Carl

I've recently posted a couple of tech articles on my blog ( at http://dougjoseph.net )  about how to remotely interact with Google services, including the remote authentication needed for adding, editing, deleting (etc) data on Google's servers.

I don't know if remotely interacting with Google services is in VineType's future, but given the way VineType already takes advantage of a lot of neat stuff out there, it might be. Especially the Google Calendar service. It occurs to me that anyone using VineType as a blog tool like I am, or even any business using it as a web content management solution, would like to also get a gCal calendar and display it on their VineType site.

Now, simply embedding one's own gCal (in an I-frame) on his or her own website is too easy. It's a cinch.

But whether or not anyone would ever have need (or want) of seeing VineType (as an app) handling (remotely) any gCal maintenance, I cannot say.

But our church website did have a desire to see that happen, and so I dug in and found out how and made it happen.

In the event it would interest you, maybe just to archive for future reference, the last two articles on my blog are Part 1 and Part 2 in a series.

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Sincerely,
Doug Joseph

Doug,

Incorporating remote services into Vine Type is a trend begun in release 1.4 with Flickr and Ma.gnolia and is one I see expanding in the future.  I cannot code, in a month, an online calendar app on par with Google.  I can, however, incorporate Google Calendar into Vine Type in a month.

The trade-offs are this

1. delays.  When you visit the Vine Type site, that site needs to pull new information from another site before sending the page back to you.
2. caching.  To minimize delays, I can cache data locally (on the vine type server) and only pull every so often.  Right now, Ma.gnolia is contacted every 60 minutes.
3. synchronization. So when I cache the data, it comes back later, but then when you change something at the remote site, it doesn't instantly appear on the vine type site
4. you-can't-get-there-from-here-syndrome. You need to do this a couple times before it sinks in but in order for your site's content to change, you have to go to this other site and change content there.  There's a bit of a disconnect for some folks.
5. api changes.  So Ma.gnolia checks in a change and suddenly rather than getting back 5 public bookmarks with a specific tag, Ma.gnolia starts sending over 250 public and private tags to my vine type site (true story.)  Result: website processor pegs out at 100 percent and crashes the site.   

Still, the benefits outweigh the discomfort and I see Vine Type doing more and more of this sort of stuff. Besides, calendars are too hard -- and churches really really really need a good calendar app for their websites.  It's on the list.

 

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Sincerely,

Carl
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vine type - content management with standards in mind - vinetype.com
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Hey Carl

Sounds like a dead-on assessment. There are pros and cons.

The nice thing about the Google service APIs is that at least one can code so as to alleviate the #4 concern. In other words, potentially a VineType user could control his/her Google calendar from right within VineType.

Of course, if all that a church (or other group) has done was to simply embed their Google calendar into their site, then yes, they must go to the Google site to make a change before it will show up on their site. But if the church site has been built to take advantage of the appropriate Google service API, they "could" make changes as needed without leaving their site.

Functionally, there is every reason for me to want to log into Google to edit our church's calendar, and I do. They have a nice interface. And since I can (and have) shared edit privileges with other leaders in our church, they can go there and edit too, and they do. I would only want to create a custom approach via their API when the need arises. The latest article on my blog explains why I even wanted to bother with it on that one concern. It’s working great.

I built our church’s site with VB/ASP from the beginning, which was around Jan 2003. (I have still not made the switch to .NET). When I started to build this gadget to interact with Google’s Calendar service, it was surprising to me how few examples were out there that showed me how to do it. I finally was able to piece it together after a day or so, and that’s why I think my VB/ASP code shown on my blog may be of interest to someone. (I know that making it work in .NET may lead to a couple of slight changes, but such a switch-over should not be bad. And the general logic is valuable even if the syntax needs tweaked.)

PS: By the way, although my site for our church is not a VineType powered site, when I recently renovated it, I drew design inspiration from your brilliant design concept on your VineType site. I give credit for that inspiration at the bottom of every page, with a link back to your site. Check it out at http://www.cac.us.com

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Sincerely,
Doug Joseph

Yes, for all the reasons you give -- and others -- I would rather have data entry done on the Google site then pull it in via API allowing the end user to display it within their own brand.

Thanks for the kind words about my site -- and I'm honored and humbled that you drew inspiration from it.  Good job with the www,cac.us.com site.

 

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Sincerely,

Carl
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vine type - content management with standards in mind - vinetype.com
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Speaking of our church's web site...

I decided to create a variety of themes, all based on the essential core of the design, by making variations in graphics and color tables. This allows me to have our site "remake" itself according to seasonal and holiday themes. For example, the last time you saw it, it was showing a Christmas theme. If you check it again now, between Christmas and the first couple of weeks of January 2008, you will see it showing a New Year theme. If you check it after that, you will see it showing a winter theme, and so forth.

http://www.cac.us.com

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Sincerely,
Doug Joseph

That's a great setup. It allows customization via CSS and keeps the look fresh as the the year progresses.

You could even use the new $_now values and have a different monthly theme.  You could use the $_now_monthnum value in a class attribute and then set up 12 backgrounds based on the class value.  The theme would change "by itself" as the months change and wouldn't require your intervention.

And I guess I should tell you that the Vine Type site will get a new look with the launch of v2.2. :-)

 

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Sincerely,

Carl
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vine type - content management with standards in mind - vinetype.com
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Yes, I have the church site set up to change theme "on its own" as pre-programmed. (Since it is not a VineType powered site, I used the VB functions now() and datepart() to drive the automated switches.)

Of course, giving credit where due, it was VineType's use of the CSS/template method from which I learned what I used to automate those automatic themes on our church website.

And I also realize I can have automated switches like that with VineType, which is very cool. I probably will do that!

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Sincerely,
Doug Joseph

carlcamera:

And I guess I should tell you that the Vine Type site will get a new look with the launch of v2.2. :-)

FWIW, my compliment is to not permanently throw out the current look of the VineType site. It is awesome.

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Sincerely,
Doug Joseph

DougJoseph:

Since it is not a VineType powered site, I used the VB functions now() and datepart() to drive the automated switches

Oops. Forgot -- it's not a Vine Type site.  And thanks for the compliment.

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Sincerely,

Carl
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vine type - content management with standards in mind - vinetype.com
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DougJoseph:

carlcamera:

And I guess I should tell you that the Vine Type site will get a new look with the launch of v2.2. :-)

FWIW, my compliment is to not permanently throw out the current look of the VineType site. It is awesome.

Thanks again.  The look will be quite different but I appreciate your kind words.

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Sincerely,

Carl
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vine type - content management with standards in mind - vinetype.com
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