Removed dependency on YQL – Yahoo Query Language

On Thursday July 24th the YQL facility for pulling from RSS feeds went down. NiftyGridZPro was using it to get the data from Zazzle to build its grids and it started to work only intermittently as a result.

Many of you noticed right away, as did we. We were working on an enhancement at the time and testing suddenly started returning no results. Once we identified it was YQL at fault, we immediately got to work writing our own feed-pulling and manipulation code.

New plugin zip files for NiftyGridZPro were sent out to everyone as we progressed, so making sure your sites were partially fixed as soon as possible.

We finished everything by the 30th with a final, fully functional and tested replacement sent out to everyone.

Enhancements were also included:

  • Default grid fallback file is now called default-fallback-grid.html and is included in the fallback folder
  • There’s been some slight changes to testing fallback grids. All you need do now is use mimic_zazzle_down=1 without using a search_term and that’ll force your specified fallback_filename to be displayed. Remember to remove mimic_zazzle_down after you’re done testing.
  • We’ve fixed the product_background_color so you can now use a # in front, making it consistent with all other color settings. It’ll work both with and without, so there’s no need to change anything in previous posts / pages

Enjoy 🙂

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HightonRidley

Mark Ridley is semi-retired and followed a career as a freelance business analyst. He has delivered business requirements resulting in many successful, high-profile projects for the private and public sectors, including the merging of the then Customs & Excise and Inland Revenue Inward Payment Systems into a single integrated system for the new HMRC. He now develops free-to-use online tools for artists and designers, helping them promote their designs on social media.

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