php array variable question...

[cowboysdude]

I'm currently parsing multiple rss/xml feeds using this:

class Feed_Amalgamator
{
    public $urls = array();
    public $data = array();

    public function addFeeds( array $feeds )
    {
        $this->urls = array_merge( $this->urls, array_values($feeds) );
    }

    public function grabRss()
    {
        foreach ( $this->urls as $feed )
        {
            $data = @new SimpleXMLElement( $feed, 0, true );
            if ( !$data )
                throw new Exception( 'Could not load: ' . $feed );
            foreach ( $data->channel->item as $item )
            {
                $this->data[] = $item;
            }
        }
    }

    public function amalgamate()
    {
        shuffle( $this->data );
        $temp = array();
        foreach ( $this->data as $item )
        {
            if ( !in_array($item->link, $this->links($temp)) )
            {
                $temp[] = $item;
            }
        }
        $this->data = $temp;
        shuffle( $this->data );
    }

    private function links( array $items )
    {
        $links = array();
        foreach ( $items as $item )
        {
            $links[] = $item->link;
        }
        return $links;
    }
}

/********* Feeds *********/
$urls = array('http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio',
'http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast',
'https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml',);
/********* Feeds *********/
try
{
    $feeds = new Feed_Amalgamator;
    $feeds->addFeeds( $urls );
    $feeds->grabRss();
    $feeds->amalgamate();
}
catch ( exception $e )
{
    die( $e->getMessage() );
}

foreach ( $feeds->data as $item ) :
extract( (array) $item );

$truncated = (strlen($description) > 100) ? substr($description, 0, 80) . '...' : $description;

and it's working quite nicely... however I'm trying to replace the actual feeds them selves in this section:

/********* Feeds *********/
$urls = array('http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio',
'http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast',
'https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml',);
/********* Feeds *********/

 with this:

/********* Feeds *********/
$urls = array($params->get('url'));
/********* Feeds *********/

But I keep getting this:

 

• String could not be parsed as XML

I know it's reading the links but it doesn't seem to be passing them correctly to be parsed for some reason...

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance!

[requinix]

Well, first step is figuring out the exact value of $urls...

print_r($urls);

[cowboysdude]

Well, first step is figuring out the exact value of $urls...

print_r($urls);

 

 

This the output:

Array
(
    [0] => http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video
    [1] => http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery
    [2] => http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio
    [3] => http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast
    [4] => https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml
) 

Edited December 29, 2015 by cowboysdude

[cowboysdude]

When I use the 

print_r($url);

it returns

'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio',
'http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast',
'https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml',<div id="wrapper" style="margin-top:1px;"><ul id="ticker">String could not be parsed as XML

[requinix]

Here's the thing: with

/********* Feeds *********/
$urls = array($params->get('url'));
/********* Feeds *********/

$urls is guaranteed to be an array containing one single item. That contradicts the first output you gave.

 

As for the second, there is no "$url" in the code you posted so I don't know where its value is coming from.

[cowboysdude]

Here is the entire code... I see what you mean...

JHtml::stylesheet('modules/mod_newsbanner/assets/css/styles.css');
JHtml::_('jquery.framework');
JHtml::script(JUri::base() . 'modules/mod_newsbanner/assets/js/tickerme.js');
$url  = $params->get('url');
 echo '<div id="wrapper" style="margin-top:1px;">';
 echo '<ul id="ticker">';

class Feed_Amalgamator
{
    public $urls = array();
    public $data = array();

    public function addFeeds( array $feeds )
    {
        $this->urls = array_merge( $this->urls, array_values($feeds) );
    }

    public function grabRss()
    {
        foreach ( $this->urls as $feed )
        {
            $data = @new SimpleXMLElement( $feed, 0, true );
            if ( !$data )
                throw new Exception( 'Could not load: ' . $feed );
            foreach ( $data->channel->item as $item )
            {
                $this->data[] = $item;
            }
        }
    }

    public function amalgamate()
    {
        shuffle( $this->data );
        $temp = array();
        foreach ( $this->data as $item )
        {
            if ( !in_array($item->link, $this->links($temp)) )
            {
                $temp[] = $item;
            }
        }
        $this->data = $temp;
        shuffle( $this->data );
    }

    private function links( array $items )
    {
        $links = array();
        foreach ( $items as $item )
        {
            $links[] = $item->link;
        }
        return $links;
    }
}

/********* Feeds *********/
$urls = array($url);
/********* Feeds *********/

try
{
    $feeds = new Feed_Amalgamator;
    $feeds->addFeeds( $urls );
    $feeds->grabRss();
    $feeds->amalgamate();
}
catch ( exception $e )
{
    die( $e->getMessage() );
}

foreach ( $feeds->data as $item ) :
extract( (array) $item );

$truncated = (strlen($description) > 100) ? substr($description, 0, 80) . '...' : $description;



?>

<li><img src="modules/mod_newsbanner/assets/images/slogo.jpg" width="19" height="19">   <?php echo $truncated; ?>  <a href="<?php echo $link; ?>" target="_blank"><font color=red>Read More</font></a></li>

<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>
  </div>
  
  <script>
jQuery(function(){
		jQuery('#ticker').tickerme();
	});
</script>

Edited December 29, 2015 by cowboysdude

[requinix]

Assuming you had

$url  = $params->get('url');
 print_r($url);
 echo '<div id="wrapper" style="margin-top:1px;">';
 echo '<ul id="ticker">';

that means $url is actually the string

'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio',
'http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast',
'https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml',

which is no good. How is the "url" parameter being set? Can you make it an array of strings?

[cowboysdude]

Well if you go back up to the top I have set $url to get the 

'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio',
'http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast',
'https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml',

which comes from:

/********* Feeds *********/
$urls = array($url);
/********* Feeds *********/

it should be getting 'filled' from this:

$url  = $params->get('url');

 which is a 'textarea' where users can put their urls like above and populate the array via the $url parameter.. 

 

It's not reading it for some strange reason... the 

print_r($url); 

was just to see if that $url was catching what was being put in the textarea in the module and it is.... problem is it's not translating later on down in the array() area....

[requinix]

which is a 'textarea' where users can put their urls like above and populate the array via the $url parameter..

And there it is.

 

See, the "url" param, and thus the $url variable, and thus the $urls array, contains a string of all the URLs. That's no good. Your code needs an array of individual URLs, not all of them bunched together.

 

1. You copied and pasted that

'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery',
'http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio',
'http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast',
'https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml',

into the textarea. You, as a user, need to fix that so it becomes

http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/video
http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/gallery
http://www.dallascowboys.com/rss/audio
http://espn.go.com/blog/feed?blog=nfceast
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/dal/rss.xml

One URL for each line. No extra apostrophes or commas or anything. Make sure your form has instructions to do that.

 

2. Now you know each line is a URL. Supposedly. IMO the best way to get the individual URLs out of it is to try to locate a valid URL on each line, which gives you some freedom about leaving blank lines and such:

$url = $params->get('url');
// beginning of line, maybe whitespace, a "http://" or "https://" url, maybe more whitespace, then the end of the line
if (preg_match_all('/^\s*(https?://\S+)\s*$/im', $url, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER)) {
	$urls = $matches[1];
} else {
	// did not find any urls
	$urls = array();
}

3. Now that you have $urls set you don't need

/********* Feeds *********/
$urls = array($url);
/********* Feeds *********/

[cowboysdude]

That all makes sense!! Huge Thank you!!!  

 

Problem is I tend to make it harder then it has to be... LOL

 

Again, Thank you!