some answers

[git.ikiwiki.info.git] / doc / plugins / aggregate.mdwn

diff --git a/doc/plugins/aggregate.mdwn b/doc/plugins/aggregate.mdwn
index aab5f079a79c54f9b67acea5e60f8a9fd3f1e64d..75123d923b1f6fdfecaf380959aab2b1604f5014 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/plugins/aggregate.mdwn
+++ b/doc/plugins/aggregate.mdwn
@@ -1,26 +1,17 @@
-[[template id=plugin name=aggregate author="[[Joey]]"]]
-[[tag type/useful]]
+[[!template id=plugin name=aggregate author="[[Joey]]"]]
+[[!tag type/special-purpose]]

 
 

-This plugin allows content from other feeds to be aggregated into the wiki.
-Aggregate a feed as follows
+This plugin allows content from other feeds to be aggregated into the
+wiki. To specify feeds to aggregate, use the
+[[ikiwiki/directive/aggregate]] [[ikiwiki/directive]].

 
 

-       \[[aggregate name="example blog"
-       feedurl="http://example.com/index.rss"
-       url="http://example.com/" updateinterval="15"]]
+## requirements

 
 

-That example aggregates posts from the specified RSS feed, updating no
-more frequently than once every 15 minutes, and puts a page per post under
-the example/ directory in the wiki.
+The [[meta]] and [[tag]] plugins are also recommended to be used with this
+one. Either the [[htmltidy]] or [[htmlbalance]] plugin is suggested, since
+feeds can easily contain html problems, some of which these plugins can fix.

 
 

-You can then use ikiwiki's [[ikiwiki/blog]] support to create a blog of one or
-more aggregated feeds.
-
-## setup
-
-Make sure that you have the [[html]] plugin enabled, as the created pages are
-in html format. The [[meta]] and [[tag]] plugins are also recommended. The
-[[htmltidy]] plugin is suggested, since feeds can easily contain html
-problems, some of which tidy can fix.
+## triggering aggregation

 
 You will need to run ikiwiki periodically from a cron job, passing it the
 --aggregate parameter, to make it check for new posts. Here's an example
 
 You will need to run ikiwiki periodically from a cron job, passing it the
 --aggregate parameter, to make it check for new posts. Here's an example


@@ -28,38 +19,39 @@ crontab entry:
 
        */15 * * * * ikiwiki --setup my.wiki --aggregate --refresh
 
 
        */15 * * * * ikiwiki --setup my.wiki --aggregate --refresh
 

+The plugin updates a file `.ikiwiki/aggregatetime` with the unix time stamp
+when the next aggregation run could occur. (The file may be empty, if no
+aggregation is required.) This can be integrated into more complex cron
+jobs or systems to trigger aggregation only when needed.
+

 Alternatively, you can allow `ikiwiki.cgi` to trigger the aggregation. You
 should only need this if for some reason you cannot use cron, and instead
 want to use a service such as [WebCron](http://webcron.org). To enable
 Alternatively, you can allow `ikiwiki.cgi` to trigger the aggregation. You
 should only need this if for some reason you cannot use cron, and instead
 want to use a service such as [WebCron](http://webcron.org). To enable

-this, enable on `aggregate_webtrigger` in your setup file. The url to
+this, turn on `aggregate_webtrigger` in your setup file. The url to

 visit is `http://whatever/ikiwiki.cgi?do=aggregate_webtrigger`. Anyone
 can visit the url to trigger an aggregation run, but it will only check
 each feed if its `updateinterval` has passed.
 
 visit is `http://whatever/ikiwiki.cgi?do=aggregate_webtrigger`. Anyone
 can visit the url to trigger an aggregation run, but it will only check
 each feed if its `updateinterval` has passed.
 

-## usage
+## aggregated pages
+
+This plugin creates a page for each aggregated item. 
+
+If the `aggregateinternal` option is enabled in the setup file (which is
+the default), aggregated pages are stored in the source directory with a
+"._aggregated" extension. These pages cannot be edited by web users, and
+do not generate first-class wiki pages. They can still be inlined into a
+blog, but you have to use `internal` in [[PageSpecs|IkiWiki/PageSpec]],
+like `internal(blog/*)`.

 
 

-Here are descriptions of all the supported parameters to the `aggregate`
-directive:
+If `aggregateinternal` is disabled, you will need to enable the [[html]]
+plugin as well as aggregate itself, since feed entries will be stored as
+HTML, and as first-class wiki pages -- each one generates
+a separate HTML page in the output, and they can even be edited. This
+option is provided only for backwards compatability.

 
 

-* `name` - A name for the feed. Each feed must have a unique name.
-  Required.
-* `url` - The url to the web page for the feed that's being aggregated.
-  Required.
-* `dir` - The directory in the wiki where pages should be saved. Optional,
-  if not specified, the directory is based on the name of the feed.
-* `feedurl` - The url to the feed. Optional, if it's not specified ikiwiki
-  will look for feeds on the `url`. RSS and atom feeds are supported.
-* `updateinterval` - How often to check for new posts, in minutes. Default
-  is 15 minutes.
-* `expireage` - Expire old items from this feed if they are older than
-  a specified number of days. Default is to never expire on age.
-* `expirecount` - Expire old items from this feed if there are more than
-  the specified number total. Oldest items will be expired first. Default
-  is to never expire on count.
-* `tag` - A tag to tag each post from the feed with. A good tag to use is
-  the name of the feed. Can be repeated multiple times. The [[tag]] plugin
-  must be enabled for this to work.
+## cookies

 
 

-Note that even if you are using subversion or another revision control
-system, pages created by aggregation will *not* be checked into revision
-control.
+The `cookiejar` option can be used to configure how [[!cpan LWP::UserAgent]]
+handles cookies. The default is to read them from a file
+`~/.ikiwiki/cookies`, which can be populated using standard perl cookie
+tools like [[!cpan HTTP::Cookies]].