My first attempt at a slideshow plugin and I'm VERY happy with it!

It uses a new JavaScript based concept which makes adding new comics very easy... So if you'd like an addition please let me know!

I hope y'all enjoy it and go get it from the Extensions pages now!

EDIT: Get it from here: Comic Central

cjoprey

Might want to add a link to the Extension Exchange page.

Thanks NeilN...

Made the change in the original post!

* UPDATE *

The comiccentral slideshow is now on v1.1 and has 5 more comics as well as being packaged as a DSPACKAGE format.

Enjoy!
Chris.

any chance you could add http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech and/or post info on how people can add their own

Okay, I need a little education on this.

I like the concept and how it works. But I don't like some of the default comics that are in the list.

So, I commented out a few of the strips listed. I made sure it was a complete selection down to the ";"

The removal worked, but now there are twice as many of the other comics than there were priviously. It seems to be keeping two days worth of comics.

So, what is happening here? Can I delete comicstrips from the list?

Thanks,

Richard..

P.S. I also have a couple that I would like to add on my own. What are the parameter requirements?

Sometimes DS doesn't delete old slideshow images but you should be able to remove them from the slideshow.

You can add comics To the slideshow but you need to know how to use regular expressions.

Hi all,

first of all thanks for the interest in my little slideshow. Sorry I have been so long in replying but work pressures have kept me away far too long. I've added Joy of Tech in v1.4 for morkorson which can be downloaded now from the usual place.

As to how to use my system, here's a quick overview:

BASICS:

Each comic has it's own little definition block which looks like the one below. There are two different versions depending on how you would like to use the regular expression.

Version 1:


Version 2:


In both cases there are four entries. They are used as follows:

1) The title to be displayed. ALWAYS USED THE SAME WAY.

2) The web page where the latest comic image can be found. ALWAYS USED THE SAME WAY.

3) A regular expression which defines the name of the image file in the HTML. If using the "@@" parameter in the final parameter make sure you only use one set of brackets in this regualr expression, and that it surrounds the section you wish to insert as a parameter.

4) EITHER (1) the prefix to be added to the front for of the full match to the regular expression OR (2) a full URL with a "@@" parameter in it where the first bracket match from the regular expression is to be inserted.

Regular Expression Example:

In the example codes above, the Garfield match would give something like "/comics/ga/0123456/ga012345.gif". As we didn't use the "@@" in the final URL, this will be added to the end of the given URL, resulting in "http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/0123456/ga012345.gif".

The Flipside entry will match something like "comic/com-flip07JAN05.html", where the bracketed expression matches "07JAN05". As the final URL uses the "@@" parameter, the final URL will be "http://www.flipsidecomics.com/comic/com-flip07JAN05.gif'". This allows us to get round the fact that this site uses a non-fixed name for a html page to hide the image without having to load another page...

---------------------------------------------------------

You should never need to touch the main code in the slideshow. If you do make amendments or add new comics, would you be kind enough to send me the code to chriso@i2.co.uk for possible addition in future versions?

Many thanks,
Chris.

Chris,
Superb! Thanks for adding joy of tech and great instructions so we can all customise to our hearts content.
Once again, many thanks

Hello,

I would like to report an issue though. Looks like one of the links has a problem, after installing the package I keep getting a popup saying:

Earthsong could not be loaded due to -->'strHTML.match(...).0' is Null or not an object

Would appreciate if you can tell me how to fix this.

TIA
Niteen

PS: Great work !

I've made some updates and it should now work - every so often they don't bother to put up an image and that will cause the error... Sorry...
Chris.

v1.4.5 has been uploaded - a minor fix for the Calvin & Hobbes site.

Enjoy!

I LOVE this panel - except:
I'm having this problem, too - still. It interrupts my work flow pretty badly - especially on Sunday when many comics are not shown. I pretty much have to remove the panel because of it.

Wish I could fix it easily.

Thanks again for a great panel. Wish I could get it to work.

JB

Hi,

I think the root of the --Earthsong could not be loaded due to -->'strHTML.match(...).0' is Null or not an object-- problem lies in a typo.

