RSS/XML feed parser
Here's some php:
PHP
function xml_parser($page,$container,$tags,$number,$cdata) {
if (!$number) {$number=100;}
$stories=0;
$xml=file_get_contents($page);
preg_match_all("/<$container>.+<\/$container>/sU",$xml, $items);
$items=$items[0];
$itemsArray=array();
foreach ($items as $item) {
for($i=0; $i<count($tags); $i++) {
preg_match("/<$tags[$i](.+)(<\/$tags[$i]>)/sU", $item, $tag);
$this[$i]=preg_replace("/<$tags[$i]>(.+)(<\/$tags[$i]>)/sU",'$1',$tag);
$this[$i]=array_map('html_entity_decode', $this[$i]);
}
if (count($itemsArray)<$number) {array_push($itemsArray, $this);}
}
$theData="<dl>";
foreach ($itemsArray as $item) {
for($i=0; $i<count($tags); $i++) {
$data[$i]=$item[$i][0];
}
$title=$data[0];
$dpatterns[0]="/<img(.+)><\/img>/sU"; $dreplacements[0]='<img$1>';
$dpatterns[1]="/<img(.+)\/>/sU"; $dreplacements[1]='<img$1>';
$dpatterns[2]="/<(\/|)content?(.+|)>/sU"; $dreplacements[2]='';
$dpatterns[3]="/border=\"0\"/sU"; $dreplacements[3]='';
if ($cdata!='hide') {
$dpatterns[4]="/<\!\[CDATA\[(.+)\]\]>/sU"; $dreplacements[4]='$1';
}
else {
$dpatterns[4]="/<\!\[CDATA\[(.+)\]\]>/sU"; $dreplacements[4]='';
}
$description=preg_replace($dpatterns,$dreplacements,$data[1]);
$link=preg_replace("/<link.+href=\"(.+)\"(.+|)\/>/sU",'$1',$data[2]);
$date=$data[3];
$theData.="
<dt><a href=\"$link\">$title</a></dt>
<dd class=\"story\">$description</dd>
<dd>Date: $date</dd>\r";
}
$theData.="</dl>";
return $theData;
}
$container='item';
$tags=array('title','description','link','pubDate');
$bbc=xml_parser("http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/front_page/rss.xml",$container,$tags,10,'');
$cnn=xml_parser("http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss",$container,$tags,10,'');
$tags=array('title','content:encoded','link','pubDate');
$lockergnome=xml_parser("http://feed.lockergnome.com/nexus/all",$container,$tags,5,'hide');
$tags=array('title','content:encoded','link','pubDate');
$lockergnome=xml_parser("http://feed.lockergnome.com/nexus/all",$container,$tags,5,'');
$container='entry';
$tags=array('title','content','link','published');
$flickr=xml_parser("http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne",$container,$tags,10,'');
Here's some HTML with PHP
HTML/PHP
<h2>bbc</h2>
<?php echo $bbc; ?>
<h2>cnn</h2>
<?php echo $cnn; ?>
<h2>lockergnome</h2>
<?php echo $lockergnome1; ?>
<h2>lockergnome</h2>
<?php echo $lockergnome2; ?>
<h2>flickr</h2>
<?php echo $flickr; ?>
Here's what we get... (the lastest feeds from the BBC, CNN, Lockergnome - with CDATA stripped and shown - and flickr).
bbc
- Israel to pause Gaza bombardment
- Israel says it will halt its bombing of the Gaza Strip for a three-hour period each day, as pressure grows for a cease-fire.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:30:24 GMT
- M&S to close stores and cut jobs
- Marks and Spencer says it plans to close 25 Simply Food stores and two of its regular stores, and cut 1,230 jobs.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:42:04 GMT
- Pietersen out as England captain
- Kevin Pietersen leaves his position as England captain in the wake of the row between him and coach Peter Moores.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:05:28 GMT
- Thousands face further rail chaos
- Thousands of rail passengers face long delays after a power failure stops all trains in to and out of London Euston.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:56:45 GMT
- Freezing temperatures hit new low
- Temperatures plunge to -12C in Oxfordshire on the coldest night so far of Britain's new year big freeze.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:25:07 GMT
- Dispute hits Europe gas supplies
- Exports of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine stop altogether with both countries accusing each other of turning off the tap.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:12:22 GMT
- UK car sales fall 11.3% in 2008
- UK car sales in 2008 are 11.3% lower than they had been in 2007, following a 21.2% drop in December.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:35:22 GMT
- Cases have 'cut UK terror threat'
- The terrorist threat to the UK has been reduced by a series of successful criminal prosecutions, the head of MI5 says.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:54:51 GMT
- Swayze 'may live only two years'
- Actor Patrick Swayze, who has pancreatic cancer, admits in a US TV interview he may survive only two years.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:40:32 GMT
- Blocking it out - why Tetris could help ease traumatic stress
- Playing the computer puzzle game Tetris might help reduce the effects of traumatic stress, say UK researchers.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:29:25 GMT
cnn
- Israel offers short respite from strikes
- Israel will halt its bombardment of Gaza for three hours every day to allow residents of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory to obtain much-needed supplies, a military spokesman said Wednesday.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:16:02 EST
- Brown: Let journalists into Gaza
- We have been trying to report as accurately as possible on the fighting in Gaza.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:17:49 EST
- Al Qaeda message blames Obama for Gaza
- An audio message reportedly from al Qaeda's deputy chief vows revenge for Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza and calls the Jewish state's actions against Hamas militants "a gift" from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:37:06 EST
- Secret Service to unveil new presidential limo
- As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars. Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the mother of all hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank. In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service for the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:15:11 EST
- 'Let me sleep,' suicidal anthrax suspect wrote
- Dr. Bruce Ivins, the former government scientist blamed for a string of deadly 2001 anthrax attacks, behaved oddly and was "sarcastic and nasty" to his wife in the final weeks of his life, police documents said.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:37:18 EST
- DNA, reward may hold key to '93 slaying
- Gail Parker was an environmentalist who gave speeches about America's polluted waterways. She volunteered at the local hospital, helped the elderly and cancer patients. In 1993, Parker was killed -- most probably for her purse and jewelry -- and her body was left in the Arizona desert. To date, no weapon has been found and no suspects have been arrested. The killing remains a cold case.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:54:49 EST
- CNN's Gupta eyed for surgeon general
- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, has been approached by Barack Obama's transition team about the U.S. surgeon general's post, according to sources inside the transition and at CNN. Gupta, a neurosurgeon, has served as a White House fellow and as a special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:09:20 EST
- Borger: An Obama team oops on CIA pick?
