Phillip Pearson - web + electronics notes

tech notes and web hackery from a new zealander who was vaguely useful on the web back in 2002 (see: python community server, the blogging ecosystem, the new zealand coffee review, the internet topic exchange).

2006-4-18

Using the Structured Blogging plugins to make a site like coffee.gen.nz

I got an e-mail today asking about the NZ coffee review site, which is often used as a showcase for Structured Blogging technology. Here's the response, because I need to remember to do some of the stuff I talk about. I've been thinking recently that it would be nice if coffee.gen.nz was based around the SB MCD interpreter, as this would let me add new fields just by adding a couple of lines into an XML file. At the moment to add something like the new wireless internet options, I have to:

- add a field into the database

- write code to display the new input fields

- write code to make it output properly

Anyway, here's the important bit of the e-mail.

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Also, how did you set this site up? What were >all the components required - XML Review Server is >what I understand from the Structured Blogging site.

The site is actually all custom PHP - I did it way before Structured Blogging was the big deal it is now. It's often used as a showcase for SB tech though because of its use of feeds and microformats to get the information out. Also because I'm on the SB team, so there is an element of favoritism :-)

If you wanted to make a similar site NOW, though, you could use the microcontent library from the Structured Blogging project. I expect we'll be providing code examples at some point (at least a few months away though) to do that sort of thing. I'd grab the PHP microcontent library from the wpsb-files/microcontent directory of the WP-SB distribution, and write an MCD file (see the .xml files in wpsb-files/microcontent/descriptions) to create the review entry and display screens. I guess I'd start with the review/cafe one (review-cafe.xml) and modify it so the UI looks the way I want it.

Does that answer your question?

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