RSS feeds from database + associated data (skip NULL in MySQL output) (Page 1 of 4)

Wow MattF, thanks for the quick response, on New Year's Eve! :-)

Going to test it now, will report back...

...I'm back. It's not clear to me how to use this solution. This obviously doesn't work:

$result = $db->query('SELECT rssfeed FROM members') or error('Unable to fetch feed information', __FILE__, __LINE__,$db->error());

if ($db->num_rows($result))
{
   while ($cur_feed = $db->fetch_assoc($result))
   {
       simplepie command($cur_feed['rssfeed']);
   }
}

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
    $rssfeed
));

I assume I have to replace "simplepie command" with something, but then I'd have to start rewriting/customizing the SimplePie script.

I think your solution would apply "simplepie command" to each RSS feed seperately. I already have a solution that does that, but then all the posts together don't get sorted by date, for example.

I'm looking for a solution that takes the available RSS feeds from the database, puts them in a list (an "array"?), then leaves the rest to the regular Simplepie script.

The regular SimplePie multifeeds script needs something like this:

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
'http://www.website.com/?feed=rss2', 
'http://feeds.feedburner.com/someonesblog', 
'http://www.moreblogging.com/my_weblog/atom.xml',
));

So how can I get that RSS feed list from the database and instead of echoing it, insert it into SimplePie?

OK! And then I put '$feed_array[]' in the SimplePie code where I had '$rssfeeds' ?

I'll try it later. Have to run out to a New Year's Eve party...

Thanks again MattF!

Right! I've used something like that before. Didn't think of that.

That would solve half of the puzzle. Thanks again! :-)

Gotta run...

Would that then need to be:

$db->query('SELECT rssfeed FROM '.$db->prefix.'users WHERE IS NOT NULL rssfeed')

or

$db->query('SELECT rssfeed FROM '.$db->prefix.'users WHERE rssfeed IS NOT NULL')

or would either achieve the same result?

Cheers.

That one you're using should be fine for both null or empty, I believe. If not, I thing the following should cover both?

$query="SELECT rssfeed FROM users WHERE rssfeed!='' AND rssfeed IS NOT NULL";

I've used this on the database:

UPDATE users SET rssfeed=NULL;

That sets all rssfeed fields to NULL. I had to manually restore two rssfeeds. I should probably have added WHERE rssfeed!='' to the query.

Now the rssfeed IS NOT NULL solution works just as well. Is that the correct way to do it? Is one method better than the other.

Anyway, on to step two (after a late brunch + some coffee)...

I've tried this:

$query="SELECT rssfeed FROM members WHERE rssfeed!=''";
$result=mysql_query($query);

$num=mysql_numrows($result);

mysql_close();

if ($db->num_rows($result))
{
   $feed_array = array();

   while ($cur_feed = $db->fetch_assoc($result))
   {
       $feed_array[] = $cur_feed['rssfeed'];
   }
}

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
$feed_array[]
));

I get this error:

Fatal error: Cannot use [] for reading in...

When I use this, the error disappears, but I get no results on the page:

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
$feed_array
));

I don't know how to use this solution and am not sure if it will really produce the required result.

With the previous code I can get the list of RSS feeds in a form that SimplePie can use. How can I put the results of that previous code into the SimplePie script, instead of echoing it?

I suspect I have to use return instead of echo and perhaps in the form of a function. This doesn't work, but at least no syntax errors:

$i=0;
while ($i < $num) {
$rssfeed=mysql_result($result,$i,"rssfeed");
$memberfeeds="$rssfeed,<br />";
$i++;
}
return $memberfeeds;

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
$memberfeeds
));

Am I getting closer to the solution? Any obvious mistakes? Trying to find more info...

Thanks. I've tried this:

if ($db->num_rows($result))
{
   $feed_array = array();

   while ($cur_feed = $db->fetch_assoc($result))
   {
       $feed_array[] = $cur_feed['rssfeed'];
   }
}

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url($feed_array);

SimplePie (presumably) returns this error message:

file_get_contents could not read the file

So I guess this solution delivers the data in a way that SimplePie can't use. That's why I'm trying to find a dumber solution that stays close to that echo output, not an array, but a list like this:

'http://blog.com/rss',
'http://blog2.com/rss',
'http://blog3.com/rss',

Yes, SimplePie works fine with this:

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
'http://blog.com/rss',
'http://blog2.com/rss',
'http://blog3.com/rss',
));

And even with this within code I have:

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
$rssfeed,
));

But the code I have loops through the available RSS feeds one by one, so they're outputting on the page in the order the script finds them in the database. To take advantage of SimplePie's build-in sort by date I have to hand over a complete list of RSS feeds and leave the rest to SimplePie.

I suspect I have to write a "function" that "returns" the list to SimplePie. Trying to figure out how...

This doesn't work, but no syntax errors:

function memberfeeds() {

$i=0;
while ($i < $num) {
$rssfeed=mysql_result($result,$i,"rssfeed");
echo "$rssfeed,<br />";
$i++;
}
}

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(
memberfeeds()
));

Do I need to put a return $something in the function?

Thanks for the suggestion MattF. Both solutions produce no results. The file_get_contents error message disappears with the second suggestion:

if ($db->num_rows($result))
{
   $feed_array = array();

   while ($cur_feed = $db->fetch_assoc($result))
   {
       $feed_array[] = $cur_feed['rssfeed'];
   }
}

// Initialize some feeds for use.
$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url(array(implode(', ', $feed_array)));

I don't want to mess with SimplePie too much. I'm looking for a dumb solution to just hand-over a list of RSS feeds and let SimplePie do the rest.

With your help I now know how to get a correctly formatted list of RSS feeds from the database. Step two is to figure out is how to hand the list over to SimplePie.