EE at 1000 rpm

Retrieve Contents from RSS

2010-03-17T19:47:00.003+05:30

This is very advanced features when you want to show the list of Article's Titles from one of another blog or a different blog that you want to share with your blog readers.

You can able to retrieve the basic contents as title, link, description, date, summary etc in a list format. For doing such, you need to install "MAGPIE" plugin with your current Expression Engine.

Installation Steps:-

1. Download MAGPIE first.
2. Extract the downloaded zip file.
3. Copy the pi.magpie.php inside EE System folder through any common FTP program.
4. Login to your active EE Admin area.
5. Create a new template and name accordingly.
6. Type the following code there :-

7. Save the Template and run to see how it fetch records from any available RSS feed.

The tag has three parameters:

1. url - The URL of the RSS or Atom feed.

2. limit - Number of items to display from feed.

3. offset - Skip a certain number of items in the display of the feed.

4. refresh - How often to refresh the cache file (in minutes). The plugin default is to refresh the cached file every three hours.

Example opening tag: {exp:magpie url="http://example.com/rss/" limit="8" refresh="720"}

Tags in ExpressionEngine

2009-12-04T17:07:00.007+05:30

The Tag Module allows you and your users to add Tags to weblog and/or photo gallery entries for ExpressionEngine. It's a very powerful module that allows you to create several different features in your templates using robust functions. You can show Tags that belong to an entry, view all entries that are Tagged with a specified Tag, show related entries based on shared Tags, and build a Tag "Cloud" to show and weigh all Tags in system. Additionally, your members can also subscribe to Tags, and view entries based on Tags they've subscribed to.

If you already have a Tagging system where Tags are placed into a custom field, or if you've manipulated the Tag "feel" by assigning your entries to several EE categories, the Tag module can easily transition your website. Using the built in Harvesting utility, you can easily harvest this data, and it will automatically convert all into Tags and apply them to your entries.

The Tag module adds a clean, robust AJAX tab to your Publish/Edit Entry page in the CP where you can easily add Tags, search for Tags, or scan your custom fields for Tags using the "Suggest" function.

NOTE: Tag requires ExpressionEngine 1.6.x, MySQL 4.1+, and the jQuery for the CP extension.

Following code is for showing tags related for a single entry:-

Tag cloud :-

The Tag:Cloud function creates a "cloud" or list of all Tags in the database, but can be filtered down to specific weblogs, categories, and more. Furthermore, the Tag:Cloud function is able to "weigh" your Tags through different methods, such as how many entries are assigned to them, or how many times they've been clicked.

To help you understand the weighting system, using rank by "entries" that have been assigned that Tag, here is an explanation:

The number of times the highest ranked Tag is used establishes the top of the scale with 0 as the bottom. You can specify the number of groups into which your Tags will be sorted. Each of your Tags will be evaluated as to which group they belong in. They will be given a numerical ranking based on this.

For example, imagine you have 3 Tags on your site; "apple", "orange" and "microsoft". You specify that you want to show a cloud with 3 groups. If "apple" is used 12 times, "orange" 7, and "microsoft" 1, the top of your scale will be 12. "apple" will get the highest rank and the largest font size. "microsoft" will get the smallest ranking and font size. "orange" will get the middle font because it falls into the middle grouping. The range for falling into the lowest group would be 0-4. For the middle, 5-8. And for the top, 9-12. Use following code:-

List of Entries for Each Tag :-

List of Articles for each author in ExpressionEngine

2009-09-11T19:29:00.010+05:30

Below blog will describe the process to make a new page for article-list of each author. In the article list page OR article details page make a link from "Author Name" of that article with this new template/page. It will show you the list of articles published by that author. It will very useful for such blogging or news site, those have multiple authors and want to create such type of page.

There will be 2 templates for such, one will search the Article titles as per Author name and other will just embed that template and show in a decent manner.

Author Page:-
This template will show the list of articles of each author. Prepare the page-design as per your need and place the following type of of code in the body area OR where you want to show the list:-

Query Page:-
Following template is mainly responsible for searching the articles as per the author name from the database and prepare the list:-

Article List or View page Update :-
Just put the below type link from the Article author name with the Author page template as follows:-

If you face any difficulty to integrate these code, feel free to put comments here. We will try to fix the problem.

Including YouTube videos & image and how they should be displayed in the EE Articles

2009-09-07T16:25:00.000+05:30

Task Details :-

The editor can insert youtube videos by the following procedure:

• Includes in the text of the article the following tag: {YOUTUBE_VIDEO_MIDDLE}
• Enter the identifier in the custom field “youtube”
• Enter the alignment in the custom field “youtube_align”.

