$my_query = $wp_query->query; // Copy the existing query into a new one
$my_query['posts_per_page'] = "30"; // change the number we want displayed.
$my_query['orderby'] = "title"; // Sort by title.
$my_query['order'] = "ASC"; // 'A' first!
query_posts($my_query);  // Run our query.... normal service resumes.

Hopefully this post will give someone the light bulb moment they’re after.

I’m going to assume that you’ve requested access to WordPress.org’s SVN repository, and you’ve found the admin panel and want to get your Xcode goodness hooked up to the WP SVN.

To get started create a new Empty Xcode project.

Xcode project chooser	Empty Project

From the menu bar select SCM then Configure Repositories, the window select the + to add a new repo, the username & password pair are your wordpress.org credentials, you can find the URL to your SVN repo on the wordpress.org site.

The WP.org admin interface

Next from the menu bar select SCM then Repositories, highlight the repo you’ve just created and choose checkout; you’re going to be asked for a folder to “save” the contents of the repo to, I chose inside my Xcode project folder.

Repo’ Config	Code Checkout

You now need to add those “checked out” files to you project, in the tree on the left, right/control click the blue project icon at the top and select add existing files, accept the defaults and the repo should be imported.

Imported Code

These files now in the project need to be associated with the repo, this is done by highlighting the blue project icon and clicking the “Info” button, then click “Configure Roots & SCM”; click the + button and choose your repo folder (again)… the dropdown on the right should automatically select the correct SCM.

Project Properties	Project Roots

If you now change a file / add / delete / etc it will appear under the SCM tree, you can right/control click and commit to the repo…. job done

Yay it works!

Very quickly you’re going to find out that you want to test your changes prior to commiting them, to do this you may want to copy your files upto a webserver…. I get Xcode to do that for me, using macfuse to mount my webroot via ssh but for this example I’ll create a directory on the desktop … you also need to create any subdirectories you may need.. I have to create “admin”.

To copy the files we’re use an Xcode target, from the menu bar choose Project then New Target then Copy Files Target, I called my new target CopyFile. Using the info button change the absolute path of the copy – e.g. /Users/Nick/Desktop/LL … now here I ran into a problem (suggestions welcome)… next I created extra copy build phases for each subdirectory. Control/right click your Target ( i.e CopyFiles) then choose Add, New Build Phase, New Copy Files Build Phase… I then set the absolute path of this “sub target” to /Users/nick/Desktop/LL/admin/ to represent my admin subdirectory.

Finally DRAG down the files into their correct target, all being well and a fair wind clicking “BUILD” will cause your files to be copied into your directory. You can now make changes, click build to test, and then commit them to subversion when you’re happy

Finished!

The red sweater post that inspires this now talks about creating a RUN shortcut to automatically open a web browser for testing, however mine didn’t work… I got this error “The program being debugged is not being run“… suggestions to fix welcome!

Screenshot phpbb_recent_topics admin page

Admin GUI

It’s that time again, enough things have happened in the support forum to warrant another version.

phpbb_recent_topics 0.6 owes a debt of gratitude to number3nl he has worked very hard to push in two main new features and his work was so good it only needed a couple of minor tweaks from myself.

New Features!

• The loooong awaited phpBB recent posts feature has been enabled, simply tick the box that says “Sort results by post date” and you’re away!
• Tooltips are here! Yup if you’re into that kind of thing enabling tool tips will show a snippet of the post content to your visitors prior to them clicking on any links.
• Admin UI Error Messages are here; the GUI will now inform you if you’re connected to phpBB.

Bug Fixes.

• The variables in display.php now match those of admin-display.php; hopefully this will make community contribution simpler.
• Uninstall.php has been added so removal of the plugin is more comprehensive.

A note to upgrader’s.

• If you’re using secure database connectivity you’ll need to GRANT access to the posts table….
  GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_posts TO wp_user@localhost;

Download phpBB_Recent_Topics_0.6 from wordpress.org

The usual stuff now follows….

The Installation

Before starting you need to get your database configuration sorted. So, are you going to connect to the PHPBB Database securely or Insecurely?

