My client wants Content from all over the site as well as automatic RSS Feeds.....
Whew thats a long title! but the best I could come up with to explain my requirements. So...as stated my client is after the following functionality:
He would like to setup a daily "newspaper" which pulls various bits of specified content from all over the site. For example, the body text from the "whats on" page, the three most recent "events", a widget showing weather etc etc. The way I see it is that you would have a template that pulls content from various XSLT driven macros as well as web-based weather widgets etc. Is it possible in XSLT to specify content to come from a specific named node. I am pretty sure it is possible - just want to verify.
Secondly, as this content will be different on a daily basis, he would like a RSS feed to display this updated information on a daily basis. From what i understand, the RSS works based upon new nodes being added. In this instance, no nodes will be added, just the content will be changed regularly. Is it possible to create a RSS feed that is sent daily? as this is the only way I can see this working. The negative of this is that if the content from the various sources is not updated on a daily basis, RSS subscribers will receive the same content day in and day out. He would also like to send the information out to email subscribers.....
As a second phase he would also like end-users to setup their own "newspapers", by choosing content from around the site. I cant see this working easily without a significant investment in development?
finally, not really related, but i dont seem to be receiving email alerts when people reply to threads I have posted or commented on - has this not been setup?
you can define parameters for XSLT macros, so you can use Content Picker to choose the node (based on the node id, not its name as you possibly have multiple nodes with the same name) when inserting the macros in your template.
With RSS feeds i would go for a similar solution.
For user-defined newspapers (i like that term as it sounds incredibly important), you could work with tags, but your clients editors would have to tag new (maybe even old) content.
Due to the usage of XSLT there might be more methods of doing the things you want depending on the effort you want to put in this, but i'm too lazy to write it down now.
I like the idea of a contentpicker to choose node specific content. We could setup a template that has a pre-defined layout and then the user can decide what he/she wants to place in each of those sections - i.e top-left, middle, bottom-right etc.
I still dont see how the RSS feed would work as the cotent will change, but there will be no new nodes. Perhaps i should try and setup a rss feed on a specific page and see if i get a new feed when the content changes - i have only really used feeds for blogs.
As i said, i am pretty confident it can be done (as with most things in umbraco), just may need to consult the forum when we get round to developing the site
The thing to do for RSS is to change the guid value, and then the feed reader should see it as a different item (sometimes they look at the title, and possibly link) - so generating guids based on the publish time is a decent plan. But this isn't actually what RSS is designed for.
I think a better solution would be to generate a kind of single entry RSS item for each day, or rather have an RSS template which pulls in all the different content and compiles it into a single <item> each day - so the RSS fiel would only ever have 1 item in it, containing the new content for that day. Maybe?
I don't know if i got your rss problem with updated, but not newly created content right, but as far as i understand, you worry about not having updated nodes included in your feed. If so, i would go for a list of all qualifying items (according to your selection, which nodes you want to include in the feed) and then arrange them by "updateDate" (built-in property for nodes). But as i said, maybe I did not get your problem right.
Sorry I have been out of the office. The RSS feed will be related to a single node which will have updating content. I will need to look into how this will work when I get to the development part of the site. Essentially, the node will pull content from other nodes and external web widgets (such as weather etc). The node will therefore only be published once, but the page content it receives will be updated daily. The RSS feed will therefore need to send the page to all subscribers on a daily basis or whenever the content within changes.
My client wants Content from all over the site as well as automatic RSS Feeds.....
Whew thats a long title! but the best I could come up with to explain my requirements. So...as stated my client is after the following functionality:
He would like to setup a daily "newspaper" which pulls various bits of specified content from all over the site. For example, the body text from the "whats on" page, the three most recent "events", a widget showing weather etc etc. The way I see it is that you would have a template that pulls content from various XSLT driven macros as well as web-based weather widgets etc. Is it possible in XSLT to specify content to come from a specific named node. I am pretty sure it is possible - just want to verify.
Secondly, as this content will be different on a daily basis, he would like a RSS feed to display this updated information on a daily basis. From what i understand, the RSS works based upon new nodes being added. In this instance, no nodes will be added, just the content will be changed regularly. Is it possible to create a RSS feed that is sent daily? as this is the only way I can see this working. The negative of this is that if the content from the various sources is not updated on a daily basis, RSS subscribers will receive the same content day in and day out. He would also like to send the information out to email subscribers.....
As a second phase he would also like end-users to setup their own "newspapers", by choosing content from around the site. I cant see this working easily without a significant investment in development?
finally, not really related, but i dont seem to be receiving email alerts when people reply to threads I have posted or commented on - has this not been setup?
Thanks in advance
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
you can define parameters for XSLT macros, so you can use Content Picker to choose the node (based on the node id, not its name as you possibly have multiple nodes with the same name) when inserting the macros in your template.
With RSS feeds i would go for a similar solution.
For user-defined newspapers (i like that term as it sounds incredibly important), you could work with tags, but your clients editors would have to tag new (maybe even old) content.
Due to the usage of XSLT there might be more methods of doing the things you want depending on the effort you want to put in this, but i'm too lazy to write it down now.
Have to grab a cup of coffee.
Cheers,
André
Thanks Andre.
I like the idea of a contentpicker to choose node specific content. We could setup a template that has a pre-defined layout and then the user can decide what he/she wants to place in each of those sections - i.e top-left, middle, bottom-right etc.
I still dont see how the RSS feed would work as the cotent will change, but there will be no new nodes. Perhaps i should try and setup a rss feed on a specific page and see if i get a new feed when the content changes - i have only really used feeds for blogs.
As i said, i am pretty confident it can be done (as with most things in umbraco), just may need to consult the forum when we get round to developing the site
Andrew
The thing to do for RSS is to change the guid value, and then the feed reader should see it as a different item (sometimes they look at the title, and possibly link) - so generating guids based on the publish time is a decent plan. But this isn't actually what RSS is designed for.
I think a better solution would be to generate a kind of single entry RSS item for each day, or rather have an RSS template which pulls in all the different content and compiles it into a single <item> each day - so the RSS fiel would only ever have 1 item in it, containing the new content for that day. Maybe?
Andrew,
I don't know if i got your rss problem with updated, but not newly created content right, but as far as i understand, you worry about not having updated nodes included in your feed. If so, i would go for a list of all qualifying items (according to your selection, which nodes you want to include in the feed) and then arrange them by "updateDate" (built-in property for nodes). But as i said, maybe I did not get your problem right.
Cheers,
André
Hi Andre
Sorry I have been out of the office. The RSS feed will be related to a single node which will have updating content. I will need to look into how this will work when I get to the development part of the site. Essentially, the node will pull content from other nodes and external web widgets (such as weather etc). The node will therefore only be published once, but the page content it receives will be updated daily. The RSS feed will therefore need to send the page to all subscribers on a daily basis or whenever the content within changes.
Andrew
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