Status Press Widget

  Status Press Widget 1.14 (6.2 KiB, 297 hits)
You need to be a registered user to download this file.


Well, I guess I have gotten into a programming mood recently. While I was browsing some extra plugins to use, I found Adam Walker Cleaveland’s PomoMusings website that hosts a plugin called Status Press. His plugin allows the user to add some code to the sidebar in order to display a Facebook Status feed. It works, but it is not as easy to incorporate as a widget…so I created one and incorporated some extra features.

spw-screenshot.jpg

Here is a screenshot of the backend:

You can see the working product on this site’s sidebar.

In order to connect your Facebook Status with this widget, follow these steps:

  1. Be sure you are logged into your Facebook account.
  2. Click here to access your Status Stories.
    (If that does not work, see below)
  3. Right click on “My Status” and Choose “Copy Link Location.”
  4. Go to your Widget Dashboard in Wordpress
  5. Paste the Link you just copied into the URL textbox of the Status Feed Widget
  6. Hit the Change button in the Widget
  7. Hit the Save Changes button below all the Widgets

If you are unable to access the correct page on Facebook above, follow these steps to retrieve the URL to paste into the Widget:

  1. Log onto your Facebook, and go to your Profile.
  2. Click on the Mini-Feed bar so you can see all of your recent activity (if hidden).
  3. Click “See All” link on the top right of the Mini-Feed box.
  4. Under “View” on the right, you’ll see a long list of “Stories” – click on “Status Stories.”
  5. Underneath the list, you will now see “Subscribe to these Stories – My Status.”
  6. Right click on “My Status” and Choose “Copy Link Location.”
  7. Finish following the steps 4-7 above.

UPDATE: Since transitioning to the new Facebook layout, there is no longer a way to access the “Your Mini Feed” page through your usual home or profile pages. The only way I have found is to click the link provided above.

If you need a visual, here is a screencast I made showing you how to install and configure this widget.

As a side note, if you have used the previous plugin before, you might know that there was a slight mathematical error in the original plugin. This miscalculation has been corrected in the Widget.

If you have found this widget useful, please consider donating to the poor post-college graduate that I am by clicking on the big yellow Donate button.

=== Status Press Widget ===
Author: Brian D. Goad (bbbco)
Plugin URI: http://www.briandgoad.com/blog/status-press-widget
Tags: widget, facebook, status, rss, feed
Requires at least: 2.2
Tested up to: 2.7.1
Stable tag:1.12

=== Description ===
Adds a Status Widget to display your Facebook, Twitter, or Last.FM status in your sidebar, and allows you to have multiple widgets at once. Originally, based on Status Press plugin (not required!) by Adam Walker CleavelandC. Scott Andreas to display only your Facebook status in your sidebar, this widget is growing outside the original intent to only work with Facebook.

=== Installation ===
Extract the contents of the zip file and copy the `status-press-widget.php` file to your plugins directory. Then activate the Status Press Widget from within WordPress.

In order to connect your Status with this widget, follow these steps:

1. Select which service you will be using
2. Follow the instructions

Your status feed should then be available, so get busy making your sidebar look even more personal with your new Status Updater!

As a side note, if you have used the previous plugin before, you might know that there was a slight mathematical error in the original plugin. This miscalculation has been corrected in the Widget.

=== Frequently Asked Questions ===
Can I Modify How the Status Text Looks?
|-> Yes, you can input a custom defined class, id, or style for both the Status and the Time Since in the Admin panel. Check out my tutorial on Stylizing Modifications for more information.

Can I List More Than One (1) Status Update?
|-> Yes, you can choose how many updates to display, and even if you want to display them all in the Admin panel.

Can I display more than one Status widget?
|-> Yes, in fact you can display multiple Status widgets from multiple social networking platforms.

What social statii can I display?
|-> Currently available are Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm

[Ask a question] mailto: bdgoad (at) gmail (dot) com

=== Future Plans ===
* Add support for more statii. Any suggestions?

