Headlines Plugin

Description

This plugin displays RSS and ATOM feeds from news sites. Use it to build news portals that show headline news.

Note: Syndic8.com ( http://www.syndic8.com/ ) lists many RSS feeds.

Syntax Rules

%HEADLINES{"..."}%

The header and format parameters might also use variables rendering the dc, image and content namespace information. Note, that only bits of interest have been implemented so far and those namespaces might not be implemented fully yet.

Rendering the dc namespace

The following variables are extracting the dc namespace info, that could be used in header and format. Nnote, that some of the variables are already used above. This is done by purpose to use different feeds with the same formating parameters. If there's a conflict the non-dc tags have higher precedence, i.e. a <title> content </title> is prefered over <dc:title> content </dc:title> .

• $title: channel/article title (dc:title)
• $creator: channel creator (dc:creator)
• $subject: subject text; this will also add an image according to the subject hash list, see above (dc:subject)
• $description: ... (dc:description)
• $publisher: the channel/article publisher (dc:publisher)
• $contributor: ... (dc:contributor)
• $date: ... (dc:date)
• $type: ... (dc:type)
• $format: ... (dc:format)
• $identifier: ... (dc:identifier)
• $source: ... (dc:source)
• $language: ... (dc:language)
• $relation: ... (dc:relation)
• $coverage: ... (dc: coverage)
• $rights: ... (dc: rights)

Rendering the image namespace

An image:item is converted into an <img> tag using the following mappings:

• src: image url (rdf:about attribute of the image.item tag)
• alt: image title (title)
• width: image width (image:width)
• height: image height image:height)

Rendering the content namespace

The variable $content is refering to the <content:encoding> content </content:encoding>.

Examples

Slashdot News

Write

%HEADLINES{ "http://slashdot.org/slashdot.rdf" 
  header="*[[$link][$title]]:* $description" 
  format="$t* [[$link][$title]]"
  limit="4"
}%

Business Opportunities Weblog

Write

%HEADLINES{ "http://www.business-opportunities.biz/feed" limit="2" }%

to get the latest postings on the "Business Opportunities" weblog:

Business Opportunities Weblog

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:45:17 +0000

Opportunities, news, and links for small business entrepreneurs

Looking For A Name

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:45:17 +0000 Rich Whittle

The BIG Idea Group is crowdsourcing names for two different product concepts on behalf of their client, Jarden.

Concept 1: Professional Salon/Barber Clipper (for humans)
The first product is a heavy-duty hair clipper ideal for barber and salon (people) “all-day-use.'' The clipper is ergonomically designed and features detachable blades. Advantages: It performs non-stop, is powerful, fast, and quieter than most in the market. It also features an updated, modern design. A rugged metal case provides an elegant presentation and can be used as safe, durable, and convenient storage. Proposed names should convey power, quiet, fast.

Concept 2: Consumer Pet Dental Product (for pets)
This is a specially formulated dental product for dogs and cats that keeps the pet's teeth cleaner and healthier. It replaces the frustrating process of trying to brush the pet's teeth or the cost of expensive vet visits for cleaning. This all-natural product is simply added to the pet's water or sprayed directly onto teeth. In just 30 days, the pet's teeth become cleaner, whiter, and brighter.

Guidelines

* Product names should represent a range of ideas from direct interpretations of the concept descriptions to more abstract/creative names that are considered ''outside the box.''
* Names should be appealing, memorable, and unique.
* It helps to include simple taglines that may better describe the product and/or brief explanations that help explain the reasoning behind the name.
* Any names that are submitted and are currently used on existing products or are currently trademarked will not be eligible for a prize award.

Deadline
All names must be emailed to us by no later than Wed., March 24 at 9AM Eastern. We must receive all Entry Agreements by Fri., Apr. 2.

Prizes
We are offering two prizes, one for each winning name. The prizes (to be determined) will have a retail value of $299. Jarden plans to make decisions on winners by May.

For more information, go here.

Photo by .

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Could School Bus Ads Save School Budgets?

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:30:58 +0000 Rich Whittle

School districts have imposed all sorts of drastic cuts to save money during the down economy, canceling field trips and making parents pay for everything from tissues to sports transportation.

And some have now resorted to placing advertisements on school buses, reports The Associated Press.

School districts say it’s practically free money, and advertisers love the captive audience that school buses provide.

