{"id":143,"date":"2005-11-11T17:54:25","date_gmt":"2005-11-11T22:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/?p=143"},"modified":"2019-02-15T20:56:02","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T01:56:02","slug":"wordpress-plugin-recent-love-a-list-of-recent-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ronrothman.com\/public\/leftbraned\/wordpress-plugin-recent-love-a-list-of-recent-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress Plugin: Recent Love (A List of Recent Comments)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nPlugin Name:<\/span>Recent Love<\/span><\/div>\n
\nPlugin Author:<\/span>Ron Rothman<\/span><\/div>\n
\nDescription:<\/span>Presents a list of recent comments, one comment per post.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nLatest Version:<\/span>0.5 (Updated April 4, 2007)<\/span><\/div>\n
\nDownload:<\/span>txt<\/a> phps<\/a> zip<\/a><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

A few months ago, I wanted to display a list of recent comments in my blog’s sidebar. After searching through the countless plugins which return lists of comments, I finally decided on Scott Reilly’s Top\/Recent Commenters<\/a> plug-in.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I had to tweak Scott’s code to get it to work the way I wanted. One tweak led to another (you know how it is) until I finally just scrapped the original code and rolled my own. (You can see it in action on my blog’s front page<\/a>.)
\n<\/p>\n

What It Does<\/h3>\n

Adds template function:<\/p>\n

rr_recent_comments ($num_recent_posts = 5, $before = '<li>', $after = '<\/li>')\n<\/pre>\n
rr_recent_comments()<\/code> returns a list of recent comments.<\/p>\n
When invoked with no parameters, it returns a list of the latest comment from each of the most recent 5 posts.  Only one comment (the most recent one) per post is listed.<\/p>\n
By default, any comments made by the author of the post are not<\/em> included in the list.  (This behaviour can be configurably modified.)  Long post titles are truncated to a length which you can configure.  Trackbacks and pingbacks are not included in the list by default.<\/p>\n
You can exlcude certain posters, based on various criteria (author email, author name, etc.).  This is helpful, for example, to exclude yourself from the list.<\/p>\n
How to Install It<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Requirements: WordPress 1.5 or greater (verified to work on 1.5.2, 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.2, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.3.2, 2.3.3, 2.5.1, 2.6.0, 2.6.1, 2.7, 2.8.x, 2.9.1, 2.9.2)<\/li>\n
  2. Download the plugin file<\/a>, and put it file in your WordPress plugin directory, wp-content\/plugins<\/code>.  (Make sure to name it rr_recent_love<\/code>.php<\/code><\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  3. Enable the plugin in the WordPress Plugin Admin panel.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    How to Use It<\/h3>\n
    Just insert the following call into your theme files, wherever you want the comment list to appear (e.g., sidebar.php<\/code>):<\/p>\n
    <ul class='recent_comments'>\n    <?php echo rr_recent_comments(); ?>\n<\/ul>\n<\/pre>\n
    You can customize your list two ways: tag parameters and global config options.<\/p>\n
    Parameters<\/h4>\n
    rr_recent_comments()<\/code> takes three parameters, all of which are optional.<\/p>\n
      \n
    1. $num_recent_posts<\/code>\n
      The [maximum] number of comments to display.
      \nDefault<\/i>: 5<\/li>\n
    2. $before<\/code>\n
      The text to display before each comment.
      \nDefault<\/i>: ‘<li>’<\/li>\n
    3. $after<\/code>\n
      The text to display after each comment.
      \nDefault<\/i>: ‘<\/li>’<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      Configuration Options<\/h4>\n
      The behaviour of rr_recent_comments()<\/code> can be customized on a global basis by editing some values in the plugin file, rr_recent_comments.php<\/code>.  With the possible exception of $max_title_length<\/code>, most installations will probably not need to futz with these, but they’re there if you want ’em.<\/p>\n