Comments on: Creating a simple news feed module (for display within static blocks)

By: chandrakanth shenoy

chandrakanth shenoy — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 12:23:42 +0000

can i write static block inside another static block..if no plz give me details why so

static {
….
……………

static {
……………………..
}
}

By: legend

legend — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:04:31 +0000

The module looks great and easy to install..I followed the same as per your instructions.But the module is not appearing in the frontend.I could not understand the last step how to turn on the debugging output in the adminstration side.

By: Jools Wills

Jools Wills — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:23:19 +0000

take the the xml layout code above that starts


<reference name="right">
    <block type="cms/block" name="newsfeeds" before="-">

and instead of putting it into the update xml you can put it into the main theme layout. go to app/design/frontend/default/default/ayout (for the case of the default theme) you can place it in one of the layouts there, or make a new one.

By: Francis

Francis — Sun, 17 May 2009 06:31:19 +0000

I’m trying to find the easiest way to make this block display on every page – any tips?

By: Francis

Francis — Sun, 17 May 2009 06:14:58 +0000

Thanks for this! it works great, beats paying $200 for it.

By: Jools Wills

Jools Wills — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:25:31 +0000

In reply to topsupplementstore. That command does an equivalent of replacing "& new" with " new" in the simplepie code. You could do the same on a text editor. I would suggest that you might consider getting someone else to implement this code for you if you are not comfortable or familiar with such things. I would also recommend you look at my earlier comment on this where I link to an alternative solution that is a fair amount simpler to implement, and has less resource requirements (it utilises the Zend framework that Magento already uses).

By: topsupplementstore

topsupplementstore — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:33:38 +0000

how do I run the command line mentioned to avoid php problems?

By: topsupplementstore

topsupplementstore — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:34:22 +0000

Thanks again, that is what I figured but I always make sure to double check.

IF for some reason one does not carry all of these steps out correctly could it possibly corrupt the structure of the site and stop it from being published on the web correctly?

Never hurts to triple check lol

By: Jools Wills

Jools Wills — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:16:09 +0000

In reply to topsupplementstore. Just use the {{block type=”Maglife_Newsfeeds/View” template=”newsfeeds/view.phtml” feedurl=”http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&topic=h&output=atom” count=”5″}} multiple times with different urls for different feeds.

By: topsupplementstore

topsupplementstore — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:44:19 +0000

In reply to Jools Wills. This is exactly what I have been looking for! Can one add multiple feeds to a website? And if so how would that be done?

By: Jools Wills

Jools Wills — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:12:15 +0000

The code allows you to pull in a feed from another site (for example BBC News) and display it within a block on your Magento website. This block will be indexed in the same way as other content on the page.

By: topsupplementstore

topsupplementstore — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:59:58 +0000

can this rss/news feed be read by search engines??

By: Jools Wills

Jools Wills — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:15:59 +0000

if you want to just place it in the “content” section of the CMS, just use the code from the static block like

Home Page

{{block type=”Maglife_Newsfeeds/View” template=”newsfeeds/view.phtml” feedurl=”http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&topic=h&output=atom” count=”5″}}

By: Brady

Brady — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:12:13 +0000

How do I place the feed on some place other than the “right” column?

For example, I want to put it on my 1-Column homepage within a specific DIV. When I place the code you provided in the “Content” section of the CMS (instead of Custom Design), it just says “Newsfeed” where the feed should be.

By: Jools Wills

Jools Wills — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:09:43 +0000

I just found another blog that is interesting. A simpler approach as it uses the Zend framework for the feed code. I hadn’t thought about utilising the framework that Magento already runs off.

http://inchoo.net/ecommerce/magento/latest-news-rss-box-block/

By: Brady

Brady — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:16:57 +0000

Wow – very thorough write-up. Thank you so much!

It couldn’t be more perfect timing too – I was just looking for something like this. Google picks up these posts fast!