{"id":1845,"date":"2012-04-23T19:59:45","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T02:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/?p=1845"},"modified":"2014-03-18T23:07:32","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T06:07:32","slug":"super-simple-wordpress-to-flash-feed-reader-by-author-category-etc-source-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/super-simple-wordpress-to-flash-feed-reader-by-author-category-etc-source-files","title":{"rendered":"Super Simple WordPress To Flash Feed Reader (By Author, Category, Etc) — Source Files"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOURCE FILES HERE!<\/a> (AS3, and AS2)<\/p>\n

Short Summary:<\/strong>
\nWordpress feed readers + Flash are a popular things to do (ever since the Macromedia weblogs). I had a nice and tidy widget version programmed way back for my old site<\/a>, as well as played with the same model in Flex<\/a>. Although it no longer displays because the feed is long dead (RIP early roots of social media), sorting them by category\/author, then syndicating to Flash when you do have the feed URL (RSS or atom), is a simple endeavor once you get all the php query vars. Searching on the WordPress site eventually got me what I needed.<\/a>
\nThis is similar to a twitter feed reader (tutorial here)<\/a>… but the appeal to this was that you can pull in more text, don’t need a .php mediator, don’t have the “100 pings-per-hour” restriction, and it’s hosted on your own server… It offered a lot more flexibility. Both go well hand in hand.
\nThe amazing thing about WordPress is that it’s so extendible, and any part of it can easily be syndicated\/pulled in\/plugged into Flash (and vice versa). One of my next “dream ideas” for weekend meddling would be to make a full on flash theme for WordPress.<\/p>\n

This applies to non-Flash syndicators as well. You see them everywhere, and here’s how you usually do it (WordPress.org<\/a> is packed with approaches to this – search their forums<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Query Vars & ID’s:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For starters you use one (or more) of the Query Vars, such as username (author_name), or category name (category_name) , and pass that request from Flash to WordPress.
\nHere’s a list.<\/a>
\nTHEN parse it accordingly.
\nAlternatively you can go with ID’s (numeric). Such as “author=1”.<\/p>\n

