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feed API content to a content block?
I am working on a data table component first for our Sports section, then hopefully as a reusable Block for the site. With permission I'm going to scrape some data from a regional sports stats/schedules website to feed into this table. I imagine the table needs to be updated once a day or as changes are published. I want to create a public JSON API with the scraped data. Has anyone used BLOX webservices or macros or anything within the BLOX CMS to do something like this?
JPG Images Uploaded To CMS Appear To Be Dropping Metadata/IPTC Information Normally Displayed In Album
Example 1 (left) album does not display metadata -->
Example 2 (right) album does show metadata --> https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/sports/prep/photos-grayson-at-archer-girls-basketball/collection_f23f7d96-bfdc-11ee-9eef-d3b52c03f22e.html#2
Both JPG images were uploaded by the same sports editor from the same computer and it was confirmed that the JPG with the missing metadata had the content embedded and viewable using Mac Preview/Get Info prior to upload. The JPG images that are mising the metadata was shot using Nikon Z9 RAW, processed using Photo Mechanic where captions were added, and then save out of PM as JPG.
Any suggestions on upload settings or conditions that might imact how metadata is handled during upload OR is there any possibility the the newer Z9 format could be causing info. One note, the metadata from the Z9 does contant GPS coordinates.
Dynamic article collections placed inline in articles
We are trying to insert a dynamic collection of articles into an article asset, but no matter which presentation mode we select (series, default, asset), the individual items of the collection do not show up. Do article collections not appear in inline articles?
https://www.wdrb.com/community/as-seen-on-wdrb-news-click-here-for-website-links-mentioned-on-air/article_26dd9a22-bb9d-11ee-adcd-cf95bae2e272.html
This is how the feature was developed. Because dynamic collections are by their nature dynamic instead of a set of assets, the engine would have to drill in and fetch all the related assets for the collection then parse through them. This would lead to some serious memory usage.
It's possible to create custom behavior for this if you reach out to our CS team, but there will need to be great care given to the number of assets to display in the collections. We'd also have to build each presentation behavior to work within an article, so it would be a fairly extensive custom development task.
By default the behavior of an inline dynamic collection is to just display the summary for the collection, which would be the headline/description (as long as those are enabled on the collection) and link to the collection page.
Joe Hansen
Director of Solutions Support
Blox Digital
Items that are not placed in a workflow should not automatically publish to the web
When someone forgets to designate a workflow stage for a budget/story, it automatically publishes to the web. This is a very bad idea. Can it be changed??
I'm not sure if you still need an answer to this question, but if you are in Editorial/Assets, click on the setting panel on the right side. Under Asset Settings -> general, the very first option is "Disable publishing on new assets". This sets all new assets into "Do not publish". You can then have your workflows uncheck the DNP field when the asset reaches that stage in its workflow.
You can also have imported content marked as DNP through the importers in Syndication.
Joe Hansen
Director of Solutions Support
Blox Digital
You can use properties like &s=start_time&sd=desc to sort by start time in descending order.
This help doc provides all the search options that are available.
Joe Hansen
Director of Solutions Support
Blox Digital
Video Indexing Issues
Not sure if anyone noticed, but Google made a change in December that affected how and if videos were indexed. The change created a massive decrease in the number of videos indexed from our sites. Are we alone in this, or are you seeing the same thing?
Check this interaction out from Google support: https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/248660820?hl=en
I'm baffled.
JPF
Manual fix - poll question
I made an error in trying to change a function on a live poll. It reset the results back to 0. But I have the results at the time I made that error. Is it possible to manually restore the correct number with each choice?
Andy,
Unfortunately there isn't a way to edit the poll results.
Joe Hansen
Director of Solutions Support
Blox Digital
Adding elements to multiple sites
What is the best (fastest) way to add a story element to multiple sites? Or transfer an element from one site to a sister site? Right now I have to create the element for one site, export it to my hard drive as a bpm file, then import it to the other sites. It's a clunky and time consuming process for those of us who manage sites for multiple publications. Is there any way to do this more efficiently?
Feature Request: Require active subscription to post comments
We're seeing a large increase in comment spam lately so I'd like to formally make the feature request for something that I know I talked to support about in the past. We require email confirmation when new accounts are created but obviously the spammers have automated their way around that.
I'd like an option to require an active subscription to post comments on the site. This offers numerous benefits to all Town News customers:
• Provides another perk or subscriber benefit to paying readers.
• Potential to increase Day Pass sales for those who aren't subscribers but really want to share their opinion or comment.
• Reduces comment spam to virtually zero.
I could see it being useful to allow this setting to be toggled per URL/section so that for example you could allow anyone to comment on obituaries but not news stories.
1. All of the items listed above.
2. Every day.
3. Every reader.
Please let me know if anyone has thoughts or questions!
Thanks,
Kevin
Zoe,
In the editorial Asset Editor, open your article and navigate to the "other" tab. You'll find fields for subhead, kicker, hammer near the bottom of the "miscellaneous" section.
Joe Hansen
Director of Solutions Support
BloxDigital
Can't create polls
Is anyone else having issues creating poll assets? Every time we try to create a new poll we get the message "Preparing asset editor," and that's it.
I'm wondering if this s something unique to us or is it a larger problem.
Hi Maureen - This appears to be a bug. Thank for your letting us know! Please keep an eye out for release notes for a fix.
Alternative web statistics?
Has anyone moved away from using Google for site analytics? We are thinking about migrating to a service like Plausible.io which we pay for vs. using Google for free and giving them info about all of our readers. Plus, managing it appears to be an order of magnitude simpler.
Has anyone made this change? Any feedback or other services we should look into?
Customer support service by UserEcho
