[RESOLVED] rss data to mysql, back to actual rss feed...

[magburner]

...I hope your going to understand this one... 😕 lol

Right then! I'm looking at letting users to my website upload their own content (its a 2.0 thingy!) once that content is uploaded, there will be an option for them to create an rss feed relating to that content, so that others who've subscribed to their content can receive updates - either through the website itself, or on the go.

I've created a form that will upload the necessary data (to create a simple feed) into a table in a mysql database. I can retrieve the data too, but I cannot retrieve it (or store it) as an actual rss feed is it possible? If so, how? Thanks again.

[NogDog]

All (?) you need is a PHP file that accepts one or more URL query string values which you then grab via the $_GET array to query the database for the desired content rows. Then you output the results as you would in HTML, except using all the required RSS tags and any of the optional tags you want to use in XML format. (See http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss for more info on the RSS 2.0 protocol.)

At it's most basic, the output would be something like:

<?php
// assume you've queried the DB and the results are in $result, then...
header("Content-Type: text/xml");
?>
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<rss version='2.0'>
  <channel>
    <title>Charles-Reace.com</title>
    <link>http://www.charles-reace.com/</link>
    <description>Interactive Web Site Design and Development</description>
<?php
while($item = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
  echo "    <item>\n";
  echo "      <title>{$item['title']}</title>\n";
  echo "      <description>{$item['description']}</description>\n";
  echo "      <link>{$item['link']}</link>\n";
  echo "    </item>\n";
}
?>
  </channel>
</rss>

[magburner]

Awesome! exactly what I wanted to know! Like I say, I've had most of it sorted, just couldn't out put the data as rss. I notice that the header function has been used again! I assume that it can output data as other formats too. 😉 As for the link, thanks, I've been looking at that, and I hope to implement a 'complete' rss solution once my skills improve! Thanks for the help again! 🙂