Sermons API

by Skyler Katz | Last edited: 3/26/2021

Display: auto

See the sermons overview to see how to setup sermons with display:auto. Also check out the global monklet 'All Sermons' to see a working example.

The same show tags and parameters are available with display:auto as with display:list and detail. To differentiate between them, show tags will need to be modified:

display:list

  • before_show = before_show_list
  • after_show = after_show_list
  • group_show = group_show_list
  • show = show_list

Display:detail

  • show = show_detail

Display mode: list

Show

before_show, after_show

Here are the tags available to before_show and after_show in sermon list:

Tag Description
__pagination__ Divides the records into smaller groups and provides links to navigate through them
__sermonlisturl__ Gives the URL for the main sermon list. Defaults to /sermons/ if sermons aren't set in the nav.
__headerdescription__ Displays the description entered in the sermon settings page
__totalpossible__ The total number of records that would be returned if pagination, limit, and offset were not used.
__totalreturned__ The total number of records returned by this request.
__sermonrootword__ Displays the Sermon Root word from the Sermon Settings Screen - Default is "Sermon"
show

Here are the tags available to show in sermon list:

Tag Description
__title__ outputs the sermon title
__slug__ the URL safe version of the title
__titlelink__ creates a link with the title as the text
__sermonlisturl__ Gives the URL for the main sermon list. Defaults to /sermons/ if sermons aren't set in the nav.
__url__ relative path, looks like "/sermon/slug"
__text__ Full content from the wysiwyg editor
__summary__  
__preview__ A shortened version of the text. HTML is stripped. Defaults to be no more than 250 characters. Can be specified with __perview limit='120'__  Uses the description if no summary is available.
__passage__ passage assigned to the sermon
__passageslug__ A URL safe version of the passage
__passagelink__ A full link to sermons with that passage. Creates two links, one to only the book and another to the book and verse
__passagebook__ Just the book of the passage
__passagebooklink__ A link to sermons with that book
__passagebookslug__ A URL safe version of the book
__passageverse__ The passage without the book
__passageverselink__ A link to sermons with the same verse
__passages__ comma seperated list of passages assigned to the sermon
__passageslugs__ comma seperated list of URL safe versions of the passages
__passagelinks__ A comma seperated list of full links to sermons with those passages. Creates two links, one to only the book and another to the book and verse
__passagebooks__ A comma seperated list of just the book of the passages
__passagebooklinks__ A comma seperated list of links to sermons with those book
__passagebookslugs__ A comma seperated list of URL safe versions of the books
__passageverses__ A comma seperated list of the passages without the books
__passageverselinks__ A comma seperated list of links to sermons with the same verses
__group__ comma separated list of group names
__groupslug__ slug of an associated group
__series__ the title of the series for the article
__seriesslug__ the slug of the series
__serieslink__ The url of the series page
__seriestitlelink__ A link to the series page
__seriesdescription__
__seriesimage__ URL of the series' image
__seriesimagethumb__ URL of the series' image thumbnail
__category__ comma separated list of categories
__categoryslug__  
__categorylinks__ comma separated list of linked categories. Use parameter 'path' to specify where links will go, default is '/sermons/category/'. Use 'separator' to use a different separator than comma.
__categoryX__ Will be repeated once for each category assigned
__categoryXslug__
__parentcategoryX__ Will be repeated once for each parent category
__parentcategoryXslug__
__parentcategoryXchildX__ Will be repeated once for each child category, nests under the parent category
__parentcategoryXchildXslug__
__date__ formattable date. Use __date format='j/m/Y'__ a complete list</a > of tags is available
__dateTwo__ formattable date
__dateThree__ formattable date
__modificationdate__ The date and time of the last modification to the sermon record.
