Polybar-news

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

Table of Contents

• Polybar-news
  • Table of Contents
  • Dependencies
  • Setup Instructions
  • Contributing
  • License

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.