Adding a property to BlogCFC

The other title was, How I added the FeedBurer URL to BlogCFC - imagine whatever your prefer :o)
If you haven't heard Feedburner has recently been acquired by Google. Which as it seems with all Google acquisitions means us users end up getting something free out of it and to with keep up traditions Feedburner now offer their "Pro" services for free.

Now I do like the idea of Feedburner but I never get around to putting the URL back into BlogCFC after I upgrade; so I took a little time out over lunch to create a new property in BlogCFC.

The idea is simple: Add a new property called altFeedURL. If you have an alternative feed add the value, if not BlogCFC will default to the standard root.url/rss.cfm?mode=full

So in 5 easy steps this is what I did:

1. File: /org/camden/blog/blog.ini.cfm
   Added extra property to the end of the file
   altFeedUrl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/[Your Feed Burner Reference]
2. Files: /org/camden/blog/blog.CFC
   In the init() method add the following to the instance struct.
   <cfset instance.altFeedUrl = variables.utils.configParam(variables.cfgFile, arguments.name, "altFeedUrl")>
3. File: /Application.cfm
   

   Around line 88 (After the root URL is set in the application scope)

   <cfif len(trim(application.blog.getProperty("altFeedUrl")))>
      <cfset application.feedURL = application.blog.getProperty("altFeedUrl") />
   <cfelse>
      <cfset application.feedURL = application.rootURL & "/rss.cfm?mode=full" />
   </cfif>
4. File: /tags/layout.cfm
   Change the link in the header to
   <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="#application.feedURL#" />
5. File: /includes/pod/rss.cfm
   Change the href to
   <a href="#application.feedURL#" rel="noindex,nofollow"><img src="#application.rootURL#/images/rssbutton.gif" border="0"></a>
   and delete the following line as it is no longer needed
   <cfset rssURL = application.rootURL & "/rss.cfm">

Please also note that the above is also just a general guide to adding whatever property you want as well :o)