Introducing BlogWave !

Everyone, say hello to BlogWave !

This is an alpha (read: mostly functional and sort of stable) version of a tool which enables automated generation and scheduled publishing of RSS feeds. This allows, for example, publishing Sharepoint lists and libraries as RSS feeds with no modifications needed to the Sharepoint server.  

BlogWave Feature List:

  • Generate RSS feeds based on a variety of inputs:
    • WSS lists/libraries
    • Existing RSS files or feeds
    • Additional input sources are planned, such as Sharepoint searches and aggregated feeds.
  • Publish the generated feeds to different destinations:
    • Local/network locations
    • .Text based blogs
    • WSS libraries 
    • FTP sites.
  • Schedule the generation and publication with a flexible scheduling system
    • Set which days of the week, what hours, and how often should the generation take place
    • Set user credentials and advanced options such as running even with no logged-in user or running only when idle.

update: This post was the inital announcement only. Additional information/versions may be available so Look here for more info.

Screenshots

Main Feeds View


Note that feeds with inactive schedules are grayed out.

 

Manually Publishing a Feed

 

Feed Configuration , with simple and smart scheduling options


Note that it is possible to assign user credentials to a task - this enables scenarios such as running without users being logged in, or publishing under a different user account then the currently logged in user. 

 

Active syndication schedules are handled by the OS


This is a huge advantage, since the app doesn't need to be active and no resources are wasted (SharpReader anyone?). Other advantages are improved reliability (the OS does most of the 'heavy lifting'), the ability to schedule tasks for other computers on the network, and many additional options which will be supported in upcoming versions.

 

Download the application  HERE . (Reminder: Newer versions are available so you probably should download the latest version)

I'm fairly happy with how this is turning out, considering that I have invested about a week in it so far. It is totally pluggable, so I can hook up addional types of inputs and destinations without even recompiling the core assemblies. I'm really interested in getting some feedback on this - let me know which bugs you run into, and which features you would like to see in the upcoming beta version!  

-Addy