'Highlight New CNN Headlines' Conditions Tutorial

AlchemyPoint 'conditions' are user-definable mashups that can be re-combined with 'actions' (also mashups) to create an endless variety of useful web manipulations. AlchemyPoint comes pre-loaded with hundreds of actions ("delete this", "bold text", "translate to german", etc.) and conditions ("in the morning", "if language is X", etc.), and provides mechanisms for users to build and share their own mashup commands, actions, and conditions.

In this example, we're combining a single 'action' ("highlight text") with a 'condition' ("if it is new"), and applying the result to the news website: CNN.COM

This combination of two mashups ("highlight text" + "if it is new") instructs AlchemyPoint to highlight CNN news headlines that the user hasn't seen before. Memory-based highlighting allows an individual to quickly identify news articles they haven't read before, a useful capability. This is one of billions of potential examples of "compound mashups" (made up of mashup 'actions' and 'conditions' in combination).

1. Open your Web Browser to www.cnn.com.

2. Click the Orchestr8 icon in your web browser navigation toolbar, and select "Customize this Page!".

The AlchemyPoint toolbar will now appear, and the web browser will refresh in "Page Edit Mode".

3. Click the "Actions" pulldown menu, and select "Page Formatting"->"Text Manipulation"->"Highlight".

The Web Browser will now enter "Content Selection Mode". Web page elements will become highlighted as you drag your computer mouse across the Browser window.

4. Highlight the first CNN headline in the "Latest News" area with your mouse, and click to select it.

A pop-up options display will appear at the bottom of your web browser window, offering the ability to switch between single and multi-select mode:

4. Click the "Multi Select" button.

The other CNN headlines in the "Latest News" area will then automatically become highlighted:

The "Actions" menu in the AlchemyPoint toolbar automatically transforms into a "Conditions" menu once you've made a valid webpage selection.

5. Click the "Conditions" pulldown menu, and select "Selected Content"->"Database"->"If It Is New".

The "completed" mashup command will now appear as below:

5. Click the "Do It!" button, or press the [Enter] key.

The webpage will now refresh. All CNN "Latest News" headlines will be highlighted, since AlchemyPoint is applying the "if it is new" condition for the first time to the selected content:

Subsequent visits to CNN.COM will see highlighting applied to only the news headlines that are appearing for the first time ever (a "new story"). Headlines can even change position on the page, and AlchemyPoint will continue to properly track them:

And that's it! A useful 'compound' mashup that can be created in less than 30 seconds. The "if it is new" condition can be utilized in combination with any other AlchemyPoint actions or conditions to create a vast variety of "memory-based" (database-backed) mashups.