The follwing is a section of the code that contains the typo from the comiccentral.dsslideshow file that comes with this download.

strReturn = aComics[i][3] + strHTML.match(aComics[i][2])[0];

That is the line that contains the error, in that the strHTML.match statement is left open, by not closing the statement with a ')' symbol. The line of code should read as follows:

strReturn = aComics[i][3] + strHTML.match(aComics[i][2])[0]);

This is an untested fix, thou I have stopped reciving the error window. I have yet to test whether the update function will still work properly.

-Risky-

I think you are wrong. The match call is closed:
strReturn = aComics[i][3] + strHTML.match(aComics[i][2])[0];
The match method returns an array of matches, that's why he uses [0] after the parenthesis.

Yeah,

I concede, after testing this change that extra bracket won't fix the code.
It does however look like the code will return 'Null' if it doesn't find a new
image to download for each site (no connectivity?).

Has anyone got any ideas? this ones got me stumped...


-Risky-

The error occurred due to no images match. So the line,

strReturn = aComics[i][3].replace(/@@/i, strHTML.match(aComics[i][2])[1]);
or
strReturn = aComics[i][3] + strHTML.match(aComics[i][2])[0];

returns null value. The error basically tries to notify of picture not found.

So three way to fix it.
First method, just comment of the error message line,

//slideshow.msg('"' + aComics[i][0] + '" could not be loaded due to --> ' + e.description);

Second, add in null checking for the match condition,

if (strHTML.match(aComics[i][2]) == null)
strReturn = "";
else
{
if (aComics[i][3].indexOf('@@')!=-1)
strReturn = aComics[i][3].replace(/@@/i, strHTML.match(aComics[i][2])[1]);
else
strReturn = aComics[i][3] + strHTML.match(aComics[i][2])[0];
}

if (strReturn != "")
slideshow.AddImage(strReturn, aComics[i][1], aComics[i][0]);

The last one being log the error instead of msg,
Change the line
slideshow.msg('"' + aComics[i][0] + '" could not be loaded due to --> ' + e.description);
to
slideshow.log('"' + aComics[i][0] + '" could not be loaded due to --> ' + e.description);

By doing this you won't be troubled by the pop-up message. But you also won't know what comics are not downloaded.

Hi all.

Sorry for the delay but an updated v1.4.6 is now available which has a working Earthsong, Flipside, John + John and Joy of Tech. An added bonus is the new "Concerned" comic...

Thanks for the proposal of fixes... I will try to do something about it - my main problem is time off work to do it...

Thanks again for all the support guys!

cjoprey

Hi;

many thanks for comic central.

I am using version 1.4.6

Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes dont work anymore. It seems that they are now a flash picture. Can this be fixed?.

If some strips can't be loaded, for whatever reasen, I get an error message. Can these messages be turned off?


Greetings from germany

Markus

earthsong
joy of tech
piled higher and deeper
Full Frontal Nerdity

have all gone wacky, all the others seem to be working, i had to rem out the lines to those so the rest of the slide shows would work. it seemed to halt every thing when it errored out.

Little Gamers Comic

I have the same issue. Sometimes I get the error with Earthsong, sometimes not. Also, it seems Sinfest changed their site around a bit so now that no longer works.

I tried fixing the Sinfest coding but I'm not a coder so have not had any luck.

I love the concept and the ability to have these comics at my fingertips during my workday. Please keep it up! Only thing left to have is www.userfriendly.org.

Thanks!

wolf

I really enjoy this extension, but, like many of you, was having problems with some of comics. Specifically, Earthsong Saga, Full Frontal Nerdity, Joy of Tech, PVP, Piled Higher and Deeper, & Sin Fest. Turns out that Full Frontal Nerdity is down and out right now, so no fix for that. And all my attempts at making PHD work have failed.

Earthsong Saga (this is good until the next chapter, then just change Redux3 to whatever.)


Joy of Tech


PVP


Sin Fest



After that, I tried to add some new comics.

