Auto-Update Help

Tools exist to prepare news items offline and then upload them to the website automatically. Refer to the office for details. A validation code is required by the upload tool, which allows it to modify prescribed direct fields without the user needing to be specifically authorised.

Create a news item with headline upload - nothing else (at this stage).
When you submit as draft, a validation code will be issued, which allows an offline tool to update the news item.
Then you can edit the news item and leave it as draft or make it live as you wish.
The validation code has an expiry date and cannot be renewed.

Technical Notes

/members/uploadxml.asp accepts a form file upload, which must be an XML file with a root node called newsReport. XML nodes and attributes are:

newsReport
- Attribute uploaderVersion - > 1.0
- #comment - ignored
- newsItem
  - Attribute author - name (matching a Croquet England Directory entry)
  - Attribute newsId - news item ID
  - Attribute validationCode - validation code issued by administrator and time-limited (see above)
  - Attribute isDraft - Y = don't show to the public
  - #comment - ignored
  - heading - text
  - classification - one of the news classification names
  - venue - Must match a club or organisation name in the Croquet England Directory
  - entryDate - normally set automatically to the upload date
  - itemDates - a text field that shows the tournament dates, e.g. "3-6 April" as distinct from the news item submission date
  - details - payload
    - Attribute detailsIsHTML - Y if HTML payload, N otherwise
    - Attribute detailsAppend - append, rather than replace payload
    - #comment - ignored
    - #cdata-section - the details payload

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<newsReport uploaderVersion="1">
  <newsItem newsId="4709" validationCode="A7F39037B16377A6373D3160026722D8A229644" author="Dave Kibble" isDraft="y">
    <heading>Chairman's Salver Report</heading>
    <classification>Championships</classification>
    <venue>East Dorset LT &amp; CC</venue>
    <entryDate>2014-06-30</entryDate>
    <itemDates>6-9 Sep 2013</itemDates>
    <details detailsIsHTML="y">
	  <![CDATA[
        <h3>Last updated at 19:45 on 30/06/14</h3><p>This is the report</p>
      ]]>
	</details>
  </newsItem>
</newsReport>