MRE Feed Reader

MRE Feed Reader
(Another donateWare script from MRE Software)

Many years ago I found a capable RSS feed reader - html web aggregator at a free price. It was copyright Ovi Crisan @ www.2RSS.com and called rsslib.php. I used this reader on many websites in conjunction with an ATOM parser class from www.chirp.com.au Over the years I patched and modified both of these scripts to suit my needs and thank both authors for making them open source. I also acknowledge them here because my script uses identical file names and was in fact written to be a near "drop in" replacement for the 2RSS reader. The similarity stops there however, the code inside my scripts is entirely new and not based on either of these readers.

In an effort to clean up and optimize my websites I started looking around for a fresh XML feed reader and discovered the PHP 5 DOMDocument class along with a few examples of its use scattered around the web. I hacked together some basic code and started playing around with it. In a short time I found that I had written a feed reader of my own that was small, fast, and efficient. Since my web pages and news tickers were already using the old 2RSS file and parameter names, I kept them for the new reader so that I could basically drop in new PHP code and the existing pages would keep seamlessly displaying the feeds. I also added some new capabilities like date sorting and caching the generated html instead of the raw XML code. My reader also automatically reads both rss and atom feeds so only one reader is required.

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. Barking Points and the news reader Demo =>

Uses DOMDocument library and requires PHP 5 or later.
Parses both rss and atom feeds automatically.*
Uses HTML caching for speed and efficiency.
Cache time is controllable via the url parameters.
Sorts by date newest first. Also an option on the url.
Converts relative to absolute links if needed in many feeds.
Supports css class definitions for formatting the html output.
Supports both plain description and content:encoded on rss feeds.
Supports media:content images and thumbnails.
Includes support for the MRE Typing Ticker.
Near drop in replacement for old 2RSS reader.

*The MRE Feed Reader is designed for efficient parsing of basic rss and atom feeds. No claim is made to support all aspects of these feed format specifications. It is intended to work well as a general purpose website backbone parser.

To see this script in action with multiple feeds check out one of my news pages by clicking here.

The documentation for this script appears below. Check it out then to download a complete package of files for the MRE Feed Reader
This is a work in progress. Check back for updated versions and please report any bugs.

If you find this code of value, donate a little to the cause. Think of the time you just saved!