Here's some code to add 8 Bit Theater:

The code doesn't return any errors but I haven't seen it in the slideshow either.

I've also attempted to add some comics from GoComics.com. For instance, Non Sequitur:

I've tried this and variations on it, but if I put this code in, the entire extension doesn't load/refresh. No errors, no nothing. I even put a slideshow.msg at the top which didn't display.

Is there a way to have a slideshow.msg display the URL the extension is trying to use to grab the image?

Thanks for the link morkorson

Hi all,

Sorry for the prolonged absence, bu tI have just posted up v1.4.7 which has made the following changes to the comic list:

+ Added "Little Gamers"
+ Added "Non Sequitur"
+ Added "Nuklear Power"
+ Added "Three Panel Soul"
- Removed "MacHall" as it is no longer being updated.
- Removed "Concerned" as it is finished.
* Updated "EarthSong" as the image URL has changed again.

Hope you all still like it and please do contact me if you have any issues.

Good Work , mate ! I have no problems here ..

nice plugin

Here is a quickfix for Little Gamers, the latest comic is in .png format:

hmm, apparently they are running guest commics, and they place them in the format the guest author provides them. Today's format is .jpg of course, leading to another error...
Below is a simple fix for that, but perhaps the author of the plugin can think of a way to have a array of picture extentions which can be matched? No doubt this problem will occur with other webcommics.



Added most of the webcommics I read. Please keep in mind that this was compiled today, and as such has not been thouroly tested. They should work, but you never know Feel free to reply/email when you run into a problem.
edit: Been running this since I posted it, and no problem thus far, so I guess they work



edit: Talismen removed, retired as per 17-04-2007

Someone fix this and make it into a easily downloadable package? Please?

The first post leads to the Extension Exchange page of this slideshow, where you can easily download and install the package.

Yes, but it's broken, coming up with an error message on what seems like random comics on random days, as was discussed earlier in this topic, I'd fix it myself if I could code, but I can't.

Hi all,

It's been a long time coming but I've just released v1.4.8 to the site and you can get it from here:

Comic Central Slideshow



It has a lot of fixes and a shedload of new comics as requested by the people on this thread. I hope you find it works for you and please do let me know if you have any requests, recommendations or additions!

Thanks for all the comments and talk to you all soon,
Chris.

While I think of it, I'm planning on creating a conversion of this for the Vista sidebar where you can supply the details for new comics using an options dialog - cmoplete with saving of downloaded images to your hard drive and animated browsing... Would anyone be interested in this bearing in mind that I have very little time and would need to spend at least a couple of months developing it properly in my spare time? Please let me know what you think - you can always email me at:

cjoprey [at] hotmail [dot] com

Regards,
Chris.

Nice! Still enjoying this plugin, as I use it everyday.

I dont know if this is a bug in your script, or slideshow in general (my money is on the second one), but the deleteAfterDays="1" does not work. Just a few days ago I deleted 7000+ files from the ComicCentral folder, and now I am also seeing files dating to 3 days back.

I also changed all extentions in the config file to (jpg|gif|png|bmp) to catch any guest comic problems as I mentioned before. I doubt this will have any serious performance impact.

Comic Central is awesome - I've been looking for a comic consolidator like this for quite a while. If anyone is interested, here is my list of comics that I've come up with over the last few days - and if anyone can help me get Order of the Stick, Erfworld and Perry Bible Fellowship working, I would appreciate it!

Tim


// * A * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Atland',
'http://www.realmofatland.com/',
/images\/strips\/atland(\d*).jpg/i,
'http://www.realmofatland.com/'];

// * B * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Borgman',
'http://borgman.enquirer.com/',
/img\/daily\/\d{4}\/\d{2}\/(\d*)_borgman_(\d*).jpg/i,
'http://borgman.enquirer.com/'];

// * C * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Ctrl+Alt+Del',
'http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php',
/\/comics\/(\d*).jpg/i,
'http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com'];

