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ALEC ANANIAN

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Member Since: 2/2006  Last Seen: 1/25/2012

Newsvine RSS Facebook Application: What would you like to see?

Wed Aug 1, 2007 7:33 PM EDT
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By Alec Ananian

Current wide profile column view of the Newsvine RSS Facebook application

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I'm working on a Newsvine RSS Facebook Application (which is, in a way, similar to my Yahoo! Widget) and I want to open up features requests before I actually release it.

I'm not sure if the Newsvine developers already had something like this planned, but I decided to take a stab at it anyway since I'm guessing some users here would enjoy it. The basic idea of this Facebook Application is to display a variety of RSS feeds from Newsvine on your Facebook profile. I already have a lot of feed options available, but I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions from Newsvine users on how I can improve the application.

Current Features

  • Display 5, 10, or 15 links at a time
  • Cuts off article titles at one line for wide profile column and two lines for narrow profile column
  • User feed - type in a user's domain and select to view articles, seeds, or both
  • Global feed - view all articles on the Wire, Vine, or both
  • Tag feed - type in a tag and select to view from Wire, Vine, or both
  • Top of Vine feed - most votes/most comments within last 24 hours/week/month/year or of all time
  • If you enter a tag or user that doesn't exist, the application won't go screwy, it'll just display a "no content" message.

Potential Features

  • Showing the date or time of each article's publishing
  • A drop down menu of all the popular tags (Local News, World, U.S., etc... what's on the navigation bar) for eash access. The way it's set up right now, you have to type in any tags that you may want to use as filters.
  • Have a good one? COMMENT!

Current Issues

  • Sometimes, when updating your feed preferences, Facebook returns an error message, but the profile is still updated accordingly. I'm not sure if I can fix this on my end, but I'll keep trying.
  • Right now, the only way to update it is by clicking Update on the application settings page. This is the main reason why I'm currently not opening up the application for testing. I've already contacted a developer asking for help on auto updating... I'll see what I can do. If I can't get that to work, I'll have to think of a substitute (like a button for clicking, but I don't really want to resort to that).
  • There are no default viewer settings. I have to figure out how to do this, then I'll just make the default all articles or something like that.

All questions and comments are welcome! Also, if there is anybody here who would like to do some graphics for the application settings page (just to spice it up a bit and give it a more Newsvine-y feel), let me know, too.

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Alec Ananian

I know a lot of people out there are criticizing the whole application movement on Facebook, and that's why I tried to keep this app at a simple level. I don't want to create some flashy, animated RSS viewer - the purpose is to get the job done simply and elegantly. Hopefully, that way, adding this application to your profile won't give it that bloated look that I see all too often.

Also, before attempting to make this application, I didn't like the Facebook Platform very much. After getting to know the ins and outs of it, though, I have a great appreciation for it - it's actually pretty amazing.

  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Wed Aug 1, 2007 8:25 PM EDT
Ilyanep

Great idea. Can't wait to see it. Is it already in the applications directory, or are we still waiting for final touches?

I think it'd be great to be able to put my column on my facebook :D

  • 1 vote
Reply#2 - Thu Aug 2, 2007 12:51 AM EDT
Alec Ananian

Currently, it's not in the applications directory. I upgraded my hosting plan to allow me to set up an auto updater script. I'll test it out tomorrow and fix some bugs, hopefully it'll be available for download by tomorrow. I just started this morning, so I don't really want to rush it all :P

  • 2 votes
#2.1 - Thu Aug 2, 2007 1:25 AM EDT
Reply
A. H. Min

Can't wait, especially after you made that great Konfabulator widget.

Maybe adding an option to aggregate multiple feeds (e.g., onlineapps.newsvine.com AND newsvine.com/technology AND rappo.newsvine.com all in one widget) would be nice. Besides that, you've covered all the bases.

  • 2 votes
Reply#3 - Thu Aug 2, 2007 9:45 AM EDT
Alec Ananian

I know it's been a while, but I'm here to say that I could never get it to do automatic updates. I looked into something called "cron jobs" and just couldn't seem to get it working. Do you guys think I should just release it as is (the only way to update it is by clicking a button, or visiting a page on my server that updates the feeds of ALL users) or call this a failed project?

  • 3 votes
#3.1 - Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:40 AM EDT
A. H. Min

I say go ahead. Maybe you could even release the source so we could help you out?

  • 2 votes
#3.2 - Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:20 PM EDT
Ilyanep

Did running a cron job to that page on your own server not work out? Just out of curiosity, what was up?

  • 1 vote
#3.3 - Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:58 AM EDT
Alec Ananian

Either the cron job didn't work or I was doing something wrong. Here's what my input was:

30 * * * * /kunden/usr/local/bin/php /kunden/homepages/##/d########/htdocs/f8/newsvinerss/build.php > /dev/nul

Any ideas? I don't want to release it how it is right now...

  • 2 votes
#3.4 - Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:05 PM EDT
Alec Ananian

I might be onto something... I realized that the build.php requires a login to Facebook. Obviously the cron job isn't logging into Facebook. Maybe if I can find a way around the login requirement, I can get it to work. I don't want to give up! :P

  • 2 votes
#3.5 - Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:37 PM EDT
A. H. Min

Any update?

  • 2 votes
#3.6 - Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:14 PM EDT
Alec Ananian

I'm sorry, for now this seems like a lost job... my files got corrupted and all of the PHP and Facebook Markup Language that I had create the profile boxes got deleted...not good. Also, I could never figure out the auto-updater. Lately I've been working on some other Facebook applications, so I might take a stab at this again with my new information. Thanks for your concern and following up with it, Andrew - sorry I don't have any results :P

  • 2 votes
#3.7 - Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:01 PM EDT
Reply
Manish Malik

Instead of > /dev/nul, try redirecting it to a file and see what errors you get.

  • 1 vote
Reply#4 - Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:48 PM EDT
Manish Malik

Regarding Features, would it be possible to see miniature pictures from News in Pictures, etc? in the box?

Thanks

  • 1 vote
Reply#5 - Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:50 PM EDT
cookieman

mate, rss2facebook.com has been doing this for months. Save yourself the effort and buy their single feed product!!!

    Reply#6 - Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:50 AM EDT
    Alec Ananian

    The point isn't to buy something, it's to actually try and create something. Anybody can buy the product and run it for themselves, my point is to make a customized application made for Newsvine - and there's a sense of accomplishment in that.

    • 1 vote
    #6.1 - Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:02 PM EDT
    Reply
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