Requesting 10 beta-testers for Guild Wars site RSS feed

[Eugaet]

I spent some time last night and this morning working on an RSS scrape for the current news section of the Guild Wars site. The scrape is written in php.

Pic.

If anyone is interested in helping me beta-test this kludgy, first version, I'd appreciate it. The first 10 people who reply to this thread will get a PM from me with the URL.

If you are one of the 10, please let me know if you find any bugs or formatting issues by replying to this thread, or sending me a PM or email. If you have screenshots, post or PM me a link, or email it to me as an attachment. I've only tested this with the Sage plugin in Firefox, so I'm curious how well it works in other feedreaders.

Thanks,
eugaet

[Sniperz53]

Actually if you wouldnt mind could I be a part of this I would like to add it to my site Contact me at [email protected] or pm me on this site

[EternalTempest]

I use RSS at work to pull 20 tech sites , would love to test a gw rss feed.
(I use Albion - http://www.abilon.org/ (Freeware) at work and Opera at home)

(Edit) See below for a much better RSS info then I had.

[Monica Angelina]

I'll do it!

[RTSFirebat]

I love to try it out, this be a great feature for a site like GW Guru, other then that it be easier then me having to check the Guild Wars website while at work. Count me in.

[Guardian of the Light]

Ok I'll do it but umm so its posting something on a forum right?

[email protected] is my Email

[Eugaet]

OK, sent everyone who replied a PM with the link. Thanks for offering to test it out. So far, those testing are:

Fate
Kariston
chris_nin00
Demonstar
Guardian of the Light
RTSFirebat
Monica Angelina
EternalTempest
Sniperz53

That's 9, which I suppose is really more than enough for testing something like this, although the more the merrier. Here's some of the info from my old thread in the OT section (which was posted there because I was impatient with the validation ):

----------

The php script I sent the link to returns an XML document. You need to have a feedreader/aggregator installed, or use a web-based one, and supply it with the link I sent.

I've tested it with the Sage plugin for Firefox, Google Reader, and Google Personalized Home. Seems to work so far.

Feedreaders/News Aggregators:
What they are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregator
Where to find them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators

Hopefully, Anet will have a few news updates over the next week or so which will give those of you testing it out to see if the feed updates OK. In the meantime, I'll be cleaning up and streamlining the script...so if it suddenly stops working, give it about 30 minutes or so before you notify me. Chances are, I'm well aware of the screwup I just made and am currently fixing it. I'll be working off of a copy (well, should be working off of a copy), but you never know.

If all goes well, I'll publish the link in CW next weekend. After that, I'll set up an RSS feed for the Game Updates section of the GW website. Any other sections of the GW site which might benefit from a feed?

Again, thanks to those of you who offered to give it a test run. This is cool...I'm feeling all useful and stuff.

[Guardian of the Light]

Ok dude you need to work the News thing so [QUOTE]/QUOTE] Stuff actually works this is a copy and paste of want I saw

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
- <rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/" xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
- <channel>
<title>Guild Wars :: Current News</title>
<description>Guild Wars current news RSS scrape.</description>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/default.html</link>
<language>en-us</language>
- <item>
<title>Halloween Memories 2005 :: 04 November 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/gallery/movies/default.html</link>
<description>We'd like to offer Guild Wars players a little keepsake from the recently-concluded Halloween Event. We have a gameplay movie for you featuring images from throughout Tyria, along with player festivities, The Mad King's visit, and more. Halloween Memories is available on this link.</description>
- <content:encoded>
- <![CDATA[

<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/w.jpg" alt="W" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">e'd like to offer <i>Guild Wars</i> players a little keepsake from the recently-concluded Halloween Event. We have a gameplay movie for you featuring images from throughout Tyria, along with player festivities, The Mad King's visit, and more. Halloween Memories is available on <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/gallery/movies/default.html">this link</a>.


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<title>Guild of the Week #23 :: 01 November 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/23-orderofdii.html</link>
<description>Our twenty-third Guild of the Week article focuses on one of the larger Guild Wars Guilds, Order of Dii. Celebrating their first anniversary this month, Dii is a guild that focuses on both PvP and cooperative gameplay. Read all about them here.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/o.jpg" alt="O" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">ur twenty-third Guild of the Week article focuses on one of the larger <i>Guild Wars</i> Guilds, Order of Dii. Celebrating their first anniversary this month, Dii is a guild that focuses on both PvP and cooperative gameplay. Read all about them <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/23-orderofdii.html">here</a>.


