Displays several outline related widgets in the page, plus other non visible HTML service components.
Placement:
In the #template.txt or #homeTemplate.txt template files, usually in a side pane.
Parameters:
titleText
Defaults to "outline".
Text of the 'title' output before the expand all / collapse all links.
titleClass
Defaults to "active".
CSS class for the title.
flIncludeLinks
Defaults to true.
Display the 'Expand all / collapse all' widget if true, do not display if false.
collapseAllTitle
Defaults to "click to collapse all nodes"
Sets the 'collapse all' link's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over the 'collapse all' link.
collapseAllText
Defaults to "collapse all"
Sets the text inside the 'collapse all' link.
expandAllTitle
Defaults to "click to expand all nodes"
Sets the 'expand all' link's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over the 'expand all' link.
expandAllText
Defaults to "expand all"
Sets the text inside the 'expand all' link.
linkClass
Defaults to "active".
CSS class for the expand all / collapse all links.
nodeClass
Defaults to "active".
The expand all / collapse all links only apply to the nodes output with the class specified by the nodeClass parameter.
This is the way to set the outline on which to apply the links when you happen to have several different outlines (a main outline and an activeRoll for instance) laid out on the same page.
helpText
Defaults to "how this works".
Help text output after the expand all / collapse all links.
In the rendered page, hovering the cursor over that text will display activeRenderer's current version at the cursor's tip.
If you do not want to output any help text, set this parameter to an empty string.
helpClass
Defaults to "help".
CSS class for the help text.
flImageCache
Defaults to true.
Output an invisible cache in the page, used for image inclusion, when true.
You can set this parameter to false if your outline does not include nodes with GIF, JPG or PNG links attached.
flVertical
Defaults to true.
When true, the expand all link is output so that it is displayed on top of the collapse all link.
When false, both linked are displayed horizontally on the same line, separated by a '/'.
flPreview
Defaults to true.
When true, a small checkbox is displayed, reflecting the collapsed paragraph preview mode.
When checked, moving the mouse cursor over the wedge of a collapsed paragraph will reveal its content in a 'preview' style.
Uncheck the box to turn off the preview display.
previewText
Defaults to "preview nodes".
Sets the label of the 'preview nodes' checkbox.
previewOff
Defaults to false
When true the collapsed paragraphs preview feature is turned off and the 'preview nodes' checkbox is unchecked.
flHide
Defaults to true.
When true, and flPreview is set to true, a second checkbox is displayed, reflecting the appearance of paragraph wedges in the outline.
Uncheck the box to make all wedges disappear, check it to display them back.
hideText
Defaults to "hide wedges"
Sets the label of the 'hide wedges' checkbox.
flServed
Defaults to false
Set to true if the macro is executed while rendering a served HTML page, as opposed to an 'upstreamed' one.
When true, and the page is not upstreamed, displays an invisible 'served' div.
You can safely ignore this parameter. The 'served' div is used as a flag by aR's javascript code.
Comments:
All parameters are optional.
Calling the function without parameters initializes all parameters to their default values.
Examples
The attached source in a #template.txt file,
will create the default output in the rendered version:
Whereas this source version
will generate that kind of output:
activeRendererHeader:
Last updated: 2/18/03; 5:14:18 PM by MB
Inserts links to activeRenderer's CSS stylesheet and JavaScript code.
Placement:
In the #template.txt or #homeTemplate.txt template files, usually in the header section.
Parameters:
None.
activeRendererLogo:
Last updated: 1/26/04; 12:23:20 PM by MB
Display activeRenderer's logo tile in the page, with a link to activeRenderer's home site.
Placement:
In the #template.txt or #homeTemplate.txt template files.
Parameters:
flHorizontal
defaults to true: the logo is displayed horizontally
When false, the logo is displayed vertically.
activeRoll:
Last updated: 3/7/04; 3:35:38 PM by MB by MB
Displays an OPML outline as a blogRoll, complete with 'active' wedges.
Placement:
In the #template.txt or #homeTemplate.txt template files, usually in a side pane.
Parameters:
url
This parameter is mandatory.
Local (desktop file system) or remote (web accesible) URL for the source OPML outline.
class
Defaults to "roll".
Radical of the CSS class for the blogRoll.
If the class parameter is 'roll', then the roll's title is styled as 'rollTitle', the first level in the roll is styled as 'roll1', the second level is styled as 'roll2' and so on.
