If you used the "delete" feature then it should have removed the other items from the ACP. If all you did was delete the file from the modules folder then you can delete the templates from the styles but won't be able to delete the module entry w/o goinfg into the database manually.

[SuperGLS]

How do I know what/where my Cache directory is?

[Tom M]

How do I know what/where my Cache directory is?It's a directory that you will need to create and chmod it to 777. Typically it's a folder created off your root folder and not within an area reachable via a browser.

[SuperGLS]

Ah, gotcha. So just create a folder and chmod it to 777. Then just use the path (the path, right?) to it in the RSS feed settings? Thanks for the help!

[voter]

Phew 8 pages later and I found a few people with my same problem but no answers.

Idownloaded the file on page 1 - check
use the download/upload module to upload rssfeed.module - check
configure setting to mark active - check
insert rss feed - check; used http://www.theclemsonboard.com/external.php?type=rss2
insert cache address and set to 777 - check used /kunden/homepages/12/d158571244/htdocs/test/rsscache

But nothing appears on my homepage, not even a blank module box. What am I doing wrong?

I was getting crazy, as of same empty module was at me with vb 3.6.4 and vBCMPS 3.0, even seeing that cache is generated.

But then I just changed the RSS feed URL to another one and it starts to work.

[vitoreis]

Can't make it work :(

I install and check all twice but module never shows the RSS feeds at all, not even a box for them!

I checked the date on the feeds and it was fairly recent. Module is active, set to homepage...

[Tom M]

The box won't show unless there's actually something to display.

What's the feed url?
Is the module marked as Active?
Using a custom style?
Set to display on the page selected?

[vitoreis]

The box won't show unless there's actually something to display.

What's the feed url?
Is the module marked as Active?
Using a custom style?
Set to display on the page selected?
Hi Tom,

Feed url= http://www.iberos.net/forum/external.php?type=rss2
Yes, module it's active
No custom style, but a modified default style
Yes, set to display on selected page (http://www.portalclassicos.com/forum/index.php?pageid=inicio)

[Tom M]

Are you sure the templates got loaded into the correct style?

Te feed does display on my test page so it's got to be either a style/template problem or something else that's simple.

[vitoreis]

Are you sure the templates got loaded into the correct style?

Te feed does display on my test page so it's got to be either a style/template problem or something else that's simple.
Yes Tom, the templates got loaded into the correct style! Can I ask you to take a look on my admin zone?

Thanks,
Vitor R

[acorndomains]

A great mod, thank you very much.

I would like to fine tune the otput of the RSS feeds I am using but need some help as I can't find a way to do exact what I want.

Issue 1

The (Domain Name) RSS feed I use is supposed to be UK specific but it lists other domains too. How do i restrict it to only show domains with ".co.uk" in the title (obviously the rest of the domain will vary (the bit before .co.uk))

Feed source:
http://www.sedo.co.uk/rss/rss_list.php?rss_id=5&partnerid_rss=37434&country=UK&tracked=1&partnerid=14743&language=e

Displayed:

http://www.acorndomains.co.uk

Right column, UK Domain Auctions box

Issue 2

From this feed:
http://www.sedo.co.uk/rss/rss_list.php?rss_id=10&partnerid_rss=37435&country=UK&tracked=1&partnerid=14743&language=e

List only the domain name in the title

Show:
Date added: Jun/06/08 (change to UK format)
Price: Make Offer
Traffic: -- (only show if greater than --)
(REMOVE: Domain Language: English)

Many thanks

[dark dragun]

Could you post an example of Data qualification code that may be used to filter feeds?

I watch 1 feed, but they post about a game for xbox 360 and PC. Frontlines.

If its about the PC version then PC is the category, if its about Xbox 360 version then the category is Xbox 360. This is how most rss feed from them are so I would think filtering Xbox 360 in category would eliminate it from being shown and only PC feeds would show then.

Some times they post a feed for both version of the game because its deals with both so they put a PC and a Xbox 360 category in one item. It would look like this:
<item>
<title>Conquer Mode</title>
<link>http://status.kaosstudios.com/?p=66</link>
<comments>http://status.kaosstudios.com/?p=66#comments</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:58:44 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mitch</dc:creator>

<category><![CDATA[PC]]></category>

<category><![CDATA[Xbox 360]]></category>

<guid isPermaLink="false">http://status.kaosstudios.com/?p=66</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Frontlines: Fuel of War to receive additional multiplayer game mode.
Kaos Studios and THQ are pleased to announce the upcoming release of a
bonus game mode for their exciting multiplayer shooter. The added mode, named
Conquer, allows players to capture objectives in any order, anywhere
on the map. The mode is reminiscent of an [...]]]></description>

Its 1 item or feed post but with 2 categories, I would still want this to show as it has to do with the PC version beside Xbox 360 version.

Is there a way to filter out Xbox 360 without filtering feeds that have to do with both versions?

[Tom M]

A great mod, thank you very much.

I would like to fine tune the otput of the RSS feeds I am using but need some help as I can't find a way to do exact what I want.

Could you post an example of Data qualification code that may be used to filter feeds?

Is there a way to filter out Xbox 360 without filtering feeds that have to do with both versions?

The Data qualification code is pretty straightforward in that it can be virtually any php code that evaluates to a TRUE or FALSE condition. That's really the key as the code is simply eval'd and the result is how it's determined that the record should be processed or not.

If you wanted only records that contained a specific phrase in the title of the feed then something like this could work... strstr ($rss_item['TITLE'], 'desired phrase');. For categories you might try strstr ($rss_item['CATEGORY'], 'PC'); which would pass anything with 'PC' in the category field.

Modifying the output by using the Data modification code is also pretty simple so long as one remembers to save the result back into the correct entry of the item[]. There are several examples of modifying output posted earlier in the thread.

[ZenMastr1968]

Tom,
Nevermind, I just realized I was looking at the older thread and used that module. It works fine once I upgraded to the newer version. Thanks for the mod...

[mickknutson]

Check to make sure the templates that are used by the module are actually available in the style you are using. If they aren't defined then the module won't display even though the cache file gets built. If they're not defined in the style you are using just copy them from the default style (or wherever you installed them) to the style you are using.
I do not understand what to do here.

I have custom styles, I also see the styles when I import the module. But I still do not get anything showing.

* Yes the module is active.
* Yes it is set to display on the center of my page
* Yes the cache is created and has data in it >0K
* I even tried the CURL version and no display either.
* I uninstalled several times to try this.

* I tried several different feed URL's and they all did as above, but never displayed.



And still no display http://www.blincmagazine.com/cmps_index.php