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<title>Halloween Wallpaper :: 28 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/gallery/wallpaper/gw-wp057.html</link>
<description>We have a special offering for Guild Wars fans today: An image for your desktop featuring the Guild Wars Bone Dragon in a setting suitable for the Halloween season. Find the wallpaper in a variety of sizes over on this link.</description>
- <content:encoded>
- <![CDATA[

<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/w.jpg" alt="W" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">e have a special offering for <i>Guild Wars</i> fans today: An image for your desktop featuring the <i>Guild Wars</i> Bone Dragon in a setting suitable for the Halloween season. Find the wallpaper in a variety of sizes over on <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/gallery/wallpaper/gw-wp057.html">this link</a>.


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<title>Halloween Art Contest Winners Announced :: 27 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/events/halloween2005/contest-winners.html</link>
<description>A wealth of wonderful Halloween-centered art poured into the ArenaNet offices over the last several weeks, as Guild Wars players responded to the call to show their Halloween spirit with a Guild Wars theme. The variety, and the exceptional level of creativity, really impressed our team, and everyone from artist to programmer greatly enjoyed serving as judges for the contest. We’re happy to present the winners today, 25 in all. Find them on this page. And look for more Halloween goodies coming… soon.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/a.jpg" alt="A" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">&nbsp;wealth of wonderful Halloween-centered art poured into the ArenaNet offices over the last several weeks, as <i>Guild Wars</i> players responded to the call to show their Halloween spirit with a <i>Guild Wars</i> theme. The variety, and the exceptional level of creativity, really impressed our team, and everyone from artist to programmer greatly enjoyed serving as judges for the contest. We’re happy to present the winners today, 25 in all. Find them on <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/events/halloween2005/contest-winners.html">this page</a>. And look for more Halloween goodies coming… soon.


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<title>Guild of the Week #22 :: 25 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/22-xen-of-onslaught.html</link>
<description>The featured guild for this week's GotW is Xen of Onslaught, a guild with a three-year history in a variety of games. Find out more about XoO, and read their tale of an interesting and unconventional battle, on this link.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/t.jpg" alt="T" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">he featured guild for this week's GotW is Xen of Onslaught, a guild with a three-year history in a variety of games. Find out more about XoO, and read their tale of an interesting and unconventional battle, on <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/22-xen-of-onslaught.html">this link</a>.


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<title>Halloween Fun :: 24 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/events/halloween2005/default.html</link>
<description>This is the final day of the Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest, so be sure your entries reach us by this evening. For more seasonal fun, you’ll enjoy the wonderful Guild Wars Guild Emblem pumpkin patterns, created by a Guild Wars fan and professional pumpkin carver (yes, there is such a thing!) called "The Pumpkin Lady." You can visit her site through the main portal or head directly into the Guild Wars Pattern Section to pick up your free patterns. We’ll be displaying The Pumpkin Lady’s extraordinary carving of the Guild Wars Necromancer later this week.</description>
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- <![CDATA[

<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/t.jpg" alt="T" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">his is the final day of the <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/events/halloween2005/default.html"><i>Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest</i></a>, so be sure your entries reach us by this evening. For more seasonal fun, you’ll enjoy the wonderful <i>Guild Wars</i> Guild Emblem pumpkin patterns, created by a <i>Guild Wars</i> fan and professional pumpkin carver (yes, there is such a thing!) called "The Pumpkin Lady." You can visit her site through the <a href="http://www.pumpkinlady.com/index.htm" target="_blank">main portal</a> or head directly into the <a href="http://www.pumpkinlady.com/gwpatterns.htm" target="_blank">Guild Wars Pattern Section</a> to pick up your free patterns. We’ll be displaying The Pumpkin Lady’s extraordinary carving of the <i>Guild Wars</i> Necromancer later this week.


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<title>Guild of the Week #21 :: 18 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/21-pie-induced-ecstasy.html</link>
<description>Our guild of the week is Pie Induced Ecstasy, better known by its tasty acronym of PIE. You can learn about this guild over here.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/o.jpg" alt="O" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">ur guild of the week is Pie Induced Ecstasy, better known by its tasty acronym of PIE. You can learn about this guild over <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/21-pie-induced-ecstasy.html">here</a>.


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<dc:creator>eugaet</dc:creator>
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<title>Fansite Friday – Designer Letter :: 14 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/community/fansite-friday61.html</link>
<description>The Fansite Friday series shifts gears this week with a new format that poses a fan question and offers an in-depth answer from one of the Guild Wars Designers. This week's topic is in-game farming and item sales. Find the article on this link.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/t.jpg" alt="T" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">he Fansite Friday series shifts gears this week with a new format that poses a fan question and offers an in-depth answer from one of the <i>Guild Wars</i> Designers. This week's topic is in-game farming and item sales. Find the article on <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/community/fansite-friday61.html">this link</a>.


