CaRP Tips

CaRP gets podcast support, themes

2006-02-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

I released a new version of CaRP yesterday with a few added features. First, the mundane: CaRP error messages are now linked by default to a page in the documentation that explains how to fix them. You can turn the links off or turn the error messages off altogether using the carperrors setting. Now on to the fun stuff. First, I've added podcast support. At first, I planned to just write some

How to display Japanese RSS feeds using CaRP

2006-02-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

I just released an update to CaRP that makes the truncation code that is used to limit the length of titles and description multi-byte aware. In the past, CaRP counted each byte as a character even for characters composed of multiple bytes, and ran the risk of chopping a chacter in half if a multibyte character spanned the truncation boundary. The new version won't do that. The bad news is that

Incentives for CaRP users to help each other?

2006-02-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

I've just posted in the CaRP user forum regarding what incentives I can provide for CaRP users to help each other with tech support questions and such. It's not that I begrudge doing tech support--just that it's often difficult to impossible to manage all the different tasks that I have to juggle, and if possible, I'd like to free up more time for adding features and working on the next

Displaying RSS feeds in Mambo/Joomla content

2006-01-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

If you'd like to display an RSS feed on your Mambo or Joomla CMS-powered site, the easiest way is to install the "Add PHP" mambot. Then put your CaRP code into a PHP file, upload it to your server, and pull it into your content like this: {rdaddphp file=rssfeed.php} (type the curly braces and everything between them into the content editor, with the filename changed as needed, and a relative path

Displaying RSS feeds in ASP pages using CaRP

2005-11-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

CaRP is a PHP script, so naturally, using it in PHP pages is easier than in non-PHP pages. You may already know that you can use CaRP's JavaScript output option to display feeds in non-PHP pages. You may also know that if you do that, search engines won't be able to see the feed's content. You may know that with SSI, you can often #include a PHP page into another page and have the PHP code

CaRP's Amazon.com associates example code has been updated

2005-10-29T12:12:00.000-06:00

The Amazon.com associates example code has been udpated to work with Amazon's latest changes to their web services API. A few of the changes include: * Uses Access Key IDs instead of Developer Tokens or Subscription IDs (neither of which is being issued to new associates anymore since they're not used by the latest API). * Has built-in support for searching non-US Amazon sites. * The number of

Multi-affiliates search page example using CaRP and Grouper

2005-10-07T10:50:00.000-06:00

I've posted an Affiliates RSS Example showing how CaRP and Grouper can be used to create a search page for multiple affiliates programs. A few noteworthy notes: 1) The affiliate search results are displayed on your website so that if your visitor doesn't find anything interesting, they're still on your site. 2) Multiple merchant sites can be searched from the same page, increasing the

Affiliates XML to RSS conversion for Amazon.com, Shopping.com and All Posters

2005-10-06T20:50:00.000-06:00

We've had example XSLT code for converting Amazon.com affiliates XML code to RSS for CaRP to display for quite some time. As of today, a new method is available using a new Amazon affiliates plugin for Grouper Evolution. If you've got the XSLT solution up and running, there may be no reason to change your Amazon code, but if you are or are interested in being a Shopping.com or All Posters

Wrapping text around images

2005-09-13T08:40:00.000-06:00

With either of the commercial versions of CaRP, you can display images that feeds point to using the element or that is floated to the side using the following code: CarpConf('biimage','

'); CarpConf('

Atom 1.0 feed support now available using Grouper

2005-07-15T22:47:00.000-06:00

CaRP users wishing to publish Atom 0.3 feeds on their websites have long had the option of using Grouper to convert them to RSS so that CaRP can read them. As of today, Atom 1.0 feeds can also be converted by Grouper. The Atom 1.0 format specification is essentially a few bureaucratic steps from getting the official IETF stamp of approval, and any changes that may be made to the document are

Putting CaRP output into a scroller

2005-07-09T21:12:00.000-06:00

I released a new product today (Tetra) that integrates closely with CaRP to enable display of RSS feeds in a scroller. Tetra is a DHTML scroller that supports dynamic updating without requiring reload of the webpage (using the so-called "AJAX" technology recently popularized by Google Maps and GMail). CaRP isn't required to use Tetra, but Tetra comes with code to integrate with CaRP, and Tetra's

Displaying feeds in non-PHP pages

2005-06-10T03:21:00.000-06:00

CaRP is most commonly used to integrate RSS feeds into PHP pages--that is, webpages whose name ends with ".php". Why does the filename extension matter, and how can newsfeeds be displayed on pages with different filename extensions? The reason that the filename extension matter is that the webserver software uses the extension to decide whether and how to process the file before sending it to

Gecko Tribe Associates Program

2005-03-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

In response to numerous customer requests, we've launched an associates program for selling CaRP, Grouper, Jawfish subscriptions, Chess Hounds memberships, iMovie and FileMaker Pro plugins, t-shirts, and DeGPG. Here's a slight revision of the email we sent out to announce it: Dear CaRP, Grouper or Jawfish user: We are pleased today to announce the launch of the Gecko Tribe Associates Program,

Using CaRP for Search Engine Optimization

2004-10-15T16:11:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed search engine optimizers talking a lot about RSS lately. Briefly, before getting into using CaRP for SEO, the idea is that adding newsfeeds to your pages gives your website a steady stream of fresh, relevant content. Even if you never update the rest of the page, the search engine sees a page that gets updated often. So how can you best use CaRP for SEO? Here are a few

Help! I can't delete the cache directories!

2004-10-09T09:12:00.000-06:00

If you've ever tried deleting CaRP, you've probably noticed that without root access to your server, getting rid of the cache directories can be a little tricky. The problem is that the cache directories and their contents were created by the web server, not by you, so you don't have the necessary access priviledges to delete them. Fortunately, there's an easy solution--easy once you know what it

Opening links in a new window

2004-09-11T17:15:00.000-06:00

CaRP gives you two ways to make links open in a new window, one of which lets you control the size of the window. The first method, which doesn't allow you to control the window size is to add the following code to the page in which you are displaying the feed: CarpConf('linktarget',1); The second, which allows you to control the window size is a little trickier. First, you need some JavaScript

Welcome to the CaRP Help Weblog

2004-09-01T09:24:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the CaRP Help Weblog. From time to time, I'll post articles here outlining useful tips and tricks for making the most of CaRP. Stay on top of new articles easily by subscribing to the RSS feed using the orange XML button near the top of the page.