I haven’t posted an update for Blogs of Indy in a while.  I wanted everyone to know that I’ve been hard at work on coding and haven’t had a change to blog out it.  Here are some upcoming plans.

FeedAPI Taxonomy Compare Updates. This module is a key piece to the functionality.  I spent several hours fixing bugs and adding functionality.  Being able to match on synonym will help me keep my menus clean.

Blogs of Indy Custom Module

I added a few tabs to the profile page.  One tab is a list of all the blogs for that user.  It is basically a copy of the FeedAPI admin page just filter for the user.  I filtered it based upon the user argument in the URL. Here is the code for the hook_menu.

$items['user/%user/feeds'] = array(
‘type’ => MENU_LOCAL_TASK,
‘title’ => ‘Blogs’, //Going to be a variable on the main setting page
‘page callback’ => ‘blogsofindy_feedapi_admin_overview’,
‘access callback’ => TRUE,  //security is built into the function since this displays on the user profile page
‘page arguments’ => array(1), //pass the account
‘file’ => ‘blogsofindy.feed.user.page.inc’
);
$items['user/%user/feeds/overview'] = array(
‘type’ => MENU_DEFAULT_LOCAL_TASK,
‘title’ => ‘Overview’,
‘weight’ => -10,
);

Here is the page callback code.

function blogsofindy_feedapi_admin_overview($account = NULL) {
$header = array(
t(’Title’),
t(’Last refresh’),
t(’New items added per update’),
t(’Update rate’),
t(’Number of items’),
t(’Processing time’),
t(’Commands’),
);
$rows = array();
//check to see if account variable was passed.
//if so then only bring back the nid where the nid is the author
if (!isset($account)) {
$result = pager_query(”SELECT nid from {feedapi} ORDER BY checked DESC”, 50, 0, “SELECT count(*) FROM {feedapi}”);
}
else {
$sql = sprintf(”SELECT feedapi.nid AS nid FROM {feedapi} INNER JOIN {node} ON {feedapi}.nid = {node}.nid WHERE ({node}.uid = %d) ORDER BY {feedapi}.checked DESC”, $account->uid);
$sql_count = sprintf(”SELECT count(*) FROM {feedapi} INNER JOIN {node} ON {feedapi}.nid = {node}.nid WHERE ({node}.uid = %d)”, $account->uid);
$result = pager_query($sql, 50, 0, $sql_count);
}
while ($nid = db_fetch_array($result)) {
$nid = $nid['nid'];
$node = node_load($nid);
if (is_object($node)) {
$commands = array(l(t(’Delete’), ‘node/’. $node->nid .’/delete’, array(’query’ => ‘destination=’ . $_REQUEST[q])),
l(t(’Remove items’), ‘node/’. $node->nid .’/purge’, array(’query’ => ‘destination=’ . $_REQUEST[q])),
l(t(’Refresh’), ‘node/’. $node->nid .’/refresh’, array(’query’ => ‘destination=’ . $_REQUEST[q])),
l(t(’Edit’), ‘node/’. $node->nid .’/edit’, array(’query’ => ‘destination=’ . $_REQUEST[q])),
);
// Fetch statistics for this feed
foreach (array(’download_num’, ‘new’,  ‘process_time’, ‘update_times’) as $type) {
$node->feed->statistics[$type] = _feedapi_get_stat($node->nid, $type, TRUE);
}
if (count($node->feed->statistics['download_num']) != 0 && count($node->feed->statistics['new']) != 0 && count($node->feed->statistics['process_time']) != 0) {
$update_rate = _feedapi_update_rate($node->feed->statistics['update_times']);
$rows[] = array(
l($node->title, “node/$node->nid”),
$node->feed->checked == 0 ? t(’Never’) : t(’%time ago’, array(’%time’ => format_interval(time() – $node->feed->checked))),
round(array_sum($node->feed->statistics['new']) / count($node->feed->statistics['new']), 2),
is_numeric($update_rate) ? format_interval($update_rate) : $update_rate,
round((array_sum($node->feed->statistics['download_num']) / count($node->feed->statistics['download_num'])), 2),
round((array_sum($node->feed->statistics['process_time']) / count($node->feed->statistics['process_time'])), 2) .’ ‘. t(’ms’),
theme(’item_list’, $commands),
);
}
else {
$rows[] = array(
l($node->title, “node/$node->nid”),
$node->feed->checked == 0 ? t(’Never’) : t(’%time ago’, array(’%time’ => format_interval(time() – $node->feed->checked))),
”, ”, t(’No enough data for statistics’), ”,
theme(’item_list’, $commands),
);
}
}
}
$output = format_plural(round(FEEDAPI_CRON_STAT_LIFETIME / (24*3600)), “Average over the last day.”,
“Averages over the last @count days.”
);
$output .= theme(’table’, $header, $rows);
$output .= theme(’pager’, 0, 50);
return $output;
}

