rss feed

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ijs

hi, i can't make a rss feed. I don't know where the problem is. This is my code:

<?php header('Content-type: text/xml'); ?>

<?php 
@include_once("./cfg.inc.php");

$link = mysql_connect($DBSERVER, $DBUSER, $DBPASS)
or die("Can't connect" );

mysql_select_db($DB, $link) or die ("Can't select DB");
?>

<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Title</title>
<description>Description</description>
<link>Link</link>

<?php
$query= mysql_query("SELECT `id`, `title`, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(`date`), `description`  FROM `rss` ORDER BY `date` DESC LIMIT 0,25");


while($result = mysql_fetch_array($query)){
?>
     <item>
        <title> <?php htmlentities(strip_tags($result['title'])); ?></title>
        <description> <?php htmlentities(strip_tags($result['description'],'ENT_QUOTES'));?></description>
        <link>http://mysite.com/news/?id=<?php $result['id'];?></link>
        <pubDate> <?php strftime( "%a, %d %b %Y %T %Z" , $result['date']); ?></pubDate>
     </item>  

<?php } ?>  

</channel>
</rss>

but when i open that .xml file in safari nothing appeared. I listened in google that i must turn on parser, something like this in .htaccess :

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .xml

but when i add this string to htaccess and then open my site, ordinary page and a my xml rss file, but they just was download, when i open they. I don't know how to make my php code work in that xml file. Please help me. Thanks.

NogDog

Do you see anything in the browser if you do a "View source" on the resulting page?

PS: Shouldn't your output start with an <?xml... tag?

ijs

NogDog;1169043 wrote:
Do you see anything in the browser if you do a "View source" on the resulting page?

yes i see a xml page without any php code, there is no any code that in <?php ?>

NogDog;1169043 wrote:
PS: Shouldn't your output start with an <?xml... tag?

Seriously i don't know about it. I do it how it was in a lesson and it was like i show previously.

NogDog

ijs;1169065 wrote:
yes i see a xml page without any php code, there is no any code that in <?php ?>

That's a good thing. It means the PHP was successfully processed on the server and output the XML text to your browser.

Seriously i don't know about it. I do it how it was in a lesson and it was like i show previously.

Try adding this:

<?php header('Content-type: text/xml'); ?>

<?php
@include_once("./cfg.inc.php");

$link = mysql_connect($DBSERVER, $DBUSER, $DBPASS)
or die("Can't connect" );

mysql_select_db($DB, $link) or die ("Can't select DB");
echo "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>";  // <<-------<<<<<<<
?>

<rss version="2.0">
<channel> 
...etc....

(Echoing the xml tag within the PHP code can help avoid confusion by the PHP parser if you have PHP short tags enabled.)

ijs

NogDog;1169149 wrote:
That's a good thing. It means the PHP was successfully processed on the server and output the XML text to your browser.

I think that the php doesn't work at all in this file because i try to add something to xml output like $test = "test"; and then echo this in <description> tags but nothing was appeared
i make like this but the ?> in this string: echo "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>";
is recognized like a php close tag, i think it's because xml file, i try to put in just in the start of file (because if not the error appeared, that told this string must be in start of file) but after that nothing change.
may be i wrong and the rss feed had a xml markup but the .php file??
i talk with my hosting support they told me that all checked up and all ok.

criterion9

ijs;1169230 wrote:
I think that the php doesn't work at all in this file because i try to add something to xml output like $test = "test"; and then echo this in <description> tags but nothing was appeared
i make like this but the ?> in this string: echo "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>";
is recognized like a php close tag, i think it's because xml file, i try to put in just in the start of file (because if not the error appeared, that told this string must be in start of file) but after that nothing change.
may be i wrong and the rss feed had a xml markup but the .php file??
i talk with my hosting support they told me that all checked up and all ok.

Can you more descriptive with "but nothing was appeared"? Are you viewing the source in a browser? Are you using an RSS reader?

Dasher

When I last had a rss generator I used PHP to write the rss file;

$fp = fopen($xmlFile, "w"); // make a new RSS file each time. 
	fwrite($fp, $rss_header);  

	fwrite($fp,$rssContent);
	fwrite($fp, $rss_footer);
	fclose($fp);

ijs

I'm using a Safari browser, it has a rss reader, so i use it. When i open xml file with that code that i mentioned previously, i see a rss feed but it contain only that was in a xml markup, nothing about php code, like it isn't in that file at all. How can i make that php code carried???

ijs

Dasher;1169282 wrote:
When I last had a rss generator I used PHP to write the rss file;

I think about it, thanks for suggestion, but for now i really want to find a way through dynamic mysql connect

criterion9

ijs;1169292 wrote:
I'm using a Safari browser, it has a rss reader, so i use it. When i open xml file with that code that i mentioned previously, i see a rss feed but it contain only that was in a xml markup, nothing about php code, like it isn't in that file at all. How can i make that php code carried???

