Grab Headlines From A Remote RSS File
By Nicholas Chase
2003-12-19
The Source File
Depending on whom you ask, RSS stands for RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary, or other acronyms that are less tactful. In any case, no fewer than four versions of RSS are in common usage, from the fairly simple 0.91, which doesn't include namespaces and imposes some strict limits on content, to version 2.0, which encompasses versions back to 0.91 (so a valid 0.91 file is also a valid 2.0 file) but also allows the use of namespaces. By allowing namespaces, version 2.0 makes it possible for a syndicator to add elements to the feed, as long as they're in a different namespace. Some syndicators use this capability to add information using Resource Definition Format (RDF).
A simple RSS 2.0 file might look like this feed from Adam Curry's weblog (see
Resources):
Listing 1. A sample RSS 2.0 message<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog</title>
<link>http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/</link>
<description>News and Views from Adam Curry</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2003 Adam Curry</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2003 09:26:48 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss</docs>
<generator>Radio UserLand v8.0.9b2</generator>
<managingEditor>adam@curry.com</managingEditor>
<webMaster>adam@curry.com</webMaster>
<item>
<title>weblog at work again</title>
<link>
http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/2003/07/24.html#a4158
</link>
<description><a href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0001014/images/2003/07/24/ad
amwheely.jpg"><img src="http://radio.weblogs.com/0001014/images/2003/07/24/
adamwheely.jpg" width="250" height="187.5" border="0" align="right" hspace="15" v
space="5" alt="A picture named adamwheely.jpg"></a>A few days ago I aske
d if anyone had taken pictures of me at the annual ...</description>
<guid>
http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/2003/07/24.html#a4158
</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2003 09:21:25 GMT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>teens trouble with web</title>
<link>
http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/2003/07/23.html#a4156
</link>
<description>According to a report from Northumbria University, most teenagers
lack the <a href="http://www.web-user.co.uk/news/news.php?id=33621">inform
ation gathering skills</a> needed for using the internet efficiently. This
sounds like it shouldn't be happening in ...</description>
<guid>
http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/2003/07/23.html#a4156
</guid>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2003 17:36:23 GMT</pubDate>
</item>
...
</channel>
</rss>
|
To turn this feed into HTML, you can process it using XSL transformations.
Tutorial Pages:
»
Retrieve Syndicated Content, Transform It, & Display The Result
» The Source File
»
The Primary Stylesheet
»
The Basic JSP Page
»
Transforming The File
»
Adjusting For Multiple Formats
»
Choosing A Version
»
Caching The Feed
»
Conclusion
»
Resources
First published by
IBM developerWorks
