Mod_GoogPlusFeed

Ben Tasker

2012-09-08 16:01 (updated 2014-11-27 22:18)

mod_GoogPlusFeed logo Google+ Feed (Mod_GoogPlusFeed) is a module designed to embed your Google+ posts into a Joomla site in the way that mod_btwitter does for Twitter. The core principle of the design is that it shouldn't contain un-necessary chrome and shouldn't slow page load.

The module can also display all posts within a Google Community - Simply specify the community ID instead of a user ID!

This documentation details how to configure mod_GoogPlusFeed

Demo and Purchase

A demo is available on the Demo Site and can be purchased from my shop.

Installation

Install the module as you would any other Joomla! extension

Module Configuration

Module configuration parameters are found in the right-hand pane (as with any other module)

Basic Options

Style: Choose Light if your site uses light colours (i.e. Black on white) or Dark for dark colours

Google+ ID: Enter your Google+ ID, you can extract this from the URL for your Google+ profile. My profile URL is https://plus.google.com/109750839103998133600/ so my id is 109750839103998133600

# Posts: The number of posts to display (See FAQ below if less are displayed)

API Key: The Google API Key to use. The default one will work, but is limited to 10,000 requests a day (shared across everyone who uses that key). You can generate your own, see below for details

RPC Ping (Version 1.4 onwards): Some users have reported that they use the module to help ensure Google sees fresh content whenever it's bots visit. With this option enabled, a RPC ping will be sent to Google whenever it's detected that your Google+ feed has changed. The ping will be sent for whichever page the module is being displayed on.

For this to work, you must have the PHP XMLRPC libraries installed, if not present they can be installed with the following

Centos: yum install php-xmlrpc
Debian/*buntu: apt-get install php5-xmlrpc
service httpd restart

Formatting

Div Width: Leave this at 0 to let the browser/Joomla! decide the best width for your module. If you want to fix the width enter the number of pixels (don't include px)

Post Height: Google+ posts can be pretty long, especially if links or images are attached. This sets the initial height of the post (in pixels). When a user hovers over the post it will expand to full size.

Date Format: The date format to use, uses the PHP date function. Default d m y

Linking

Link to Post: Accompany each post with a direct link to the post on Google+

Link to Google+: Turns the Display name into a link to the Google+ profile supplying data for this module

Display Name: The Display Name to show at the top of the module. Leave blank to disable

Caching

Use Cache: Should results from the Google+ API be cached, setting No may slow page loads

Cache Time: The time (in minutes) that the cache is valid for (default 30)

FAQs

The feed is showing less entries than specified

The module doesn't support every type of post, and there's currently no way to filter these when placing the API call. At time of writing, the module will display 'Posts' and Share/Re-share only. Everything else is skipped, which may lead to the module displaying less entries than you expect. Additional support is being worked on.

The module displays "HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request"

Either you've failed to set a valid API Key, or are still using the default one and it's passed the maximum number of requests per day. Requests placed by everyone who uses this module with the default key count towards the 10,000 a day limit which is why it's recommended that you generate your own key.

API Key Howto

You can generate your own Google API key for use with this module. To do so;

Visit https://code.google.com/apis/console/
Log in with your account
Select 'Services' from the menu on the left
Ensure that service Google+ API is set to On
Select API Access from the menu on the left
At the bottom you should see Simple API Access, with a key listed (if not, generate one to use)