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<dc:creator>eugaet</dc:creator>
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<title>Halloween Art Contest Ends Soon :: 12 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/events/halloween2005/default.html</link>
<description>The Halloween Season is upon us. Our Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest judges are goblin up the entries and want to scare up even more! Make no bones about it, everyone has more than a ghost of a chance to win. Now, we want to mention that the dead-line for entering is coming soon. So get in the spirit! Witch entry will it be? The wallpaper? The costume design? Or something else? Find all the contest details on this page.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/t.jpg" alt="T" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">he Halloween Season is upon us. Our <i>Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest</i> judges are <i>goblin</i> up the entries and want to <i>scare</i> up even more! Make no <i>bones</i> about it, everyone has more than a <i>ghost</i> of a chance to win. Now, we want to mention that the <i>dead</i>-line for entering is coming soon. So get in the <i>spirit</i>! <i>Witch</i> entry will it be? The wallpaper? The costume design? Or something else? Find all the contest details on <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/events/halloween2005/default.html">this page</a>.


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<title>Guild of the Week #20 :: 11 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/20-blackrose-gaming.html</link>
<description>We focus this week on Black Rose Gaming, a veteran guild that has gained experience in a variety of games over the last six years. BR has been most generous in offering strategy suggestions, and the members have provided valuable advice on several guild builds. Read the article here.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/w.jpg" alt="W" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">e focus this week on Black Rose Gaming, a veteran guild that has gained experience in a variety of games over the last six years. BR has been most generous in offering strategy suggestions, and the members have provided valuable advice on several guild builds. Read the article <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/20-blackrose-gaming.html">here</a>.


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<title>Guild Wars Interview on 1Up :: 10 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3144221&did=1</link>
<description>Guild Wars is featured in the November 2005 issue of Computer Gaming World Magazine. 1Up has a preview of the feature on their site now, with an interview, screenshots, and several developer build ideas. Find the feature here.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/g.jpg" alt="G" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50"><i>uild Wars</i> is featured in the November 2005 issue of Computer Gaming World Magazine. 1Up has a preview of the feature on their site now, with an interview, screenshots, and several developer build ideas. Find the feature <a href="http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3144221&did=1" target="_blank">here</a>.


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<title>Guild Wars Ladder Archives :: 04 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/ladder/archive-ladder-preseason-p1.html</link>
<description>We have added an archive of the Top 500 guilds on the Guild Wars Ladder during the period of time leading to the start of the Guild Wars World Championship Season. Find the Pre-Season Archives here.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/w.jpg" alt="W" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">e have added an archive of the Top 500 guilds on the <i>Guild Wars</i> Ladder during the period of time leading to the start of the <i>Guild Wars World Championship</i> Season. Find the Pre-Season Archives <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/ladder/archive-ladder-preseason-p1.html">here</a>.


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<title>Guild of the Week #19 :: 04 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/19-servants-of-fortuna.html</link>
<description>Our featured guild this week is Servants of Fortuna, an international guild that traces its roots to last December's Beta Weekend Event. Read about SoF on this link.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/o.jpg" alt="O" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">ur featured guild this week is Servants of Fortuna, an international guild that traces its roots to last December's Beta Weekend Event. Read about SoF on <a href="http://www.guildwars.com/gameinfo/guilds/19-servants-of-fortuna.html">this link</a>.


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<title>DirectSong Battle Pak Available :: 03 October 2005</title>
<link>http://www.directsong.com</link>
<description>DirectSong has released their first Battle Pak, a premium music upgrade for Guild Wars that doubles the amount of available in-game music. Guild Wars Battle Pak One is supported by the improved sample rate and high-definition codec first heard in the free Sorrow's Furnace Mini-Pak. Find out more on the DirectSong site.</description>
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<img src="http://www.guildwars.com/images/jpeg/dropcaps/d.jpg" alt="D" hspace="2" vspace="2" border="0" align="left" width="50" height="50">irectSong has released their first Battle Pak, a premium music upgrade for <i>Guild Wars</i> that doubles the amount of available in-game music. <i>Guild Wars Battle Pak One</i> is supported by the improved sample rate and high-definition codec first heard in the free <i>Sorrow's Furnace Mini-Pak</i>. Find out more on the <a href="http://www.directsong.com" target="_blank">DirectSong site</a>.</p>


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<dc:creator>eugaet</dc:creator>
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</rss>


Sry if thats a bit long

[Eugaet]

Originally Posted by Guardian of the Light

Ok dude you need to work the News thing so Stuff actually works this is a copy and paste of want I saw

Oooooo-kay. What you saw is correct, that is how it should show up in your browser. However, if you plugged that link into a feedreader or news aggregator, it'll show up in a readable format...that format depending on how your feedreader/aggregator displays the XML file.