There are a number of ways to get those values, basically you can get as advanced as you like — write some php that parses all of everything and then make a call from flash to that file, etc…
\nBUT for this example, instead of getting crazy handsome, you can just copy the names of the query vars<\/a> in the URL when you rollover categories\/author in the “Posts” section…<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Examples would be…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
author=1\r\nauthor_name=admin\r\ncategory_name=resources\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
I like simple.<\/p>\n
Flash:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Make a Dynamic text field and call it:<\/p>\n
txt_feed<\/code><\/p>\n
As well as two movieclips to serve as page up\/down buttons.
\nName them:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
btn_down\r\nbtn_up\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
CODE:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Actionscript 3.0 Version (DOWNLOAD SOURCE CS5.5<\/a>, DOWNLOAD SOURCE CS4<\/a>)…<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
import<\/span> flash.events.Event<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\r\n\/\/EXAMPLE:<\/span>\r\n\/\/author=1<\/span>\r\n\/\/author_name=admin<\/span>\r\n\/\/category_name=resources<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> str_feed:String<\/span> =<\/span> "http:\/\/nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/?feed=rss2&"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> str_sortby:String<\/span> =<\/span> "category_name=resources"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> str_url:String<\/span> =<\/span> str_feed +<\/span> str_sortby;<\/span>\r\n\r\n\/\/arrays<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> arr_title:Array<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> Array<\/span>();<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> arr_date:Array<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> Array<\/span>();<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> arr_body:Array<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> Array<\/span>();<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> arr_link:Array<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> Array<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\r\n\/\/xml<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> feedXML:XML<\/span>;<\/span>\r\nvar<\/span> loader:URLLoader<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> URLLoader<\/span>();<\/span>\r\nloader.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>Event.<\/span>COMPLETE<\/span>,<\/span> getFeed);<\/span>\r\nloader.<\/span>load<\/span>(<\/span>new<\/span> URLRequest<\/span>(<\/span>str_url));<\/span>\r\ntxt_feed.<\/span>text<\/span> =<\/span> "Slowding"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\r\nfunction <\/span>getFeed<\/span>(<\/span>evt:<\/span>Event<\/span>)<\/span>\r\n{<\/span>\r\n\tfeedXML =<\/span> new<\/span> XML<\/span>(<\/span>loader.<\/span>data<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\/\/this is everything. it's looped through and parsed bellow.<\/span>\r\n\tvar<\/span> feedXMLitem:Object<\/span> =<\/span> feedXML..<\/span>item;<\/span>\r\n\ttxt_feed.<\/span>text<\/span> =<\/span> ""<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\/\/parse it...<\/span>\r\n\tfor<\/span> (<\/span>var<\/span> i:Number<\/span> =<\/span> 0<\/span>;<\/span> i<<\/span>feedxmlitem .<\/span>length<\/span>();<\/span> ++<\/span>i)<\/span>\r\n\t{<\/span>\r\n\t\tarr_title.<\/span>push<\/span>(<\/span>feedXMLitem.<\/span>title<\/span>[<\/span>i]);<\/span>\r\n\t\tarr_date.<\/span>push<\/span>(<\/span>feedXMLitem.<\/span>pubDate<\/span>[<\/span>i]);<\/span>\r\n\t\tarr_body.<\/span>push<\/span>(<\/span>feedXMLitem.<\/span>description<\/span>[<\/span>i]);<\/span>\r\n\t\tarr_link.<\/span>push<\/span>(<\/span>feedXMLitem.<\/span>link<\/span>[<\/span>i]);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\/\/populate + format<\/span>\r\n\t\ttxt_feed.<\/span>htmlText<\/span> +=<\/span>\r\n\t\t"< font color = ' #999999 ' >"<\/span> \r\n\t\t+<\/span> arr_title[<\/span>i]+<\/span>\r\n\t\t"\\n"<\/span>\r\n\t\t+<\/span>arr_date[<\/span>i]+<\/span>\r\n\t\t"' \\n"<\/span>\r\n\t\t+<\/span>arr_body[<\/span>i]+<\/span>\r\n\t\t"< font color = ' #0066FF ' >< a href='"<\/span> \r\n\t\t+<\/span> arr_link[<\/span>i]+<\/span>\r\n\t\t"'target= '_blank ' >\\n READ MORE< \/ font > \\n\\n"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t}<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\n\r\n\/\/ scroll up\/down buttons<\/span>\r\nfunction <\/span>scroll_downe<\/span>(<\/span>_event:<\/span>Event<\/span>){<\/span>\r\n\ttxt_feed.<\/span>scrollV<\/span> +=<\/span>  1<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\nfunction <\/span>scroll_upe<\/span>(<\/span>_event:<\/span>Event<\/span>){<\/span>\r\n\ttxt_feed.<\/span>scrollV<\/span> -=<\/span>  1<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\nfunction <\/span>scroll_field<\/span>(<\/span>_event:<\/span>MouseEvent<\/span>)<\/span>\r\n{<\/span>\r\n\tif<\/span>(<\/span>_event.<\/span>currentTarget<\/span>.<\/span>name<\/span> ==<\/span> "btn_down"<\/span>){<\/span>\r\n\t\t_event.<\/span>currentTarget<\/span>.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>Event.<\/span>ENTER_FRAME<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_downe);<\/span>\r\n\t}<\/span>\r\n\tif<\/span>(<\/span>_event.<\/span>currentTarget<\/span>.<\/span>name<\/span> ==<\/span> "btn_up"<\/span>){<\/span>\r\n\t\t_event.<\/span>currentTarget<\/span>.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>Event.<\/span>ENTER_FRAME<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_upe);<\/span>\r\n\t}<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\nfunction <\/span>scroll_stop<\/span>(<\/span>_event:<\/span>MouseEvent<\/span>){<\/span>\r\n\t_event.<\/span>currentTarget<\/span>.<\/span>removeEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>Event.<\/span>ENTER_FRAME<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_downe);<\/span>\r\n\t_event.<\/span>currentTarget<\/span>.<\/span>removeEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>Event.<\/span>ENTER_FRAME<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_upe);<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\nbtn_down.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>MouseEvent.<\/span>MOUSE_DOWN<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_field);<\/span>\r\nbtn_up.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>MouseEvent.<\/span>MOUSE_DOWN<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_field);<\/span>\r\nbtn_down.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>MouseEvent.<\/span>MOUSE_UP<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_stop);<\/span>\r\nbtn_up.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>MouseEvent.<\/span>MOUSE_UP<\/span>,<\/span>scroll_stop);<\/span>\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
End result:<\/strong><\/p>\n
[swfobj src=”http:\/\/nathalielawhead.com\/sourcefiles\/Wordpress_To_Flash_Authorfeed\/authorfeed_3.0.swf” height=”280″ width=”291″]<\/p>\n
Naturally you can get a lot more elaborate with the approach. The next obvious step would be to incorporate the ability to display images, turn it into a class… or just a full frontal wordpress theme! <\/p>\n
But… It’s a good starting point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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