Pretty simple really.  It’s a copy of the admin display from FeedAPI.  What I changed is in Italics. Right after I did this, FeedAPI introduced a view based approach to the page.  I have yet to change my code to use a view, though probably a good idea.

Blog Tag Management

As some of you remember, I mentioned that there needs to be an easy way for the blog owners to manage the incoming terms that need to be associated to the categories.  I choose to do this by adding a tab to the profile page.

$items['user/%user/feeds/terms'] = array(
‘type’ => MENU_LOCAL_TASK,
‘title’ => ‘Terms’,
‘page callback’ => drupal_get_form,
‘access callback’ => TRUE,
‘page arguments’ => array(’blogsofindy_terms_form’, 1),
‘file’ => ‘blogsofindy.feed.user.page.inc’
);
$items['admin/settings/blogsofindy'] = array(
‘type’ => MENU_NORMAL_ITEM,
‘title’ => ‘Blogs of Indy’,
‘description’ => ‘Change the settings for Blogs of Indy Custom Module’,
‘page callback’  => ‘drupal_get_form’,
‘page arguments’ => array(’blogsofindy_admin_settings’),
‘access callback’ => TRUE,
‘file’ => ‘blogsofindy_admin.pages.inc’,
);

I have complete the first version of the code for displaying the form but I am not ready to share the validation or submit code.  I had to come up with how I wanted to manage the terms.  This is when I added the synonym functionality to FeedAPI Taxonomy Compare.  The idea is that incoming feed’s tag will match the synonym and attach itself to the category term.  So this form will give the users a list of the tags that their blogs are associated to so they can either “link” them to a category by making them a synonym or add the tag as a category.  Either way, the posts nodes will be related to a category term and unrelated from a tag term.  I’m struggling with giving the user so much power to add categories (and in turn menu items) so easily.  Though it would give them a sense of ownership which is what I am looking for.

Either way, here is the code for the form.

function blogsofindy_terms_form($form_state, $account) {
//build SQL statment for tag options
$sql = sprintf(”SELECT DISTINCT td.tid AS tid, td.name AS term_name
FROM {node} n
inner join {term_node} tn on n.vid = tn.vid
inner join {term_data} td on tn.tid = td.tid
WHERE n.uid =  %d AND n.type =  ‘%s’ AND td.vid = %d
ORDER BY td.name”, $account->uid, ‘feed_item’, variable_get(’blogsofindy_tags’, array(’0′)));

$result = db_query(db_rewrite_sql($sql));
$tags = array();

$categories = array();
$tree = taxonomy_get_tree(variable_get(’blogsofindy_category’, array(’0′)));
foreach ($tree as $key => $term) {
$categories[$term->tid] = _blogsofindy_terms_format($term->name, $term->depth);
}
if (!empty($result)) {
while ($data = db_fetch_object($result)) {
$tags[$data->tid] = t($data->term_name);
}