- It had to happen, and it did.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:55:21 EST
- Woman, 19, dies of bird flu
- A 19-year-old woman who handled ducks in northern China has died in Beijing from bird flu, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
- Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:29:43 EST
- Travolta, Preston return home with son's ashes
- John Travolta and Kelly Preston have returned to Ocala, Florida, with the remains of their teenage son, a family friend told CNN on Tuesday.
- Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:22:12 EST
lockergnome (hidden CDATA)
The lockergnome feed seems to be down.
lockergnome
The lockergnome feed seems to be down.
flickr
- DSC_5763
buddyvalero posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:13Z
- MYDC4347
lavtcbeauty posted a photo:
Mydc4347.Jpg
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:13Z
- IMG_5451
menniti giovanni posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:13Z
- DSC_1119
Brad Olcott posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:13Z
- foto fine 12 2008 - 174
Paolo Motta posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:12Z
- P1000283
Photos by Tony posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:12Z
- 090107_74265_remote_skilift-ongeluk
moniqueschouten posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:16Z
- IMG_0282
Rolyataylor posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:14Z
- P1000348
rikbie posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:06Z
- 0058c7ddde4642214bedd50cf9c87924
winnie8219 posted a photo:
- Date: 2009-01-07T11:17:15Z
Comments
#1 #2dave,
You can include the php or just have it in one page. The page would have a '.php' extension - not '.html.'
Here's a simple example of this page (with no style or anthing) in one file.
Save it and change the extension to '.php'. If you don't have a server installed on your machine, you'll have to upload it to a remote server to view it.
If you want, you can take the php code out of that page and save it in a different file and include it into the page - that way, you could use it on more than one page if you wanted.
I hope that makes it a bit clearer.
Thanks for the explanations. Much clearer now and ... yes, it indeed works like a champ. (Maybe I was just too tired? Putting 1 and 1 together and coming up with 11 instead of two?) Best regards and thanks for all the tips elsewhere as well.
Useful indeed, BonRouge, but how does one display the <description> tagged material that is buried behind things like <![CDATA[ <p> etc.? Is the PHP code easily modified to handle that? And if so, can one apply it selectively? That is, show the fuller "description" material for one site but then reduce the next site entry to "headines" only (i.e., "titles" and "links") and then toggle the next one back to fuller details? Hope this is not a major headache, but it's beyond my ability to work it out at this stage ... and everything tried brought the larger process to a grinding halt. (This isn't a do-my-homework-for-me question. I'm bewildered by the code.) Thanks.
dave,
I thought I'd already sorted out the problem of data wrapped in the CDATA stuff. Does the code have a problem? If you could show me where it's not working, I'll try to improve it.
As for choosing whether to show that particular data or not, yes - I think you could do that by adding another variable. You see near the top where there's a preg_replace() to remove the CDATA tags? You could put that in an if statement - if the variable is not present, remove the CDATA tags, if it is, leave them where they are.
Does that make sense?
dave,
I think I found the problem and sorted it out. As you can see, it seems to work OK now. Some of the characters in the Lockergnome feed don't show right on this page though. I wonder if it's anything to do with me being in Japan. Do you see strange characters?
I have been trawling the web for days looking for something like this. Thanks a WHOLE lot man. I was also wondering if you can modify this parser to merge these fields and display, say, only the latest 10 items? wine
thanks sorted out my cdata parasing problem, seems that is not too clear in the docs
s
Sorry, I'm new to this stuff, willing to learn and all that, but I don't get the idea. Copy that snippet of PHP code into a file and call it, say, parser.php. Copy the other snippet of HTML into a file and call it, for lack of inventiveness, parser.html. Right so far? If so, where's the intermediate step? How does this HTML "call" or "include" the PHP in order to function? Or am I missing something so basic that even asking this will earn me the cherished "Idiot of the Day Award"? Thanks.