To connect Securely you need to GRANT access TO WordPress FROM phpbb.

How to GRANT wordpress read only access to phpBB ?
If you don’t know it already you need to find your wordpress mysql user id, it’ll be in wp-config.php

define('DB_USER', 'wp_user');     // Your MySQL username

and you should have already found your phpbb database & table for the above.
You need to type the following syntax into your mysql database

GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_topics TO wp_user@localhost;

AND

GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_forums TO wp_user@localhost;

AND

GRANT SELECT ON phpbb_database.phpbb_posts TO wp_user@localhost;

this can be achieved by logging into phpmyadmin as your phpbb user, selecting SQL and pasting the correct GRANT into the text box.

WordPress Installation

• Unzip phpbb_recent_topics.tgz in your `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. (You’ll have a new directory, with this plugin in /wp-content/plugins/phpbb_recent_topics)
• Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
• Configure the plugin, you need to tell wordpress about phpbb, this is done in the wordpress menu ‘Settings’ -> ‘phpBB Recent Topics’
  The following Settings are required:
  • * The name of your phpBB database (e.g phpbb)
  • * The name of the table where topics are held (the default is phpbb_topics )
  • * The full url of your forum for links (e.g. http://www.mydomain.com/forum)
  • * The number of topics to show. (If left blank you get 5)
  • * The Date Formatting, i.e. “d/M/y – g:i a” similar to the WordPress “General Settings”
• The use of Insecure connectivity is optional – See Below
• Tick the boxes of any Forums you don’t want this plugin to show posts from
• Hit ‘Update Options”
• To output the list of topics in a page or post…
  • * create a new page/post, type {phpbb_recent_topics} , hit ‘Publish’ or ‘Create new page’

  To output the list of topics in your theme sidebar using the widget…

  • * click “design” in the dashboard
  • * click “widgets”
  • * next to phpBB Recent Topics click “add”
  • * click “save changes”

  To output the list of topics in your theme sidebar using a template tag…

  • * edit sidebar.php and inside <div id=”sidebar”> type…

    <?php
    if (function_exists('phpbb_topics')) {
    phpbb_topics();
    }
    ?>

What is Insecure MySQL Connectivity & How do I use it?
If you need to you can connect in a less secure manner, the connection details held in your PHPBB config.php can be loaded into WordPress. This is insecure becuase the phpbb3 credentials are store in clear text, this is bad cuase if someone somehow comprised WordPress they’d have full access to PHPBB.

To use, tick the “Enable Insecure Database Connection” box, and submit, when the page re-freshes you’ll have some more boxes to populate, from your phpbb config.php fill in


$dbuser = phpbb MySQL Database UserName
$dbpasswd = phpbb MySQL Database Password
$dbhost = phpbb MySQL Server


Click update, and you should be connected!

Support
I’ve always been honest about support, there isn’t any. Basically I write this for my own needs and then publish it for you to use for free. You’re more than welcome to post comments here and if you need support the community phpbb-recent-topics forum is available, I do read every post there but we all have busy lives and I make no promises on how quickly I’ll reply to you.

Finally Subversion
The source for this plugin is in the wordpress subversion, you can checkout the trunk directly from here, if you weren’t aware wp.org also auto-magically creates a nightly build of any developments here.

I hope you enjoy my plug-in!

Dear Creator of Plugin, thank you very much for your great job. I am trying to use it in web site.
i am trying to use your plugin LINICKX LifeStream v0.2 and i have 2 questions.
1. I inserted 23 URL of Feeds but plugin loading only 3 of them, why?
2. Could I load also content of posts, if yes than how?
great thanks!
best regards
Edgar

Actually Edgar I’ve only tested with about 5 feeds, so I will load up my test site and see what happens, it could be possible that your feed 4 is corrupt and blocking the rest.

If you wish to create posts from feeds see FeedWordPress by Charles Johnson, I was planning to include this functionality but issues mean that now I’m not bothering, see line L236 of run.php, feel free to submit a patch if you can fix it.

Festive Regards,

Screen-shot of config screen

Version 0.2 is the first feature update to my LINICKX Lifestream plug-in. This version incorporates all the minor bug fixes from version 0.1 -> 0.1.3 and includes what I call my “Troubleshooting Feature Pack”.