Please read my previous post to this thread. And, if you would be so kind, please edit your post to remove all that XML. Thanks.

On an aside...is it just me or...[plotting] is there no RSS feed for the GWG Community News? [/plotting]

[Eugaet]

Wanted to post a screenshot of my current development feed:



Hopefully, I'll get this version out to the testers in the next day or so.

Worked on pulling in the image-link at the top of the news section...not sure how well that will work going forward, but we'll find out, won't we? Cleaned up some of the other regexes to pull the entries a bit more precisely. Next, to wrap up a few repetitious areas into functions. And more cleanup. But for now...sleep.

[Padi]

if you still have a spot i wouldnt mind taking it for a spin

[Accurax]

HELP!!! feel technologically retarded (and i'm not usually)

Explain this to me please

And id love to try

[Sniperz53]

Hey guys whats up, for those of you familiar with php-nuke UI need your help, is there a way to make it display like in the screens,

I created a new block with that as the RSS feed and it comes out like it is on my home page

Help would be greatly appreciated

Sniperz53

EDIT: Nevermind I realized that I have to get a news feed module, I should have it up and running within the day for all of you to view and marvel at

[FFF_WarRaven]

i run several php nuke sites, it has rss built into it, people can even add their own feeds, look in your blocks section, their are some preinstalled rss feeds for different sites, if a site has a rss, or sometimes it appears as"backend.php" as a link somewhere, this is something you can set for you site thru your preferances, this is usually done on the "portal side" of the nuke package. I believe that you can even allow members to add their own rss feeds that only they see.

:::End Transmission:::

[Eugaet]

Originally Posted by Accurax

Explain this to me please

I created a script that outputs the current news from the GW site into a format that is readable by an application or browser plugin called a feedreader or news aggregator. The link I send out to testers needs to be added to the list of feeds tracked by the feedreader/aggregator. If you view the link in your browser, in most cases you will see the output of my script (which is XML, btw). Your feedreader/aggregator will make this output look pretty. Web browser is to HTML link as feedreader/aggregator is to RSS/XML link.

In more detail:
Feedreaders/News Aggregators:
What they are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregator
Where to find them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators

I suppose I could open it up to more than 10 people...if I was nice. Which I am. PMs to Accurax and Padi forthcoming.

Sniperz53: That's sweet.

[EternalTempest]

Thank you for making me a beta tester - here some results

Albion (the RSS program I like) - Looks great. Not sure how you get those little icons for the main feed link like the others.


Oprea - Web Browser RSS - Not showing the fancy first letter images.


Will be doing more testing.

If anyone needs some free rss programs - http://www.webattack.com/freeware/mi...readers_r.html

[Eugaet]

Originally Posted by EternalTempest

Albion (the RSS program I like) - Looks great. Not sure how you get those little icons for the main feed link like the others.

<strike>Which icons?  The caps or the little word bubble that shows in my screenshots?  The caps are pulling straight from the GW site.  I had to have the script rework the image urls to make sure it pointed to an absolute rather than relative path.</strike>

Oh, you mean the little favicon looking ones in the sidebar. Hmmm...

Originally Posted by EternalTempest

Oprea - Web Browser RSS - Not showing the fancy first letter images.

Well, that's no good, is it? You'd think it would display the alt text for the caps images. Is RSS built in to Opera? Looks like I'll need to install it to do some testing myself.

Thanks for the feedback!

[EternalTempest]

With Opera it may be an issue that doesn't allow images to load in the RSS text section (but allow html code for links and such). The RSS support is built in as part of opera. Of all the feeds I've seen, not seen any images in Opera to date.

With Albion, the icon I was referring too was the Feed Tree (far left column) with the different feeds listed. Example: The register feed has the carrion logo, it's giving the "default" xml icon for your feed. Not sure how it works.

You may need to grab someone who is beta testing IE 7. Next version of IE will have RSS support built in. As soon as IE 7 is "public" beta I can test it.

You’re doing a great job. It may be the same problems that html code has, lose standards. It's going to be the RSS newsreaders that support the most standards, Atom, RSS1, RSS2, etc built in that will display the best I think. But if you test and tweak enough across the board, you should do fine.

[Monica Angelina]

Hiya,

I'm using the Thunderbird RSS Reader to read 5 other RSS feeds and they work fine. However, with the beta feed, I do not get any images...

Am I doing something wrong?

Mon

[Mo/R9]

If applications aren't yet closed, I'd be happy to help test. I'd be using the RSS feed reader built into Windows Vista.