A Guide to Using Filters in RokSprocket
RokSprocket is capable of displaying content from a number of different content providers. Among them, WordPress and the Simple provider. The Simple content provider is a great way to create custom content specific to the widget, but it isn't the only way to control what appears in the widget.
Using filters to narrow down the content that appears in a specific RokSprocket widget is a simple and easy way to control what appears in the widget. They make it possible to create separate RokSprocket widgets for your site's featured articles, a specific category, cherry-picked articles, and content that meets a specific set of requirements.
Filters can be as specific or as broad as you need them to be.
While not all content providers supported by RokSprocket use the same filters, the philosophy behind them remains the same. In this guide, we will go over the WordPress content provider, and how you can use filters to get the most out of RokSprocket.
The Add Specific Articles tool gives you the ability to cherry pick articles and have them display in the widget. This is a great option if you want to have a specific article, or set of articles, appear in the widget. New articles will not automatically be added, unless you have a filter added. When you add a filter, RokSprocket will pull articles that match the filter rules and display them in addition to the cherry picked articles set here.
RokSprocket content filters are the primary method for adding content from a content provider (other than Simple). In order for content to appear in the Filtered Article List, a filter has to be set.
Filters have two variables that need to be set. The first is the filter type, and the second is the value by which the content is filtered. For example, you can filter articles that have titles (type) that contain (value) a specific word or phrase.
Here is a breakdown of the WordPress content provider's filter types and values.
Type | Values |
---|---|
Title | Contains, Begins With, Ends With, Is |
Slug | Contains, Begins With, Ends With, Is |
Article Text | Contains |
Post Tag | (List of Tags) |
Status | Publish, Private, Draft, Pending |
Category | (List of Categories) |
Post Type | Post, Page, Attachment |
Parent Page | (List of Parent Pages) |
Created Date | Within Last (# Days/Weeks/Months/Years), Exactly, Before, After, Today, Yesterday, This Week, This Month, This Year |
Last Modified Date | Within Last (# Days/Weeks/Months/Years), Exactly, Before, After, Today, Yesterday, This Week, This Month, This Year |
Last Modified By | (Select a User) |
Author | (Select a User) |
Comment Count | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than, Is Not |
Password Protected | Yes, No |
Combining filters refines your article selection even further. For example, you can set the Status filter to Publish and all published articles will appear in the Filtered Article List. Then, if you add the Title filter and set it to articles that Begin With "W", only published articles that have titles that begin with the letter "W" will appear.
Once you have the article filters in place, you will want to determine how articles are sorted. There are three modes of article sorting, Automatic, Manual, and Random.
Automatic sorting uses the Sort Rules you select to sort articles automatically. If your RokSprocket widget will have new content continuously rotating through it, this is likely to be the sorting method you will want to use.
Here is a breakdown of the types of automatic sorting, which you can set to sort either ascending or descending.
Manual sorting is just as the name implies. You can click and drag articles in an order you wish to have them appear in the RokSprocket widget. You can set new articles that are added after you perform your initial manual sort before or after the existing ones. A fall back sorting rule modeled after the automatic sorting can be created that applies to these new articles.
This is possibly the simplest sorting type. Selecting it will randomly display filtered articles. This is a useful function for small widgets intended to introduce readers to random articles.