Pieter Bos

On websites we develop for clients we always add this widget to their WordPress Dashboard to keep them informed on general updates regarding their websites. We thought it would be a handy tool for other developers, so we turned the widget into a plugin.
The default settings are:
<ul>
<li>the standard title of the widget box is “Recent Updates”</li>
<li>as we needed a default feed URL we use the feed of WP TIPS, one of our own websites</li>
<li>the default number of RSS items is 3</li>
<li>do not open link in new tab (since 2014.07.27)</li>
<li>yellow background color of the widget (<code>#FFFF99</code>)</li>
</ul>
We have decided to only support this plugin through <a href="https://github.com/senlin/so-dashboard-feed-widget/issues" rel="nofollow ugc">Github</a>. Therefore, if you have any questions, need help and/or want to make a feature request, please open an issue over at Github. You can also browse through open and closed issues to find what you are looking for and perhaps even help others.

Dashboard Feed Widget

The Dashboard Feed Widget shows the latest Posts from a site of your choice in the top of the WordPress Dashboard.

Frank Bueltge

took77

Display feeds in your blog, using PHP, a Widget or Shortcode. The plugin uses only standard WordPress functionality, so no external libraries are required. For older versions of WordPress, the built-in <a href="https://magpierss.sourceforge.net/" rel="nofollow ugc">MagpieRSS library</a> is used. For WordPress 2.8 and newer, there is a setting available to enable the built-in <a href="https://simplepie.org/" rel="nofollow ugc">SimplePie library</a> for parsing feeds.
As with all other content you publish, make sure you are allowed to (re-)publish the content of the feeds you are about to import!
You can insert the following code into a PHP plugin or in a template, for example <code>sidebar.php</code> or <code>single.php</code>:
Example: 
 <?php RSSImport(10, ‘https://bueltge.de/feed/’); ?>
This is the minimal code needed for using the plugin. The plugin accepts a number of parameters for customizing the feed content import. See below for the full list of available parameters. You can also use any of the parameters with Shortcode in posts and pages.
Example Shortcode: 
 [RSSImport display=”5″ feedurl=”https://bueltge.de/feed/” use_simplepie=”true”]
For all (bool) parameters you can either use the strings <code>true</code> and <code>false</code> or the integer values <code>1</code> and <code>0</code>.
<ol>
<li><code>display</code> – The number of items to display. Default is <code>5</code>.</li>
<li><code>feedurl</code> – The feed address. Default is <code>https://bueltge.de/feed/</code>.</li>
<li><code>before_desc</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the description. Default is <code>empty</code>. You can use some variables which will be replaced, see below.</li>
<li><code>displaydescriptions</code> – (bool) When set to true, the description for each entry will be displayed. Default is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>after_desc</code> – The HTML or string to insert after the description. Default is <code>empty</code>. You can use some variables which will be replaced, see below.</li>
<li><code>html</code> – (bool) When set to true, the description can include HTML tags. Default is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>truncatedescchar</code> – The maximum number of characters allowed in descriptions. If the description is longer than this length, it will be truncated to the given length. Default is <code>200</code>, set the value to empty quotes <code>''</code> to never truncate descriptions.</li>
<li><code>truncatedescstring</code> – The HTML or string to insert at the end of a description after it has been truncated. Default is <code>...</code></li>
<li><code>truncatetitlechar</code> – The maximum number of characters allowed in titles. If the title is longer than this value, it will be truncated to the given length. Default is <code>''</code>, which means never truncate titles.</li>
<li><code>truncatetitlestring</code> – The HTML or string to insert at the end of a title after it has been truncated. Default is <code>' ... '</code>.</li>
<li><code>before_date</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the date. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>date</code> – (bool) If true, display the date of the item. Default is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>after_date</code> – The HTML or string to insert after the date. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>date_format</code>– The date format string. Leave empty to use the format of your WordPress installation. If a different date format is desired, specify a PHP date string, for example: <code>F j, Y</code>. See also <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Formatting_Date_and_Time" rel="nofollow ugc">the date and time formatting page in the WordPress Codex</a>.</li>
