The Power of Feeds in XMod Pro 3
Mar
15
Written by:
3/15/2011 4:15 AM
In this on-going series of articles, I’ve been introducing you to some of the new features and functionality introduced in XMod Pro 3 for DotNetNuke. In this article I want to show you a great new feature that does more than you might think at first blush – Feeds.
Feeds – They’re Not Just for RSS Anymore
So, what are Feeds exactly? First introduced first in version 3.0, feeds are a great way to get data out of your database and re-purpose it. Feeds are most any kind of repeating, raw output like HTML, XML, or plain text. And, because XMod Pro gives you direct access to the database, you can pull out information from your XMod Pro solutions, 3rd party modules, the DotNetNuke tables, even external SQL Server databases. It could probably stand on its own as a separate module but you get it free as a feature in XMod Pro.
What Kinds of Things Can You Create?
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Because you can generate XML, you could create an RSS feed.
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You could also create your own custom XML output. So, you could present your users with a link to convert data in the database to XML, suitable for re-purposing however you need.
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Since a feed can also dynamically produce downloadable files, you can create an Excel export by generating a CSV file – or Comma Separated Values file. The user will be prompted to download and open it with Excel or whatever application they have configured to open CSV files.
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Feeds can also be used to generate specialty pages like Printer-Friendly web pages that break out of the DNN skin.
In other words, feeds are a powerful tool in your XMod Pro toolbox. And, because you create them much like you would a regular XMod Pro template, they’re pretty painless to build.
I’ve created a video that gives you a look at the new Feeds feature in XMod Pro 3. Check it out.
3 comment(s) so far...
Re: The Power of Feeds in XMod Pro 3
Has to be the most exciting new feature in xmod 3 for us! So many times we've needed to show data on screen and then provide it for easy export. This has in the past involved setup and mixing of two or three different 3rd party modules to allow us to export a CSV or create a printer friendly page, have an RSS Feed of a list, etc. Though the solutions have worked, they've not been as graceful or able to be tweaked/controlled as a native XMOD Pro element is!
Seriously, could XMOD get any more powerful?
By ryan moore on
3/21/2011 3:34 PM
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Re: The Power of Feeds in XMod Pro 3
Hi Kelly
this is great. I'm going to be using it soon.
Quick question. Can you mix feed templates with other templates in the same module?
thanks
Gus
By Gus on
8/24/2011 6:51 AM
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Re: The Power of Feeds in XMod Pro 3
Feeds are designed to be displayed outside the DNN Skin. There are a couple of options: 1) Just add another template tag to the template file configured for your module; 2) Use AJAX to call the feed from within your template to pull additional data into the page.
By dnndev on
8/24/2011 7:10 AM
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