RSS/ PHP

[Bastian22]

I am using magpierss in conjunction with smarty to display xml feeds on my site.

I have used the following php code:

<? 
/* The folder where this file is located. Change to whatever you need */ 
$mydir = "/rssdemo"; 

/* Include magpierss and Smarty library */ 
require_once($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"].$mydir."/Smarty/libs/Smarty.class.php"); 
require_once($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"].$mydir."/magpierss/rss_fetch.inc"); 

/* Create a template object for further use */ 
$tpl = new Smarty(); 

/* Set folders for Smarty object. This folders have to exist on your web server (Check A.3) */ 
$tpl->template_dir = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"].$mydir.'/templates/'; 
$tpl->compile_dir = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"].$mydir.'/templates_c/'; 
$tpl->config_dir = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"].$mydir.'/configs/'; 
$tpl->cache_dir = $_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"].$mydir.'/cache/'; 

/* The URL of the feed we want to include */ 
$url = "http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/topstories"; 

/* magpierss does all the work! */ 
$rss = fetch_rss($url); 

/* Uncomment the following line to see the object and array data returned. Good to see which other information has been processed by magpierss */ 
// echo "<pre>"; print_r($rss); echo "</pre>"; 

/* If the RSS could be parsed, add it to the template */ 
if ($rss) { 
/* Sends the feed title to the template engine */ 
$tpl->assign("feedtitle",$rss->channel["title"]); 
/* Sends the RSS items as an array */ 
$tpl->assign("items",$rss->items); 
} 
else { 
/* RSS problem? */ 
$tpl->assign("feedtitle","Problem with: $url"); 
} 

/* Fill the template file itemlist.html with the information and return it */ 
$feedhtml = $tpl->fetch($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"].$mydir."/templates/itemlist.html"); 
/* Do with $feedhtml whatever you want */ 
echo $feedhtml; 
?>

What do I need to add to control the number of items displayed and how do I make them appear in a new random order each time the page is refreshed?

[bpat1434]

use SMARTY {foreach} and {if} conditional tags to limit it.

http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.function.foreach.php

something like:

{foreach from=$items item=item name=rssitems}
  {if $smarty.foreach.rssitems.index < 6}
    {$item}
  {/if}
{/foreach}

That will limit it to the first 5 items only. Obviously you can change it as needed. Also, depending upon how the RSS items are returned from magpierss, you could manipulate the array to limit it to the ones you want.

Hope that helps.

[Bastian22]

Thanks so much for your help. I must admit that I am very new to RSS. I've just been cramming all last night. Can you tell me exactly where I need to insert this code? Sorry for my ignorance.

[bpat1434]

The code goes into one of the SMARTY templates you're using. Not sure which one.