Version 0.1.x was plagued by a hidden multi-post issue, so not only is this fixed in V0.2, but I’ve included the tools used by myself to fix the issue. If you’ve been effected by this, use the factory reset option to clear out the lifestream plug-in, the next time it runs new posts will be created of all your feeds… so yes you will get double posts… but that will then be the last time it happens!

Plug-in Features:

• Admin Feature Pack (NEW)
  Verbose Cron Mode, now you can see what the plug-in is doing!
  View the contents of the Lifestream Feed DB
  View the URLS, Tags & Categories stored in the plugin
  Factory Reset, remove all the settings without having to uninstall -> re-install
• Stream Any Feed.
  Most internet services like digg, twitter, lastfm and the like support RSS feeds of your activity, so you can stream any service even if I haven’t heard about it yet!
• Posts are created from the feeds/stream.
  Each Feed item creates a new post, you can tag & categorise your posts to give each stream a different look & feel in your WordPress templates.
• No dependencies.
  LINICKX LifeStream uses WordPress functions to do it’s work, so yes it’ll work on PHP4 & PHP5 and you don’t need to update simplepie or an-other dependancy.
• Flexible updating.
  By default LINICKX LifeStream should just work, WordPress will fetch the feeds every 5 minutes and store them in the WP Database, but you can change that. If you want to cron your updates every 1 minute you can, if you want the DB store in a file not in MySQL that’s not a problem either.

Bug Fixes

• Version 0.2 Multi-Post issue – http://wordpress.org/support/topic/330243
• Pushed Version 0.1.3 more bug fixes; 0.1.2 broke auto updates, so 0.1.3 fixes it again!
  linickx.com was having execution timeout issues, so theres a patch to fix that for other users
  I’ve also introduced a config.php so that upgrades do not overwrite $WPDIR set by users.
• Pushed version 0.1.2 to fix error in dashboard reported by Markus .
• Pushed version 0.1.1 as the directory path changed when wordpress.org created their .zip file… all should be working again.

Right now on LINICKX.com this plugin is streaming Digg, Google Reader and WordPress Commits… keep an eye for new things streamed such as delicious & last fm

I’m still looking for help.
If you think you can javascript/ajax the admin interface, or my plug-in WordPress MU compatible, please let me know.

Disclaimer
Plug-in development is a hobby, I have a full time job that takes priority. Feel free to leave comments on this post but ask support questions to the WordPress community. I will update this plugin as and when I need features to improve linickx.com and will consider any patches submitted including any good ideas you have.

If you use this plug-in, please consider donating as I give this code away for free and giving something back is good for your kama

In just a few days I’ve had to push out 3 bug fix releases! 0.1.3 has fixed the following..

0.1.2 broke auto updates.
Basically there was an error message in the dashboard that a user was complaining about, upon fixing this I realised that auto-updating stopped working… I’m using cron updating so I didn’t spot this right away. I have now re-tested auto updates, and it is working for me in 0.1.3

Execution timeout issues
linickx.com was having execution timeout issues, i.e. the script was being terminated by a low value in php.ini. set_time_limit(20) now happens before each fetch_feed to give each http request an extra 20seconds of execution time, I’ve also setup an is_running variable so multiple fetchs don’t happen at the same time, this should fix the multi-post issue I’m having here too!

config.php
I’ve also introduced a config.php so that upgrades do not overwrite $WPDIR set by users. It’s become apparent that users want to use cron to update their feeds, since run.php gets overwtitten on every upgrade then users would need to re-edit the file, this would become quiet annoying. Copy config.sample.php to config.php and users shouldn’t have to worry about upgrades breaking this as the package will be re-pushing the sample leaving your file un-changed… this is exactly how WordPress handle this issue in the core.

Fingers Crossed!
I’m hoping that’s the end of the bug fix releases and I can get on with Version 0.2 will be a feature release

There was also an FAQ missing from the readme.txt, ie how to resolve the error message…

Can’t find WordPress, edit $WPDIR in run.php

This has now been fixed (link to faq)) but does shed light on a new issue… any changes to run.php get over-written on upgrades, I will need to think of a new plan to overcome this!