There are two problems related to the insertion of youtube videos:

• If the editor enters a youtube video, but also an image, the re-sizing of the image is not working as it should in the permalink.
• If the user enters a you-tube video in place of the image (i.e. on the top-left), it is not being displayed of the appropriate size in the Artcle List page.

Action desired:
• If a youtube video is inserted in the middle of the article (not on the top-left) and an image is inserted in the right usual place (top-left):
o The size of the image should be height 90px (for Article List page) and height 200px (for permalink).
o The size of the video in the permalink should be 230px width.
• If a youtube video is inserted at the top-left instead of an image:
o The video’s height in the Article List page should be 90px.
o The video’s width in the permalink should be 230px.

YouTube Template:-

Article List Page:-

Permalink Page :-

Including a YouTube video in ExpressionEngine articles

2009-09-04T15:58:00.000+05:30

Following blogs are details of including a YouTube video in articles of EE. The video should be displayed instead of the usual image, i.e. on the top left of the article OR any other position where you want to set.

References
http://expressionengine.com/wiki/Embedding_YouTube_movies/
http://expressionengine.com/wiki/Embedding_YouTube_Movies_w_Reusable_Template/

This is the template used to display the articles in the following format:

We have to update this as follows with following features:-

• Width of 230px.
• Height proportional as per usual proportions of YouTube videos.
• The text should appear around the video, as shown in the image above.

Solution :-
1. We first include a new field as "Video_Name" for the weblog to enter the YouTube Video link.
2. Prepare a Blog with a youtube video link such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T70xKdjuK8A
3. Save the blog.
4. Open the template who is responsible to show the article details.
5. Use this following code:-

{exp:weblog:entries weblog="bioedge" paginate="bottom" status="editor choice|front page|open|editing"}<br /><h2>{title}</h2><br /><a class="navLink" href="#comments"> {comment_total}</a> | <a class="navLink" href="{permalink=bioethics/email_article}">Email</a> | <a class="navLink" href="javascript:window.print();">Print </a> <br /><div class="editor_artilce_full"><br /><h5>{entry_date format="%D, %j %M %Y"}</h5><br />{if youtube != ""}<br /><br /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/{youtube}"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param></object>{/if}{body}</div>{/exp:weblog:entries}

Can we view the Hit tracking? How?

2009-08-05T11:53:00.000+05:30

Each template has its own hit tracker, enabling you to see which pages are most viewed. By default, all the templates have “Hit Tracking” enabled. Click on “Templates” option from EE Admin, click on any Template group from left-side to see the list of templates under any group. In the list-view of templates, there is one column as “Hits” which showing the No. of hits occurred in each template.

By defualt, "Template User Tracking" is enabled. Its a toggle-based sytem which can be further disable/enable from Control Panel.

To access "Template User Tracking", go to Admin > System Preferences > Tracking Preferences in your ExpressionEngine Admin area.

There you will find an option as "Enable Template Hit Tracking?" - When set to "Yes", hits to your templates will be tracked in your database on each page load.

Can we track online users?

2009-08-05T11:41:00.000+05:30

Yes, EE has multiple Tracking tools, “Online User Tracking” is one of them - This feature allows you to show who is online, how many people are visiting at any given moment, and how many people have ever visited your site.

By defualt, "Online User Tracking" is enabled. Its a toggle-based sytem which can be further disable/enable from Control Panel.

To access "Online User Tracking", go to Admin > System Preferences > Tracking Preferences in your ExpressionEngine Admin area.

There you will find an option as "Enable Online User Tracking?" - You can determine whether tracking of online users is performed by the system. When you have this preference set to "Yes", a database update will be performed for each page load so that the user statistics can be tracked and stored.

Suspend ALL tracking when number of online visitors exceeds:

Note: Online User Tracking must be enabled for this feature to work, or the information will not be available to ExpressionEngine to determine your site's traffic.

If a value is provided for this setting, when the number of "online visitors" exceeds that value, all of the above tracking features will be temporarily disabled until the number of online visitors drops below the indicated value. Recommended values for this feature will vary based on your hosting environment. Check with your server administrator to discuss reasonable limits for your site.

What are templates and their uses?

2009-07-29T16:15:00.000+05:30

In ExpressionEngine, a Template represents an HTML page on your site, although unlike a traditional HTML page, there isn't an actual file on your server. Instead, ExpressionEngine takes care of turning these Templates into web pages.

The benefit of this approach is that information can be presented dynamically by using special Tags within the templates. The secondary benefit of this approach is that the pages can be managed from within the ExpressionEngine Control Panel using web browser, so no longer need to use FTP to upload files to server whenever a page changes.

Usually, each of the Templates will represent an entire web page, although it is possible to embed templates within other templates to use common site elements in all pages, like headers or footers.

ExpressionEngine templates are managed from within EE Control Panel TEMPLATES page. Templates are organized into sets of templates called Template Groups, which works as virtual folders.

