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RSS Feed Reader Docklet for ObjectDock

Smaky

By Smaky
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Smaky

Smaky

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A simple RSS feed Reader Docklet for Objectdock

WARNING: This is just a really very early preview, it might be buggy & unstable.

Right now it supports configuration of multiple RSS Feeds. Clicking on the docklet icon will show a menu with available items at the selected RSS Feed, when an item is selected, a Dialog will be shown with the feed's item contents (I am using an ActiveX IE control, so IE must be installed for the docklet to work).

Updates:

+ 15/01/2009: Fixed crash when no profiles are configured. Fixed Feed title capture, if you let the feed title empty the feed's title will be retrieved from the feed. Streamlined a bit some code, so the final docklet is smaller.

+ 16/01/2009: Added "View all items" to show all feed items in a single window.

+ 16/01/2009: Improved the RSS Feed parsing code to improve compatibility with some RSS Feeds (specially atom formatted ones & publication date retrieval).

+ 20/01/2009: Fixed a few bugs for ATOM based feed, save window position & size is now functional.

+ 29/01/2009: Added option to launch the current default browser or configured application when an feed or item feed is selected.

+ 08/02/2009: Fixed support for international RSS Feeds (arabic, chinesse, etc.). The integrated feed reader supports international feeds as well.

+ 06/03/2009: Added options to arrange feeds and to backup & restore docklet configuration (I do not remeber if this docklet already had this last functionallity, but anyway).

+ 26/03/2010: Tested under Windows 7. Some few minor bugs fixed.

As usual, any comments & suggestions are welcome.

There are currently two versions, one a little bit outdated that does not use stacklib can be downloaded from: RSSReader SL - 0.1.0.4a.zip

A newer one, which can use matonga's stacklib if present, can be downloaded from (preview): RSSReader - 0.1.0.2b.zip

In a few days, and depending from your feedback I may drop the previous version and continue development on the latter only.

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RSSReader SL - 0.1.0.4a.zip

RSSReader - 0.1.0.2b.zip

Edited by Smaky
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matonga

matonga

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Smaky I've tried your docklet and looks pretty promising!

Just one thing, I dunno to mention because you said the docklet is still in development phase:

When you add the docklet to the dock for the first time, and click it, it crashes the dock. It would be good to have it show the settings dialog instead ;)

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Smaky

Smaky

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Thank you for reminding me this...

Smaky I've tried your docklet and looks pretty promising!

Just one thing, I dunno to mention because you said the docklet is still in development phase:

When you add the docklet to the dock for the first time, and click it, it crashes the dock. It would be good to have it show the settings dialog instead ;)

Edit: Fixed... config dialog will be shown if no profiles are captured.

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Smaky

Smaky

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After capturig the feed URL click on check... it will validate the feed is accesible and will retrieve the title... although it is not editable.

If you just capture the URL and click OK, it will be validated and the title will be retrieved.... it's just you won't be able to notice the title until returning to the profiles dialog.

Found a bug when adding an rss feed. The input for the feed title does not display and when you type in the title you cannot see the text but after saving and then go to edit the title does display.

Edit: Fixed, now it is possible to capture the Feed title... if you leave the title empty it will be retrieved from the feed either by clicking on "Check" or when closing the profile dialog via "OK".

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Smaky

Smaky

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Since this docklet did not came out of my own needs... I would like to hear some suggestions on how development should proceed. What functionallity would you like it to have... just remeber, it's not a full-blown RSS Aggregator, I would not try to do that... I pretend it to be just an easier way to get your most important feeds at your fingertips!

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matonga

matonga

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When you right-click (or left click? can't remind) the docklet shows each article's title and you can click an article and have it shown.

I'd like to have the possibility of clicking something such as "show all" and be able to see all articles in a single window (i.e. your docklet would create a single html with all articles pasted inside).

Even though, I already love this docklet :)

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Smaky

Smaky

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Nice... let me add that...

When you right-click (or left click? can't remind) the docklet shows each article's title and you can click an article and have it shown.

I'd like to have the possibility of clicking something such as "show all" and be able to see all articles in a single window (i.e. your docklet would create a single html with all articles pasted inside).

Even though, I already love this docklet :)

Edit: Done

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Smaky

Smaky

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A wild guess would be that the feed is heavily accessed and that it sometimes just refuses some connections... could you take a note on the message previous to the "Invalid RSS Feed", that's the error number that was reported by WinHTTP which I am using for the feed download... I can research what does that particular value means.

No I still get invalid it wont let me add it.

EDITED

Just tried again and it worked not sure what the deal is I also tried before I wrote this post and it wouldn't.

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Smaky

Smaky

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Nope, it's just that I stripped code and references to libraries the RSS Reader wasn't using (that were inlcuded in the RSS Daily Stip Docklet)... and adjusting the Compiler/Linker options in VC++

Much thanks man!!!

BTW .dll file is half the size in this release (~180 kb against > 300 kb in previous release). Are you using an exe/dll packer?

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Smaky

Smaky

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I'm afraid that is a little beyond my current skills, the Comic Docklet has almost no interaction with the user and it uses transparent windows that "create" their own display... so it is not possible to add controls and iteract with them without a lot of hassle... matonge once gave me some tips on how to "workaround" that... but it seems a bit too much work for a simple docklet... but who knows... maybe if I got the time I may try that.

Skinnable window like the comic docklet or not
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Smaky

Smaky

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@matonga: Done...

Resizable item window? :)

Other than that it's pretty cool.

But well... just a techie question... do you happen to know how could I set the icon of this dialog to the one set for the menus? currently I a docklet variable (HBITMAP) which is updated with whatever the user chooses as the menu icon... but the for the RSS Feed window it is supposed to be something like:

[SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2][COLOR=black]HICON hIcon = (HICON)lpData->hBitmapIconMenu; <-- compiles, but no icon is being shown.[/COLOR]
[/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2][COLOR=black]SendMessage(hDlg, WM_SETICON, ICON_BIG, (LPARAM)hIcon);[/COLOR]
[/SIZE][/SIZE][SIZE=2][/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=2][COLOR=black]SendMessage(hDlg, WM_SETICON, ICON_SMALL, (LPARAM)hIcon);[/COLOR]
[/SIZE][/SIZE]

But it shows no icon at all, and... I would like to have the window minimize to the tray area, since it is not miminizing to the taskbar... do you know how could that be achieved?

Thanks.

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matonga

matonga

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Mmm... about the icon, I doubt it would work, because it seems you're trying to use a HBITMAP as a HICON.

You should:

1. GetDIBits( ) on the HBITMAP, to get it's pixels.

2. CreateIcon( ) to create an icon based on HBITMAP's pixels.

I'm not sure if such thing would work, I'll see what can I come with...

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Smaky

Smaky

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IE is already running... as I mentioned (I think), the docklet uses IE

ActiveX control to render HTML... so when you click a link it is IE which

opens the new window not the docklet itself. To be able to configure that I would need to render the HTML myself or include a Gecko based ActiveX control instead (which I think would open Mozilla or Chrome)... I have not much info on that.

I just noticed when I click on a link in the window it opens in Internet Explorer, could you have it use the default browser as I don't like or use IE.
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