April 10, 2016

BNS SMF Feeds Plugin

Plugin with multi-widget functionality that builds an SMF Forum RSS feed url by user option choices; and, displays a SMF forum feed.

Plugin with multi-widget functionality that builds an SMF Forum RSS feed url by user option choices; and, displays a SMF forum feed. The widget includes the additional option to include in the feed: specific boards and/or specific categories. There are also check boxes to include the feed item date and the item summary, too.

NB: If updating from a version before 1.1 please make sure to re-save your widget options (check your feed type) for each instance after upgrading. This will set the feed type correctly using the new feed drop-down selection option. Thanks! ~cais
* Copyright 2009-2015 Edward Caissie (email : [email protected])

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2,
as published by the Free Software Foundation.

You may NOT assume that you can use any other version of the GPL.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA

The license for this software can also likely be found here:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Installation

This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.

Upload bns-smf-feeds.php to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
Activate through the ‘Plugins’ menu.
Place the BNS SMF Feeds widget appropriately in the Appearance | Widgets section of the dashboard.
Set options to personal preferences:

Widget Title
Specify the full URL to the SMF Forum (e.g.: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/)
Choose feed type from drop-down menu (RSS, RSS2, Atom, RDF)
The default is by recent Topics, or choose to display recent posts
The default displays all items able to be seen by a “guest”.
Choose specific boards (or categories of boards) to include only.
Choose the maximum quantity of items to display (varies by SMF user permissions)
Choose to display the item date and/or item summary

— or –

Go to ‘Plugins’ menu under your Dashboard
Click on the ‘Add New’ link
Search for BNS SMF Feeds
Install.
Activate through the ‘Plugins’ menu.
Place the BNS SMF Feeds widget appropriately in the Appearance | Widgets section of the dashboard.
Set options to personal preferences:

Widget Title
Specify the full URL to the SMF Forum (e.g.: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/)
Choose feed type from drop-down menu (RSS, RSS2, Atom, RDF)
The default is by recent Topics, or choose to display recent posts
The default displays all items able to be seen by a “guest”.
Choose specific boards (or categories of boards) to include only.
Choose the maximum quantity of items to display (varies by SMF user permissions)
Choose to display the item date and/or item summary

Reading this article for further assistance: http://wpfirstaid.com/2009/12/plugin-installation/

Screenshots

The options panel.

FAQ

How can I get support for this plugin?

Please note, support may be available on the WordPress Support forums; but, it may be faster to visit http://buynowshop.com/plugins/bns-smf-feeds/ and leave a comment with the issue you are experiencing.

Can I use this in more than one widget area?

Yes, this plugin has been made for multi-widget compatibility. Each instance of the widget will display, if wanted, differently than every other instance of the widget.

How can I style the plugin output?

The plugin uses a variation of the WordPress RSS Output that assigns several rss related classes, such as: rssSummary, rss-date, and rsswidget. A wrapping class of ‘bns-smf-feeds’ has also been added to the widget for more fine tuning.

How can I get the RSS feed url?

Once the widget is activated and placed into a widget ready area, there will be a standard RSS icon displayed beside the feed title. This icon will have the url anchored to it, simply click on it to subscribe to the feed directly.

How do I use the shortcode `bns_smf_feeds`; and, does it offer the same options as the widget?

Yes, the shortcode does offer the same options as the widget. Here is a list of these options with their defaults:

title = ‘SMF Forum Feed’
smf_forum_url = ‘http://www.simplemachines.org/community/’ (this is an example only not the actual default)
smf_feed_type = ‘rss2’
smf_sub_action = false (false displays news or recent topics; true displays recent posts)
smf_boards = ” (defaults to all)
smf_categories = ” (defaults all)
limit_count = ’10’
show_date = false
show_summary = false
blank_window = false
feed_refresh = ‘43200’ (value in seconds = 12 hours)

For more information you can read the following codex entries:

https://codex.wordpress.org/Shortcode (basic usage)
https://codex.wordpress.org/Shortcode_API (for the more technically inclined)

Changelog

2.1

Released August 2015
Updated to use PHP5 constructor objects

2.0

Released December 2014
Added “In Plugin Update Message” function to display relevant changelog entries
Added class bns-smf-feeds-content wrapper for widget output
Changed to a “Singleton” instantiation method
Improved code formatting to better meet WordPress Code Standards
Optimized esc_attr( __() ) to esc_attr__()
Updated inline documentation
Updated “Tested up to” version to 4.1
Updated “Requires at least” version to 3.6 (for shortcode filter option)

1.9.4

Released May 2014
Added $feed_fresh parameter to take it out of the “global” realm
Code reformatting to better meet WordPress Coding Standards
Fixed selection code for feed types
Minor option panel layout adjustments
Update required version to WordPress 3.6 to use shortcode filter parameter
Update Copyright years

1.9.3

Released November 2013
Added clarifying text to Board and Category settings
Code clean up

1.9.2

Released October 2013
Minor clean up of comments

1.9.1

Released May 2013
Version number compatibility update

1.9

Released February 2013
Added code block termination comments
Added documentation header blocks
Moved code into class structure

1.8

confirmed compatible with WordPress 3.5
minor documentation updates
code formatting and clean-up
remove load_textdomain as redundant (see plugin header)
remove unused Author option
added shortcode bns_smf_feeds
update ‘readme’ with information about the shortcode

1.7.2

confirmed compatible with WordPress 3.4

1.7.1

updated documentation

1.7

released November 2011
confirmed compatible with WordPress 3.3
added phpDoc Style documentation
added i18n support

1.6

released June 2011
confirmed compatible with WordPress version 3.2-beta2-18085
re-sized options panel
updated screenshot to show new size (and layout) of options panel

1.5.1

released December 11, 2010
Confirm compatible with WordPress 3.1 (beta)

1.5

released: June 13, 2010
code clean up to meet WP Standards
corrected error with setting quantity of items displayed from the RSS feed

1.4

compatible with WordPress version 3.0
updated license declaration

1.3.1.2

compatible with WordPress version 2.9.2
updated license declaration

1.3.1.1

clarified the plugin’s release under a GPL license

1.3.1

tied all links in the widget to use the “option to open links in new window”

1.3

removed unnecessary (commented out) code
added option to open links in new window as suggested
added new screenshot of option panel

1.2

added feed refresh frequency (in seconds) option
added new screenshot of option panel

1.1.1

compatibility check for 2.9.1 completed

1.1

added drop-down menu to option panel to choose feed type, default set to RSS2
updated the Option Panel screen shot

1.0.1

minor corrections to description and screenshot

1.0

Initial Release.