We can customize anytime of our requirements. It can be edited, deleted, change the design, everything can possible in later stage also.

Can we avoid ExressionEngine from hacking?

2009-07-29T16:10:00.000+05:30

Yes, we can restrict hacking on EE based websites. It has following features to avoid hacking :-

160 Bit SHA1 Password Encryption: - SHA1 is the worlds most secure password hashing scheme.

Throttling: - This feature lets you manage the frequency that any given IP address can access your site in order to help prevent denial of service attacks.

IP and User Agent Logging: - Our Session Management system tracks both IPs and User Agents for more precise authentication.

Password Lockout: - Users can be locked out after several invalid password attempts. This is a deterrent to collision and brute force hacking attempts.

What are the pros and cons of EE?

2009-07-28T17:08:00.000+05:30

Pros:-
* It has a pretty rich feature set.
* The ability to entitle different content items to different groups come out of the box.
* The forum module allows you to unify the discussion and content user list.
* The templating is rich enough to support a wide range of aesthetics and website design.
* The image manipulation functionality is great.
* It is extensible
* It allows for WYSIWYG editing.
* It is supported and documented
* The ability to update the content automatically through other means - using RSS feeds…basically XML. Or through email with the MoBlog module.
* Development speed
*Flexible architecture
* Extendable through PHP, Plugins or commercial extensions
* Intuitive tag language that's easy to read and maintain
* Very helpful and responsive community

Cons:-
* A way to build/use templates that are outside of EE (i.e. not in the database).
* The ability to include content from an EE instance in a site that is not an EE site.
* Image upload / organization could definitely have been solved more elegantly
* Automatic thumbnails or scaling of images only available using a third party (non-certified) plugin.
* Some default settings are for bloggers, not professional sites.

What are the securities provided by EE?

2009-07-27T10:32:00.000+05:30

ExpressionEngine has the most comprehensive suite of security features of any publishing platform on the market.

160 Bit SHA1 Password Encryption: - SHA1 is the worlds most secure password hashing scheme.

Session Management: - ExpressionEngine has three separate session management systems, based on your security needs. Your control panel and your public site can each utilize its own session preferences.

Secure Form Processing: - Forms can only be submitted once per page load. This prevents duplicate submissions and deters spamming.

Captcha: - ExpressionEngine can generate "captcha" images for member registration and comment posting to prevent spamming.

Throttling: - This feature lets you manage the frequency that any given IP address can access your site in order to help prevent denial of service attacks.

Duplicate Data Denial: - When enabled, this preference denies any user-submitted data that already exists in the database, providing increased spam protection.

Multi-Password Denial: - Multiple users can not access the system using the same password simultaneously.

IP and User Agent Logging: - Our Session Management system tracks both IPs and User Agents for more precise authentication.

Password Lockout: - Users can be locked out after several invalid password attempts. This is a deterrent to collision and brute force hacking attempts.

Secure Password Mode: - User can not choose passwords that are based on the username, or that appear in a dictionary.

IP Banning: - Users can be banned by full or partial IP addresses. Wild-cards can be used.

Email Banning: - Email addresses can be banned or restricted from use. Wild-cards can be used.

Username Restriction: - This permits you to designate names that you do not want your members using.

Word Censoring: - Define a list of banned words. When submitted by your users, the words are replaced with ###

Why EE is preferable over other CMS ?

2009-07-25T10:56:00.000+05:30

1. Core functionality: - Creating, deleting, editing and organizing articles, templates etc.
2. The editor: - EE has a WYSIWYG editor. The editor is the interface through which content is added and amended. Traditionally, it has also allowed the content provider to apply basic formatting, such as font and color.
3. Managing assets: - Management of images and files is badly handled in some CMS’. Badly designed systems can frustrate users with poor accessibility and usability. But, EE has option to upload any type of files including images and later they can be insert easily within the topics.
4. Search: - Search is an important aspect of any website. Approximately half of all users start with search when looking for content. However, the search functionality in EE systems is adequate with freshness, thoroughness, speed. In EE we can customize the display of search results also.
5. Customization: - EE allows flexibility in the way content is retrieved and presented. Flexibility makes EE stand out.
6. User interaction: - To gather user feedback, EE provides Comments module with follow-up options. EE has forums to post and collect responses as well as make a community.
7. Roles and permissions: - EE supports permissions of Editors. Although implementation varies, permissions normally allow specifying whether users can edit certain pages or even entire sections of the website.
8. Versioning: - Using EE, we can easily update to a upper version, keeping all the contents, templates intact.
9. Multiple website support: - EE allows running multiple websites from the same installation. Although you may not currently need to be able to manage more than a single website that could easily change. You may decide to launch a new website to target a narrower audience. And with the growth of the mobile Web, you may want to create a separate website especially for mobile devices. Whatever the reason, having the flexibility to run multiple websites is important.
10. Multilingual support.