<li><code>before_creator</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the creator of the item. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>creator</code> – (bool) If true, display the creator of the item. Default is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>after_creator</code> – The HTML or string to insert after creator of the item. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>start_items</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the list of items. Default is <code><ul></code>.</li>
<li><code>end_items</code> – The HTML or string to insert after the list of items. Default is <code></ul></code>.</li>
<li><code>start_item</code> – The HTML or string to insert before each item. Default is <code><li></code>. You can use some variables which will be replaced, see below.</li>
<li><code>end_item</code> – The HTML or string to insert after each item. Default is <code></li></code>. You can use some variables which will be replaced, see below.</li>
<li><code>target</code> – The string to use for the <code>target</code> attribute on links. Default is <code>empty</code>. Valid options are <code>blank</code>, <code>self</code>, <code>parent</code>, <code>top</code>.</li>
<li><code>rel</code> – The string to use for the <code>rel</code> attribute on links. Default is <code>empty</code>. Valid options are <code>nofollow</code> and <code>follow</code>.</li>
<li><code>desc4title</code> – The description to use in the <code>title</code> attribute on item title links. Default is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>charsetscan</code> – (bool) If true, scan the feed content for the correct character set. This may cause the content to load more slowly. Use this option if you’re having problems with feed content being displayed with stranged characters. Default is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>debug</code> – (bool) If true, activate debug-mode, which will echo the Magpie object as an array. Default is <code>false</code>. Only use this option for debugging.</li>
<li><code>before_noitems</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the no items message. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>noitems</code>– The message to display when the feed is empty. Default is <code>No items, feed is empty.</code>.</li>
<li><code>after_noitems</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the no items message. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>before_error</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the error message. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>error</code> – Error message displayed when there is an error loading or displaying the feed. Default is <code>Error: Feed has an error or is not valid</code>.</li>
<li><code>after_error</code> – The HTML or string to insert before the error message. Default is <code></code>.</li>
<li><code>paging</code> – (bool) If true, enable pagination. Default is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>prev_paging_link</code> – The name of the previous page link. Default is <code>&laquo; Previous</code>.</li>
<li><code>next_paging_link</code> – The name next page link. Default is <code>Next &raquo;</code>.</li>
<li><code>prev_paging_title</code> – The title attribute of the previous page link. Default is <code>more items</code>.</li>
<li><code>next_paging_title</code> – The title attribute of the next page link. Default is <code>more items</code>.</li>
<li><code>use_simplepie</code> – (bool) If true, use SimplePie to parse the feed. SimplePie is included in WordPress 2.8 and newer and can parse both RSS and ATOM feeds. Default is <code>false</code> if used with Shortcode, <code>true</code> if used with the PHP function.</li>
<li><code>view</code> – (bool) If true, calling the <code>RSSImport()</code> function will print the rendered HTML directly to the output. If false, the rendered HTML will be returned by the function as a string value and nothing will be output. Default when using PHP code is <code>true</code>. Default when using Shortcode is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>random_sort</code> – (bool) If true, Items will be displayed in random order. Default when using Shortcode is <code>false</code>.</li>