$form['tags'] = array(
‘#type’ => ’select’,
‘#title’ => t(’List of Tags’),
‘#options’ => $tags,
);

$form['categories'] = array(
‘#type’ => ’select’,
‘#title’ => t(’Category’),
‘#options’ => $categories,
);

$form['merge'] = array(
‘#type’ => ’select’,
‘#title’ => ‘Action’,
‘#options’  => array(
‘1′ => t(’Move posts and all future posts to new Term’),
‘2′ => t(’Move Term from Tags to selected Category’)
),
‘#default_valule’ => ‘1′,
‘#description’ => t(’Moving the Term from Tags to the selected Cateogry will change the parent and vocabulary for the selected Term’),
);

$form['submit'] = array(
‘#type’ => ’submit’,
‘#value’ => t(’Move’),
);
}
return $form;
}

Using a helper function to display the categories in a hierarchy display

/**
* helper function to great the options for the cateogires in a tree format.
* @param string $term
* @param int $depth
* @return string
*/
function _blogsofindy_terms_format($term, $depth) {
$output = $term;
if ($depth > 0) {
for ($i=1; $i <= $depth; $i++) {
$output = ‘-’ . $output;
}
}

return $output;
}

I also added a admin settings page to select which vocabularies to use in the “Tags” and “Category” drop downs on the form.

function blogsofindy_admin_settings() {
//get list of vocabularies
foreach (taxonomy_get_vocabularies() as $voc) {
$options[$voc->vid] = $voc->name;
}

$form['blogsofindy_tags'] = array(
‘#type’ => ’select’,
‘#title’ => t(’Tags Vocabulary’),
‘#options’ => $options,
‘#default_value’ => variable_get(’blogsofindy_tags’, array(’0′)),
);

$form['blogsofindy_category'] = array(
‘#type’ => ’select’,
‘#title’ => t(’Category Vocabulary’),
‘#options’ => $options,
‘#default_value’ => variable_get(’blogsofindy_category’, array(’0′)),
);

return system_settings_form($form);
}

Left to do before initial release

After I finish the code for managing the terms I have to put in place my ideas from my post More Features for the Blogger.  I also like Blog.to.it’s idea of integrating twitter.  This would give more attention to the arthur.  Then comes the decision about where to display what.  I want to be sure to reconize the blogger but don’t want to make the page to busy.  Then comes theming which I haven’t even begun to learn yet.   There you go, more to come

Over the past few years my php development was rare and disconnected.  Notepad++ fit all of my needs.  It has a debugger plugin and some syntax highlighting.  Now that I am becoming a free lance developer I needed a more full feature IDE.  Most of my development will be for custom Drupal modules.  I did a little google search and found a few good comparison sites.  One from IBM and another from PHP Editors ( a note that this site seems to be sponsored by NuSphere PhpED).

My needs

• Syntax color coding
• Tab Formatting help
• Auto Complete
• Ability to add folders as includes for auto complete.
• Debugging
• CVS/SVN integration

Here are the IDE’s that I tested.

• Zend Studio
• NuSphere PhpED
• Komodo
• Code Lobster
• NetBeans

Zend Studio

Zend Studio is a very well polished product.  It has every tool you would every want in an IDE.  That is it’s greatest strength and weakness.  The entire interface seemed a little sluggish compared to the other IDE’s.  The interfaced had a more professional look then the others.  It was very easy to start using.  The controls were very intuitive.  You can get started doing basic PHP sites easily and know that there is plenty to learn.    So what’s the downside?  The price.  At $399 for 1 year of upgrades and $717 for 3 years it is rather steep.  It’s a great IDE though.  I enjoyed my 30 days using Zend, and it’s made by the same people who made PHP.  It’s a great choice.

NuSphere PhpED

After all of the hype from the PHP Editors website, I had to give the trial a go.  Like Zend this is a full featured IDE.  It has every tool you would every need.  I didn’t spend much time with this IDE.  When I tested it I didn’t have any projects, I was just researching.  It worked well but didn’t leave any sort of lasting impression on me.  I read that it has excellent debuger and good database integration.  It also is a little expense at $250.