MRE Feed Reader Documentation copyright 2015 Emery Wooten - MRE Software - mre@mresoftware.com THIS SCRIPT REQUIRES PHP 5 AND THE DOMDOCUMENT LIBRARY BE INSTALLED ON YOUR SERVER. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Changelog: August 20, 2016 version added rss_encoded command line option. If set to 'T' the program will process and display content encoded data in RSS feeds. Default is false. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Files included: rsslib.php - The main library file rss2html.php - Reads XML feeds and outputs a full webpage. rss2js.php - Reads XML feeds and outputs a JavaScript document.write() statement. rss2js_ticker.php - Reads XML feeds and outputs a JavaScript array compatible with the MRE Typing Ticker rsslib.css - An example css stylesheet. readme.txt - This file. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installation: Create a folder on your website named rss. Create a sub folder of rss named tmp and give it write permission (777). Copy all files to rss. Browse to your site and run www.yoursite.com/rss/rss2html.php. If all is well you will see an rss feed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using the reader: Probably the most useful script is rss2js.php. It is called from within a web page as a JavaScript and returns a document.write() statement that displays the feed at that point on the page. To illustrate how to make this work we will analyze a typical usage below by taking a line as it would appear in a web page. <script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.yoursite.com/rss/rss2js.php?rss_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurekalert.org%2Frss.xml&rss_css=rsslib_nw&rss_items=15"></script> 1. First thing to notice is that the url is encoded. Although many urls will work as-is, often times it will be necessary to encode the url in order to pass it safely to the script. My favorite encoder/decoder site is: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/dencoder/ but there are many on the web. 2. Second we note the rss_css=rsslib_nw. This parameter selects the css prefix. I have a stylesheet file with many different styles defined for different pages. In this case I want the output formatted to use the rsslib_nw prefix. Inside my stylesheet file I have defined styles for rsslib_nwchannel, rsslib_nwitem, and so on. In other words, rsslib_nw is a variable prefix and can be anything you desire. If it was say: radstyle, then you would want to have radstylechannel, radstyleitem, and so on defined in your stylesheet file. 3. Note rss_items=15. This parameter limits the feed to output a maximum of 15 items. Hey, some feeds contain hundreds of items which would fill your page. This parameter allows you to control the output. There are many more parameters available which will be shown by the code snippit from rss2html.php below. Each parameter is described by the comments. The user can edit the rss2html.php, rss2js.php, and rss2js_ticker.php files if they wish to change the defaults for each of these parameters. CODE SNIPPIT BELOW if(isset($_GET['rss_url'])) $url=$_GET['rss_url']; // rss_url else $url='http://nm.nmcdn.us/rss/Newsfront/16/'; // this is just a test feed - Set any default you like. if(isset($_GET['rss_items'])) $m=$_GET['rss_items']; // rss_items else $m=0; // number of items to display - 0 means display all if(isset($_GET['rss_chars'])) $ch=$_GET['rss_chars']; // rss_chars else $ch=0; // number of characters limit for description - 0 means display all if(isset($_GET['rss_target'])) $t=$_GET['rss_target']; // rss_target else $t="_blank"; // target frame to open links. default = new window if(isset($_GET['rss_css'])) $css=$_GET['rss_css']; // rss_css else $css="rsslib_"; // prefix for the style sheet name this is prepended if(isset($_GET['rss_cnl'])) $cnl=$_GET['rss_cnl']; // rss_cnl else $cnl=1; // if not set to F the channel name is output if($cnl=='F') $cnl=false; else$cnl=true; if(isset($_GET['rss_dsort'])) $dateSort=$_GET['rss_dsort']; // rss_dsort else $dateSort=1; // items are sorted by date newest first unless this is set to F if($dateSort=='F') $dateSort=false; else $dateSort=true; if(isset($_GET['rss_cache'])) $cache_valid = intval($_GET['rss_cache']); // rss_cache else $cache_valid=15; // minutes to cache results - default is 15 - set to 0 for no cache //--------- extra 'rss_bc' option for the html2bc.php allows different background colors ------------- if(isset($_GET['rss_bc'])) $bc = $_GET['rss_bc']; // rss_bc - background color for web page should be hexidecimal color. RGB else $bc='E2FAF3'; // default background color set here if rss_bc is not specified END CODE SNIPPIT ------------------------ A note on CSS: When using rss2js.php the browser must have access to the style sheet files in order to format the output. You will either need to include the class definitions in your main stylesheet file or link to a file containing them in the page header. ie; <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../rss/rsslib.css"> ------------------------ The rss2html.php file has the same parameters as the rss2js.php file plus an additional rss_bc parameter for user defined background color. This file produces a complete web page and is useful for situations where an Iframe is implemented. The file is also provided to serve as a template for building pages that use rsslib.php in a php only website. The rss2js_ticker.php file supports the MRE Typing Ticker script: http://www.mresoftware.com/typing_ticker.htm To learn more about this script visit the link above and download the supporting documentation. I have included the file here to allow users of the ticker to implement the new library for their tickers if they desire. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A word about caching: Normally when a feed is displayed the web server accesses a remote site and downloads the XML file. That file is then parsed by rsslib.php and output as html code for display. The html cache mechanism in this reader will save a copy of the generated html code for a specified time. During the time that the cache file is valid subsequent calls for the feed will result in no remote file fetching and no parsing. The saved html is simply "spit out" with a print statement. This results in lower I/O and memory usage on your web server and lightning fast display on your web page. In the original 2RSS code the RSS file itself was cached and reprocessed on each call, with the new method the reprocessing is eliminated. You can set the cache from zero (no caching) to as many minutes as you desire for any given feed and you can now do this in the url. So if you have a feed you want to cache for 5 minutes and another for 25 it is easily accomplished. The default cache is 15 minutes but it can be edited in the calling scripts like rss2js.php. Cache files are saved in the rss/tmp folder with a file extension of .rssh. The files are not erased but used over and over again. An occasional check and clearing of the tmp folder is a good practice especially if you change or discontinue using a feed. Just erase all the .rssh files ... they will grow back. Note to developers...If you make changes to the script you may want to set the cache to 0 while you work because your changes will not affect the cached html until the cache valid time expires. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- User tweaks: The default time zone for the script can be changed at the top of the rsslib.php file. It is set initially as America/Chicago. The format of the pubDate and upDate can be changed within the rss2html function. The script can be made to recognize and display content:encoded by removing 2 commented lines in the RSS Feeds section rss function. This is documented in the comments of the code. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conclusion: Your one final step is to donate money to the author if you find this script useful. You will find a link to perform this important operation at: www.mresoftware.com/feed_reader.htm. I hope you enjoy my code and find as many uses for it as I did with the old 2RSS reader. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: THIS CODE SHOULD BE USED AT YOUR OWN RISK. IT IS PROVIDED AS IS. THE AUTHOR, THIS WEBSITE, NOR THE WEB HOST ASSUMES ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SAFETY OR ACCURACY OF THIS INFORMATION. THERE IS NO WARRANTY EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED THAT THIS CODE IS SAFE AND NO LIABILITY WILL BE BORNE BY ANY PARTY INVOLVED IN PREPARING OR PUBLISHING THESE DOCUMENTS OR SOFTWARE. THIS SCRIPT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED EXPERIMENTAL AND IS OFFERED HERE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you find this code of value, donate a little to the cause. Think of the time you just saved!

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Questions / Comments? Email me.