JoomlaWorks "Simple RSS Feed Reader" Module v1.4

Adding RSS syndicated content inside your Joomla! (or Mambo) website is now super-easy and simple with the "Simple RSS Feed Reader" Module from JoomlaWorks. All you have to do is insert the Feed (RSS) URLs of the websites you want to syndicate in the module's settings, publish the module in some position and that's it! You can even publish multiple feeds at the same time (meaning in the same module instance) and even filter the latest X number, which you specify in the module parameters!

No messing with the code and no worrying about feed encoding. You can publish right away english along with japanese feeds and have nothing to worry about!

The "Simple RSS Feed Reader" module is based on the very popular SimplePie PHP Class, which makes it easy to integrate syndicated content into your Joomla! (or Mambo) website - and you don't even have to worry about what kind of feed it is! The "Simple RSS Feed Reader" module supports everything from the old-school RSS 0.91 and RSS 1.0 formats, to the ever-popular RSS 2.0 format, and also supports the emerging Atom format, in both 0.3 and 1.0 flavors. It has a very fast, very efficient caching system. By caching the processed data, rather than just the raw XML, the module is able to create a feed parser that's really, really quick.

The feeds are stored inside Joomla!'s (or Mambo's) cache folder and refreshed in a specific time interval, which you set in the module's parameters.

See the "Simple RSS Feed Reader" module in action in our exclusive demo site HERE!

So, now, a) you have no reason not to use RSS feeds in your website (cause you thought RSS was difficult to setup), b) you have a module that will bring new content to your website, efficiently and with style and c) you can have multiple feeds display in a single place!

Enjoy!

USAGE INSTRUCTIONS

After you install the module, simply adjust the "content (feed) display" settings in the parameters below and add Feed URLs of any encoding. The "Simple RSS Feed Reader" Module will detect your website's encoding and adjust all feeds to that specific encoding.

In order for the module to work properly, your server must have the following PHP modules enabled: cURL, iconv, PCRE, Zlib. Don't worry, though, cause most servers have these PHP modules enabled by default. If not, then contact your hosting company to enable them.

Please note that some RSS feeds might not display well even if you have the above PHP modules installed (rare occasion, but can happen). That is entirely based on how the server is setup and if the specific language -with which you have issues- is properly defined in the server. In any case, contacting your hosting company is always the safest solution.

The module already includes some generic CSS styling, which makes it truely "plug and play" for your Joomla! (or Mambo) website. The output is entirely controlled through CSS, so you can customize it as you like.

CHANGELOG

• Minor bug fix to be able to have multiple "Simple RSS Feed Reader" modules on the same page.

• Updated SimplePie to the latest v1.0.1 (better performance and support for international feeds).
• Added new content display options (show intro/full text, word limit, hide images, strip/cleanup HTML tags).
• Simplified/extended CSS, gave the module a new cool style.
• Optimized code.
• The module is now fully supporting Mambo 4.5.x and 4.6.x.

• Fixed minor php code bug.
• Fixed the double "bullet issue" occuring in some templates, due to CSS conflicts.

• Add the "RSS feed timeout" option to eliminate any errors showing when source sites are sluggish or down.
• Did some minor code fixes.
• Changed date display format to only use numeric values.

• Version 1.0 of the module is released.

CREDITS

The "Simple RSS Feed Reader" Module is based on SimplePie, a very fast and easy-to-use class, written in PHP, for reading RSS and Atom syndication feeds. SimplePie is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License.

ABOUT JOOMLAWORKS

The "Simple RSS Feed Reader" Module is a Joomla! & Mambo CMS extension developed by JoomlaWorks (www.joomlaworks.gr) and released under the GNU General Public License.

JoomlaWorks is a team of web professionals dedicated to delivering high-quality extensions and templates to the Joomla! & Mambo community. We also do custom development for anyone looking for a tailor-made solution to their project, so feel free to contact us.

Make sure you visit:

• www.joomlaworks.gr for all the latest news and updates to our Joomla!/Mambo extensions and templates. The JoomlaWorks website is also the place to read interesting articles or find useful tips/tutorials for Joomla!/Mambo and web design/development in general.
• demo.joomlaworks.gr to experience "live" all our extensions.
• forum.joomlaworks.gr to request for help or provide feedback.

Please show your support in our work by rating or commenting on this extension at the official Joomla! Extensions website.

the JoomlaWorks team
Fotis Evangelou, George Chouliaras

Copyright (c) 2006 - 2007 JoomlaWorks.gr - http://www.joomlaworks.gr

(Last update: October 26th, 2007 - version 1.4)