Tuesday work

[scripting]

I just posted a note on Scripting News asking for testers.

The product, feedbase.io, is almost complete. My todo list is basically empty. I could always do more work, but I want to get people using it, and seeing how it works for other people.

So if you're tuned in here, please --

1. Try submitting one or more OPML files. See if you can figure out how to do it.

2. Look at your own feeds, the hotlist. Your OPML file (the one we keep for you).

3. Look at a few feeds. Try the Subscribe button. Click on a few subscribers, look at what they're following.

4. Read the docs. There's a lot of new stuff linked into the home page of this site. There's also a this.how doc linked into the Main menu in the app.

5. If you're a JS dev, review the source.

It's almost showtime. Your help is needed.

Dave

[andrewshell]

Feedback:

• When I upload there is no notification that my upload was successful. I just had to review my list and see if the data was listed. I would expect a message of some sort like "Success! 75 Subscriptions Imported"

• I've tried uploading multiple lists and some of my feeds aren't showing up under "View mySubs...". Not sure if the import failed, or if there is something wrong with the feeds. (specifically this one php.opml

• Despite having a list of feeds under "View my Subs..." the option "View my OPML..." is disabled.

[scripting]

Andrew -- that's good feedback. Thank you.

1. Re the last item, if you reload the page, does View my OPML become enabled?

2. When an item in your list doesn't show up in your subscriptions that's because the server failed when it tried to read the list. It probably should report it to you, but otoh people's lists often are so old, they're full of bad feeds. I know that's been my own experience.

I will think more about what to do here. I needed user feedback, so thanks for that. ;-)

[scripting]

Andrew --

Could you try repeating the upload, and look in the JavaScript console to see if there are any errors reported? Your static OPML file is not there on the server, so I suspect something went wrong on the server when you did your upload. Hopefully there will be an error message in the console that gives us a clue as to what's wrong.

Dave

[andrewshell]

1. I just went back to the site and I'm still not seeing "View my OPML" enabled. I tried reloading again and it's still not enabled.

2. I just tried uploading it again and I'm not seeing any errors. All I see in the console after uploading is:

this.files [0].name == php.opml

[jan-vandenberg]

I can:

• I can login with Twitter
• I can subscribe to feeds by clicking on them and then selecting the subscribe button.

I can't:

• I can't upload an OPML file with the upload button (that faintly blinks)
• I can't subscribe to feeds from the mainpage/hotlist: all RSS button links are pointing to http://xmlviewer.scripting.com/?url=undefined

[benzado]

Hi Dave, I just tried out the app, and these are the notes I wrote as I went:

• Explored the menus
  • noticed that "Main > About this app..." and "Twitter > About feedBase..." do not display the same thing!
  • "Important: Everything you upload to this site is public." appears in the about box, should probably appear before I upload anything!
• Signed in via Twitter
• Downloaded OPML file from NewsBlur
• Uploaded the OPML file... looks like the upload button is pulsing... I guess that means it is working... seems like it is taking a while...
• Selected "Main > View my subs..." thinking I might see my feeds there; see none.
• "Main > View my OPML" is disabled.
• Selected "Main > Hotlist..." and I see the same list as before.
  • Scrolled around looking to see if any of my feeds are here, don't see any
  • Noticed that inessential.com is number 81 and number 1!
• Upload button is still pulsing... maybe it always was?
• Opened JavaScript console (I'm using Chrome); don't see any errors
• Reloaded page, no change.
• On a whim, renamed my OPML file to have an ".opml" extension (before it had no extension)
• Uploaded that file, nothing happens
• Renamed file again with an ".xml" extension
• Uploaded, keeping JS console open this time
  • I see this.files [0].name == NewsBlur-benzado-2018-03-13.xml (code.js:341) in the console, and that's all
  • a moment later I see everyMinute: 2:05:00 PM, v0.5.11 (code.js:781)
• Tried "Main > Delete all subs..."
  • It asks for confirmation
  • Nothing happens, which is not surprising, since there was nothing under View my subs...

[scripting]

Note: I got to the bottom of the problem Andrew was having.

To upload your OPML, drag the file onto the upload icon. Clicking on it doesn't work. I'm going to find out why, right now.

[scripting]

OK, I believe I've fixed the bug in uploading.