__preacher__ the name(s) of the preacher
__preacherslug__  
__preacherdesc__ the description of the preacher
__preacherextra__ extra information about the preacher
__preacherimage__ the image url of the preacher
__preacherImg__ image of the preacher in an img tag
__preacherImgThumb__ thumbnail of the preacher image in an img tag
__preacherNum__ number of sermons by that preacher
__preachertitlelink__ Links the preachers name to /sermon/preacher/{preacher-slug} If a custom sermons URL is used, that will take the place of /sermon/
__preachermemberid__ The member id of the preacher if the preacher is linked to a member.
__audio__ the url of the audio (logs download counts)
__audiourl__ the plain url of the audio file
__audioplayer__ creates a link to the popup audio player (more info</a >)
__notes__ url to the notes
__image__ the the image in an img tag
__imageurl__ the url of the image
__image2__
__imageurl2__
__image3__
__imageurl3__
__imagetmb__ thumbnail of the image in an img tag
__videoplayer__ creates a link to the popup video player. Handles optional attributes: __videoplayer linktext='Watch This' width='480' height='400' __ (more info</a >)
__video__ url to the sermon's video
__videourl__ url to the sermon's video
__videothumbnailurl__ url to the sermon video's thumbnail image
__videoembedurl__ the source url of the video embed code
__videoembed__ embed code to the sermon's video if the video is an embed code type
__videoflash__ url to the flash version of the video when present
__id__ system id of the sermon
__alt__ returns 'alt' for every other line
__first__ displays 'first' for the first record returned
__last__ displays 'last' for the last record returned
__tag__ Comma separated list of keywords
__taglinks__ Comma separated list of keywords in links. If using display:auto, URL will be added automatically. Otherwise use __taglinks url='/some/url/'__
__featured__ displays 'featured' if record is featured
__commentNumber__ number of comments for that event. I.E. Comments(3)
__commentNumberonly__ number of comments with no "Comments()" around it
__sharecount__ number of shares on social media
Any Custom Fields setup for Sermons will output their API tags</em >
group_show
Tag Description
__title__ the title of whatever we are grouping by
__titlelink__ A pre-formatted link to that item. Looks like: <a href="/SERMONS_LOCATION/GROUP_TYPE/ITEM_SLUG/">ITEM_TITLE</a>
__description__ Only applies to series, shows the description of the series
__slug__  
__image__ The URL of the associated image. Only works with groupby:series
__groupimage__ The URL of the associated image. Only works with groupby:series
__imagethumb__ The URL of the associated image thumb. Only works with groupby:series
__categoryNum__ if grouping by category, displays the numbers of sermons in this category
__subtitle__ the title of whatever we are subgrouping by
__subdescription__  
__subslug__  
__subimage__ The URL of the associated image. Only works with groupby:series
__subimagethumb__ The URL of the associated image thumb. Only works with groupby:series
__preacher__ the name(s) of the preacher
__preacherslug__  
__preacherdesc__ the description of the preacher
__preacherextra__ extra information about the preacher
__preacherimage__ the image url of the preacher
__preacherImg__ image of the preacher in an img tag
__preacherImgThumb__ thumbnail of the preacher image in an img tag
__preacherNum__ number of sermons by that preacher
__preachertitlelink__ Links the preachers name to /sermon/preacher/{preacher-slug} If a custom sermons URL is used, that will take the place of /sermon/
__preachermemberid__ The member id of the preacher if the preacher is linked to a member.
__thistitle__ displays the title of the group on every iteration
__thisslug__ displays the slug of the group on every iteration

Parameters

features

Only show items published as featured.

Example:

"features",
Monklet Example:

features="features"

nonfeatures

Only show items not published as featured.

Example:

"nonfeatures",

Monklet Example:nonfeatures="nonfeatures"

howmany

Sets the maximum number of items to display

Example:

"howmany:3",

offset

Skips the first X records returned

Example:

"offset:1",

find_group

Only show items assigned to that group. Can find multiple groups with a comma separated list. Uses group slugs.

Example:

"find_group:group-slug1,group-slug2,group-slug3",

find_series

Only show items assigned to that series. Can find multiple series with a comma separated list. Can return the "current" series with "find_series:current",

Example:

"find_series:series1,series2,series3",

hide_series

Will not show items assigned to that series. Will also work with current.

Example:

"hide_series:series-slug,series-slug2",

 Example:

"hide_series:current",

find_year

Only show items from that year.

