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I have a confession to make.... one day last week, I had so much real work to do that I couldn't play on perlmonks at all. When I finally logged in a mere 24 hours later, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of posts. As I dutifully clicked my through Newest Nodes I frequently came to posts that I had already seen because they were replies to nodes I had just read.

Instead of putting in a development request, I decided to build my own frontend to Newest Nodes. I checked out xNN which looked difficult to hack on. I then found the PerlMonks Modules which were exactly what I was looking for. After reading a few suggestions about what others wanted to see in NN (such as child counts) I started coding...

The result is bivnn.cgi which has the following features:

  • Nodes whose parents are also on the newest nodes list are listed in a separate section
  • Nodes list childcount numbers after their title
  • Can easily set your lastchecked flag backwards by $N hours allowing a view of earlier nodes
  • Lots of user configurable parameters for your tweaking pleasure

I also put up a Demo Page so you can see what the output looks like. Notice how you can catch up on an entire day by checking everything above the HR line... You'll run across everything below the line while doing this, which should save you a lot of clicking.

I've also thought about running this on one of my servers, so people w/o a dedicated server could use it.... Let me know if you'd be interested.

Note: to use this script you will need the PerlMonks Modules.

Comments and suggestions welcome....

-Blake

#!/usr/bin/perl -wT ###################################################################### +#### ###################################################################### +#### ## ## bivnn.cgi - an enhanced view of PerlMonks Newest Nodes ## Author: Blake Mills (blakem on perlmonks) ## Version: 0.01 ## Date: 09/30/2001 ## ## ## released for redistribution and/or modification under the same term +s as ## Perl itself ## ## Requires the Perlmonks.pm modules which can be found at ## http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/homes/zamboni/perlmonks.html ## http://perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=31092 ## ###################################################################### +#### ###################################################################### +#### BEGIN { # This dir needs to be writable by your webserver. # You cookie and cache of node information will be stored here # $ENV{HOME} = $ENV{PERLMONKS_RCDIR} = '/tmp'; } use strict; use lib '/custom/dir/for/perllibs'; use CGI; use POSIX; use PerlMonks::NewestNodes; # uncomment for development # use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser); ############# User Configurable Settings ############# ### ### # You'll need to set four things before this will run: # 1.) set the dir in the BEGIN{} block above # 2.) change the '!#perl' line and 'usr lib' line to match your setu +p # 3.) $USER # 4.) $PASSWD # The remaining settings are non-critical display preferences # perlmonks users name my $USER = 'blakem'; # perlmonks password my $PASSWD = 'mypassword'; # show nodes whose parents are already shown? my $SHOWCHILDREN = 1; # temporarily set to 1 and reload a few times if you are having cookie + problems my $RESETCOOKIE = 1; # show nodes counts for each category my $SHOWCATEGORYCOUNTS = 1; # show counts of children for each node my $SHOWCHILDCOUNTS = 1; # show oldest nodes first (reverse of the order on the real 'Newest No +des' page my $OLDESTFIRST = 0; # method to submit forms as (I like to develop with 'GET' but 'POST' i +n prod) my $FORMMETHOD = 'POST'; # settings