I’m proud to share with the WordPress community my new plugin, LINICKX LifeStream

I’ve been trying to get more LifeStreaming into LINICKX.com for a while, as I’ve struggled to find an appropriate solution I’ve decided to write my own.

Plug-in Features:

• Stream Any Feed.
  Most internet services like digg, twitter, lastfm and the like support RSS feeds of your activity, so you can stream any service even if I haven’t heard about it yet!
• Posts are created from the feeds/stream.
  Each Feed item creates a new post, you can tag & categorise your posts to give each stream a different look & feel in your WordPress templates.
• No dependencies.
  LINICKX LifeStream uses WordPress functions to do it’s work, so yes it’ll work on PHP4 & PHP5 and you don’t need to update simplepie or an-other dependancy.
• Flexible updating.
  By default LINICKX LifeStream should just work, WordPress will fetch the feeds every 5 minutes and store them in the WP Database, but you can change that. If you want to cron your updates every 1 minute you can, if you want the DB store in a file not in MySQL that’s not a problem either.

LINICKX Lifestream is currently feeding both my Digg & Google Reader posts; in general I’m pretty poor at updating my plug-ins as this is a hobby, but since this project is part of my website and not a favour for a friend (like the others) I’m hoping to do a better job.

I’m looking for help too!
The admin interface is a bit “clunky”, the reason being I don’t know javascript, if you do please consider writing a patch
I also think this plugin would work well for WordPresMU users, but I don’t use it so if you do what changes need to be made to make this work for you?

You can download the source from here: http://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/linickx-lifestream/ or Browse Trac

Disclaimer
As with my other plug-ins this is a hobby, I have a full time job that takes priority. Feel free to leave comments here but ask support questions to the WordPress community. I will update this plugin as and when I need features to improve linickx.com but will consider any patches submitted and any good ideas you have.

If this plugin has been some use to you, please consider donating as I give this code away for free and giving something back will make you feel good

UPDATE(s):

• Pushed version 0.1.1 as the directory path changed when wordpress.org created their .zip file… all should be working again.
• Pushed version 0.1.2 to fix error in dashboard reported by Markus below.
• Pushed Version 0.1.3 more bug fixes; 0.1.2 broke auto updates, so 0.1.3 fixes it again!
  linickx.com was having execution timeout issues, so theres a patch to fix that for other users
  I’ve also introduced a config.php so that upgrades do not overwrite $WPDIR set by users.

Linickx LifeStream will be a new WordPress plugin which allows you to life stream ANY feed. I’ve been having issues with FeedWordPress and to be honest it didn’t really do what I wanted; now there are already may wordpress lifestream plug-ins, but mine will be different.

Difference 1: The plug-in isn’t service dependant… i.e. you don’t stream your twitter account or your LastFM account, you stream the feed. What this means is that when tomorrows-wizzy-new-service is launched you don’t have to wait for me to update the plug-in. It also means you can stream odd stuff, such as I’m going to stream my commits to the WordPress plug-in repo

Difference 2: No Requirements. The requirements for this are the same as the WordPress requirements. What this means is yes it works on PHP4 and no you don’t need a separate installation of simplepie.

Difference 3: No Lifestream Pages, extra databases or tables. LifeStream feeds get created as “normal” WordPress posts, so if you digg something a post is created and you can do all the normal things like tag & categorize the post.

I’m in the process of finishing the package and installing the plug-in here on linickx.com but when it’s ready you’ll be able to…

Download LINICKX LifeStream Here

With a little luck I’ll be able to remove this annoyance and directly stream delicious and get google reader working again.

To make like simpler I’ve found that I can track bugs using trac – bad pun!

Here are some links

• PHPBB Recent Topics
  • Get Support for phpbb_recent_topics Here
  • Submit Bugs & Patches for phpbb_recent_topics Here
• Root Cookie
  • Get Support for root-cookie Here
  • Submit Bugs & Patches for root-cookie Here

The difference between the two is simple: if you want help then click the support link if you want TO help then file a bug or submit a patch