Threaded Movable Type MultiBlog with Posts Clustered and Alternated by Date (squidBits)

Yesterday evening, I put into place the final code to generate the posts on this main page. The features of this code are

It’s threaded!
The CSS for each blog is independent.
A minimum number of posts for can be specfied for the main blog.
A maximum number of posts can be specified for the secondary blog.

The code:

<$mt:Var name="Initial" value="true"$>
<$mt:Var name="OutputEntries" value="0"$>
<$mt:Var name="LastEntryCreatedDate" value="0"$>

<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="false"$>
<$mt:Var name="bits_offset" value="0"$>
<$mt:Var name="CompareBitsEntryCreatedDate" value="0"$>
<$mt:Var name="LastBitsEntryCreatedDate" value="0"$>
<$mt:Var name="ThisBitsEntryCreatedDate" value="0"$>

<$mt:Var name="blog_offset" value="0"$>
<$mt:Var name="CompareBlogEntryCreatedDate" value="0"$>

<mt:MultiBlog>

<mt:For var="iterations" start="0" end="50" step="1">

<mt:Unless name="OutputEntries" eq="12">
	
			<mt:Entries blog_ids="5" lastn="1" offset="$blog_offset" sort_order="descend">
				<mt:SetVarBlock name="DateHolder"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y%m%d%H%M%S"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
				<$mt:Var name="CompareBlogEntryCreatedDate" value="$DateHolder"$>
			</mt:Entries>
	
			<mt:Entries blog_ids="15" lastn="1" offset="$bits_offset" sort_order="descend">
				<mt:SetVarBlock name="DateHolder"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y%m%d"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
				<$mt:Var name="ThisBitsEntryCreatedDate" value="$DateHolder"$>
	
				<mt:SetVarBlock name="DateHolder"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y%m%d%H%M%S"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
				<$mt:Var name="CompareBitsEntryCreatedDate" value="$DateHolder"$>
			</mt:Entries>
	
			
			
			<mt:If name="bits_offset" le="13">

<mt:If name="CompareBitsEntryCreatedDate" ge="$CompareBlogEntryCreatedDate">
	
					<mt:Entries include_blogs="15" lastn="1" offset="$bits_offset" sort_order="descend">
	
						<mt:If name="Initial" eq="false">
							<mt:If name="LastBitsEntryCreatedDate" ne="$ThisBitsEntryCreatedDate">

<mt:If name="inbits" eq="true">
									<p class="bits_to_top"><a href="#top"><img src="/images/article_end.jpg" alt="end of article" width="14" height="15" /></a></p>
									<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="false"$>
								</mt:If>

</div>
							</mt:If>
						<mt:Else>
							<$mt:Var name="Initial" value="false"$>
						</mt:If>

<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="true"$>

<mt:If name="LastBitsEntryCreatedDate" ne="$ThisBitsEntryCreatedDate">
							<div class="squidbits">
								<h2 class="date-header"><$mt:EntryDate format="%A, %e %B %Y"$></h2>
						</mt:If>
		
						<$mt:Include module="Entry Header"$>
						<div class="squidbits-meta"><h2 class="entry_squidbits-title"><mt:If tag="entrydataentryurl"><a href="<mt:entrydataentryurl>" rel="bookmark"><$mt:EntryTitle$></a><mt:Else><$mt:EntryTitle$></mt:If></h2>
							<p class="entry_squidbits-header">
								posted at <a href="<$mt:EntryPermalink$>" rel="bookmark"><$MTEntryDate format="%X"$></a> <mt:If tag="entrydataviaurl">(<a href="<mt:entrydataviaurl>">via</a>)</mt:If><MTIfCommentsActive> | <a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>#comments">Comments (<$MTEntryCommentCount$>)</a></MTIfCommentsActive>
							</p></div>
							<$mt:Include module="Entry Body"$>
							<$mt:Include module="squidbits Entry Footer"$>
	
