So it was off to scrounge, and I found an extension hot off the press called GISWiki/RSS– te nice thing for me is that it is based on the good old MagpieRSS parser, something I have played with quite a bit.

So I dropped the script into my Mediawiki extensions folder, created a test page. Ugh- it renders all the content as standard HTML, using tags Media wiki ignore. I assume the example site perhaps has some HTML extensions that allows <a href…> tags, but I did not want to go down that route.

So I rolled up my sleeves, and just edited the output to use Mediawiki type codes. It was only about 6 changes, but I have now incorporated it as a side bar on our NMC Campus Guide wiki, using feed content from the NMC Campus Observer.

There are some good options in the code- I want to explore further the ones that provide a keyword filter (assume it could filter the output to include items matching the keywords), and the option to highlight specific keywords in the output.

Another example test page, using the New York Times technology News feed, this an output with item descriptions, and entering my own string for the feed title:

But so far, I like what it does, and is going to be a key loose joining in some new small piece action.

Oh, I posted a copy of my version of this at http://cogdogblog.com/code/rss.php.txt – just remove the “.txt”, and modify the one path variable for your location of magpie (I will later post my change to the Mediawiki site where I found it).

Feed on, inside yer wiki!

After looking at the ever-expanding collection of Google Modules, seeing they are just little (or not so little) chunks of XML, I began getting the urge to tinker, to see how complicated it would be to write my own GM.

I started with a scan of Google’s thorough Homepage API – Developer Docs, which showed that a Hello World example was easy, and things grew incrementally, then geometrically more complex form there. But not so bad.

So thinking about what might be semi-useful, I aimed for a module that would allow me to quickly do a keyword search on any WordPress blog, but most likely my own. This is pretty easy to do, and I have already created a tool for doing this via a browser bookmarklet.

The concept is pretty simple, if you are searching for the keywords moon cheese on Wallace’s WP blog at (this is a fake URL) http://www.wallace.co.uk/blog/, the correct URL to construct to create this search is simple http://www.wallace.co.uk/blog/index.php?s=moon+cheese.

It took a bit more tinkering than I thought, and the visual display is plain, but in use the Module looks like:

The default settings are to search this blog (handy for me, eh?). So from this module, I would click “go” and get the same results as a search from my blog sidebar.

But wait, there is more. If I click “edit”, I can change the preferences to ones where I can make it search another WP blog, for example, Alec Courous’s blog:

And once I save it, my Google home page is a quick search for Alec’s blog:

You can find my new Google Module at:
http://cogdogblog.com/alan/wp_search.xml

and it is as simple as:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> 
<Module>
  <ModulePrefs 
      title=" __UP_wpname__ WordPress Blog Search" 
     title_url="__UP_wpblog__" 
    description="Do a keyword search of any WordPress Blog" 
     screenshot="http://cogdogblog.com/alan/images/wp_search.jpg" 
    author="Alan Levine" author_email="cogdogblog+woof@gmail.com" 
     author_affiliation="CogDogBlog" author_location="Phoenix, Arizona" /> 
  <UserPref name="wpblog" display_name="Blog URL (must end in '/')" 
     default_value="http://cogdogblog.com/" required="true"/>
   <UserPref name="wpname" display_name="Blog Name" default_value="CogDogBlog" />
 
 <Content type="html">
     <![CDATA[ 
       <form action="__UP_wpblog__index.php" method="get" target="_blank">
<input type="text" input name="s" size="20" value="">
<input value="Go" type="submit">
</form>
     ]]>
  </Content> 
</Module>

This is just a quick dip into the coding pool. It is dependent on getting the blog URL correct (must end in the trailing “/”) of the blog home. It failed to work on D’Arcy Norman’ site (maybe something to do with his Livesearch query method). It would be even better to have it allow me to create a list of WP blogs that I could choose one with a radio button to direct the search.

Again, this was a project born of Idle Curiosity. It has some use, as I prefer to search my blog without having to load the entire home page juts to get to a single form.

But this is pretty simple (way below “rocket science”, it is as complex as “jello science” or “top ramen science”), and there is a rich amount of complexity built into this system that could allow creation of some fascinating tools, and truly is Small Technologies Loosely Joined (by XML), and pulled together by some Googly AJAX. It’s something I will keep in my hat as I think of other ways to provide these plug and play web tool-ets.

flickr foto

Stranger Things Have Happened
available on my flickr

I am still bleed Apple colors, but I have a new TabletPC for working with some new pen based applications (see what is on the screen. It’s a strange world indeed

I’m still trying to get familiar with the TableTC environment with this new HP tc1100… no I am not abandoning my primary development on my Powerbook– this machine was purchased specifically to be able to do some R&D work with TableTC applications, primarily the MagicPaper on that we are piloting as part of our participation in the MIT iCampus Project.

To that end, I am creating a new “R&D” category on this blog as I delve into these new technologies.

The pen based mousing makes me feel like I’ve gone back to my first trackpad experience. The device is pleasently tiny, yet the swiveling screen back and forth is not quite natural, but should come with time. I have already used it to write some meeting notes, and there is soemthing attractive about not pecking notes as letters (as a horrific keyboarder I am) and instead writing by hand on the screen.

Anyhow, MagicPaper is an interesting application designed for teaching Physics. The Tablet is used to create primitive objects (balls, walls, slopes) etc, assign them material properties, connect them with things like springs and ropes, and then apply forces. You set them up, and then set it in motion, and more or less, it is a virtual physics lab. I’m just messing around making silly Rube Goldberg like apps, but I am very interested in getting this into the hands and eyes of our physics faculty.

This is just my first MagicPaper attemp before it is set in motion… I’m trying to figure out how to do some screencasts to record how these are built.