Mod Name / Version: Atom News Feed 1.0

Description: This is a nice, straight-forward Threads plugin I wrote with which you can easily create an Atom news feed (RSS's competition) for a single public access forum (usually news, but it could be whatever you want).

The script is very easy to configure, and is seamlessly integrated into Threads.

Features:

- time offset support
- showthreaded/showflat pref support (for link tag)
- configure to show all replies in a thread (yes / no)
- configure how many days worth of posts to include
- shows who posted the item, and what time it was posted at
- show either full html, html links only, or no html in feed

Demo - http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/rss/atomfeed.php

Validation - http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mameworld.info%2Fubbthreads%2Fatomfeed.php



Working Under: UBB.Threads 6.3-6.4-6.5

Mod Status: Finished

Any pre-requisites:

Author(s): Twisty

Date: 01/10/05

Credits:

Files Altered:

New Files: atomfeed.txt (configure it, save as atomfeed.php, and place anywhere you want in your threads folder - CHMOD to 644)

Database Altered: no

Info/Instructions:

Disclaimer: Please backup every file that you intend to modify.
If the modification modifies the database, it's a good idea to backup your database before doing so.

Note: If you modify your UBB.Threads code, you may be giving up your right for "official" support from Infopop.If you need official support, you'll need to restore unmodified files.

Nice work Twisty I know a few people using Atom.

Thanks, yeah Atom is kind of the new kid on the block. Still not as popular as RSS, but it does seem to be gaining some ground. They're both very similar in that they use a standardized XML format with similar tag functions. Most readers support both formats from what I've seen.

I'll also throw out a plug for a great freeware reader while I'm at it...

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/abilon.html

It saves a lot of time - instead of manually checking every site you regualrly visit, you can have this automatically check for updates instead ie. every x-minutes (assuming they offer a feed which many sites do nowadays)

You know, I never did grasp what these RSS feeds are for, how they work, or how to incorporate them into Threads.... Eeeeesh...

These seem like a pretty neat addition, but I just don't understand them. I've been doing some searches out there, but still not grasping this.

Can someone help me in understanding these? I'd also be very interested to see if there are any feeds for General Motors or anything related to performance engines, cars, and racing....

Thank you all,
Mark

[]smoknz28 said:
You know, I never did grasp what these RSS feeds are for, how they work, or how to incorporate them into Threads.... Eeeeesh...[/]

The feeds are basically regularly updated information which is stripped from a site or messageboard (subject/body/link) and then made into a special XML document.

Most people use them in what's called a news aggregator (also called a reader) which basically allows you to easily track news/content updates from your favourite sites (those which offer a feed which is quite common nowadays) without having to manually visit and check each one with your browser.

You know those li'l orange XML buttons you sometimes see
on sites? Those are the feed URL's that you plug into the news aggregator software. See my earlier post for one I recommend.

The other method is to display someone else's feed on your own site or messageboard by means of an XML parser....

http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/postlist3.php?Cat=&Board=loonybin

It takes their feed and converts it back into HTML (the reverse step of how a feed is created). This way you can basically import other people's content.

[]I'd also be very interested to see if there are any feeds for General Motors or anything related to performance engines, cars, and racing....[/]

http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/rss/rss_help.html

You can also go here and search for more...

http://www.syndic8.com/

It's the most popular place for grabbing feeds.

Twisty, thanks for the explanation.

May just have to take time out and integrate some of these into my site.

Again...thank you.

Mark