Random Post Widget for Blogger

Random Post Widget for Blogger blogs. A simple way to display arbitrary posts from your blog's archives. This widget comes with loads of customizable options which can be easily configured using the Widget Generator found later. This is inspired from Aneesh Joseph's Random Post Gadget using the Blogger API. That gadget failed unexpectedly sometimes due very large iFrame URLs and the browser's incapability to render them. So I tweaked and converted it into a purely json based widget with no chance of that kind of failure occurring

Demo

Note : There is some problem with GoogleCode as of now which might have rendered the widget useless. To solve this problem , Open up the HTML/JavaScript widget and replace the following line

<script style='text/javascript' src='https://stylifyyourblog1.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/random.js'></script>

Change it with

<script style='text/javascript' >
//<![CDATA[
var postTitleOriginal,  myLink, myDiv, myImage;
var    main;

function getPost(json) {
var s;
    var entry = json.feed.entry[0];
    var postTitle = entry.title.$t;
    postTitleOriginal = postTitle;
    if (isNaN(titleLength) || titleLength == 0) {
        postTitle = '';
    }
    else if (postTitle.length > titleLength) postTitle = postTitle.substring(0, titleLength) + "...";
    var postUrl;
    for (var k = 0; k < entry.link.length; k++) {
        if (entry.link[k].rel == 'replies' && entry.link[k].type == 'text/html') {
            var commentText = entry.link[k].title;
            var commentUrl = entry.link[k].href;
        }
        if (entry.link[k].rel == 'alternate') {
            postUrl = entry.link[k].href;
            break;
        }
    }
    if (showThumbs == true) {
        var thumbUrl = "";
        try {
            thumbUrl = entry.media$thumbnail.url;
            if(imgDim=="80"||imgDim=="85"||imgDim=="90"||imgDim=="95"||imgDim=="100") thumbUrl = thumbUrl.replace("/s72-c/","/s104-c/");
        } catch (error) {
            if ("content" in entry) s = entry.content.$t; else s="";
            if (thumbUrl == "" && mediaThumbsOnly == false) {
                 regex = /http\:\/\/www\.youtube(-nocookie){0,1}\.com\/(v){0,1}(embed){0,1}\/(([^"&?' ]*))/;
                videoIds = s.match(regex);
                if (videoIds != null) {
                    videoId = videoIds[4];
                }
                if (videoIds != null && videoId != null) thumbUrl = "http://img.youtube.com/vi/" + videoId + "/2.jpg"
            }
            if (thumbUrl == "" && mediaThumbsOnly == false) {
                a = s.indexOf("<img");
                b = s.indexOf("src=\"", a);
                c = s.indexOf("\"", b + 5);
                d = s.substr(b + 5, c - b - 5);
                if ((a != -1) && (b != -1) && (c != -1) && (d != "")) thumbUrl = d;

            }

        }
        if (thumbUrl == "" && showNoImage == true) thumbUrl = 'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0o4Bkqy5lnPuucyXV2IOsmxpuEWcdaw2Bqx3q-f3X0BV_1FrYaGtQ54wSTzKX5V_vgKJaPhBGUG_xzP3UbV8Jol5tx9Ayt5Xd4N1QVvNFuDhWkRYJqodO3eUvqlUCP4U0GLqb1nag_SE/s400/noimage.png';
    } //end ifposthumbs
    if (showPostDate == true) {
        var postdate = entry.published.$t;
        var cdyear = postdate.substring(0, 4);
        var cdmonth = postdate.substring(5, 7);
        var cdday = postdate.substring(8, 10);
        var monthnames = new Array();
        monthnames[1] = "Jan";
        monthnames[2] = "Feb";
        monthnames[3] = "Mar";
        monthnames[4] = "Apr";
        monthnames[5] = "May";
        monthnames[6] = "Jun";
        monthnames[7] = "Jul";
        monthnames[8] = "Aug";
        monthnames[9] = "Sep";
        monthnames[10] = "Oct";
        monthnames[11] = "Nov";
        monthnames[12] = "Dec";
    } //end if date
    code = "";
        main = document.getElementById('stylify_random');
        myDiv = document.createElement('div');
        myDiv.setAttribute("class", "stylify_item_title");
         myDiv.style.clear="both";
    myDiv.style.marginTop="4px";
        myLink = createLink(postUrl,"_top",postTitleOriginal)
       
        if(postTitle != '')myDiv.appendChild(myLink);
        main.appendChild(myDiv);if(postTitle != '')myLink.innerHTML = postTitle;





    if (showThumbs == true && thumbUrl != "") {
        myImage = document.createElement('img');
        myImage.style.border = "3px solid transparent";
        myImage.style.margin = "5px";
myImage.style.boxShadow = "0 0 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3)";

        myImage.setAttribute("src", thumbUrl);
        myImage.style.cssFloat=imgFloat;
        myImage.style.styleFloat=imgFloat;
        //myImage.setAttribute("alt", postTitleOriginal);
        myImage.setAttribute("width", imgDim);
        //myImage.setAttribute("align", imgFloat);
        myImage.setAttribute("height", imgDim);
        myLink = document.createElement('a');
        myLink.setAttribute("href", postUrl+"?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=gadget&utm_campaign=stylify_random");
        myLink.setAttribute("target", "_top");
        myLink.setAttribute("title", postTitleOriginal);
        myLink.appendChild(myImage);

