To All the VB Code Gurus

[freebase69]

I haven't been able to figure out why VB has never had an integrated RSS NewsFeed module. I understand VB is just "forum" software and not everyone runs a CMS but why is it so hard to find something to integrate into VB?

Look at Mambo for example.


Name: Type here the name of the News Feed as it will appear on your site.

Category: Select here the News Feed Category you want this News Feed to belong to.

Link: Enter here the link to the feed as provided by the source. This is generally obtained by mouseover and copy the link through the RSS Feed icons on the site concerned.

Number of Articles: Type here the maximum number of Articles to display. If the provider has decided of a lower number, the lower number will be used.

Cache Time (in seconds): Type here the time between refreshes, in seconds.

Ordering: This is the order the Item will display in the News Feed Manager. Defaults to last when created, may be changed when editing.

Published: Click the radio button to decide whether this News Feed will display or not on your site.


It has a built in module that allows you to configure a RSS newsfeed in a manner of minutes instead of trying to decipher another coders instructions or heavily hacking your forums. I know Xoops and phpbb also have something similar.

What can we do as a community to ensure we could do something the same? I'm not saying X is better than Y or nor am I trying to start a flame war. I just want to know why something that is open source isn't available for a piece of software that we pay for?

Don't get me wrong. I love vB and came from phpbb/Xoops/Mambo. I guess in a way I might have answered my own question. I guess since vB is just forums and not a total CMS package that would be the issue. I dunno. It's late and I'm tired. What does everyone else think? Wouldn't you like something built in to integrate external RSS feeds from other sites?

BTW I know Article Bot is available for 3.0.x and 3.5.x I just chose not to use it. I use something from vBAdvanced for my portal integration. I just wish there was something pre-built.