mt-allconsuming - A MovableType plugin to incorporate XML feeds from allconsuming.net into a web page
1.0.
<MTAllConsumingList username="daveseidel" type="favorite_books">
<a href="<$MTAllConsumingListLink$>"><$MTAllConsumingListTitle$></a><br/>
<span class="realsmall">Last updated: <$MTAllConsumingListLastBuildDate$></span><br/>
<table border="0" cellpadding="3">
<MTAllConsumingListBooks sort_by="author,title">
<tr>
<td align="middle">
<img src="<$MTAllConsumingListBookImage$>"
border="0"
width="39"
height="60"
alt="<$MTAllConsumingListBookTitle$>" />
</td>
<td class="small" align="middle">
<$MTAllConsumingListBookAuthor$><br/>
<em><$MTAllConsumingListBookTitle$></em><br/>
<span class="realsmall">
<MTAllConsumingListBookPageNotZero>
Page: <$MTAllConsumingListBookPage$><br/>
</MTAllConsumingListBookPageNotZero>
<MTAllConsumingListBookCommentNotEmpty>
"<$MTAllConsumingListBookComment$>"<br/>
</MTAllConsumingListBookCommentNotEmpty>
[<a href="<$MTAllConsumingListBookAmazonLink$>">Amazon</a>]
[<a href="<$MTAllConsumingListBookACLink$>">All Consuming</a>]
</span>
</td>
</tr>
</MTAllConsumingListBooks>
</table>
</MTAllConsumingList>
All Consuming (http://allconsuming.net) is a web site that lets you create and maintain lists of your favorite books and books that you're currently reading, and creates XML feeds for those lists. All Consuming has lots of other cool features and services as well, and is free to use. Visit the web site to learn more.
mt-allconsuming is a MovableType plugin that retrieves an All Consuming XML feed and provides a set of tags so that you can incorporate the book information in a MovableType template. The plugin makes use of caching (implemented with code adapted from Timothy Appnel's mt-rssfeed plugin, see the Acknowledgements section) to keep a local copy of each feed you use, and only downloads a new copy if the original has been updated.
To install mt-allconsuming, copy the mt-allconsuming.pl file into your MovableTypeHome/plugins/
directory. If the plugins directory does not exist, just create it.
You may need to configure one or more of the following configuration variables in the mt-allconsuming.pl file. They are located near the beginning of the file. If you change any of these variables, make sure you un-comment it before you save and upload the file.
The username attribute is required, and must contain a valid All Consuming username, so
that the plugin will be able to retrieve the proper book list.
The type attribute os optional, and tells the plugin which book list to get; valid values are ``currently_reading'' or
``favorite_books''. The default is value is ``favorite books.''
MTAllConsumingBookList
tag.
The sort_by attribute is optional and specifies how you would like the books
in the book list to be sorted. You can use the name of any of the book's details, such
as ``author'' or ``title''. You can specify a multilevel sort by using two or more details
seperated by commas. For example, use sort_by="author,title" to sort byauthor, and
then by title.
author(s) of the book.
Caching and caching configuration code adapted from Timothy Appnel's mt-rssfeed[1] plugin with Tim's generous permission. Tim's excellent article[2] on plugins was essential in helping me learn the MT plugin framework and write this, my first plugin.
[1] http://www.mplode.com/tima/files/mt-plugins/#mt-rssfeed [2] http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2003/03/18/movabletype.html?page=1
Thanks also to Erik Benson at allconsuming.net for encouraging me to get this done.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0 or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
mt-allconsuming is Copyright 2003, Dave Seidel. All rights reserved.
email: dave@superluminal.com weblog: http://www.superluminal.com/dave/weblog/