This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Python Buzz by Rand Anderson. Original Post: Outlined Blogroll Feed Title: Python Postings Feed URL: http://www.executableabstractions.com/weblog/Python/rss.xml Feed Description: On my explorations of python Latest Python Buzz Posts Latest Python Buzz Posts by Rand Anderson Latest Posts From Python Postings

Putting aside for the moment the issues of whether and how to organize a blogroll beyond a simple list (these issues to be covered in a follow-up post), here is a decent first cut at presenting such information in an expandable/collapsable form, assuming you have some such blogroll feed taxonomy available in OPML.

With the help of the recent activeRenderer v2.0 and its new XML-RPC API, I've finally managed to add my blogroll to my page's sidebar in a form that I feel is at least a slight improvement over the flat list. ActiveRenderer does all the hard work.

Here's the python code:

def blogrollRenderer(self, blogrollURL='c:\\somefiles\\mySubscriptions.opml'):
    import xmlrpclib
    server = xmlrpclib.Server("http://rpc.activerenderer.com")

    opmlFile = open(blogrollURL)
    opml = opmlFile.read()
    opmlFile.close()

    opmlHtml = server.activeRenderer.opmlRenderer(opml)

    html = '<p>'
    html += '<b>Blogroll</b>'
    html += '<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
            href="http://www.activerenderer.com/activeRenderer/activerenderer.css">'
    html += '<script type="text/javascript" 
            src="http://www.activerenderer.com/activeRenderer/activerenderer.js"></script>'
    html += opmlHtml
    html += '</p>'

    return html

With PyDS, you just put this in a macro, and then invoke the macro from a nugget, and you're done.

Of course this is just step one; some usability issues still need to be addressed, foremost being easier access to the sites and RSS URLs of the listed feeds. This looks like it will require delving a bit into the activeRenderer script.

TTD (Things To Do):