// * D * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Darths and Droids',
'http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/darthsanddroids/',
/comics\/darths(\d*).jpg/i,
'http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/darthsanddroids/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Dilbert',
'http://www.dilbert.com/',
/\/comics\/dilbert\/archive\/images\/dilbert(\d*).gif/i,
'http://www.dilbert.com'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Ding',
'http://www.crispygamer.com/comics/ding/',
/comics\/ding\/ding(\d*).jpg/i,
'http://www.crispygamer.com/_img/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Dork Tower',
'http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/',
/images\/comics\/(\D*)(\d*).gif/i,
'http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/'];

// * E * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// aComics[aComics.length] = ['Erfworld',
// 'http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erflatest.html',
// /erf(\d*).html/i,
// 'http://www.giantitp.com/comics/'];
//
// * F * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Frazz',
'http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/',
/\/comics\/frazz\/archive\/images\/frazz(\d*).gif/i,
'http://www.comics.com'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Full Frontal Nerdity',
'http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php',
/strips\/([\d-]*).jpg/i,
'http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/'];

// * G * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Garfield',
'http://news.yahoo.com/comics/garfield',
/d\.yimg\.com\/us\.yimg\.com\/p\/uc\/(\d*)\/lga(\d*).gif/i,
'http://'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Get Fuzzy',
'http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/',
/\/comics\/getfuzzy\/archive\/images\/getfuzzy(\d*).gif/i,
'http://www.comics.com'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Goblins',
'http://goblinscomic.com/',
/\/comics\/(\d*).*.jpg/i,
'http://goblinscomic.com'];


// * L * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Least I Could Do',
'http://www.leasticoulddo.com/',
/strips\/comic.gif/i,
'http://archive.licd.com/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Looking For Group',
'http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/latest',
/lfg(\d*).gif/i,
'http://archive.lfgcomic.com/'];
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Luann',
'http://www.comics.com/comics/luann/',
/\/comics\/luann\/archive\/images\/luann(\d*).gif/i,
'http://www.comics.com'];
// * M * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Maddies Monster',
'http://tmi-comic.com/maddie/',
/strips\/\d*.jpg/i,
'http://tmi-comic.com/maddie/istrip_files/'];
// * N * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Non Sequitur',
'http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/',
/\d{4}\/nq\d{6}.gif/i,
'http://images.ucomics.com/comics/nq/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Nodwick',
'http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php',
/strips\/([\d-]*).jpg/i,
'http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/'];

// * O * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Obaki\'s Bit Bucket',
'http://bit-bucket.com/',
/strips\/(\d*).jpg/i,
'http://bit-bucket.com/istrip_files/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Ogum\'s',
'http://www.ogumonline.com/thecomic.php',
/strip\/anglais\/\d{8}.jpg/i,
'http://www.ogumonline.com/'];

// * P * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Pinky TA',
'http://content-comics.drunkduck.com/Pinky_TA/',
/pages\/(\w*).jpg/i,
'http://content-comics.drunkduck.com/comics/P/Pinky_TA/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Pearls Before Swine',
'http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/',
/\/comics\/pearls\/archive\/images\/pearls(\d*).gif/i,
'http://www.comics.com'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Penny Arcade',
'http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic',
/\/images\/(\d{4})\/(\d*)..jpg/i,
'http://www.penny-arcade.com'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['PS238',
'http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/comics/index.php',
/strips\/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}.jpg/i,
'http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/comics/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['PvP',
'http://www.pvponline.com',
/comics\/pvp(\d*).gif/i,
'http://www.pvponline.com/'];

// * Q * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Questionable Content',
'http://www.questionablecontent.net/index.php',
/comics\/(\d*)\.png/i,
'http://www.questionablecontent.net/'];

// * S * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Sheldon',
'http://www.sheldoncomics.com/',
/\/strips\/sd\d{6}.gif/i,
'http://www.sheldoncomics.com/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['SinFest',
'http://www.sinfest.net/',
/comics\/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}.gif/i,
'http://sinfest.net/comikaze/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Sluggy Freelance',
'http://www.sluggy.com/',
/\/comics\/(\d*)..(jpg|gif)/i,
'http://www.sluggy.com/images/'];