That’s the problem, say opponents: Children are being forced to travel to school on moving media kiosks, and the tactic isn’t much different than dressing teachers in sponsor-emblazoned uniforms.

“Parents who are concerned about commercial messages will have no choice,” said Josh Golin, associate director of Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. “Parents won’t be given the option to send their kids on the ad-free bus.”

Washington lawmakers considered the idea of school bus advertising this year, and the concept is also being tossed around in Ohio, New Jersey and Utah. About half a dozen states already allow bus advertising – including Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas.

Photo by saltoricco.

From Business Opportunities Weblog.

Plugin Settings

Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write %<plugin>_<setting>%, for example, %HEADLINESPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%. Note: Don't modify the settings here; copy and customize the settings in Main.TWikiPreferences. For example, to customize the USERAGENTNAME setting, create a HEADLINESPLUGIN_USERAGENTNAME setting in Main.TWikiPreferences.

• One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Show headline news in TWiki pages based on RSS and ATOM news feeds from external sites

• Refresh rate in minutes for cached feeds. Disable caching: 0, default: 60
  • Set REFRESH = 60

• Maximum number of items shown. Default: 100
  • Set LIMIT = 100

• Use LWP::UserAgent, or fallback to TWiki's internal getUrl() method. Default: yes
  • Set USELWPUSERAGENT = yes

• Timeout fetching a feed using the LWP::UserAgent. Default: 20
  • Set USERAGENTTIMEOUT = 20

• Name of user agent. Default: TWikiHeadlinesPlugin/2.21

      * Set USERAGENTNAME = TWikiHeadlinesPlugin/2.21

• Default header: (variables are explained in the syntax rules)

      * Set HEADER = <div class="headlinesChannel"><div class="headlinesLogo"><img src="$imageurl" alt="$imagetitle" border="0" />%BR%</div><div class="headlinesTitle">$n---+!! <a href="$link">$title</a></div><div class="headlinesDate">$date</div><div class="headlinesDescription">$description</div><div class="headlinesRight">$rights</div></div>

• Default format of one item: (variables are explained in the syntax rules)

      * Set FORMAT = <div class="headlinesArticle"><div class="headlinesTitle"><a href="$link">$title</a></div>$n<span class="headlinesDate">$date</span> <span class="headlinesCreator"> $creator</span> <span class="headlinesSubject"> $subject </span>$n<div class="headlinesText"> $description</div></div>

• Values taken from configure: (only supported if CPAN:LWP is installed)
  • $TWiki::cfg{PROXY}{HOST} - proxy host, such as "proxy.example.com";
  • $TWiki::cfg{PROXY}{PORT} - proxy port, such as "8080";
  • $TWiki::cfg{PROXY}{SkipProxyForDomains} - domains excluded from proxy, such as "intra.example.com, bugs.example.com";

Style Sheets

The default HEADER and FORMAT settings use the following styles. See the style.css file defining the default CSS properties (indentation illustrates enclosure).

• headlinesRss: output of the HeadlinesPlugin (div)
  • headlinesChannel: channel header (div)
    • headlinesLogo: channel logo (div)
    • headlinesTitle: channel title (div)
    • headlinesDate: channel date (div)
    • headlinesDescription: channel description (div)
    • headlinesRight: channel copyright (div)
  • headlinesArticle: one news item (div)
    • headlinesTitle: article title (div)
    • headlinesDate: article date (span)
    • headlinesCreator: author of article (span)
    • headlinesSubject: subect category of the article (span)
    • headlinesText: article text (div)

Plugin Installation Instructions

• Download the ZIP file.
• Unzip it in your twiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  data/TWiki/HeadlinesPlugin.txt	plugin topic
  pub/TWiki/HeadlinesPlugin/style.css	default css
  lib/TWiki/HeadlinesPlugin.pm	plugin perl module
  lib/TWiki/HeadlinesPlugin/Core.pm	plugin core

  Check if above examples show a news feed instead of variable.
• Optionally, run HeadlinesPlugin_installer.pl to automatically check and install other TWiki modules that this module depends on. You can also do this step manually.
• Alternatively, manually make sure the dependencies listed in the table below are resolved.

  Name	Version	Description
  Digest::MD5	>=2.33	Required. Download from CPAN:Digest::MD5
  LWP::UserAgent	>=5.803	Optional. Download from CPAN:LWP::UserAgent

Plugin Info

-- TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny - 29 Aug 2009