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Polybar-news

A module to display the latest news on Polybar and i3blocks from multiple sources.

Polybar-news

Table of Contents

Dependencies

  • requests - Python requests
  • zscroll - For Polybar text scrolling (optional)
  • scroll - For i3blocks text scrolling (optional)

Setup Instructions

  1. Clone the repository

  2. Set up a Python environment and install dependencies (optional but recommended)

    # Create the environment
python -m venv /path/to/environment

# Activate the environment
source /path/to/environment/bin/activate

# Install the dependencies
pip install requests
    *Note: If you don't want to use a Python virtual environment, you can install the dependencies globally with pip install requests, but be aware this might conflict with other Python software on your system.

  3. Create a config.py file in the root of the project folder. You can use the following examples as a template depending on the news source you want to use.

    For Hackernews:

    news_source = "hackernews" 

# Number of news articles to fetch
number_news = 5

    For NewsAPI:

    news_source = "newsapi" 

# Number of news articles to fetch
number_news = 5

# Register at NewsAPI.org to receive your API key.
api_key = "<your_api_key_here>" 

# Configure your desired news sources. 
# For available options, refer to NewsAPI.org/sources.

sources = "<your_desired_sources_here>"

# Configure your desired country. 
# Note: You can only filter either by sources or country. (leave one empty "")
country = "<your_desired_country_here>"

  4. Add the following modules to your Polybar or i3blocks configuration file. Be sure to replace /path/to/environment and /path/to/polybar-news with your own paths.

    Polybar Modules

    ; Fetches news from API and saves it into articles.json
[module/news-fetcher]
type = custom/script
exec = /path/to/environment/bin/python /path/to/polybar-news/news_fetcher.py
; This module runs every 900 seconds (15 minutes) if the news source is NewsAPI due to its API limit of 100 calls per day for free tier accounts
interval = 900

; Rotates through the list of news articles in articles.json 
; and saves the current article's title and URL in separate text files
; This module runs every X seconds to change the displayed article
[module/news-rotator]
type = custom/script
interval = 60
exec = /path/to/environment/bin/python /path/to/polybar-news/news_rotator.py

; Displays the current news article title
; Refreshes every second to ensure updated information is displayed 
; On left click, opens the current article's URL in the default web browser
[module/news-display]
type = custom/script
tail = true
interval = 1
format-prefix = ""
format = <label>
label-padding = 1
label-maxlen = 50
exec = /path/to/polybar-news/print_current_article.sh
click-left = < /path/to/polybar-news/current_article_url.txt xargs -I % xdg-open %

    i3Blocks

    # Fetches news from API and saves it into articles.json
[news-fetcher]
command=/path/to/environment/bin/python /path/to/polybar-news/news_fetcher.py
interval=900
separator=false

# Rotates through the list of news articles in articles.json
# and saves the current article's title and URL in separate text files
# This module runs every X seconds to change the displayed article
[news-rotator]
command=/path/to/environment/bin/python /path/to/polybar-news/news_rotator.py
interval=60
separator=false

# Displays the current news article title
# Refreshes every second to ensure updated information is displayed
# On left click, opens the current article's URL in the default web browser
[news-display]
command=path/to/polybar-news/print_current_article.sh
interval=1
separator=true
markup=pango
label= 
command=if [ $button ]; then xdg-open "$(cat /path/to/polybar-news/current_article_url.txt)"; else $HOME/.config/i3/i3blocks/scroll path/to/polybar-news/print_current_article.sh; fi

  5. Text Scrolling (Optional)

    Polybar

    1. Install zscroll

    2. Modify the news-display module in your Polybar configuration file to use the scroll_current_article.sh script:

      [module/news-display]
...
exec = /path/to/polybar-news/scroll_current_article.sh
...

    i3blocks

    1. Download the scroll script:

      curl -o ~/.config/i3blocks/scroll https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Anachron/i3blocks/master/blocks/scroll

    2. Make the scroll script executable:

      chmod +x ~/.config/i3blocks/scroll

    3. Modify the news-display module in your i3blocks configuration file to use the scroll script and print_current_article.sh script:

      [news-display]
command=~/.config/i3blocks/scroll /path/to/polybar-news/print_current_article.sh
interval=1
separator=true
markup=pango
label= 
command=if [ $button ]; then xdg-open "$(cat /path/to/polybar-news/current_article_url.txt)"; else $HOME/.config/i3/i3blocks/scroll path/to/polybar-news/print_current_article.sh; fi

Contributing

Contributions are always welcome! Feel free to open a pull request to contribute code, or create an issue to report a bug or suggest a new feature.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.