php generates xml for RSS feed but cannot parse it because the file is php

Question

Hi Im trying to create a news feed using php. I have a php code written which connects to the database and retrieves information which is converted into XML. The file is however a .php and when I try to parse it using google reader it dosen't work because it only reads files which are XML. Here's my code:

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml");
$dept = $_GET['dept'];
require_once ("/var/www/html/http/sass/includes/config.inc.php");
require_once ("sass_news.php");
$sassNews = paginate('sass_news', 'sass_news', $numResults, $offset, $order, $condition);
if($sassNews) {
    $xml_output = "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n";
    $xml_output .= "<entries>\n";

        foreach($sassNews as $newsDetail){
        $xml_output .= "\t<entry>\n";
        $xml_output .= "\t\t<date>" . $newsDetail->news_start_date . "</date>\n";
        $xml_output .= "\t\t<text>" . $newsDetail->news_body_en . "</text>\n";
        $xml_output .= "\t</entry>\n";
     }

    $xml_output .= "</entries>";

    echo $xml_output;

}
?>

You can probably set the file extension as XML and still have the web server execute the PHP code. What web server are you using? — Michael Mior
– Michael Mior, Commented Jul 15, 2011 at 19:54
If you are writing XML by bashing together strings, you are probably generating invalid XML. Use an XML library to build XML, and validate — Quentin
– Quentin, Commented Jul 15, 2011 at 19:58

Marc B · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-15 19:54:11Z

1

Try header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename=somename.xml'); at the top of the script. However, if Google Reader is going to allow only URLS which literally end in .xml, then you'll need to reconfigure your server to treat .xml files as PHP scripts and rename this script to whatever.xml.

answered Jul 15, 2011 at 19:54

Marc B

362k44 gold badges433 silver badges508 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Rudu · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-15 19:57:01Z

1

Have you read the RSS specification, that doesn't look like valid markup to me. It should have an rss node, a channel node and lots of other goodies. Also your content-type should be application/rss+xml

answered Jul 15, 2011 at 19:57

Rudu

15.9k4 gold badges51 silver badges66 bronze badges

1 Comment

Kwebble Over a year ago

To check your feed you can use the Feed validation service: validator.w3.org/feed

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

php generates xml for RSS feed but cannot parse it because the file is php

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related