Latest Blog Feed in Postbit using Carp RSS

I just posted this over at vbWebmaster Forums. I'm all excited because this is my first plugin and I know pretty much nothing about vbulletin. I got the idea from Shawn's forum at Digital Point

I just put this together for 3.5 using carp.

Step 1) Add a custom profile field for the RSS link. In my setup it was field5.
Step 2) Edit your postbit template as follows:

PHP Code:

<if condition="$post['field5']">
<div class="smallfont">Recent Blog: $blogentry</div>
        </if> 


Step 3) Create a new plugin. I named mine: Carp Configuration. Attach it to the "global_start" hook location.
Here is the code:

PHP Code:

require_once '/path/to/carp/carp.php';
CarpConf('cacheinterval',120);
/** You may want to set a cachepath specifically for your forum **/
CarpConf('cachepath','/where/you/want/your/cache/files/');
CarpConf('cacherelative',0);
/** You can omit the above two lines without a problem **/
CarpConf('cborder','');
CarpConf('poweredby','');
CarpConf('maxitems',1);
CarpConf('iorder','link'); 


Step 4) One more plugin. This one I called: Get Users Blog Entry
Attach this to hook location: postbit_display_start

PHP Code:

ob_start();
CarpCacheShow($post[field5]);
$blogentry = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean(); 


That's it... away you go. If you don't have carp, you can check it out at: http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/
I'm not sure if this will work with the free version, as I have the paid version.

I'm thinking about using grouper to set it up so I can parse atom files, but I don't know how important that will be.

Note: carp allows you to enter local paths and http paths for rss feeds. I've tried entering both in my user profile field successfully. You may want to disallow users from entering a local path just to be on the safe side. I don't have any code for that right now, but I'm sure there are some examples for field validation out there.

Carp has an option to store it's output in a variable ($carpoutput), but it didn't seem to work for me. That's why I used the ob_start and end_clean functions. If anybody has any feedback as to how this may be improved, I'm willing to listen.

[nevetS]

I have plans on making a single install file for vb 3.5 in the near future, but I don't have an installation of 3.08 up and running right now to play with.

Give me two weeks and I'll see if I can't put both a 3.0x and a 3.5 update together.

I'm also planning on making it compatible with both magpie and carp - since those seem to be the most common rss caching systems out there.

I appreciate the interest.

[memdy]

Everything seems to have installed properly, but it's not showing up in the postbit. Anywhere special we should put the code in the postbit template. I put it just under the title/rank section.

[nevetS]

Are you seeing the "Recent Blog" part of it? Or just nothing at all?

You can place it anywhere you want in the postbit, but I think the place that makes sense the most is right around where the username is.

One thing to keep in mind is the part that says

PHP Code:

 <if condition="$post['field5']"> 


field5 was in my own personal setup. It could be that your new field has a different number - field6, field7, etc.

[EricaJoy]

any updates?

[irishblacknight]

Nice hack

The only thing I found was that if I tried to set the cache to be anywhere other than the default carp cache it refused to work even with the directories set to 777
This is with the GPL version

Thanks!

[nevetS]

The only thing I found was that if I tried to set the cache to be anywhere other than the default carp cache it refused to work even with the directories set to 777
This is with the GPL version

I will look into this this week. Last week I was able to make a few changes that allowed the last five blog entries to display into the member profile.

I had originally set a goal to have this all set up as an installable package. I'm not sure if that's an achievable goal, but I'll see what I can do.

[pmkb]

Thanks nevetS, I'm using it with the CaRP free edition. It works fine as it's not using any of the extra features in the commercial edition.

[chabbs]

Thanks for this mod, I installed it and it worked well.

How can I make the link open up in a new page when someone clicks on it? This way people don't leave the forum when reading someone elses blog.

[rollo tamasi]

would it be possible to modify this mod so that it is only availabe to a specific usergroup?

[Brandon Sheley]

could someone please post a link to download carp, that site is extremely hard to navigate, all I done is signed up for some newsletter