=== Version History ===
= Version 1.12 =
* Corrected bad coding placement (Works this time)

== Version 1.11 ==
* Support for PHP4
* Adjusted cache setting to five minutes

== Version 1.1 ==
* Major overhaul of widget
* Allows multiple instances of widget
* Allows feeds to be pulled from Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM, and Pownce

== Version 1.0 ==
* Initial work on the widget

=== Special Thanks ===
Thanks to Adam Walker CleavelandC. Scott Andreas for their original work on the Status Feed plugin.

== Download Now! ==

  Status Press Widget 1.14 (6.2 KiB, 297 hits)
You need to be a registered user to download this file.


54 Responses to “Status Press Widget”

  1. manilenya

    I am having a hard time using this :( I can’t get my Status RSS :(

  2. bbbco

    Are you not able to find your RSS feed? What exactly is the problem? I do know that Facebook recently went to a new look, so it might be a different way to get the RSS feed.

  3. Leonaut.com

    Status Press Widget…

    Adds a Facebook Status Widget to display your Facebook status in your sidebar. Based on Status Press plugin (not required!) by Adam Walker Cleaveland & C. Scott Andreas….

  4. Johnny

    do you know how to find the url to copy now that the facebook layout is different?

  5. bbbco

    I have updated the page to indicate that since transitioning to the new Facebook layout, there is no longer a way to access the “Your Mini Feed” page through your usual home or profile pages. The only way I have found is to click the link provided above.

    If you find a way in the future, please let me know!

  6. Status updates : barnish.com |

    [...] this man deserves a medal (almost – took a lot of further investigation) to show how to find FB status [...]

  7. jlacivita

    Hi,

    Not sure what the problem was but it wasn’t working for me. I tracked it down to the calling of the htmlspecialchars_decode function in php, which was failing on my server in your plugin. I just put a manual str_replace to change any " to actual quotes. Not as robust as your code, but works for me. Any idea what the problem was?

    $status_mods = htmlspecialchars($options['status_mods'], ENT_QUOTES);
    $status_mods = str_replace(”"”, “\”", $status_mods);

  8. Grant English

    Never mind, Brian. I figured it out finally.

    Great plugin. Will be getting some link love. No need to post my stupidity on the web! ha haha

  9. New Plug-in For Facebook users of Wordpress

    [...] the plugin page: Status-Press Widget – this is the widget [...]

  10. sk

    This is awesome, works like a charm! Thanks..

  11. Tammie @ Are You For Real?

    Brian,

    Is there a way to replace the ’show_date’ portion of this code with your great time difference calculation? I don’t know much of anything about programing. I just copied this code and it works, but I would love to show the status somewhere other than the sidebar, and I’d love to have it print the time difference rather than the date.

    require_once(ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/rss.php’); wp_widget_rss_output(’MY STATUS FEED RSS’, array(’items’ => 1, ’show_author’ => 1, ’show_date’ => 1));

  12. Frans

    Hi — great widget. I used to have it on my site, but the recent update to WP 2.7 seems to have broken something. Have anyone got it working in 2.7 or is it just my particular system that is creating problems?

  13. Kelley

    Yeah, I can’t get this working either… Completely breaks and gives this error: “Call to undefined function: htmlspecialchars_decode()…”

    I’m also using WP 2.7.

  14. Sproke

    I’m so sad! One of my favourite plugins has brokeded in WP2.7,. am getting the same error as Kelley. Any plans for a this bug being fixed?
    Thanks so much

  15. bbbco

    Hey guys, I am glad that you all like and are using this plugin! However, I do not know what the issues that you are having are, as the plugin seems to work fine on my site(s).

    Please send as much info (including screenshots) to bdgoad (at) briandgoad (dot) com and I will do what I can to fix the issues in a timely manner.

    Thanks for your input!

    Brian

  16. Facebook Status Widget for Wordpress | Grimmdude

    [...] but had some room for improvement, mainly ease of usage.  Then after more searching I found that Brian D. Goad took the plugin and widgetized it, dude so much easier (still mad props to Adam for his [...]

  17. Garrett

    Ah nice! Exactly what I was looking for hence pingback above! Thanks

  18. Garrett

    I’m using 2.7 btw and works like a charm.