Note there are two ways to upload:

1. Click on the upload icon.

2. Drag a file onto the upload icon.

The only way I did it was #2. You all are doing #1. It was broken. Fixed. (Knock wood.)

[mistersugar]

Success for me. I signed in with Twitter, dropped my OPML file onto the icon, and checked my subs list. All good.

On the docs, the What Is section says "...allows you to walk a network of feeds and followers" but I'm not sure what 'walk a network' means. Is that the right expression and something I should learn about?

[scripting]

Anton, awkward wording. Just click around. What's what "walk a network" means. It's programmer talk. ;-)

[mistersugar]

On the hotlist, I see inessential.com at 1 and 81, different feeds for the same site. I'm sure you've thought how to handle this, or not.

[scripting]

Anton, I don't know how to deal with that yet. First we have to gain some traction so there are enough users. And because we know Brent, we can ask him which is the "canonical" URL. So in this case we may well be able to solve it. But not yet. ;-)

Update: In this case it's a bug. The URL underneath #81 is this --

http://xmlviewer.scripting.com/?url=undefined

So you can be sure #81 will go away once the bug is fixed. ;-)

Dave

[brentsimmons]

The one at #81 (with feedpress.me in the URL) is the bad one. Probably doesn’t even work.

The canonical url is http://inessential.com/xml/rss.xml

(The /xml/rss.xml path has been carried through since Manila days, I think. The site was originally a Manila site. :)

-Brent

On Mar 13, 2018, at 11:33 AM, Dave Winer [email protected] wrote:

Anton, I don't know how to deal with that yet. First we have to gain some traction so there are enough users. And because we know Brent, we can ask him which is the "canonical" URL. So in this case we may well be able to solve it. But not yet. ;-)

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[benzado]

I'm still having problems. I just tried dragging and dropping (I never guess to do that, because if a page doesn't support it, the browser just leaves whatever page you were looking at and opens whatever you dragged to the window) and it isn't working... I'm going to be more methodical now and hopefully that will help:

• New browser window
• Navigate to feedbase.io
• Open JS console
• Dragged XML file to upload button, drop, nothing happens

code.js:367 dropZoneSetup: dragenter event
code.js:373 dropZoneSetup: dragleave event
code.js:367 dropZoneSetup: dragenter event
code.js:386 dropZoneSetup: drop event

• Select "Main > View my subs..." from the menu
  • Nothing there
• Click upload button, select XML file
  • Confirmation window appears ("Upload the OPML file?"), I click Cancel
• Click upload button, select XML file (again)
  • Confirmation window appears ("Upload the OPML file?"), I click OK
  • Seems to work (JS console prints new lines, no error) but no feedback
  • I'm looking at the "benzado's subs" list (because that's where I was when I uploaded) and it hasn't changed
• On the menu, "View my OPML" is now enabled
• Reload window
• My subs appear!
  • Wait, only 8 of them appear. The file contained way more than that.
  • The orange feed icons all link to http://xmlviewer.scripting.com/?url=undefined

So, quasi-success? Seems like the file I uploaded couldn't be totally parsed, but since there is no upload feedback I have no idea why.

[scripting]

Ben, you should probably include the file so I can try to reproduce it here. Suggest uploading it as a gist.

[benzado]

Here's my file. Had to zip it up for GitHub to accept the upload.

NewsBlur-benzado-2018-03-13.xml.zip

[scotthansonde]

I was able to submit my OPML file from feedly, and the console messages indicate that it worked, but only 2 of my 192 feeds appear. I'm sure it's feedly's fault... they allow you to categorize your feeds and add that information to the OPML as nested outlines. The 2 feeds that appear are the only feeds that I have not categorized.

I put my feedly OPML file at https://gist.github.com/papascott/b63666b6155da26fae6793de866e8e4b and I'll look at the code myself and try to see what's going on.

[scripting]

I can't open it here either.

Did you try pasting the text into a gist?

Also try changing the extension to .opml.

On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 3:23 PM Benjamin Ragheb [email protected] wrote:

Here's my file. Had to zip it up for GitHub to accept the upload.

NewsBlur-benzado-2018-03-13.xml.zip https://github.com/scripting/feedBase/files/1808352/NewsBlur-benzado-2018-03-13.xml.zip

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/scripting/feedBase/issues/15#issuecomment-372788070, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABm9O6y5MtmpRfHw600Xfom3Y1WmIVIqks5teByugaJpZM4So8fJ .

