How to display latest posts externally from xF?

Komori · Jan 15, 2015

I'm trying to add a small side bar addition to my site's index, the problem is the index page is managed by Drupal, and not xenForo. I did find this tread, but it had been archived and I'm not sure if it would still work with the most recent version of xF. Ideally, I'd like it to have a similar output to this:

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Paul B · Jan 15, 2015

This forum is for development support - do you know how to write PHP?
If so, you can use that thread as a reference to write the code.

If not, you should be posting in the custom request forum.

Komori · Jan 15, 2015

I know a fair amount of PHP. I just wanted to make sure that something like that archived thread could still be done and be compatible. Sorry if I put this in the wrong spot, I used a similar topic as reference.

Paul B · Jan 15, 2015

The code in that thread should still generally be OK (I haven't looked at in detail though).

Essentially you just need to query the database based on your desired criteria and format the output in a template.

Komori · Jan 15, 2015

Alright and thanks for the reply. I'll see what I can make happen.

LPH · Jan 18, 2015

PHP:

// set the amount of posts to display
$limit = 5;

$startTime = microtime(true);

// Set to forum location - See XenForo index.php for information
$fileDir = dirname(__FILE__);

require($fileDir . '/library/XenForo/Autoloader.php');
XenForo_Autoloader::getInstance()->setupAutoloader($fileDir . '/library');

XenForo_Application::initialize($fileDir . '/library', $fileDir);
XenForo_Application::set('page_start_time', $startTime);

$forumModel = XenForo_Model::create('XenForo_Model_Forum');

$visitor = XenForo_Visitor::getInstance();
$permissionCombinationId = $visitor['permission_combination_id'];

$threads = $forumModel->getThreads(array('discussion_state' => 'visible', 'permissionCombinationId' => $permissionCombinationId), array('limit' => $limit, 'order' => 'thread_id', 'orderDirection' => 'desc') );

foreach ( $threads AS $thread ) {
   
    $visitor->setNodePermissions( $thread['node_id'],
        $thread['node_permission_cache'] );
    if ( $forumModel->canViewForum( $thread ) ) {
       
        echo(
            "<div class='entry-meta'><a href='"
            . XenForo_Link::buildPublicLink( 'canonical:threads',
                $thread )
            . "'>"
            . XenForo_Helper_String::wholeWordTrim( $thread['title'],
                40 )
            . "</a></div>"
        );
    }
}

Marcus · Jan 21, 2015

The most easy way might be just putting a javascript box on your external page that receives the RSS feed from the forum.

LPH · Jan 21, 2015

@Marcus not sure how this would influence your answer :

http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/26179/why-do-people-disable-javascript

LPH · Jan 23, 2015

Sorry - I cannot edit the code that was posted. It is wrong though. It contains XenForo_Model_Forum when it should be XenForo_Model_Thread. This code is better.

Thank you @AndyB.

PHP:

<?php

// set the amount of posts to display
$limit = 5;

$startTime = microtime( true );

// Set to forum location - See XenForo index.php for information
$fileDir = '/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/community';

require( $fileDir . '/library/XenForo/Autoloader.php' );
XenForo_Autoloader::getInstance()->setupAutoloader( $fileDir . '/library' );

XenForo_Application::initialize( $fileDir . '/library', $fileDir );
XenForo_Application::set( 'page_start_time', $startTime );

$threadModel = XenForo_Model::create( 'XenForo_Model_Thread' );

$threads = $threadModel->getModelFromCache('XenForo_Model_Thread')->getThreads( array(
    'discussion_state'        => 'visible',
), array(
    'limit'          => $limit,
    'order'          => 'thread_id',
    'orderDirection' => 'desc'
) );

foreach ( $threads AS $thread ) {

        echo(
            "<div class='entry-meta'><a href='"
            . XenForo_Link::buildPublicLink( 'canonical:threads',
                $thread )
            . "'>"
            . XenForo_Helper_String::wholeWordTrim( $thread['title'],
                40 )
            . "</a></div>"
        );
}

|Jordan| · Jan 29, 2015

LPH said:

Sorry - I cannot edit the code that was posted. It is wrong though. It contains XenForo_Model_Forum when it should be XenForo_Model_Thread. This code is better.

Thank you @AndyB.