  19. Soph

    Thanks! It surely is a great widget :)

  20. Soph

    But oh, is there a way to make the widget get updates more often? Sometimes it takes hours before it updates my status on my blog? :(

  21. RichVillain

    yes it is not working. Feed is not displayed

  22. bbbco

    I’m sorry RichVillain that it is not working for you, but I need more info to help you in your situation. What errors are you getting?

  23. Laander » StatusPress - Facebook status on WordPress

    [...] after I finished the development and started writing this post, I found that Brian D. Goad (briandgoad.com) actually widgetized the plugin just as I. I have chosen to release it [...]

  24. Keon

    Hey Brian,

    I’m currently using this widget on my site and I must comment that it’s a fantastic one. However, after recently upgrading to version 1.11, activating the plugin seems to trigger a fatal error in Wordpress 2.7.1.

    The error message is as follows:
    “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_IF, expecting T_FUNCTION in /home/yongc/public_html/wp-content/plugins/status-press-widget/status-press-widget.php on line 74″

    After some investigation, I pinpointed the error down to the PHP4 support coding. And as I expected, once I removed this function, I managed to get the plugin running again. So, you might want to look into it.

    Anyway, for users looking for a quick fix, try removing lines 73 to 80 to see if it serves as a temporary solution until Brian comes up with something.

  25. bbbco

    Sorry friends! The PHP4 functionality function was placed incorrectly and blew up the widget class. I have corrected it, and the new version (1.12) should work with both PHP4 and PHP5. Thanks for your support!

  26. Status Press 1.12 | Life of Brian

    [...] can download the latest version on the Status Press Widget [...]

  27. Pantsy

    Can you just give a brief tutorial on how to syntax the style modification? I would really like it if the update showed up in the same font as everything else in my sidebar. One thing that would make that happen would be if you included at checkbox that allowed the status to function as a link. Then it’s CSS would be a link like everything else.

  28. Plugin Updates | Life of Brian

    [...] Status Press Widget (1.11 1.12) [...]

  29. Matt

    you donate button doesnt work. I want to donate because this is what i need. thanks

  30. Matt

    not working right, i get this error…

    Warning: htmlspecialchars_decode() expects parameter 1 to be string, NULL given in /home/content/b/c/a/bca360/html/mattginsberg.net/blog/wp-includes/compat.php on line 105

    Warning: htmlspecialchars_decode() expects parameter 1 to be string, NULL given in /home/content/b/c/a/bca360/html/mattginsberg.net/blog/wp-includes/compat.php on line 105

  31. bbbco

    Please see my most recent post about this error.

  32. Billy Rhythm

    Seems to be working so far! Now I’m just waiting for the RSS feed to update. You’re exactly right: this was much easier to use than Status Press. Good show!

  33. Paul

    Insert at line 227:

    /* if twitter, link to twitter */
    if (preg_match(”/twitter\.com\/statuses\/user_timeline\/.*\.rss/”, $url, $matches)) {

    $pattern[0] = “/.*twitter\.com\/statuses\/user_timeline/”;
    $pattern[1] = “/\.rss/”;

    $replacement[0] = ‘‘ . $title . ‘‘;

    $title = preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $url);

    } elseif (preg_match(”/facebook\.com\/feeds\/status\.php\?id\=/”, $url, $matches)) {
    /* if facebook, link to facebook */

    $pattern[0] = “/.*facebook\.com\/feeds\/status\.php\?id\=/”;
    $pattern[1] = “/&viewer=.*/”;

    $replacement[0] = ‘‘ . $title . ‘‘;

    $title = preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $url);

    }

  34. Winnie

    Great work! I love this widget! Although when I first set it up to pull data from twitter, it kept throwing the “Something bad happened” error. After I typed in a title for the widget, it magically works again.
    Thanks!

  35. Bocki

    hi brian
    this is exactly what i need.. unfortunately, the link to the “my status” feed does not work. it seems like fb changed something again. when your widget opens the new window, i get redirected to “http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=*MYID*&v=feed” .. and there is no url feed there.