<li><code>order</code> – (string) Order of the filds Date, Title, Creator, Description. Use a comma separated string for your order. Default is <code>date,title,creator,description</code></li>
</ol>
The parameters <code>before_desc</code>, <code>after_desc</code>, <code>start_item</code> and <code>end_item</code> accepts the following variables which will be replaced:
<ol>
<li><code>%title%</code> for the title of the entry</li>
<li><code>%href%</code> for the entry’s URL</li>
<li><code>%picture_url%</code> for the URL of a thumbnail image for the entry if available. To use this variable, SimplePie is required to be enabled (<code>use_simplepie="true"</code>)</li>
</ol>
If pagination is enabled, it adds a <code>div</code> with the class <code>rsspaging</code> to enable easier styling with CSS. You can also style the previous and next links, which have the classes: <code>rsspaging_prev</code> and <code>rsspaging_next</code>.
You can use any of the parameters in the php function <code>RSSImport()</code> in your templates or with the Shortcode <code>[RSSImport]</code> in posts and pages.
<h4>Examples</h4>
Using the PHP function with many parameters:
<pre><code>RSSImport(
 $display = 5, $feedurl = 'https://bueltge.de/feed/', 
 $before_desc = '', $displaydescriptions = false, $after_desc = '', $html = false, $truncatedescchar = 200, $truncatedescstring = ' ... ', 
 $truncatetitlechar = '', $truncatetitlestring = ' ... ', 
 $before_date = ' ', $date = false, $after_date = '', 
 $before_creator = ' ', $creator = false, $after_creator = '', 
 $start_items = '<ul>', $end_items = '</ul>', 
 $start_item = '<li>', $end_item = '</li>'
);
</code></pre>
Please note that for the PHP function the parameters are expected in the order in which they are defined in the above list. Thus if you skip one parameter, you will also have to skip all of the subsequent parameters.
Using Shortcode with several parameters:
<pre><code>[RSSImport display="10" feedurl="https://your_feed_url/" 
displaydescriptions="true" html="true" 
start_items="<ol>" end_items="</ol>" paging="true" use_simplepie="true"]
</code></pre>
Add a “more” link to the output:
<pre><code>RSSImport(
 $display = 5,
 $feedurl = 'https://bueltge.de/feed/', 
 $before_desc = '',
 $displaydescriptions = true,
 $after_desc = ' <a href="%href%" target="_blank">show more</a>'
);
</code></pre>
or
<pre><code>[RSSImport feedurl="https://wordpress.org/news/feed/" after_desc=" <a href='%href%' target='_blank'>show more</a>" displaydescriptions="true" use_simplepie="true"]
</code></pre>
Enable Thumbnail Pictures:
<pre><code>RSSImport(
 $display = 5,
 $feedurl = 'https://bueltge.de/feed/',
 $before_desc = '<img src="%picture_url%" alt="">',
 $displaydescriptions = true
);
</code></pre>
or
<pre><code>[RSSImport feedurl="https://wordpress.org/news/feed/" displaydescriptions="true" before_desc="<div><img src='%picture_url%' width='50px' alt='' style='float:left;' />" after_desc="</div>" use_simplepie="true"]
</code></pre>
<h4>Acknowledgements</h4>
Thanks to <a href="http://www.davewolf.net," title="Dave Wolf" rel="nofollow ugc">Dave Wolf</a> for the idea, to <a href="http://www.securityfocus.de" title="Thomas Fischer" rel="nofollow ugc">Thomas Fischer</a> and <a href="http://www.gunnart.de" title="Gunnar Tillmann" rel="nofollow ugc">Gunnar Tillmann</a> for better code and Ilya Shindyapin, http://skookum.com for the idea and solution of pagination.
<h4>License</h4>
Good news, this plugin is free for everyone! Since it’s released under the GPL, you can use it free of charge on your personal or commercial blog. But if you enjoy this plugin, you can thank me by leaving a <a href="https://bueltge.de/wunschliste/" title="Wish lists and donations" rel="nofollow ugc">small donation</a> for the time I’ve spent writing and supporting this plugin. And I really don’t want to know how many hours of my life this plugin has already eaten 😉
<h4>Translations</h4>
The plugin comes with various translations, please refer to the <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress_in_Your_Language" title="Installing WordPress in Your Language" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Codex</a> for more information about activating the translation. Please helpt <a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/rss-import/" rel="nofollow ugc">to translate or improve</a> the translations of this plugin.

RSSImport

It would be great to have more configuration options.

Fall-back if picture not found in enclosure

Set default picture if no one found

Crop pictures to predefined width and height




At all, a nice plugin!

Display feeds on your blog, using PHP in your templates or Shortcode in your posts and pages.

Dashboard Feed Widget vs RSSImport