        myDiv = document.createElement('div');
        myDiv.setAttribute("class", "stylify_item_thumb");
        myDiv.appendChild(myLink);
        main.appendChild(myDiv);
    }




    try {
        if ("content" in entry) {
            var postContent = entry.content.$t;
        }
        else if ("summary" in entry) {
            var postContent = entry.summary.$t;
        }
        else var postContent = "";
        var re = /<\S[^>]*>/g;
        postContent = postContent.replace(re, "");


        if (showSummary == true) {
            myDiv = createDiv("stylify_item_summary");
           
                if (postContent.length < summaryLength) {myDiv.innerHTML=postContent;}
            else {
                postContent = postContent.substring(0, summaryLength);
                var quoteEnd = postContent.lastIndexOf(" ");
                postContent = postContent.substring(0, quoteEnd);
                myDiv.innerHTML=postContent + '...';
            }

            main.appendChild(myDiv);
        }
    } //end try
    catch (error) {}

    myDiv =  createDiv("stylify_item_meta");
    myDiv.style.clear="both";
    myDiv.style.marginBottom="4px";

    var flag = 0;
    if (showPostDate == true) {
        myDiv.appendChild(document.createTextNode(monthnames[parseInt(cdmonth, 10)] + '-' + cdday + '-' + cdyear));
        flag = 1;
    }

    if (showCommentCount == true) {
        if (flag == 1) {
            myDiv.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" | "));
        }
        if (commentText == '1 Comments') commentText = '1 Comment';
        if (commentText == '0 Comments') commentText = 'No Comments';
        var myLink = createLink(commentUrl,"_top",commentText + " on " + postTitleOriginal)
        myDiv.appendChild(myLink);
        myLink.innerHTML=commentText;
        flag = 1;;
    }

    if (showReadMore == true) {
        if (flag == 1) {
            myDiv.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" | "));
        }
        var myLink = createLink(postUrl,"_top",postTitleOriginal)
        myDiv.appendChild(myLink);
        myLink.innerHTML = readMore+" &raquo;";
        flag = 1;;
    }



    if (flag == 1 || showSummary || postTitle != "") main.appendChild(myDiv);
    gadgets.window.adjustHeight();

}

function getRandom(json) {
 var feedUrl = '/feeds/posts/default';
    if (mediaThumbsOnly||!showThumbs) feedUrl = feedUrl.replace("posts/default", "posts/summary");
    totalPosts = parseInt(json.feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t);
    var rand = [];
    if (numberOfPosts > totalPosts) numberOfPosts = totalPosts;
    if (numberOfPosts > 15) numberOfPosts = 15;
    while (rand.length < numberOfPosts) {
        var randomNumber = Math.ceil(Math.random() * totalPosts);
        var found = false;
        for (var i = 0; i < rand.length; i++) {
            if (rand[i] == randomNumber) {
                found = true;
                break;
            }
        }
        if (!found) rand[rand.length] = randomNumber;
    }
    var head = document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || document.documentElement;

    for (var i = 0; i < rand.length; i++) {

        script = document.createElement("script");
        script.src = feedUrl + "?start-index=" + rand[i] + "&max-results=1&alt=json-in-script&callback=getPost";
        script.charSet = "utf-8";
        head.appendChild(script);
    }

       

}
function createDiv(className)
{
var myDiv = document.createElement('div');
myDiv.setAttribute("class", className);

return myDiv;
}


function createLink(href,target,title)
{

var myLink = document.createElement('a');
if(href.substring(href.length-13,href.length)=="#comment-form")
href= href.substring(0,href.length-13)+"?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=gadget&utm_campaign=stylify_random"+"#comment-form";
else if(href.indexOf("?utm_source=")==-1) href=href+"?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=gadget&utm_campaign=stylify_random";
myLink.setAttribute("href", href);
        myLink.setAttribute("target", target);
        myLink.setAttribute("title", title);
       

return myLink;
}

//]]>

</script>

Features

Easy to customize

Cross-browser Support

Configurable number of displayed Posts

Enable or Disable Image from post

Default Fallback Image for Imageless Posts

Control over Summary length

Displays Date and Comment link under Summary

Changeable Read More Link's Text

Widget Generator
Change the settings as per your needs and click the Add Widget to My Blog button

Some Tips

To make it look even more engaging to your readers, you can label it as "Posts being Viewed Currently" . It will make your readers believe that other people are viewing these posts and will drive more traffic to those posts.

After adding the widget you can simply change the settings from the Layout Tab itself or you can create another widget from the above Widget Generator and add it to your blog again. Make sure to delete the previous widget in that case.

If you Liked this Widget, Please Share it with fellow Blogger users.

Please leave your opinions and suggestions so that we can make this widget even better. Feel free to share any problem you face while using it so that we can solve it at the earliest

Written by Prayag Verma

Find me on Twitter

Number of posts	:
Maximum title Length	: char
Show Thumbnail	:
Show Default Thumbnail	:(When no image)
Thumbnail Dimension	: px
Float Thumbnail to	:
Thumbnail Margin	:
Show summary	:
Summary size	: char
Show post date	:
Show Comment Number	:
Show Read more Link	:
Read More Text	:

Random Post Widget for Blogger

Written by Prayag Verma

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