View Single Post
Old 12-05-2007, 05:32 PM   #1
thetechnobear
Connoisseur
thetechnobear has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.thetechnobear has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.thetechnobear has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 65
Karma: 256
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Switzerland
Device: Iliad, Kindle K3, iPad , iPhone, etc...
News feed creation for Mac OSX (leopard)

k, first of all this is NOT a GUI ... i wanted a script i could run automatic everyday

what is it then:

for a given RSS feed, it goes to the main web page (the link in the RSS) and converts that into a PDF file.
in addition it allows cropping of the web page to get rid of stuff you probably dont want to see on your iLiad e.g. toolbars, sidebars etc.
(if you remove margins, you will get the entire web page)

there are a few other hidden features, such as substituting the link for the 'printed' page line, but will discuss those later.


(see attached pdf for example, my margins could be bigger, to remove more, but as it is you can kind of see what its doing!)

to use, execute:

createDaily

if you have a look at that script, you will see how to add new feeds easy enough.

for the techies, what does it do?
createDaily calles createNews for each feed
createNews is a wrapper since the process is 3 steps:
a) WebToPDF creates the stories, one story per PDF
b) an automator script then executes to combine the PDFs into 1 called News.pdf
c) this is then moved and renames to an appropriate name

im using it now every day, and will probably extend it in a few ways
(probably will get rid of the scripts at some point)


note: it is ALPHA, esp command line args, make sure you have 'pairs' otherwise it will crash, will add more error checking, but thought id get it out quickly as i find it really useful

enjoy
Attached Files
File Type: zip WebNewsFeed.dmg.zip (214.2 KB, 448 views)
File Type: pdf BBCNews.pdf (207.5 KB, 590 views)
thetechnobear is offline   Reply With Quote