🗞️ Rss#

More and more bots offer the feature to follow news feeds, sometimes rss atom feeds,but most often Twitter or YouTube profiles. ZBot allows you to track any rss/atom feed, as well as any Twitter/YouTube/Twitch/DeviantArt channel. For Reddit feeds, you can search for the url of the rss feed, but a command will be created to make your life easier!

With this bot you have two possibilities to follow a feed: manually request the last post, or configure an automatic follow-up in a text channel. In the case of automatic tracking, ZBot will scan all feeds every ten minutes to check for new posts, sending them in if there are any. Just be careful: this automatic tracking costs a lot of resources to the bot, so you are limited to a certain number of automatic feeds (same for rss, twitter, youtube or minecraft) !

To manage this plugin (add, edit or remove feeds), you will need at least the Manage Server permission.

See the last post#

Syntax: last-post <name|link> [youtube|twitter|twitch|deviant|web]

This command allows you to see the last post of a youtube channel, a user on Twitter or Twitch or DeviantArt, or from any valid RSS feed. If you provide a full URL, the bot will automatically detect the type of feed. If you only provide the name of the channel, you will have to specify the type of feed.

Note

No specific permission is required for this command. Remember to allow the use of external emojis to get a prettier look.

Follow a feed#

Syntax: rss add <link>

If you want to automatically track an rss feed, this command should be used. You can only track a maximum feeds, which will be reloaded every 20 minutes. Note that Minecraft server tracing also counts as an rss feed, and therefore will cost you a slot (which are currently limited to 10 per server).

For Twitter and YouTube channels, simply give the link of the channel, so that the bot automatically detects the type and name of the channel. If no type is recognized, the ‘web’ type will be selected.

Note

To post a message, the bot does not need any specific permission. But if it’s a Minecraft server feed (see the corresponding section), don’t forget the “Read message history” permission!

See every feed#

Syntax: rss list

If you want to keep an eye on the number of rss/Minecraft feeds registered on your server, this is the command to use. The bot will search in the depths of its incomprehensible files to bring back the list of all the feeds, and summarize them for you in a nice embed.

Warning

The bot needs “Embed Links” permission!

Mention a role#

Syntax: rss set-mentions [feed ID] [silent] [roles]

This rss feed tracking option allows you to notify a role when a new post arrives. The roles mentioned are different between rss feeds, which allows you a greater handling.

The “feed ID” argument is the identifier of the feed (found with the command rss list). If you do not enter this argument, or if the feed can’t be found, the bot will open a menu where you can choose which feed to modify. Then another menu will allow you to choose which roles you want to mention.

The “silent” argument allows you to set the messages as silent. When this option is enabled, mentions will still appear for your users, but they will no longer receive push notifications when the message is sent. This is the same way it works when you send a message starting with @silent. Default is “false” (disabled).

The “roles” arguments is the list of roles you want to mention, separated by spaces (if some of them contains spaces, you can use quotations “…” instead). If not specified, Axobot will ask you for the list. You can either use names or IDs, or put “none” to remove every mention.

Warning

For this command too, the bot needs “Embed Links” permission!

Change the text#

Syntax: rss set-text [feed ID] [new text]

This command is particularly useful if you want to change the text of an rss feed tracking, for example to have a customized text, or in your native language. Many tools are at your disposal (also known as variables) that allow an optimal personalization of the message. That’s right, we thought of you.

If the rss feed ID is not given, the bot will open a menu to select it. And for the text, if you have forgotten it, the bot will also ask you to know it, and will provide you the current text and a list of the usable variables.

Note

Available variables are:

  • {author}: the author of the post

  • {channel}: the channel name (usually the same as author)

  • {date}: the post date (UTC)

  • {link} or {url}: a link to the post

  • {logo}: an emoji representing the type of post (web, Twitter, YouTube…)

  • {mentions}: the list of mentioned roles

  • {title}: the title of the post

Warning

Hey guess what? For this command, the bot needs “Embed Links” permission!

Move a feed#

Syntax: rss move [feed ID] [new channel]

If you want to move an rss feed without having to delete it, recreate a new one and then reconfigure it, you can use this command. It can also be useful to configure a feed in a secret chat room, then reveal it to your entire server without having to temporarily close your chat!

If no identifier is given, the bot will ask you which one to modify. As for the channel, if you do not specify any, it will select the one in which you type the command.

Setup a feed embed#

Syntax: rss set-embed [feed ID] [use embed] or rss set-embed <feed ID> [use embed] <parameters>

Sometimes people want to have a lot of control over what is happening in the world. Since we are unable to offer it to them, we offer you a great control on the embeds sent by rss feeds. The first command allows you to enable the use of embed instead of classic text, the second one allows you to choose a title, a color and a custom footer.

For the first command, if you do not give the feed identifier or a boolean value, the bot will ask you for it. However, you must give it yourself for the second command (you can find it via the rss list command).

The syntax of the color/text customization parameters is the same as for the embed command, i.e. in the form key = "value", with the possible keys “color”, “footer” and “title”.

Delete a followed feed#

Syntax: rss remove [feed ID]

With this command, you can stop following an rss/minecraft feed. And it’s also very easy to use. Just one command and poof, we shut down the machinery.

The “feed ID” argument is the identifier of the feed (found with the command rss list). If you do not enter this argument, or if the feed can’t be found, the bot will open a menu where you can choose which feeds to delete.

Enable or disable a feed#

Syntax: rss enable [feed ID] or rss disable [feed ID]

Sometimes you may want to temporarily disable a feed, without actually deleting it. This command provides an easy way to do this, as the bot won’t post new messages from disabled feeds but will still allow you to re-enable it at any time.

This command can also be useful to re-enable a feed that has automatically been disabled by the bot, which can happens when you misconfigured it or if the website is down for too long.

The “feed ID” argument is the identifier of the feed (found with the command rss list). If you do not enter this argument, or if the feed can’t be found, the bot will open a menu where you can choose which feeds to enable/disable.

Warning

Disabled feeds still count in your server feed count, so disabling a feed won’t allow you to add more feeds if you have already hit the max count!

Reload every feed#

Syntax: rss reload

If your favorite youtube channel has just posted a new cool video, and the bot takes too long to post it in your specially designed living room, you can force it to refresh the list of your youtube, twitter and other websites, in addition to Minecraft servers. This command will allow you in a few seconds to be again at the top of the latest news!

Note

Note that to avoid lags, a 10-minute cooldown is active on this command.