Using Yahoo Pipes to work with Smugmug feeds...

Tomkirk23Tomkirk23 Registered Users Posts: 55 Big grins
Hi -

I am not sure if many folks have attempted this yet. The tool looks very interesting, but it has been a struggle so far to get what I want.

My reasons for trying Pipes are outlined in this post: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=106841

If anyone has been successful so far, I would appreciate some basics just to set me straight. Some of this is Pipes and some of this is basic feed logic. I am not looking for specific programming help... rather I am looking for general concepts.

My most difficult issue in Pipes has been to understand (in the logic) where, if at all, previously-read items are identified and removed. The Feeds themselves always contain all items (previously-read or not). The Feed Readers (I guess) track whether I have read that particular result or not...so the Feed Reader will not display that result the next time. So I guess Pipes is always dealing with the entire feed contents? I am struggling with the difference in results between the Pipes debugger and Google Reader.


(1) How does the Feed Reader "remember" that result? For instance, does it simply remember the link and the title...and never display that pair again?


(2) From a timing perspective, is the Pipes logic always looking at all feed output (with no already-read filtering).... with all already-read filtering being done by the Reader for display to the user? Or are there situations in Pipes logic where you are dealing with only items that are un-read.




I am trying to create a feed that has one item for each separate Gallery contained within the New Photos and New Videos feeds.
I am attempting the following:
a) Combine the New Photos and New Videos feeds
b) Examine the photo/video link value and chop off the back (after the #) to identify the link to the particular gallery. Store the gallery link in a feed variable.
c) Use a Unique statement on the Gallery link to result in one feed item per Gallery (I don't want to send a Feedburner email containing each individual photo)




Is this generally the right approach? Do I need to worry how the items are sorted before the Unique statement? If I mark a given result as read, within Google Reader.... will it re-appear when I add additional photos to the same Gallery at a later date?

Hopefully, I have explained this reasonably well. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tom K.
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