Parse RSS feed, then... Possible with PHP?

[_spahz]

My first post. 

 

I know virtually nothing about PHP programming. I will be hiring a PHP programmer for a custom script, but I'm looking for a few answers first. My main goal is how convey my idea to the programmer so they understand what needs to be done.

 

1. Is the scenario below possible with PHP?

2. If it is possible, what is the best way to execute the scenario?

3. If it is possible, how would I convey this to the programmer so they understand best?

 

The script should:

 

1. Parse a news feed (RSS/Atom/RDF) using SimplePie API

2. Follow the title URL of each story (example feed, follows to article)

3. Parse the article on the page (is this possible?)

4. Filter/rewrite certain things (e.g. < br > becomes < br / >)

5. Return the cleaned article for further modification and posting to my website

 

Seems simple enough, but again, I know virtually nothing about programming PHP.