The 'how this works' link at the bottom of the roll is styled as 'rollHelp'.
The class encapsulating the whole blogroll is 'roll'.
target
Defaults to "_blank".
Name of the destination window (or frame) for all link attributes in the source OPML.
Providing an empty string will cause all links to target the current window.
title
Defaults to empty string.
Optional string to display as the roll's title.
flRoll
Defaults to true.
When set to true, all HTML links attached to outline nodes are rendered as normal hypertext links in the rendered page (The way they are actually rendered depends on the 'class' parameter).
When set to false, all HTML links attached to outline nodes are rendered with a 'page' wedge, like the wedge on the left.
action
Defaults to "transclude".
Name of the javascript function used to render transcluding links in the roll.
Do not tinker with this parameter unless you really know what you are doing.
flDisplayHelp
defaults to true.
Set to false to prevent the 'how this works' text from being displayed.
helpText
Defaults to "how this works".
Display this text after the macro's main output
In the rendered page, hovering the cursor over that text will display activeRenderer's current version at the cursor's tip.
If you do not want to output any help text, set this parameter to an empty string.
flDisplayOpmlLink
defaults to false
When true, a tiny XML icon pointing to the OPML content of the roll follows the roll's title.
This parameter is taken into account ONLY if the roll is provided with a title.
expandTitle
Defaults to "expand".
Sets the 'expand' collapsed wedge's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over a collapsed paragraph wedge.
collapseTitle
Defaults to "collapse".
Sets the 'collapse' expanded wedge's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over an expanded paragraph wedge.
The activeRoll displayed on this page is generated by a macro very similar to the one attached:
daySwitch:
Last updated: 3/7/04; 3:43:21 PM by MB
Displays the 'Latest' calendar like widget.
Placement:
In the #homeTemplate.txt template, usually in a side pane.
Parameters:
daysPerLine
Defaults to 7.
Number of days displayed per calendar line.
title
Defaults to "Latest".
Sets the title of the widget
flIncludeLinks
Defaults to true.
When set, displays the 'collapse/expand all posts' links in the widget.
collapseTitle
Defaults to "click to collapse all posts".
Sets the 'collapse' link's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over the 'collapse' link.
collapseText
Defaults to "collapse".
Sets the text of inside the 'collapse' link.
expandTitle
Defaults to "click to expand all posts".
Sets the 'expand' link's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over the 'expand' link.
expandText
Defaults to "expand".
Sets the text of inside the 'expand' link.
endingText
Defaults to "all posts".
Sets the ending mention after the 'collapse' and 'expand' links.
helpText
Defaults to "how this works".
Display this text after the macro's main output
In the rendered page, hovering the cursor over that text will display activeRenderer's current version at the cursor's tip.
If you do not want to output any help text, set this parameter to an empty string.
flPreview
Defaults to true.
When set, displays a hide (show) previews link
Comments:
All links are styled in the 'latest' CSS class.
This is only the Usertalk part of the widget, the other part is pure javascript, located in outliner.txt.
The daySwitch macro is usually inserted automatically in your weblog's template when you check 'Display Latest Widget' in activeRenderer's preferences.
espressoCup:
Last updated: 2/18/03; 7:33:54 PM by MB
Displays an 'OPML' coffee container in the page.
Placement:
In the #template.txt or #homeTemplate.txt template, usually in a side pane.
Parameters:
checkFlag
Defaults to false.
espressoCup displays an espresso cup by default, as designed by Paolo Valdemarin.
The type of container displayed varies according to the #flDisplayCup directive in the template or #prefs.txt file when checkFlag is set to true.
Current legal values for the #flDisplayCup directive are "glass","regular", and "spinning".
Comments:
All container images include a link to subscribe to your instant outline
Renders an OPML format outline into HTML without active wedges.
Placement:
In the #template.txt or #homeTemplate.txt templates, usually in a side pane.
Parameters:
url
This parameter is mandatory
Local or remote URL for the source OPML outline.
cssClassName
Defaults to 'l'.
Radical of the CSS class that defines the blogRoll's style.
flExpand
Defaults to false.
Fully expand the outline before rendering if true.
depth
Defaults to 0: no limit.
Maximum number of levels rendered in each outline node.
length
Defaults to 0: no limit.
Maximum number of summits (1st level nodes) rendered in the outline.