Information about ExpressionEngine license

2009-07-25T10:38:00.000+05:30

As its not a Free and Open Source product, License is required for use it fully. It has 3 types of Licenses: - Core, Personal & Commercial Licenses.

Core License: - Free for personal (non-commercial) or non-profit use only. It comes with no technical support.
Personal License: - Personal (non-commercial), or non-profit use only. USD 99.95 only.
Commercial License: - For use in, or in conjunction with a commercial, or for-profit endeavor. USD 249.95

There are some additional cost for updates, Forum modules and others.

Core License:- Users of the Core License may use the Software only on a website engaging in personal, non-commercial, or non-profit activities.

Personal License:- Users of the Personal License may use the Software only on a website engaging in personal, non-commercial, or non-profit activities. One license grants the right to perform one installation of the Software. Each additional installation of the Software requires an additional purchased license.

Commercial License:- Users of the Commercial License may use the Software on a website engaging commercial or for-profit activities. Websites engaging in direct or indirect commercial activities must purchase a Commercial License. One license grants the right to perform one installation of the Software. Each additional installation of the Software requires an additional purchased license.

Get ExpressionEngine Pricing-details from http://expressionengine.com/overview/pricing/

When you purchase either a Personal or Commercial License you own it forever. You can use the license as long as you want. Each license purchase includes one free year of access to that license’s Download Account where you can download the latest version of ExpressionEngine you own. After one year, if you want to continue accessing the Download Area you can purchase a yearly renewal for $19.95 (Personal license) or $39.95 (commercial license).

What are the basic system requirements to have EE?

2009-07-25T10:31:00.000+05:30

Programming Language :- PHP
Database :- MySQL
Operating System :- Linux, Windows, OS X, BSD, Solaris
Webserver :- IIS, Apache
Root Access :- No
Other Requirements :- PHP must have XML support

What is expression engine?

2009-07-25T10:27:00.000+05:30

ExpressionEngine is a flexible, feature-rich content management system that empowers thousands of individuals, organizations, and companies around the world to easily manage their website. – as per http://expressionengine.com/

ExpressionEngine is a Content Management System developed by EllisLab. ExpressionEngine is intended to be simpler to use than other content management systems; for instance, it requires no knowledge of PHP, and has extensive online documentation.

Expression Engine is a powerful content management system that can be used to manage your website and blog.

i) Unlike Drupal, you don't have to be a programmer to create your own theme, and for the most part, you can even use WYSIWYG web editors like Dreamweaver to design the appearance of your web pages.
ii) Multi-User support and Multi-site deployment (single EE install can hold multiple blog sites).
iii) Anti-Spam features as “Word Blacklist”, “IP Ban List”, and “CAPTCHA”.
iv) Blogging Features: - Multiple Customization, Tags, Trackbacks, Protected Posts, Blogs by E-mail and supports Blog API such as Blogger, Metaweblog.
v) Post-Editing Features :- Multi-paged posts, Spell-checker, WYSIWYG Editor, Undo, Syntax Highlighting, File Upload, Emoticon Images.
vi) Comment Features: - Posting comments with CAPTCHA, follow-ups in E-mails.
vii) Extended Features: - Plugin for different requirements, Photo Gallery, Polls, Surveys, searchable blog contents through Search Engines, Friendly URLs.
viii) Workflow: - Content approval facility, scheduled Article publishing, set-up queues for comment moderation.
ix) Administration: - E-mail notifications, changeable themes/skins, views & clicks tracked inside the application, Web-based style & Template management, comment administration for editing / delete.
x) Syndication: - Supports RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, ATOM 0.0, ATOM 1.0.
xi) Videocasting: - Audio/Media can be published in as enclosures in feeds, YouTube Support.

What is CMS?

2009-07-25T10:03:00.000+05:30

A content management system (CMS) is critical to the success of almost every website and intranet, and yet many organizations are not familiar with this technology.

A content management system (CMS) is a computer application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of digital media and electronic text.

In Technical View, A Content Management System (CMS) is a piece of software that runs on a server. Typically a database application, a CMS makes it easy to publish and administrate content.

Some basic features those are common to all CMS:
a) Separation of content, structure and design
b) Easy content production, no programming skills required

Common advantages of a CMS:
Decentralized maintenance - Typically based on a common web browser. Edit anywhere, anytime. Bottlenecks removed.

Designed with non-technical content editors - People with average knowledge of word processing can create the content easily. No HTML skills required.

Configurable access restrictions - Users are assigned roles and permissions that prevent them from touching content in which they are not authorized to change.

Daily updates - You do not need to involve web designers or programmers for every little modification - you are in control of your website.