Active Stat’s Komodo

This was a great product.  I fell in love with this IDE from the first line of code I wrote.  Not only does it contain all of the features that Zend has, it is FAST.  I didn’t feel like the application was doing anything in the background like Zend.  The code intelligence was fast and it added include folders with ease.  The debugger worked as well as the other IDE’s (they all use the XDebug PHP plugin).  The only down side is that the interface didn’t look like a $300 application.  The developers have definitely spent their time on speed and functionality instead of the presentation.  This was my favorite of the paid IDE’s.

Code Lobster

Code Lobster is a new comer to the IDE arena.  The product was good and the price was right, FREE!!  It has code intelligence and debugging just like the big boys.   It was quick and had a nice interface.  I was as comfortable doing the actual coding.  The tab logic and auto “)” and “}” didn’t act like I wanted.  I had to go back a few times to edit the “help” it provided.  One of the coolest features about Code Lobster is the Drupal plug in.  It had full integration to the Drupal API.  It even knew how to format the array correctly.  If you put “$form['form_name] = array” then the auto complete takes control asking you which element you want to use.  You just select them from the drop down and it formats it according to the Drupal standards (even puts the “#”).  There is also a Smarty Plug in that I’m sure is just as cool.  The plug-ins are not free though.  But if you are going to use Code Lobster, the $99 plug-in is worth it.  That being said, I couldn’t pull myself past the coding “help.”

NetBeans

NetBeans is free IDE based totally in Java.  Alright, don’t run for the hills quite yet.  This IDE has came a long way during it’s life.  The newest version is fast and fully featured.  The interface and usability is right up there with Zend and Komodo.  While it wasn’t love at first site, like Komodo, it has turned into a loving relationship.  After a little tweaking of the settings, it did everything I wanted how I wanted.  It fit my coding habits perfectly.  One of the cool features is the debugger.  It has the standard XDebug functionality but it also has a firefox plugin to debug the front end.  Guess what, It has a Drupal plug-in also.  The plug in is not as feature rich as the Code Lobster one but it Free.  Oh, and did I mention that everything is FREE!

Conclusion

If Komod was free then I would have used that.  Being that it wasn’t I went to NetBeans.  I have no regrats.  NetBeans as been very good to me.  My effeicncy is way up.  No longer to I forget the “;” or have any syntax errors.  I am now a happy devloper.   I know there are several others that are good that I haven’t tried.  This is in no way a complete list.  Just my experience.

Apparently Google indexed the bogsofndy.com site and notified a few of the blog owners that their content was being published.  This was unfortunate because they saw the site before it was ready.  After a few email discussions they were on board with my idea.  I was also able to pull some good suggestions.  I now understand how passionate many bloggers are about their content.  This has lead me to add some features that will benefit the bloggers.

• Control over how the content will be displayed:  Using Drupal’s input formats, I can specify what HTML tags are allowed.  So if they do not want their pictures to appear then they won’t.
• Display Teaser Only:  This will only display a teaser of the post on Blogs of Indy.  This option is only available if they are using a plain text input format.
• More Blocks.
  • “Most posts from this Author”
  • “About this Author”
  • “Post from this category”

Hopefully most of the blog owners will allow the full post to be displayed if I have a strong presence showing who the content is from.

I’ve also changed my philosophy on how the categories and tags will be managed.  Instead of having the categories managed by an administrator, the users will be able to categorize the content if they do not agree.  The will not be able to remove a post from a category, but rather add it to a category.

Blogs of Indy is going to be focused around dipalying the most relevant information for the reader.  I have ideas of adding a “Other posts you would like” sort of block in the future.

I have completed the first version of Blogs of Indy.  http://blogsofindy.com.  This is a very early version and I still have a lot to work to do (see pervious posts).  You can get the general idea though.