RSS Daily Comic Strip Docklet for ObjectDock

[Smaky]

Please...

Also the label over the icon is offset to the right by 1 or 2 pixels. I can get you a screenshot if you need.

[Ghostwalker]

Here notice it is to the right a little. It might not be as noticeable on a higher resolution screen.

[Smaky]

This is weird... it's either the DLL or the background image that are not updated... since I modified & adjusted both to show correctly the default icon... right now I am updating the RSS Feed procesing engine... so give me a couple of days so you test again with the updated one (many more feeds would work then).

[matonga]

Downloaded last version and choosed balloon skin.

But by some reason balloon borders mismatch. I'll post a screenshot if you request me to do so.

Other than that, the docklet is great and I'm using it on an every-two-day basis (PhD comic strips are released Monday, Wednesday and Friday).

[Smaky]

Balloon skin is an Absolute dimensions skin... the "Absolute dimension" option must be checked for it to show properly. (Under Icons & Images tab) If this does not solve the problem please post a screenshot.

Downloaded last version and choosed balloon skin.

But by some reason balloon borders mismatch. I'll post a screenshot if you request me to do so.

Other than that, the docklet is great and I'm using it on an every-two-day basis (PhD comic strips are released Monday, Wednesday and Friday).

[Smaky]

Please take a look at version (0.1.0.1e) I have added a new profile type for the GoComics stips. These strips are not based on an RSS Feed, instead the images follow a reproductible pattern that is easy to understand... choose whatever comic you like from the ones in GoComics.com and create a GoComics profile...

For example to have a Gardield in Spanish profile configure it as:

Profile Title: Garfield (Spanish)

Image URL Pattern: http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/gh/$[yyyy]/gh$[yy]$[mm]$[dd].gif

Link URL Pattern: http://www.gocomics.com/espanol/garfieldespanol/$[yyyy]/$[mm]/$[dd]/

File Name Pattern: gh$[yy]$[mm]$[dd].gif (I know I could have retrieved it from the Image URL pattern... but I was too lazy).

Days to retrieve: 15 (number of back-days that will be shown in the context menu - it seems that GoComics go back a year... but I have defaulted to 15).

Follow the same procedure for any other GoComics based strip...it should work.

I have also added an option to backup & restore the docklet's configuration profile (I am not sure if I will include all config parameters or only the profile settings)... I'll wait for your feedback.

[Ghostwalker]

You have made mine and my daughters day thank you. And as far as the label I tried different resolutions and it seems fine except 1024x765 but I just move up one resolution and all is ok.

[[ Edit: ]]

Ok got all the comics set up and saved them. Later the dock crashed not due to the comic docklet. But when I restarted the dock all the comics were gone and the old one were there. I went into preferences to restore them...no good. I looked in the docklet and did not see a file with the saved profiles? where and how are you saving them.

[[ Update: ]]

Another problem with the back up, here is a partial list to give you an idea of what is happening.

My Profile...

Strange Brew by John Deering

Wizard of Id by Parker and Hart

Garfield by Jim Davis

I then click back up and close the dock after restart of the dock the profile looks like this...

Strange Brew by Joh

Wizard of Id by Par

Garfield by Jim Dav

If you are limiting the length of the text to fit the docklet width maybe you should have word wrap or something.

[Smaky]

Ok got all the comics set up and saved them. Later the dock crashed not due to the comic docklet. But when I restarted the dock all the comics were gone and the old one were there. I went into preferences to restore them...no good. I looked in the docklet and did not see a file with the saved profiles? where and how are you saving them.

Well... actually I am not saving them... it's just a BackUp/Restore function... so, you configure your docklet with all the desired profiles and the do a "BackUp"... later if you loose your configuration recreate the docklet and do a "Restore" then select the backup you made previously.

Another problem with the back up, here is a partial list to give you an idea of what is happening.

My Profile...

Strange Brew by John Deering

Wizard of Id by Parker and Hart

Garfield by Jim Davis

I then click back up and close the dock after restart of the dock the profile looks like this...

Strange Brew by Joh

Wizard of Id by Par

Garfield by Jim Dav

If you are limiting the length of the text to fit the docklet width maybe you should have word wrap or something.

Indeed... there was a small bug there... fixed. Please download latest release (v0.1.0.1f).

[Ghostwalker]

I keep getting a corrupt zip file.

[[ Update: ]]

Got it...

[trinireddman]

When I unzip from context menu it gets corrupt and when I open it up in an unzip program (like izarc or peazip) it asks for a password.

[Smaky]

I have reuploaded it... it is not password protected.

When I unzip from context menu it gets corrupt and when I open it up in an unzip program (like izarc or peazip) it asks for a password.

[Ghostwalker]

How do I get this one...

http://www.evil-comic.com/evilincrss.xml

[Smaky]

Just create an RSS based profile, it worked for me using default parameters.

How do I get this one...

http://www.evil-comic.com/evilincrss.xml

[Ghostwalker]

Sorry, yes that works I thought I had tried it with the default first but I guess not.