Comments:
opmlRender is a precursor to activeRoll, it is still usefull if you want to include one or several outlines in a page's template, without bothering with outline wedges.
The activeRenderer's site home page used to feature a headline defined by:
rssBox:
Last updated: 3/7/04; 3:36:05 PM by MB
Displays an RSS news feed as an outline within a box.
Placement:
In the #template.txt or #homeTemplate.txt template files, usually in a side pane.
Parameters:
url
This parameter is mandatory.
Local (desktop file system) or remote (web accesible) URL for the source RSS feed.
title
Defaults to empty string.
Optional string to display as box title.
class
Defaults to "rssBox".
Radical of the CSS class for the box.
If the class parameter is 'feed', then the box title is styled as 'feedTitle', the first level in the box outline is styled as 'feed1', the second level is styled as 'feed2' and so on.
The 'how this works' link at the bottom of the box is styled as 'feedHelp'.
The class encapsulating the whole box is 'feed'.
flDisplayHelp
defaults to true.
Set to false to prevent the 'how this works' text from being displayed.
helpText
Defaults to "how this works".
Display this text after the macro's main output
In the rendered page, hovering the cursor over that text will display activeRenderer's current version at the cursor's tip.
If you do not want to output any help text, set this parameter to an empty string.
flDisplayRssLink
defaults to false
When true, a tiny XML icon pointing to the RSS content of the box follows the box's title.
This parameter is taken into account ONLY if a title for the box is supplied.
flFilterImages
Defaults to true
If true, HTML IMG tags that appear in any news item title paragraph are replaced with an '[image]' mention, linking to the orginal image.
This prevents large images from altering narrow layouts when rssBox is called in the side pane of a rendering template.
itemCnt
Defaults to 0 for no limit
When a positive number is specified, rssBox only displays the first itemCnt items in the RSS feed.
expandTitle
Defaults to "expand".
Sets the 'expand' collapsed wedge's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over a collapsed paragraph wedge.
collapseTitle
Defaults to "collapse".
Sets the 'collapse' expanded wedge's title.
The title appears when hovering with the mouse cursor over an expanded paragraph wedge.
A quick note: the new upstreaming scheme provided with Radio's Uptreaming Beta will break the normal automatic upstreaming of outlines saved in 'outlines' or 'opml' folders under Radio's root folder ('www') or any Radio category folder.
I have a fix ready in activeRenderer version 2.5.2, but other features of 2.5.2 are not quite ready for release yet.
I'll announce vs 2.5.2 soon on the ar-announce list.
In the meantime, any beta-tester who wants the fix right now can get a pre-release aR 2.5.2 update by dropping me a line directly.
While they are not using Radio Userland as their publication tool, they've made a great use of the public activeRenderer web service and its XML-RPC API to create outlined show notes for their podcasts.
[image] Thanks to the audio transcluding feature of activeRenderer 2.5 built into the web service, you can listen to their podcasts directly inside the show note page by clicking the small 'loudspeaker' wedge icon in the 'MP3 File' paragraph.
Starting with version 2.5, activeRenderer provides a way to include part of the outline's content into the URL specifying a transcluding link.
If you think this is gibberish...
You're probably right.
A small example will probably make things clearer, at least if you are reading this directly on the activeRenderer News site.
Click on the 'page' wedge icon to the left of the next paragraph to learn what MSDN can report about activeRenderer. activeRenderer The URL of the link attached to the previous node looks like this: http://beta.search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=##self## ##self## is a link macro that references the current node's textual content.
Link macros come in several flavors besides ##self##.
They are useful as search requests arguments to specify richer outline links.
Learn more about link macros in activeRenderer's Tutorial 9.
I can prepare a post using a full featured browser based outliner, then press the 'post to weblog' icon to publish it into this weblog.
This is my first public posting experiment with the webOutliner, a companion Radio tool to activeRenderer.
The webOutliner is still under wraps, but its release date is getting closer :-) There is no official webOutliner site yet, but a demo site has been running for some time.
There is also a wo-support discussion group; and a support index.
With the current version of webOutliner, I can format my posts in static HTML (using HTML blockquote tags) or, in activeRenderer style dynamic HTML, such as in this post.
This is fun when linking to podcasts, such as these Morning Coffee Notes from Dave Winer.
There's still a little work to do: filtering DHTML in the RSS feed, providing for post links and enclosures, sending outlines over email.
Parallel development is on the way on non Radio, non Usertalk environments.