Last updated November 13, 2008. Created by grendzy on September 25, 2008.
Edited by Rob_Feature. Log in to edit this page.
**This documentation applies to the 6.x-0.7 release of FFPC (and beyond) which is still in a development phase.
Filefield Podcaster is a Views 2 plugin that allows you to output a podcast compatible feed, including a CCK filefield file as an RSS enclosure. It also inserts any of that file's ID3 data into the feed as well, formatted for use in iTunes or other software that serves up podcasts.
Setting up a View that outputs a FFPC feed is simple:
- Make sure you have all required modules installed and that you've created a CCK Content Type with a filefield for your podcast file.
- Now, go to the Views interface and create a new node type View.
- On the left Views sidebar, create a new View type of "Feed"
- For the style of your view, choose "Podcast Feed" and for your row style choose "Podcast Episode"
- Add your filefield which is where you uploaded your audio or video podcast file as a Views field. Add no other fields. All other content should be added by styling the feed itself.
- Set the 'path' in the view to the URL that you want to use as your podcast feed
- Add any other filters you want to use such as content type, published, promoted to front page, etc (although none of this is required)
- Save your view. That's it. You can now visit the URL you set in your Views path to see your podcast which will include your filefield file as an enclosure.
If you wish to add your podcast to the iTunes store, you can do so on Apple's site.
See the links below for detailed instructions on how to setup an entire podcast which includes using FFPC for creating your feed.
Comments
Add a Title
It doesn't hurt to add a Title to your view also. This will help your podcast feed be valid and also help people to know what the feed is about. :-)
This arrangement doesn't
This arrangement doesn't appear to work with Private Files. Perhaps there is a workaround to make all pod-cast files public.
Customising the output
This is great as a pattern for creating podcast feeds.
I wanted more control over the output of the feed. For instance, ffpc has no capacity for including an <itunes:image> tag and doesn't allow you category or explicit tags either or the <itunes:summary> tag at the channel level.
I simply copied the module, renamed it - so it sits alongside the original module which I've now disabled, hacked it to death and used it to give me the feed I wanted. [For instance, building the item description (given in the <itunes:subtitle> tag) from several of my node fields]. It's very easy to customise in this way (as long as you know php and drupal a bit).
On the other hand, for a new incarnation of the module (given that I guess most people will use it as is) what about allowing the creation of a podcast image, author and description in the module administration pages?
25 Nov 09 - I'd been asked to describe how I did this, with code examples - it is posted to http://drupal.org/node/540820#comment-2304678
existing podcast
Hi Richard. Thanks for taking all the time to post this. I'm concerned that implementing this solution to add the itunes specs to the feed might break what displays to the end user or mess up the links to the audio files. Is this a possibility even if I actually disable the current ffpc and then enable the hacked version? What if my podcast has already been submitted and approved by Apple for the iTunes store? Will I have to resubmit it or wil the meta information already be reflected in the store without any further action on my part?
Customize Player for Google Analytics Event Tracking
I'm trying to find where the actual player is generated from to see if I can throw in some code to add event tracking for podcasts. Any ideas where to look? I need to adjust flashvars I bet so I'm going to look in the swftools for one pixelout (player I'm using). Any suggestions/ideas welcome.
ffpc doesn't handle flash
ffpc doesn't handle flash players at all. SWF Tools config is likely what you're looking for.
Need image for iTunes...
Hi,
I have got the ffpc feed working for my Podcast (http://spikyorange.co.uk/?q=BitBanter), but the logo in iTunes is being displayed as the default one (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bitbanter-podcast-feed/id407625634). Is there any plan on updating this module so that the image location can be specified?
I don't fancy following those steps to create a copy of the original module - unless I really have to!
The image is embedded inside the m4a file, but I guess FFPC can't grab that? Nor, iTunes? I've seen some posts that imply that iTunes will pick up the first chapters imagery - perhaps I'm just being impatient and it might appear in a couple of days?
Since I'll only have a single feed, is there a file / line that I can just add the image URL to?
Cheers,
Rob.
template override
You don't need to modify the module. While it would be nice to be able to add the image from the view or a configuration page, you CAN add the URL from template.php.
Copy template_preprocess_ffpc_view_podcast_feed() from the ffpc.module into your template.php and rename it to YOURTHEME_preprocess_ffpc_view_podcast_feed. Add your itunes:image argument after $args is initialized:
$args[] = array('key' => 'itunes:image', 'attributes' => array('href' => 'http://mycompany.com/files/images/logo.jpg'));So it will look something like:
// This is where we add additional elements to the podcast.$args = array(
'itunes:owner' => array(
'itunes:email' => variable_get('site_mail', ini_get('sendmail_from')),
),
);
$args[] = array('key' => 'itunes:image', 'attributes' => array('href' => 'http://mycompany.com/files/images/logo.jpg'));