  36. bbbco

    Bocki,

    Unfortunately, FB has indeed changed things. They no longer make the rss url available and very easy to find. You have to do a little work to get it now. This is the way that I told another user to get the url:

    [In Facebook,] if you just copy your Notifications RSS feed (Inbox > Notifications > Your Notifications RSS Feed) , and replace “notifications.php” with “status.php” as the feed URL, you should be good to go.

    Give that a try and see if you can get the URL. I will have to update the widget again as soon as I can see about an easier way, or something.

  37. Bocki

    Hi brian,

    nope, that doesn’t work, I already tried that before. if you try to open the status.php, facebook will give you an error:
    “This feed URL is no longer valid. Visit this page to find the new URL, if you have access, http://www.facebook.com/minifeed.php?status&id=XXXX.” XXXX beeing my id.

    i read that fb released an API.. maybe thats worth a look

  38. bbbco

    You need to ensure that the id and key are all included in the RSS url. It should look something like: http://www.facebook.com/feeds/status.php?id=XXXXXXX&viewer=XXXXXXXXX&key=YYYYYYY&format=rss20 where XXXXXXX = your FB ID, and YYYYYYYY = your the special key. I pulled my RSS Url directly from that Notifications RSS (not the minifeed url). It still works and exists!

    Yes, I know that FB released an API… just haven’t looked into it yet since before it was a simple matter of directing users to pull their status RSS. Might try to get around to it…

  39. Bocki

    hey brian,

    i already tried that in the first place. here is a screenshot where you can see what happens at my side.

    http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/9827/facebooke.jpg

    i just changed the “notifications” to “status” in the url.

  40. Joe Pea

    So the status is based on the facebook status of the ADMIN right? Whattabout having different sidebar widgets for different users on the blog? This would be cool to display each user’s status. This would be great for a “team” section or “crew” section where different sidebars can be used on each profile page with that person’s status.

    Maybe you can make a plugin where specified user who a registered with the blog can update their status directly to wordpress and this status can be modified directly on a page.

    If you want an idea of what I’m talking about, go to http://www.myberrics.com and register a test account or something there and you will see your updateable status on your profile. This would be sweeeeeeet!

  41. Chad

    I upgraded to WordPress 2.8 and upgraded to 1.14 of the widget. The widget disappeared from the sidebar widget list. I can’t seem to add it back. Each time I do, it disappears on refresh.

    If I were you, I would ask whether I hit save. The answer is obviously yes. I can also add other widgets which are added normally.

    Is anyone else reporting problems with 2.8?

    Great plugin by the way!

  42. susan

    Brian,
    I was able to follow all the directions and I switched out the words status and notifications. But, when my widget shows up on my blog page, I get errors. Can you help?

  43. matthew moore

    does this still work with new styling of wordpress ..i am having same error as bocki. I can not find the url to put in

  44. Matthew Name

    Hey it doesn’t work for me and I’ve copied the link and everything twice. I used the link on this page to find my

    http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1138604340&v=feed

    And nothing gets imported into my page. :(

    It might just be me, anyone else getting this?

  45. Bocki

    for the question About whSther or Not this is just for the Admin : i Share my Blog with 2 Friends,everyone of us has an Admin ACC,but the Plugin only Shows my Posts.

  46. STATUSPRESS: Impostare lo stato di Facebook sul proprio blog wordpress | ilGazzettino.net

    [...] questo plugin è stato creato anche uno widget; “Status Press Widget” (fatto da Brian D. Goad) scaricabile a quest’altra pagina, per inserire il vostro [...]

  47. matt

    is there a way to take off my first name? so instead of matt is going blah blah blah..it says is doing blah blah blah?

  48. briped

    Removing the nick/first name as well as converting URLs to links is simple enough, just add this line:
    $status = make_clickable(trim(substr($status, stripos($status, ‘:’)+1)));

    Right above this line:
    $disp .= “\t” . $status;

    Can’t get Facebook part to work since FB once again changed their site.

  49. briped

    $disp .= “\t

    ” . $status;

  50. Mike F.

    This plug in does not work with the new FB. How do I get it to work????

  51. Mike F.

    The new FB page update hosed this plugin since we can’t update status from FB to the plugin. How can I get my status from GB to be displayed on my blog using this plugin since as of 2/18/10 it does not work…… help!!

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