-- Typed on an iPad with fat fingers.

[scripting]

Scott, I'll add code that handles nesting. Stay tuned.

On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 4:48 PM Scott Hanson [email protected] wrote:

I was able to submit my OPML file from feedly, and the console messages indicate that it worked, but only 2 of my 192 feeds appear. I'm sure it's feedly's fault... they allow you to categorize your feeds and add that information to the OPML as nested outlines. The 2 feeds that appear are the only feeds that I have not categorized.

I put my feedly OPML file at https://gist.github.com/papascott/b63666b6155da26fae6793de866e8e4b and I'll look at the code myself and try to see what's going on.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/scripting/feedBase/issues/15#issuecomment-372813286, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABm9O1DpO26bmJykO6gWJhvvU4dt0xU-ks5teDCzgaJpZM4So8fJ .

[benzado]

1. I renamed my file with an .opml extension, and then drag-and-drop worked!
2. NewsBlur also allows organizing feeds into folders, and the feeds that are being imported also happen to be my top-level feeds. So it appears my problem is the same as @papascott's re: nesting.

[scripting]

OK -- @papascott and @benzado -- I added code that goes into outline hierarchies when loading the OPML. Try uploading your OPML files again and see if it works now. ;-)

[brentsimmons]

I uploaded my subscriptions, and it picked up 15 of them — there are bunch missing.

http://feedbase.io/?username=brentsimmons

I don’t know what the common denominator is, or if there is one. Scripting News is missing, possibly because I’m subscribed to the RSS-in-JSON feed: http://scripting.com/rss.json

inessential.com is also missing, possibly because it’s a JSON Feed: http://inessential.com/feed.json

NSHipster is missing, even though it’s an RSS feed: http://nshipster.com/feed.xml

[benzado]

👍 Success!

I reloaded the "View my subs" page a few times and watched the list build up over 30 seconds or so. I didn't count them all but it seems like they are all there.

New problem: some of the "Feed viewer page" pages are empty, like this one. There's an error on the JS console ("Cannot read property 'length' of null").

[ksolomon]

1. Try submitting one or more OPML files. See if you can figure out how to do it.

No problems here. The button is noticeable, but not a fan of the fading effect (that's just me though).

2. Look at your own feeds, the hotlist. Your OPML file (the one we keep for you).

I can view my list, but there are feeds missing (list only shows 59 feeds out of 106 in my OPML). Can't use View OPML link, grayed out, even after logging out, closing the tab, and closing the browser (FF 59.0, MacOS 10.13.3).

3. Look at a few feeds. Try the Subscribe button. Click on a few subscribers, look at what they're following.

No problems here. Subscribe button added me as a subscriber on feedBase, but to be honest, I expected it to kick off my browser's RSS handler (which, granted, was me not understanding the system, so...works as you expected 😊).

4. Read the docs. There's a lot of new stuff linked into the home page of this site. There's also a this.how doc linked into the Main menu in the app.

No issues with the docs. They are concise and well-written (as I expected they would be).

5. If you're a JS dev, review the source.

Can't help you here. I grok a little JS, but not enough to begin speaking to the source.

[delfiramirez]

One day late. It works charm, pretty charm,

Everything ok, under modern browsers. Intuitive, handy, fast.

some failures , that I can detail, ( minor bugs, rendering navs and buttons, under Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) 52.7.0 (64-bit), probably due to the bootstrap lib).

thank you very much

[mistersugar]

I'd like to figure out how to add a single feed that's not already in Feedbase without having to update my external opml file and re-upload, and how to have River5 pull from my Feedbase opml. I suspect both are possible (or will be soon), so I'll start with River5 tonight.

[mistersugar]

From the Hot list, when I click a feed and then get a blank beneath the "Here's all the info ..." line, is that a problem with the feed, my browser, or something else? For example, I see no feed info for this one: http://feedbase.io/?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FJamesFallows

[scripting]

Re the James Fallows feed, try again. I fixed the problem. The feed didn't have a description element, I made feedBase not care.

[scripting]

Anton, there's no way to add a single feed. I'll take that as a feature request.

[mistersugar]

Thanks for fixing that. I checked another feed that had been blank, and it too is now displaying info.