Example:

"find_year:2009",

 

find_category

Only show items assigned to that category. Can find multiple categories with a comma separated list. If category slugs are separated by , or || any item assigned to ANY specified category is returned. If && is used to separate only items assigned to ALL specified categories will be returned.

Example:

"find_category:category1,category2,category3",

"find_category:category1 && category2 && category3",

find_parent_category

Will return all records assigned directly to the parent OR to any of its children.

Example:

"find_parent_category:parent-category",

hide_category

Will not show items assigned to that category.

Example:

"hide_category:category-slug,category-slug2",

find_preacher

Only show items assigned to that preacher. Can find multiple preachers with a comma separated list. Uses preacher slugs.

Example:

"find_preacher:preacher-slug",

find_passage

Only show items covering this passage. Accepts book, book and chapter, book chapter and verse or spans of those.  Dashes can optionally be used in place of spaces if being pulled from a URL.

Example:

"find_passage:Romans",

"find_passage:1-Corinthians",

"find_passage:1 Corinthians 5:1-6:13",

"find_passage:1 Corinthians 5-6",

"find_passage:1 Corinthians 5",

find_month

Only show items from that month.

Example:

"find_month:11-2007",

hide_date

Will not show items with dates in the past or future.

Examples:

"hide_date:past",
"hide_date:future",

find_tag

Finds all items with that tag or tags. Spaces in tags should be replaced with a dash (-).

Example:

"find_tag:tag-slug,tag-slug2",

order

Sets sort order of items in list

item description
recent by date, starting with latest date
oldest by date, starting with oldest date
preacher by last name, alphabetically
series by what was specified on the sermon series edit page
series title by series name, alphabetically
category by category, alphabetically
title by title, in alphabetical order
share by number of social media shares
groupby

Sets a criteria to group the list by.

Available grouping criteria:

  • series
  • category
  • preacher
  • month
  • year
  • passage
  • group
  • auto*

Example:

"groupby:series",

If no show tags are used with a groupby, an unordered list will be output automatically. You must first setup sermons to work with display monklets for the links to work correctly.

* If groupby:auto is used and no show tags are present, a list will be output based on the URL parameters. If the user has selected to group the main sermon list by series, a list of series will be output in this list.

Monklet Example:


tag="sermon"
display="list"
groupby="category"

subgroupby

Sets a criteria to subgroup the list by. Requires "groupby" to be set

Available subgrouping criteria:

  • series
  • category
  • preacher
  • month
  • year
  • chapter (only if grouped by passage)

Example:

"groupby:year","subgroupby:month",

order

For use with "groupby:preacher" only. Sets sort order for preacher lists (default is alphabetical by last name).

 

item description
title sort alphabetically by preacher last name
count the preacher with the most number of sermons preached is first
oldest the first preacher created listed first
recent the most recently created preacher is first

Example:

"group_order:count",

nocache

Prevents the output from being cached. Caching increases the speed of getContents considerably so this tag is not reccomended except for testing purposes, places where the output is random, events lists where the output is time sensitive, or context sensitve getContents. nocache does not apply to monklets.

example:

"nocache",

noecho

getConents default to 'print' the output. With noecho, you can assign the contents to a variable to be printed later. This is helpful if you have repeated content on a page.

example:

"noecho",

emailencode 

 By default email addresses in content areas are encoded with javascript. emailencode can disable this for all content areas in a getContent.

example:

"emailencode:no",

 

Display mode: detail

Show

show

Here are the tags available to show in sermon detail:

