RSS feeds once and for all...

OK, several months ago I started a thread on vB and have had some replies, but to be honest they seem to talk about things the posters know, rather than what I am asking for. So, I thought let's start a thread and try to get this RSS thing sorted once and for all.

Here's what I would love to be able to do - and I feel many vB forum owners would love to have available too!

When I was using phpBB there was a hack available that essentially provided a snippet of code (java) that other people pasted into their own www sites, that then pulled the last 'n' posts from my www site into a nice looking block on their www site. Sort of like the latest posts module in vBA CMPS, but on any site - including non-vb sites.

Is there any way that can be achieved for a vB site?

RSS Feed Reader for Java Update: I asked Noppid to code this for me, and although he was happy to work on it, I offered to pay and indeed paid him for developing it for me.

As such, we are totally willing to release the code for free, and only ask that if should you find the code valuable and you use it on your site to offer to your members (and I am certain that you undoubtedly will), that you would please consider making a voluntary donation to either myself or Noppid for my costs (I paid) or his time (he worked). To get the code and make a voluntary donation, see the link below.

Latest vBulletin Threads on HTML Pages with Javascript (http://www.cpurigs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1951)

Jeeeeezzzzzzz, I musta missed this request. It's too damn easy. If no one nails it before I get back from taking the kids fishing, I'll code it while I watch football.

Wehey.. I knew you'd take the bait Noppid...:):)

So - is this it... some code I can include in a thread (or somewhere) on my site that others can then copy and paste onto their site - which will then show the last 'n' posts from my site on theirs and if clicked on will take them to my site....:):)

Wohoooooo.....

Yep, pasted anywhere into html it will show the list from the RSS output feed. No php, which is easy, but most need a fast and easy html solution to be bothered to use it.

Excellent... been fishing yet...;);) hehehehehe

I'm about to take off so I can be back for the 4PM games.

Okies... but listen... I will pay for this noppid no probs...

Fishing was aswsome! I never expected the kids to last 30 minutes, but we were out for three hours. We got lots of bites and seeing the kids get excited was so cool. We didn't however hook anything. I tried small, medium and bigger hooks with no luck. But they couldn't be happier.

Then we went to check out a flock of birds and water foul we saw hanging out. There were three alligators there trying to catch dinner. Two of the gators kept fighting over the territory and stalking the bids. It was cool as hell. They were small gators, about 4 foot. It was exciting to watch.

Anyhow, I got a beer and I'm kicked back and gonna whip up some code. So far I have won 2 out of three of the games I have in the pool with three more of my picks yet to be decided.

I'll holler back soon.

Superb... I will be here for another hour or so... if I miss ya tonight I'll be on in the morning. Looking forward to this one.

I figured out how to fetch the data and parse it with java script. However, in IE it requires a custom security level set by the end user. Fat chance of that happening. In FF it requires the script to be signed.

I'm still investigating.

Okies Noppid... thanks for the effort on trying to get this done. Much appreciated...

It seems that remote file reads by the client are considered a security compromise in java and javascript. But that seems so god damn stupid since the browser is a file reader. Go figure!

So does this mean you're going back to the drawing board? or are you still able to come up with something?

Would it help if I were to manage to find the original phpBB hack I had implemented on my site? I should be able to find it on phpBB.com somewhere.

So does this mean you're going back to the drawing board? or are you still able to come up with something?

Would it help if I were to manage to find the original phpBB hack I had implemented on my site? I should be able to find it on phpBB.com somewhere.


Sure, an example would help.

I don't have any signed sites to go any further with the JS. I know you can make your own cert too, but I never have done it. But to be honest, that causes a popup to accept the cert. I doubt site owners will want that happening to their members.

Ok, I'll have a dig for you toight.

Also: though I have no idea how to code this, if you were to go to external.php and get a java feed (as long as that is enabled), is there any way you could interpret what is returned (all the latest post data) and pop that into a <table>...?

Ok, I'll have a dig for you toight.

Also: though I have no idea how to code this, if you were to go to external.php and get a java feed (as long as that is enabled), is there any way you could interpret what is returned (all the latest post data) and pop that into a <table>...?

It's still a call to a remote file. The data is just returned in a differnet format.

This can be done server side no problem. The problem, as I said, is the paranoia of JS and Java. I can't for the life of me figure why a read function is considered insecure.

Here's the page where you can download it from Greg... hope this helps...

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/2057

That hack appears to be made to facilitate putting links to topics in your forum on your own site, not for others to pull remotely. Unless you have an example of it in use on remote sites that you know of, I think it has the exact limitations I described. :(

OK, That didn't work out completely, but it gave me enough clues to continue. I think I'm one step closer. As I said, I'm no JS programmer, but I think I can get somewhat closer to some code now.

Sorry I can't support you on this Noppid - I have no clue when it comes to Java. I'll create the output box though:)

I have it figured out, now I have to polish it. :)

sweeeetness!!!

I have it figured out, now I have to polish it. :)
*Michael jumps on the bandwagon to support this interesting and stylish code*
Another great way for sites to exchange links, just exchange "recent post links" instead ^^

I got it all setup. It's pretty very flexable. The code can drop into any html page. It is also XHTML validated as well as CSS validated. :)

There is one thing to be noted. Unlike RSS that with a good reader caches, this does not cache. Every hit to a page with this code will result in a hit to your forum's external.php.

Excellent... I'll be in touch..

Excellent... I'll be in touch..
ditto!!!

RSS Feed Reader for Java Update: I asked Noppid to code this for me, and although he was happy to work on it, I offered to pay and indeed paid him for developing it for me.

As such, we are totally willing to release the code for free here on vBW, and only ask that if should you find the code valuable and you use it on your site to offer to your members (and I am certain that you undoubtedly will), that you would please consider making a voluntary donation to either myself or Noppid for my costs (I paid) or his time (he worked). Please note, this is totally voluntary on your part and in no way required.

Just tidying it up, will release here soon...

FYI, this works VERY nicely, I have been trying to do this for a few weeks, and well, didnt try JS!, thanks to nopid and theMusicMan!!! :)

Reading this thread just now is like being present when Edison invented the light bulb! :D

Ecellent initiative guys. We are definitely interested in giving it a trial once it's available.

We take a lot of RSS sports feeds on the web site. It would be great to 'export' some good forum stuff back to the Universe.

Can you please explain one thing: what is the benefit of this approach over simply submitting forum posts to an RSS agency? Forgive me if that's a dumb question. I am not the techie expert who set up the good stuff on our site.

For other sites to pull RSS and XML, they need a server side app installed. This is for simple sites and the code in basicly a copy and paste into any HTML page.

The server side requires an app installed and some webserver experience to get server side code to execute on HTML pages.

This code needs no programming experience, no server side app and no tweaking of the HTML page to trick it into running server side code.

Aye sorry folks... I shall update this thread soon with the packaged code...

OK, link to code on top thread in this post... enjoy.