It looks like you are missing all your "echo" statements:

<title> <?php echo htmlentities(strip_tags($result['title'])); ?></title>
<description> <?php echo htmlentities(strip_tags($result['description'],'ENT_QUOTES'));?></description>
<link>http://mysite.com/news/?id=<?php echo $result['id'];?></link>
<pubDate> <?php echo strftime( "%a, %d %b %Y %T %Z" , $result['date']); ?></pubDate>

ijs

I just tried what you suggest but it doesn't work, all my php code doesn't work. i try echo "hello world"; but it don't work too.

Dasher

What environment are you doing this testing in? PHP and MySQL must be run from a server, such as apache or IIS.

Generally speaking to create an rss feed you would create a file named rss.xml to do that you need to write the file out to the server. If you are just looking at what you think your browser will do with an rss feed, may not be correct if the rss feed is not really a rss feed. A php file must have a .php file extension, and an rss feed needs to be a .xml.

ijs

i think i found a solution for my problem, i must use PHP to process XML files, i need do it somehow in the htaccess. Can someone tell some rules for this?

criterion9

ijs;1169314 wrote:
i think i found a solution for my problem, i must use PHP to process XML files, i need do it somehow in the htaccess. Can someone tell some rules for this?

Usually I point to a PHP file directly rather than to get the engine to process all xml files. ie: rss.php instead of rss.xml.

ijs

Dasher;1169313 wrote:
What environment are you doing this testing in? PHP and MySQL must be run from a server, such as apache or IIS.

Generally speaking to create an rss feed you would create a file named rss.xml to do that you need to write the file out to the server. If you are just looking at what you think your browser will do with an rss feed, may not be correct if the rss feed is not really a rss feed. A php file must have a .php file extension, and an rss feed needs to be a .xml.

English is not my native language, and if i clear understood what you told, i'm doing right. OK how i did my rss file: I made a file rss.xml, then i paste this

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<?php header('Content-type: text/xml'); ?>

next i add a top of rss feed xml markup
next one i connect to mysql and take from base info to fill items.

ijs

criterion9;1169320 wrote:
Usually I point to a PHP file directly rather than to get the engine to process all xml files. ie: rss.php instead of rss.xml.

hmm but how you use .php for rss? i mean from php how you make .xml for feed?

Dasher

NO -- Use php to create the rss.xml file, by writing it to the server, as I mentioned earlier. It is a simple process.

Just name your current file rss_generator.php and put all the xml statement into a the header or content. This is what I have done... may need some debugging. This is some old code, and I took out some of it for simplicity.

include_once ('connect2db.php'); // connect to the database

$xmlFile = 'rss.xml';
// Generating RSS from PHP and MySQL Database.
$rss_header = "<?xml version='1.0' ?>\n"; 
$rss_header .= "<rss version='2.0'>\n";
$rss_header .= "<channel>\n";
$rss_header .= "<title>My Test Title</title>\n";
$rss_header .= "<image>\n";
$rss_header .= "<title>My Test Title</title>\n";
$rss_header .= "<link>http://www.mywebsite.com</link>\n";
$rss_header .= "<url>http://www.mywebsite.com/images/logosmall.jpg</url>\n";
$rss_header .= "</image>\n";
$rss_header .= "<link>http://www.mywebsite.com</link>\n";
$rss_header .= "<description>My description</description>\n";
$rss_header .= "<language>en-us</language>\n";
$rss_header .= "<copyright>Copyright 2011, Me</copyright>\n";

$rss_footer = "</channel>\n</rss>"; // end of rss 


//Query to retrive data to update RSS and Twitter with.