PHP:

<?php

// set the amount of posts to display
$limit = 5;

$startTime = microtime( true );

// Set to forum location - See XenForo index.php for information
$fileDir = '/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/community';

require( $fileDir . '/library/XenForo/Autoloader.php' );
XenForo_Autoloader::getInstance()->setupAutoloader( $fileDir . '/library' );

XenForo_Application::initialize( $fileDir . '/library', $fileDir );
XenForo_Application::set( 'page_start_time', $startTime );

$threadModel = XenForo_Model::create( 'XenForo_Model_Thread' );

$threads = $threadModel->getModelFromCache('XenForo_Model_Thread')->getThreads( array(
    'discussion_state'        => 'visible',
), array(
    'limit'          => $limit,
    'order'          => 'thread_id',
    'orderDirection' => 'desc'
) );

foreach ( $threads AS $thread ) {

        echo(
            "<div class='entry-meta'><a href='"
            . XenForo_Link::buildPublicLink( 'canonical:threads',
                $thread )
            . "'>"
            . XenForo_Helper_String::wholeWordTrim( $thread['title'],
                40 )
            . "</a></div>"
        );
}

How can that script be configured to only displays threads from specific nodes?
Also, what about showing up to 500 characters from the first post of a thread?

LPH · Jan 29, 2015

To get a specific node, then add node_id to the array. For example, for node 5

PHP:

'node_id' =>'5'

To show the message then use

PHP:

echo $thread['message'];

You could look at the resource snippet to get an idea how to trim the message.

PHP:

$snippet = $parser->render(XenForo_Helper_String::wholeWordTrim($messageText, 500));

Also, feel free to add a var_dump at any point so you can see what is happening.

|Jordan| · Jan 29, 2015

Awesome, thanks!

P.S. I spent the better part of the last hour trying to figure it out myself, but i failed

LPH · Jan 29, 2015

|Jordan| said:
Awesome, thanks!

P.S. I spent the better part of the last hour trying to figure it out myself, but i failed

Glad it is working.

|Jordan| · Jan 30, 2015

echo $thread['message']; doesn't output the thread message at all for me. In fact, it makes the whole page blank. Also, i just need the first post of the thread to display.

Also, how do i stop the display of smilies, images and media tags?

JeroenR · Mar 23, 2015

LPH said:

Sorry - I cannot edit the code that was posted. It is wrong though. It contains XenForo_Model_Forum when it should be XenForo_Model_Thread. This code is better.

Thank you @AndyB.

PHP:

<?php

// set the amount of posts to display
$limit = 5;

$startTime = microtime( true );

// Set to forum location - See XenForo index.php for information
$fileDir = '/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/community';

require( $fileDir . '/library/XenForo/Autoloader.php' );
XenForo_Autoloader::getInstance()->setupAutoloader( $fileDir . '/library' );

XenForo_Application::initialize( $fileDir . '/library', $fileDir );
XenForo_Application::set( 'page_start_time', $startTime );

$threadModel = XenForo_Model::create( 'XenForo_Model_Thread' );

$threads = $threadModel->getModelFromCache('XenForo_Model_Thread')->getThreads( array(
    'discussion_state'        => 'visible',
), array(
    'limit'          => $limit,
    'order'          => 'thread_id',
    'orderDirection' => 'desc'
) );

foreach ( $threads AS $thread ) {

        echo(
            "<div class='entry-meta'><a href='"
            . XenForo_Link::buildPublicLink( 'canonical:threads',
                $thread )
            . "'>"
            . XenForo_Helper_String::wholeWordTrim( $thread['title'],
                40 )
            . "</a></div>"
        );
}

Tried your code, but getting a blank page? Any help? Willing to pay for it.

LPH · Mar 29, 2015

JeroenR said:
Tried your code, but getting a blank page? Any help? Willing to pay for it.

No need to pay for it. Can you post any error messages being returned?

JeroenR · Apr 4, 2015

I just got a blank page and no source code?

I need something like this: http://wereldwijzer.nl/ww.italie.php (this is from a vBulletin add-on)

LPH · Apr 4, 2015

JeroenR said:
I just got a blank page and no source code?

Make sure you are using the correct path to XenForo. This is line 9 and must point to the XenForo installation.

Also, check your opening php tag. Go ahead and post what you are trying to use.

Tim Jay · Mar 15, 2016

|Jordan| said:
echo $thread['message']; doesn't output the thread message at all for me. In fact, it makes the whole page blank. Also, i just need the first post of the thread to display.

Did you ever figure this out? I'm trying to do the exact same thing.

LPH · Mar 16, 2016

Tim Jay said:
Did you ever figure this out? I'm trying to do the exact same thing.

I use the above code in many places so it's best for you to paste what you are trying to use.

Also, $thread['message'] can be found by doing the var_dump. For example, in the foreach loop:

PHP:

foreach ( $threads AS $thread ) {
        var_dump($thread);
}

This will show you what is available in $thread. You could also use Zend_Debug::dump($thread); in the loop.

How to display latest posts externally from xF?

Member

XenForo moderator

Member

XenForo moderator

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Active member

Member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Similar threads

We value your privacy