Autopilot

In this section, you will learn about the parsing process using the Autopilot feature.

To parse articles automatically using the Autopilot feature in the News Parser plugin, please follow the steps below.

The autopilot function is now available to automatically parse posts from an RSS feed. Please note that the WordPress cron system (wp-cron - https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/) is used for scheduling the autopilot function. WP-Cron triggers the task scheduler only when your website receives a visit. If you experience any issues with the autopilot function not running as expected, you can add the following line to your wp-config.php file: define('ALTERNATE_WP_CRON', true); This can sometimes improve the reliability of WP-Cron.

To configure the autopilot settings, please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Autopilot Tab: Go to the admin panel of your website and navigate to News Parser -> Autopilot. This will open the Autopilot settings page.

2. Select the RSS Source: In the Schedule Options section, choose the URL that corresponds to the RSS source you want to parse articles from. Click on the Select button next to the desired RSS source URL.

3. Load the Data: Once you've selected the source, the data will be loaded, and you will see the available autopilot configuration options below.

4. Configure Autopilot Settings: Adjust the following settings to customize the autopilot behavior for this source:

   • Status: Use the dropdown to choose whether you want to activate (Enable) or deactivate (Disable) the autopilot for this specific RSS source.

   • Maximum Number of Posts: Enter a number to set the maximum number of posts you want to parse in a single autopilot run from this source.

   • Maximum Number of Autopilot Runs: Specify the total number of times the autopilot should run for this source before it automatically stops. Leave this empty or set to a very high number if you want the autopilot to run indefinitely.

   • Parsing Frequency: Define how often parsing should occur from this source using the dropdown menu. You can set intervals like hourly, daily, twice daily, etc.

   • Use Original Post Creation Date: Enable this option (checkbox checked) to use the original publication date from the source post as the creation date for your parsed post. If disabled (checkbox unchecked), the post will be dated with the time it is parsed and published on your site.

   • Filter Type: Choose the type of filtering condition to apply using the dropdown menu. Available options are Include and Exclude. This determines whether the following filter will include posts that match the expression or exclude posts that match it.

   • Filter Object: Determine which post parameter will be used as the object for filtering rules using the dropdown menu. You can select from these options:

     • URL: Filter based on the URL of the source post.

     • Title: Filter based on the title of the source post.

     • Meta: Filter based on meta data from the source post.

   • Filtering Expression: Define the words or phrases to be used for filtering in the text area.

     • OR Logic: Separate words with | (pipe symbol) to create an OR condition. For example: apple|grape (includes/excludes posts with "apple" OR "grape", depending on Filter Type).

     • AND Logic: Separate words with & (ampersand symbol) to create an AND condition. For example: apple&grape (includes/excludes posts with "apple" AND "grape", depending on Filter Type).

     Important: Meta Filtering: If 'Meta' is selected as the Filter Object, you will need to specify the name attribute of the <meta> tag in the Filtering Expression field. The filtering will then be applied to the content attribute of the specified meta tag. For example, to filter based on a meta tag like <meta name="category" content="technology">, you would enter category in the Filtering Expression field when 'Meta' is selected as the 'Filter Object'.

5. (Optional) Delete Parsing Templates: In the Schedule Options section, you also have the option to delete any previously saved parsing templates associated with the selected RSS source if needed.

6. (Optional) Watch the Tutorial: To further understand how to use the Autopilot feature, you can watch a short video tutorial (if available) that demonstrates its usage with the News Parser plugin.

Pro Tip: Using URL Tags for Targeted Autopilot Templates

To create different autopilot configurations and parsing templates for various types of content within the same RSS feed, you can utilize URL tags. Here's how:

• Tag Your RSS URLs: When adding RSS URLs to your News Parser sources, append a unique tag to the end of the URL using a hash symbol (#). For example, if your base RSS feed URL is https://example.com/rss, you could create tagged URLs like:

  • https://example.com/rss#tech (for technology-related posts)

  • https://example.com/rss#sports (for sports-related posts)

  • https://example.com/rss#news (for general news posts)

• Create Specific Templates for Tagged URLs: After adding these tagged RSS URLs, use the Visual Constructor to create separate parsing templates for each tagged URL. For instance, when you are working with https://example.com/rss#tech, create a template specifically designed to parse technology-related articles from that source. Do the same for #sports and #news, tailoring the templates to the expected content structure for each tag. Remember to save these templates while the corresponding tagged URL is selected in the Visual Constructor.

• Configure Autopilot for Tagged URLs: In the Autopilot section, you will see each tagged URL listed as a separate source. You can then configure individual autopilot settings (frequency, limits, filtering, etc.) for each tagged URL. Crucially, when you configure the autopilot for a tagged URL (like https://example.com/rss#tech), the plugin will automatically use the parsing template you created specifically for that tagged URL.

• Combine with Filtering Rules: For even more refined control, you can combine URL tagging and template-specific parsing with the filtering rules described above. For example, you could have a #tech tagged URL with a template for tech articles AND set filtering rules to only include posts with titles containing specific technology keywords.

By using URL tags and creating dedicated templates for each tag, you can significantly enhance the flexibility and accuracy of your autopilot parsing, ensuring that different types of content from the same RSS feed are processed and formatted according to their specific characteristics.

By following these steps, you can effectively configure the Autopilot settings in the News Parser plugin to automatically parse articles from your chosen RSS feeds, with options for scheduling, content limits, date handling, and filtering.