for 'Set Flag to $N Hours Ago' select box my $DEFAULTHOURLYOFFSET = 3; my $MAXHOURLYOFFSET = 48; # URL for perlmonks my $PMURL = 'http://www.perlmonks.org'; my $PMURLINDEX = "$PMURL/index.pl"; # "I've checked all of these" button really means # "Set my nn flag to the time I loaded the page - $FUDGETIMEDELTA seco +nds" # Its a (probably unnecessary) window to make sure no nodes slip throu +gh. my $FUDGETIMEDELTA = 10; # ugh... The data sent for 'Showing nodes created since X' is I believ +e # set to vrooms localtime... To convert it into your localtime I # add $VROOMGMT hours to get GMT, then localtime() to display it for y +ou # tinker with this var if the data shown is out of whack for you my $VROOMGMT = -5; # url this script is located... only use if $q->url isn't working my $SELFURL = undef; # These are category specific settings... The keys are the category na +mes # as used in the XML feed. The data in the array is: # [ $displayorder, $haschildren, $categoryname ] # # The categories are ordered based on $displayorder. A negative # value will prevent that catetory from displaying at all. # # $haschildren works with $SHOWCHILDCOUNTS to selectively show child c +ounts # for each node # # $category name is simply the header text shown for that category my %category = ( 'perlmeditation' => [ 0, 1, 'New Meditations'], 'monkdiscuss' => [ 1, 1, 'New Discussion'], 'perltutorial' => [ 2, 1, 'New Tutorials'], 'perlquestion' => [ 3, 1, 'New Questions'], 'categorized question' => [ 4, 1, 'New Categorized Questions'] +, 'categorized answer' => [ 5, 1, 'New Categorized Answers'], 'snippet' => [ 6, 1, 'New Snippets'], 'sourcecode' => [ 7, 1, 'New Code'], 'perlcraft' => [ 8, 1, 'New Craft'], 'CUFP' => [ 9, 1, 'New Cool Uses for Perl'], 'obfuscated' => [10, 1, 'New Obfuscation'], 'review' => [11, 1, 'New Reviews'], 'bookreview' => [12, 1, 'New Book Reviews'], 'modulereview' => [13, 1, 'New Module Reviews'], 'poem' => [14, 1, 'New Poetry'], 'perlnews' => [15, 0, 'New Perl News'], 'note' => [16, 1, 'New Notes'], 'tutorial' => [17, 1, 'New Misc. Tutorials'], 'user' => [-1, 0, 'New Users'], ); ### ### ########### End User Configurable Settings ########### # order the categories in the manner described above my @categoryorder = grep {$category{$_}[0]>=0} (sort {$category{$a}[0] <=> $category{$b}[0] +} (keys %category)); # create a CGI object and a PerlMonks::NewestNodes object my $q = CGI->new; my $n = PerlMonks::NewestNodes->new; # what URL are we installed as my $selfurl = $SELFURL || $q->url; # login to perlmonks login(); # deal with the lastchecked buttons if needed process_lastchecked(); # generate %{$nodesbytype} which is our main data structure # see generate_nodesbytype() for details my $nodesbytype = generate_nodesbytype(); # print out the page print $q->header(); print $q->start_html(-title=>'bivnn.cgi -- PerlMonks Newest Nodes', -BGCOLOR=>'white'); print html_body(); print $q->end_html; ########### SUBS ########### sub login { # if you already have a cookie set, use it to log in otherwise # attempt a username/password login. my $resetcookie = $RESETCOOKIE || shift; if ($resetcookie || !-f $n->COOKIE_FILE) { $n->add_pm_cookies(); $n->{cookie_jar}->clear; $n->login($USER,$PASSWD); } else { $n->add_pm_cookies(); } return 1; } sub process_lastchecked { # Slightly modified routines taken from PerlMonks::NewestNodes # Removed the part dealing with local "threads" if ($q->param('pageloadtime')) { my $pageloadtime = $q->param('pageloadtime') - $FUDGETIMEDELTA; if ($q->param('clearNNflag')) { my $resp=$n->post_form($n->NN_CLEAR_URL, node_id => "3628", pageloadtime => "$pageloadtime", displaytype => "display", viewedNewNodes => "I've checked all of these" ); if ($resp->is_success) { return 1; } else { $@=$resp->status_line; return; } } elsif ($q->param('resetNNflag')) { my $resp=$n->post_form($n->NN_CLEAR_URL, node_id => "3628", pageloadtime => "$pageloadtime", displaytype => "display", clearNewNodesFlag => "Clear my last checked flag" ); if ($resp->is_success) { return 1; } else { $@=$resp->status_line; return; } } elsif ($q->param('setNNflag')) { $pageloadtime = time() - $q->param('hourlyoffset')*60*60; my $resp=$n->post_form($n->NN_CLEAR_URL, node_id => "3628", pageloadtime => "$pageloadtime", displaytype => "display", viewedNewNodes => "I've checked all of these" ); if ($resp->is_success) { return 1; } else { $@=$resp->status_line; return; } } } return 1; } sub generate_nodesbytype { # $nodesbytype is our main data structure... # it is a ref to a HoA keyed by category, containing info on new nod +es. # well, really by "$category" and "$category-child" # # example usage: # # $category = 'monkdiscuss'; # $node = $nodesbytype->{$category}->[0]; # $nodeid = $node->{node_id}; # $title = $node->{content}; # $authid = $node->{author_user}; # $authname = $node->{authname}; # $children = $node->{children}; # $createtime = $node->{createtime}; # $parentid = $node->{parent_node}; # $nodetype = $node->{nodetype}; my $nodesbytype; # get info on new nodes my @newnodes = $n->get_and_cache_nodes($n->NN_XML_URL, 1); my $nodeinfo = $n->query_nodes(@newnodes); my %nodeids = map {$_ => 1} @newnodes; # calculate a childcount for each node my %childcount; if ($SHOWCHILDCOUNTS) { $childcount{$_->{parent_node}}++ for (grep {$_->{parent_node}} (values %$nodeinfo)); } # lookup info on the authors of the nodes my %seenuserid; my @userids = grep {!$seenuserid{$_}++} map {$nodeinfo->{$_}{author_user}} @newnodes; my $userinfo = $n->query_nodes(@userids); # generate our category keyed hash while adding child-count and auth +or's # name to each $node for my $node (values %$nodeinfo) { my $key = $node->{nodetype}; $key .= '-child' if $node->{parent_node} && $nodeids{$node->{paren +t_node}}; $node->{authname} = $userinfo->{$node->{author_user}}->{content}; $node->{children} = $childcount{$node->{node_id}} || 0; push (@{$nodesbytype->{$key}},$node); } return $nodesbytype; } sub html_body { # generate our the body of our html # calls generate_category_html twice, once to process the parentless # nodes (the ones we primarily care about) and once for nodes that # already have a parent showing my $html; my $nodesdisplayed = 0; $html .= generate_category_html($_,0,$nodesdisplayed) for (@category +order); if ($SHOWCHILDREN) { $html .= $q->hr; $html .= generate_category_html($_,1,$nodesdisplayed) for (@catego +ryorder); } $html .= generate_checkedflag_buttons($nodesdisplayed); return $html; } sub generate_category_html { # create the html for an individual category or "category-child" # if second param is true my ($category,$alreadysawparent) = @_; # determine which $key in $nodesbytype we are interested in my $key = $category; $key .= '-child' if $alreadysawparent; # don't display anything if we have no new nodes in this category return '' unless $nodesbytype->{$key}; # get a count of the number of nodes in this section my $nodecount = @{$nodesbytype->{$key}}; # update the passed-by-reference third param to reflect total nodeco +unt $_[2] += $nodecount; # slightly evil.... +;-) # text displayed for this section my $categoryname = $category{$category}[2] || $category; $categoryname .= ' -- children' if $alreadysawparent; $categoryname .= " ($nodecount)" if $SHOWCATEGORYCOUNTS; # order the nodes based on creation time my @sortednodes = sort {$b->{createtime} <=> $a->{createtime}} @{$nodesbytype->{$key}}; @sortednodes = reverse @sortednodes if $OLDESTFIRST; # is this category configured to show child counts my $childcountsincat = $category{$category}[1]; # make the HTML my $html; $html .