Tag Description
__title__ outputs the sermon title
__slug__ the URL safe version of the title (more info</a >)
__titlelink__ creates a link with the title as the text
__url__ looks like "/article/slug"
__summary__ the summary text of the sermon (plain text) 
__text__ the text content of the sermon (rich text)
__passage__ passage assigned to the sermon
__passageslug__ A URL safe version of the passage
__passagelink__ A full link to sermons with that passage. Creates two links, one to only the book and another to the book and verse
__passagebook__ Just the book of the passage
__passagebooklink__ A link to sermons with that book
__passagebookslug__ A URL safe version of the book
__passageverse__ The passage without the book
__passageverselink__ A link to sermons with the same verse
__group__ comma separated list of group names
__groupslug__ slug of an associated group
__series__ the title of the series for the article
__seriesslug__ the slug of the series
__seriesimage__ the image of the series
__seriesdescription__ the description of the series
__category__ title of the category
__categoryslug__  
__subcategory__ the title of the child category
__subcategoryslug__  
__categorylinks__ comma separated list of linked categories. Use parameter 'path' to specify where links will go, default is '/sermons/category/'. Use 'separator' to use a different separator than comma.
__date__ formattable date. Use __date format='j/m/Y'__ a complete list</a > of tags is available
__preacher__ the name(s) of the preacher
__preacherslug__  
__preacherdesc__ the description of the preacher
__preacherextra__ extra information about the preacher
__preacherimage__ the image url of the preacher
__preacherImg__ image of the preacher in an img tag
__preacherImgThumb__ thumbnail of the preacher image in an img tag
__preacherNum__ number of sermons by that preacher
__preachertitlelink__ Links the preachers name to /sermon/preacher/{preacher-slug} If a custom sermons URL is used, that will take the place of /sermon/
__preachermemberid__ The member id of the preacher if the preacher is linked to a member.
__audio__ the url of the audio
__audioplayer__ creates a link to the popup audio player (more info</a >)
__notes__ url to the notes
__image__ the the image in an img tag
__imageurl__ the url of the image
__imagetmb__ thumbnail of the image in an img tag
__videoplayer__ creates a link to the popup video player. Handles optional attributes: __videoplayer linktext='Watch This' width='480' height='400' __ (more info</a >)
__video__ url to the sermon's video
__videoembedurl__ the source url of the video embed code
__tag__ comma separated list of keywords
__taglinks__ Comma separated list of keywords in links. If using display:auto, URL will be added automatically. Otherwise use __taglinks url='/some/url/'__
__commentNumber__ number of comments for that event. I.E. Comments(3)
__commentNumberonly__ number of comments with no "Comments()" around it
__commentList__ Preformatted list of comments with text box to add new comments
__sharecount__ number of shares on social media
Any Custom Fields setup for Sermons will output their API tags</em >

Parameters

find

Will accept the slug of a sermon.

Example:

"find:sermon-slug",

Display mode: selector

If using display monklets / display:auto to handle sermons, a drop down can automatically be create to link to sermon lists with grouped content. See the sidebar of this site for an example: http://www.imagodeicommunity.com/information/sermons/</a >.

Tag Description
__series__
__month__  
__year__  
__category__  
__preacher__  
__passage__ Links to sermons from each book of the Bible used.

Monklet Example:


tag="sermon"
display="selector"
select="__series__ __month__ __category__ __preacher__ __passage__"

Display mode: sermoncloudsettings

If you are using Sermon Cloud, you can output the following specialty tags

Tag Description
__rootword__ Displays the Sermon Root word from the Sermon Settings Screen - Default is "Sermon"
__displaylayout__ The layout type that the client wants their Sermon Cloud default to be (ie. List, Grid)
__headerimageurl__ The full url to the header background image for Sermon Cloud landing pages.

Display mode: cloud

This will display a list of tags with different classes assigned to each tag depending on the frequency the tag is used. These classes can be used to attach different sizes and/or colors to the most important tags. See Sermon Cloud for an example tag cloud.

If the semron location has been set in the nav, the links will go to example.com/sermon-url/tag/tag-slug/. Otherwise the links will take the user to example.com/sermons-about-tag-slug/.

Parameters

tagmin

Sets the miniumum number of times a tag must be used before it will appear in the tag cloud.

Example:

tagmin="3"The following styles were used for sermon cloud to size the cloud:

<style type="text/css">.tag0 {font-size: 10px;}
.tag1 {font-size: 12px;}
.tag2 {font-size: 16px;}
.tag3 {font-size: 21px;}
.tag4 {font-size: 26px;}
.tag5 {font-size: 30px;}
.tag6 {font-size: 32px;}
.tag7 {font-size: 34px;}
#cloud a{text-decoration: none;}</style>