RSS feeds from database + associated data (skip NULL in MySQL output) (Page 2 of 4)

It shouldn't be. There are two RSS feeds in the database that do show up with some of the other variations I've shown in this thread.

Here's the full code that I use on my site now. It works, but the script loops through each available RSS feed sepeately. I'm looking for an alternative that hands a complete list of feeds over to SimplePie, so SimplePie can sort the results by date:

<?php
// Include the SimplePie library
require_once 'simplepie.inc';
require 'shorten.php';
require_once 'idn/idna_convert.class.php';

mysql_connect(localhost,$db_username,$db_password);
@mysql_select_db($db_name) or die( "Unable to select database");

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

$num=mysql_numrows($result);

mysql_close();

$i=0;
while ($i < $num) {

$rssfeed=mysql_result($result,$i,"rssfeed");
$id=mysql_result($result,$i,"id");
$firstname=mysql_result($result,$i,"firstname");

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

// Initialize the feed object
$feed->init();
 
// This will work if all of the feeds accept the same settings.
$feed->handle_content_type();

?> 
    <?php if ($feed->error): ?>
        <p><?=$feed->error()?></p>
    <?php endif ?>

    <?php
// Let's loop through each item in the feed.
    foreach($feed->get_items(0,1) as $item):

    // Let's give ourselves a reference to the parent $feed object for this particular item.
    $feed = $item->get_feed();
?>

<h3><a href="<?php echo $item->get_permalink(); ?>" target="_blank"><?php echo html_entity_decode($item->get_title(), ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8'); ?></a></h3>

<!-- get_content() prefers full content over summaries -->
<?php echo $item->get_description();
?>
<p class="footnote"><a href="<?php echo $feed->get_permalink(); ?>" target="_blank"><?php echo $feed->get_title(); ?></a> | <?php echo $item->get_date('M j, Y | g:i a'); ?></p><br />

<?php endforeach;
$i++;
}
?>

My original question was how to insert echo output elsewhere in the same PHP script, because I know how to output the list I need. Or is that impossible? I'm not sure the array approaches work with SimplePie.

Thanks Smartys.

After removing this:

$i++;
}

It looks promising, but I get only post(s) from one feed.

I think SimplePie doesn't handle an array the same as a dumb list with '...', Or should they really be the same thing?

No, I've tried changing the 1 to 3. It then shows 3 items from the same 1 feed.

Why doesn't something like this work?:

function memberfeeds() {
$num=mysql_numrows($result);

mysql_close();

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

$memberfeeds = memberfeeds();

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

Good point. When I try the first 10, one post from the second feed does indeed show up.

It's definitely progress!

But it's not exactly what I wanted or expected. I want one post from each feed and then sort by date. That's what the script does when I add a list of RSS feeds manually. That's what I'm trying to replicate with feeds from the database.

In my latest "solution" the query isn't the problem, it's above the code I showed. Not storing strings in an array, yes, I'm not sure an array is what I need. I'm trying to replicate a list of feeds like I normally use.

I know echo-ing doesn't work. My original question was, is it possible to insert that output elsewhere in a PHP script, instead of echo-ing. The array approach apparently does not produce the same result as the normal '...', list of feeds.

Smartys, my original question was about inserting output from one part of a PHP script elsewhere in the same script, instead of echo-ing it. I should never have brought up SimplePie! I've been saying all along that I don't want to go into SimplePie, which works fine elsewhere in my site.

How can I put a formatted list of database output elsewhere in a PHP script? Should I look into creating a function for it? Use return instead of echo in some way? Or am I totally on the wrong track?

How would I store strings in an array in my attempt at #34? Is there any way to make that approach work? Or would it come down to the same thing?

Does the output have to be assigned to an array before you can use it elsewhere in the script? Is there no way to assign it as a dumb "text string" (?) to something like $memberfeeds?

MattF, you don't have to tell me what my original question was. It's even there in the title.

Sure, the problem I was trying to solve had to do with SimplePie and I gave the code to illustrate why I asked my question. I very much appreciate you've tried to help me solve the problem, but it wasn't the original question I repeatedly tried to return to in this thread.

My question was whether it's possible to insert/use results you can echo elsewhere in a PHP script. That may be dumb irrelevant question to you, but as a non-PHP coder I still have to figure out the basics.

With your array solutions the SimplePie scripts behaves very different than when I put in a regular list of feeds. They're not the same thing. I don't know how to work with arrays, so I'm at a new dead end if I have to start editing how SimplePie code handles arrays.

I've already wasted four days on this. I give up.

Thanks. I do appreciate the help. This still doesn't work though:

$rss_feeds = array();
while ($data = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
    $rss_feeds[] = $data['rssfeed'];
}

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

I get this error message:

A feed could not be found at 
http://feeds.feedburner.com/communitywireless/rss, 
http://www.leveragingideas.com/feed/

Those are the actual feeds. They exist and should work fine.

Adding this (I've tried different variations) only brings me back to echo-ing the feed addresses on the page:

foreach ($rss_feeds as $value)
{
    echo $value."\n";
}

Just out of curiosity, change this line:

$feed->set_feed_url(implode(', ', $rss_feeds));

to:

$feed->set_feed_url(array("'".implode("', '", $rss_feeds)."'"));

or:

$feed->set_feed_url(array(implode(', ', $rss_feeds)));

I believe that first syntax should be correct for creating/keeping the single-quotes, but may be wrong.

Edit: I've just edited that code above for the array bit. Hadn't noticed the lack of it until Smartys mentioned.

Matt:
1. That is a numerically indexed array, not an comma delineated list of URLs, which is what you are proposing. Or rather, an array with one entry which is a comma delineated list of URLs.
2. I wasn't saying that it doesn't allow you to use multiple URLs. We know that works since Peter has done it in this topic already. I was saying that I don't think it allows you to get the most recent post from each URL in the array. That example doesn't seem to do that.