// * T * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['The Far Reaches',
'http://www.thefarreaches.com/',
/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}-\d*(|-preview\d).jpg/i,
'http://www.thefarreaches.com/comics/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['The Noob',
'http://www.thenoobcomic.com/index.html',
/images\/\d*.jpg/i,
'http://www.thenoobcomic.com/'];

// aComics[aComics.length] = ['The Perry Bible Fellowship',
// 'http://pbfcomics.com/',
// /archive_b\/PBF\d*-\w*.gif/i,
// 'http://pbfcomics.com/'];
//
// aComics[aComics.length] = ['The Order of the Stick',
// 'http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootslatest.html',
// /images\/\w.gif/i,
// 'http://www.giantitp.com/comics/'];
//
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Too Much Information',
'http://tmi-comic.com/',
/strips\/\d*.jpg/i,
'http://tmi-comic.com/istrip_files/'];

// * U * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Ugly Hill',
'http://www.uglyhill.com/index.html',
/comics\/\d*_\D*.jpg/i,
'http://www.uglyhill.com/'];

// * W * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['Wally and Osborne',
'http://wallyandosborne.com/',
/comics\/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}-\d*.gif/i,
'http://wallyandosborne.com/'];

aComics[aComics.length] = ['We the Robots',
'http://www.wetherobots.com/',
/comics\/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}-\D*.jpg/i,
'http://www.wetherobots.com/'];

// * X * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
aComics[aComics.length] = ['XKCD',
'http://www.xkcd.com/',
/imgs\.xkcd\.com\/comics\/([^\.]*)\.(png|jpg)/i,
'http://'];


// * END OF DATA * ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the nice comments. I've had a look at your comic list and will include them in the next version when I have time to write it as I'm a bit tied up in writing a Vista sidebar version at the moment. One of the the things I want to add is the possibility to deal with redirections and hyperlinks to other HTML pages containing the image, which is what is needed to sort out your Order of the Stick and Erfworld links unfortunately.

However, I have been able to fix the Perry Bible Fellowship for you:

aComics[aComics.length] = ['Perry Bible Fellowship',
'http://pbfcomics.com/',
/\?cid=(PBF\d{3}-.*.gif)/i,
'http://pbfcomics.com/archive_b/@@'];

Do let me know if you add any further sites and keep looking out for v1.5.0!


Thanks again,
Chris.




Thanks for the comments!

It's a bug in Slideshow unfortunately as I don't control the archiving part of the slideshow plugin at all.

As to the extensions - I've been thinking about making my code deal with this for some time now and will try to add it to the next version (v1.5.0) when I have some time.

Thanks again,
Chris.

Hi all,

Just to let you know that v1.5.0 has been added. This adds a huge amount of comics so the list now stands at 79!!! It also adds the first major code change in ages - I now allow a 5th parameter which can be used to find a HTML URL that is needed as a second step before you can get the image name. If you want examples, look at Erfworld and Earthsong.

For Earthsong:



When you go the main page, there's a link to a page called something like "vol2/91.html" which then has the image called "Vol2/ch6/91.jpg" on it. By addin this new parameter we can support this and still get the image out.

Hope you all enjoy the new release which can be found in the usual place!

PS - Tim - I've added Erfworld and Order of the Stick now that this code is in!

I was looking forward to the fixes for Earthsong, as well as the new items. But since loading v1_5_0, I am now getting the following log error:

15:15 .\SlideshowWorker.cpp 457 Slideshow bot thread started 3040
15:15 .\dsuScriptEngine.cpp 637 Error 0x0 (Expected ')') when executing ComicCentral_v1_5_0 in line

if (aComics[i]length == 5)
15:15 .\dsuScriptEngine.cpp 311 Cannot parse ComicCentral_v1_5_0. null
15:15 .\SlideshowWorker.cpp 560 Slideshow bot thread finished 3040

All previous versions ran fine. I am using build 116.

Any ideas??

Thanks,
DanD