$query = "SELECT Title, Author, Category, Introtext,Publish_Up, URLS, DATE_FORMAT(Publish_Up, '&#37;a, %d %b %Y %T') AS MyDate, DATE_FORMAT(Publish_Up, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s') AS MyDate2 FROM content WHERE Priority > 0 AND Publish_Dwn > DATE_ADD(NOW(), INTERVAL 1 HOUR) ORDER BY ID DESC LIMIT 20";

//Format for Date_Format: "Fri, 28 Jul 2006 13:00 MST"

$result = mysql_query($query,$link);
$n = 0;
$rssItem ="";

date_default_timezone_set('America/Chicago');
$fileDate = date ("Y-m-d H:i:s", filemtime($xmlFile));
clearstatcache();


while ($a_row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)){

// test for a new update (compare database date-time to rss.xml date-time)
if ($n == 0){
	$newestDate = $a_row['MyDate2'];
//echo "New: ".$newestDate." File time: ".$fileDate."<br><br>";
	}
// if date of file is older open the file for re-writing (open only once)
if ($n == 0 && $newestDate > $fileDate){ 		
/* *********************************************************
*/
// continue with RSS feed update
	$rssCategory = $a_row['Category'];
	$rssDescription = substr(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($a_row['Introtext'])),0,200);
	$rssDescription = addslashes(htmlspecialchars_decode($rssDescription,ENT_QUOTES));
		if ($rssCategory == 1){
			$rssItem = "<item>\n<title>". $a_row['Title']. "</title>\n<description>\n\n <![CDATA[ ".$rssDescription."[...] by ".$a_row['Author']." ]]>\n\n </description><link>" . $a_row['URLS'] . "</link>\n<guid>". $a_row['URLS']."</guid>\n<pubDate>" . $a_row['MyDate'] . " MST</pubDate>\n</item>\n\n";
		}	
		if($rssCategory == 4 || $rssCategory == 5){
			$rssItem = "<item>\n<title>Event or Alert</title>\n <description>\n\n <![CDATA[ " .$rssDescription. "... ]]>\n\n </description><link> http://www.mnsd56.com</link>\n<guid>http://www.mnsd56.com/#".$n."</guid>\n<pubDate>" . $a_row['MyDate'] . " CDT</pubDate>\n</item>\n\n";
		}

	$rssContent =	$rssContent . $rssItem;
	$rssDebug = $rssDebug ."<br> N= ". $n." ".$rssDescription;	//keep adding more rssItems	
	$n++;

} // End of While Loop

// Completed the while loop, now write footer, close the RSS file and done. 
if ($debug == 0 && $newestDate > $fileDate){
	$fp = fopen($xmlFile, "w"); // make a new RSS file each time. 
	fwrite($fp, $rss_header);  

	fwrite($fp,$rssContent);
	fwrite($fp, $rss_footer);
	fclose($fp);
	}

// That's all folks

If you start fiddling with running xml files as php files, I assure you, you are looking for a lot of trouble.

ijs

I'm inclined to do so, already

criterion9

Dasher;1169327 wrote:
NO -- Use php to create the rss.xml file, by writing it to the server, as I mentioned earlier. It is a simple process.

Just name your current file rss_generator.php and put all the xml statement into a the header or content. This is what I have done...

This may work if you are only generating static RSS feeds. If you plan to have RSS feeds that might be specific to users or generally need to be generated on the fly then I would suggest an rss.php that can build the rss on the fly. Then in your RSS reader you just give the URL of yoursite.com/rss.php and the RSS reader will display appropriately (it doesn't care what the "extension" is in the URL in other words).

ijs

i'm finally do it!!! I want to say all people who try to help me and answer my dumb questions thank you very much
if someone need that is my work code: this file name rss.php

<?php 
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>';

@include_once("./cfg.inc.php");

$link = mysql_connect($DBSERVER, $DBUSER, $DBPASS)
or die("Can't connect" );

mysql_select_db($DB, $link) or die ("Can't select DB");
echo '<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>My title</title>
<description>My description</description>
<link>My site link</link>

$query= mysql_query("SELECT `link`, `description`, `title`, UNIX_TIMESTAMP(`date`)  FROM `rss` ORDER BY `date` DESC LIMIT 0,25");


while($result = mysql_fetch_array($query)){
$title = htmlentities(strip_tags($result['title'],'ENT_QUOTES'));
$link = htmlentities(strip_tags($result['link']);
$date = strftime( "&#37;a, %d %b %Y %T %Z" , $result['date']);
echo '<item>
        <title>'.$title.'</title>
        <description>'.$description.'</description>
        <link>'.$link.'</link>

    <pubDate>'.$date.'</pubDate>
 </item>';
}

echo '</channel>
</rss>';

?>

i try this in Safari and Google Reader it works fine. One more time thank you all.