[Smaky]

Small update... fixed a bug that prevented the comic title from some feeds to show properly

[Ghostwalker]

Shouldn't this one work with default settings?

http://www.arcamax.com/blondie/channelfeed

[Smaky]

Unfortunately that feed does not include any description content... thus no image, then all items will be discarded. Look at a sample item from the feed:

 
<item>
  <title>Blondie for 1/9/2009</title>
  <description></description>
  <link>http://www.arcamax.com/blondie/s-472581-475522?source=1930</link>
 </item>

These are the kind of feeds that I have not been able to make it work.... the feed itself does not include an image... in this case it includes nothing but a link to their web site... that would mean to retrieve the web page (from the link) and scrap the HTML looking for the image... problem is that the web site HTML page includes many images and it would be very error prone and specific to retrieve the image.

I have taken a look at that web site and they have created a pretty obscure way to pusblish their images... for example, the strip for today's link is

http://www.arcamax.com/blondie/s-472933-340985?source=1930

where the image in the HTML page is:

/cgi-bin/news/pic/73487/340985

which, in turn, retrieves the following image:

http://www.arcamax.com/pic/73487.gif

As you can see there is no apparent pattern that would let me retrieve the image from the link... right now I do not have much time to analyze this, but if you would like to try and find some kind of algorithm I would gladly add another profile type to the docklet so strips from this site would work.

Shouldn't this one work with default settings?

http://www.arcamax.com/blondie/channelfeed

[silkshadow]

Unless I am doing something wrong, the GoComics config seems to be broken. It keeps returning a dilbert image saying strip not found, however it does list all the dates correctly.

Thanks for this great docklet!

Edit: Seems like the image system at gocomics may have changed?

		<a href="#" onclick="new Ajax.Request('/feature_items/share/417427?feature_id=24', {asynchronous:true, evalScripts:true, onComplete:function(request){View.toggle('fi_panel')}}); return false;"><img alt="?fh=9f7cd91c71601c258d884e72f0e1e8ac" id="comic_417427" src="http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=9f7cd91c71601c258d884e72f0e1e8ac" /></a>

Edit2: Some of the others aren't working as the feed has changed (no more image in feed).

However, Starslip is working, to a new url: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Starslip?format=xml

Edited March 22, 2009 by silkshadow

[Smaky]

@sikshadow

I have tested all my gocomics configured profiles and they all seem to work ok, just remeber for Gocomics profiles the items are not retrieved form a feed, they are infered. I have found that some of the comics are not updated daily, so some items would not display nothing at all (still have found no way to fix this, albeit I have not given it a great thought).

But for expample for BC comic at gocomics I am using the following profile configuration:

Image URL Pattern: http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/crbc/$[yyyy]/crbc$[yy]$[mm]$[dd].gif

Link URL Pattern: http://www.gocomics.com/bc/$[yyyy]/$[mm]/$[dd]/

File name Pattern: crbc$[yy]$[mm]$[dd].gif

and for Garfield (spanish):

Image URL Pattern: http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/gh/$[yyyy]/gh$[yy]$[mm]$[dd].gif

Link URL Pattern: http://www.gocomics.com/espanol/garfieldespanol/$[yyyy]/$[mm]/$[dd]/

File name Pattern: gh$[yy]$[mm]$[dd].gif

they both work just fine. BTW, for what particular strip you are having problems?

On the other hand, the dilbert "Not found" image is the default "Not found" image I created, it will be shown whatever profile you may configure. You may update it with whatever notfound.png file that suits your taste.

Edit:

Indeed it seems that the default comic system has changed but the old one stills works.

For example, for Calvin & Hobbes I had no previous profile set up, so I added it with the defaults configuring it to us "ch" as <comic strip>, it worked fine.

I think it will requiere a little imagination, guesswork & trial and error, but it seems that the strips are still available with the previous gocomics format.

Edited March 23, 2009 by Smaky

[silkshadow]

Thanks Smaky! It seems the problem I am having is the <comic name>. How do I find the comic name? You have "crbc" in your pattern for BC. For exmaple, what would be the <comic name> for boondocks?

Thanks again for this great docklet! This is the best comics gadget across all systems (Konfabulator, Dx, Vista, Google, etc).

Edit: Never mind, I found it! Its in the page source next to "featureCode" .

I also want to thank you for posting the docklet here. I got it over at wincustomize, but ran into the gocomics problem and that lead me to this forum, which is turning out to be a great place for customizations!

BTW, the link for the zip posted at the top of the page gives me a corrupted zip file. I downloaded some other zips from http://www.feterspace.com.mx/downloads/ and they work fine. Maybe it needs to be reuploaded? Its not a problem, I just ran a zip repair and extracted the updated dll.

Edited March 23, 2009 by silkshadow

[Smaky]

Thanks for the "featureCode" tip... I spent nearly three hours yesterday trying to find a way to get this info... that's why a community is always better that the smartest developer!

I will re-upload the zip tonight.

[Smaky]

Another small update.

[Guest simonsaysno]

thanks for the update

[Monsoon]

Hi, I installed this docklet in Objectdock, but i'm having problems.

When I right click> Update, I get "Invalid Exception (105596712)"

I went through the settings, and other than excellent levels of adjustment to font, etc., there doesn't seem to be anything I can do.

Any suggestions?

edit* I should probably mention, this is a Windows 7 64-bit install on an Intel i5 build.

.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Monsoon