							<$mt:Var name="bits_offset" op="+" value="1" setvar="bits_offset"$>

<mt:SetVarBlock name="DateHolder"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y%m%d"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
							<$mt:Var name="LastBitsEntryCreatedDate" value="$DateHolder"$>

<mt:SetVarBlock name="DateHolder"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y%m%d%H%M%S"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
							<$mt:Var name="CompareBitsEntryCreatedDate" value="$DateHolder"$>
					</mt:Entries>				
		
				<mt:Else>
		
					<mt:Entries include_blogs="5" lastn="1" offset="$blog_offset" sort_order="descend">

<mt:If name="Initial" eq="false">

<mt:If name="inbits" eq="true">
								<p class="bits_to_top"><a href="#top"><img src="/images/article_end.jpg" alt="end of article" width="14" height="15" /></a></p>
								<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="false"$>
							</mt:If>
							</div>

<mt:Else>
							<$mt:Var name="Initial" value="false"$>
						</mt:If>
	
							<div class="mistersquid_blog">

<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="false"$>

<$mt:Include module="Entry Header"$>
								<h2 class="entry-header"><$mt:EntryTitle$></h2>
								<p class="date-header"><$mt:EntryDate format="%A, %e %B %Y"$></p>
								<$mt:Include module="Entry Body"$>
								<$mt:Include module="Entry Footer"$>
	
								<mt:SetVarBlock name="ArchivePointer"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y/%m/"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
			
								<$mt:Var name="blog_offset" op="+" value="1" setvar="blog_offset"$>
			
								<mt:SetVarBlock name="DateHolder"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y%m%d%H%M%S"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
								<$mt:Var name="CompareBlogEntryCreatedDate" value="$DateHolder"$>
								
							<$mt:Var name="OutputEntries" op="+" value="1" setvar="OutputEntries"$>

</mt:Entries>
				
				</mt:If>
	
			<mt:Else>
	
				<mt:Entries include_blogs="5" lastn="1" offset="$blog_offset" sort_order="descend">
	
					<mt:If name="Initial" eq="false">
						<mt:If name="inbits" eq="true">
							<p class="bits_to_top"><a href="#top"><img src="/images/article_end.jpg" alt="end of article" width="14" height="15" /></a></p>
							<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="false"$>
						</mt:If>
						</div>
					<mt:Else>
						<$mt:Var name="Initial" value="false"$>
					</mt:If>
	
						<div class="mistersquid_blog">

<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="false"$>

<$mt:Include module="Entry Header"$>
							<h2 class="entry-header"><$mt:EntryTitle$></h2>
							<p class="date-header"><$mt:EntryDate format="%A, %e %B %Y"$></p>
		
							<$mt:Include module="Entry Body"$>
							<$mt:Include module="Entry Footer"$>
							<mt:SetVarBlock name="ArchivePointer"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y/%m/"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
		
							<$mt:Var name="blog_offset" op="+" value="1" setvar="blog_offset"$>
		
							<mt:SetVarBlock name="DateHolder"><$mt:EntryDate format="%Y%m%d%H%M%S"$></mt:SetVarBlock>
							<$mt:Var name="CompareBlogEntryCreatedDate" value="$DateHolder"$>
	
							<$mt:Var name="OutputEntries" op="+" value="1" setvar="OutputEntries"$>
	
				</mt:Entries>
	
			</mt:If>
	
		</mt:Unless>
	
	</mt:For>

<mt:If name="inbits" eq="true">
		<p class="bits_to_top"><a href="#top"><img src="/images/article_end.jpg" alt="end of article" width="14" height="15" /></a></p>
		<$mt:Var name="inbits" value="false"$>
	</mt:If>

</div>

</mt:MultiBlog>

I think the code is simple enough and the variables descriptive enough that the code doesn’t really need documentation. The code is unquestionably a hack, but it’s a hack that works and one of the consequences is a feature in the joint. Update »20100524« with bug fixes.

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Threaded Movable Type MultiBlog with Posts Clustered and Alternated by Date

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