= $q->h3($categoryname); $html .= "<TABLE>\n"; for my $node (@sortednodes) { my $nodeid = $node->{node_id}; my $title = $node->{content}; my $authid = $node->{author_user}; my $authname = $node->{authname}; my $children = $node->{children}; $html .= qq{ <TR NOWRAP><TD NOWRAP>}; $html .= qq{<A HREF="$PMURLINDEX?node_id=$nodeid">$title</A>}; $html .= qq{ <FONT SIZE=-1><I>($children)</I></FONT>} if $SHOWCHILDCOUNTS && $childcountsincat; $html .= qq{</TD><TD NOWRAP>}; $html .= qq{by <A HREF="$PMURLINDEX?node_id=$authid">$authname</A> +}; $html .= qq{</TD></TR>\n}; } $html .= "</TABLE>\n<P>\n"; return $html; } sub generate_checkedflag_buttons { # create the HTML for the lastchecked buttons my $nodesdisplayed = shift; # get timestamp for 'pageloadvar' i.e. all nodes shown are "older" t +han this # when "I've Checked all of these" is clicked, this will be the new # cutoff for nodes shown my $time = time(); # parse the pageload time to determine what the cutoff point is for # the current batch of nodes. Unfortunately this is not given # as a simple timestamp, so we must jump through a few hoops... # it starst off looking like '20010930101046' ... my $lastchecked = $n->{cache_nn}{INFO}{lastchecked}; # we then parse out the fields, decrement the month # and subtract 1900 from the year my @datefields = reverse ($lastchecked =~ m|^(\d{4})(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d{2})(\d +{2})|); $datefields[4]--; $datefields[5]-=1900; # we then convert to a unixtimestamp while offsetting by # $VROOMGMT hours. This seems to work for me, but you # might have to fiddle around with it my $lastcheckedts = POSIX::mktime(@datefields) + $VROOMGMT*60*60; my $datestring = localtime($lastcheckedts); # create a pretty string telling us how long ago our flag was set my ($dago,$hago,$mago) = (gmtime($time - $lastcheckedts))[7,2,1]; my $hoursago; $hoursago .= "$dago " . ($dago == 1 ? 'day ' : 'days ') if $dago; $hoursago .= "$hago " . ($hago == 1 ? 'hour ' : 'hours ') if $hago; $hoursago .= "$mago " . ($mago == 1 ? 'minute ' : 'minutes ') if $ma +go; $hoursago .= " ago"; # check for plural: '1 node' vs '2 nodes' my $ndtext = $nodesdisplayed . ($nodesdisplayed==1 ? ' node' : ' nod +es'); # make the HTML my $html; $html .= qq{Showing <B>$ndtext</B> created since $datestring ($hours +ago)<BR>\n}; $html .= qq{<FORM METHOD="$FORMMETHOD" ACTION="$selfurl">\n}; $html .= qq{ <INPUT TYPE="hidden" name="pageloadtime" value="$time"> +\n}; $html .= qq{ <INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="resetNNflag" VALUE="Clear my + last checked flag">\n}; $html .= qq{ <INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="clearNNflag" VALUE="I've che +cked all of these"><P>\n}; $html .= qq{ <INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="setNNflag" VALUE="Set Flag t +o \$N Hours Ago">\n}; $html .= qq{ <SELECT NAME="hourlyoffset">\n}; for (1..$MAXHOURLYOFFSET) { my $selected = $_ == ($q->param('hourlyoffset') || $DEFAULTHOURLYOFFSET) ? ' SELECTED' : ''; $html .= qq{ <OPTION VALUE="$_"$selected>$_</OPTION>\n}; } $html .= qq{ </SELECT>\n}; $html .= qq{</FORM>\n}; $html .= qq{<HR>by <A HREF="$PMURLINDEX?node_id=83485">blakem</A>\n} +; return $html; }

In reply to bivnn.cgi -- an alternate interface to newest nodes by blakem

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post; it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":



  • Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:
    <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>
  • Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
  • Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.
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