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@@ -38,18 +38,39 @@ Category: General
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2 News File Format
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==================
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News items have a specific plain-text format, which can be seen in this file.
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The file begins with a set of headers that describe certain attributes of the
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news, followed by the news content and an optional footer.
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The news file has a specific plain-text format, which can be seen in this file.
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2.1 Header And Footer
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---------------------
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2.1 General Layout
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------------------
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These headers include:
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The news file contains one or more news items. Each news item begins with
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a header section describing the news item, followed by a content section
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containing the actual news content. At the end of the last news item is an
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optional footer section.
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2.1 Header
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----------
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Each news item begins with a standardised header section describing it. A
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range of header items are supported.
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These include:
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- PublishDate: The date and time on which the news item was published. This
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is used by clients to determine which news items have been released since
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the user last checked the news. This is always in UTC.
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the user last checked the news. This is always in UTC, and is formatted
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as: YYYY-MM-DD HH:NN:SS
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where:
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* YYYY is the current year.
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* MM is the current month number, with a leading 0 if less than 10.
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* DD is the current day of the month, with a leading 0 if less than 10.
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* HH is the current hour of the day, between 0-24, with a leading 0 if
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less than 10.
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* NN is the current minute of the hour, between 0-59, with a leading 0 if
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less than 10.
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* SS is the current second of the minute, between 0-59, with a leading 0
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if less than 10.
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- Title: The title of the news item.
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@@ -84,8 +105,8 @@ Category: General
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2.2 Content
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-----------
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Between the header and footer is the actual news content that is shown to the
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user. This section can be formatted in any way you prefer; any plaintext is
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Following the header is the actual news content that is shown to the user.
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This section can be formatted in any way you prefer; any plaintext is
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acceptable. This news file has been formated in a particular way to provide
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example formatting that you may wish to use. It features a page header,
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section and sub-section headings, and list formatting. All paragraphs
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@@ -101,10 +122,30 @@ Category: General
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as they are using the ropkg commands, and 80 cells is the standard width for
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terminal displays.
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Don't forget that, if your text editor supports in-line formatting directives
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like vim, you can store these directives in the page footer so that they
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aren't shown to the user.
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The end of the news content is marked by two line feed characters, followed
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by five asterisk characters. If this is the last news item in the file, no
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end marker is required; the end of the file implicitly marks the end of the
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final news item.
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*****
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2.3 Footer
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----------
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The footer is an optional part of the news file, located at the very end. It
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can be used for data that shouldn't be shown to the user. For example, if you
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use vim to write your news files, you can include vim in-line formatting
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directives in the footer to make writing the news file easier, without them
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being visible to the user.
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Of course, it is up to the program displaying the news item to respect these
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visibility rules, so while the data in the footer is (ideall) not visible, it
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is still always public.
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To add a footer to your news file, use a footer marker at the end of the last
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news item in the file. The footer marker is the same as the content end
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marker (two linefeeds, followed by five asterisks), but with an additional
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exclamation mark immediately following the fifth asterisk.
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*****!
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vim: shiftwidth=3 expandtab
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