[SOLVED] RSS Parsing.....

[brad45429]

Hello,

 

I am using this PHP script "Magpie RSS" to parse my atom.xml feed to be able to display the most recent post from a blog on a seperate page.  The parsing is working HOWEVER - I want to be able to limit the length of the displayed post to only about 50 characters or so and have a link to the entire post.  I DO NOT know the code to limit the $content though.  Can anyone help?  Here is what the page looks like.... http://www.xenianaz.org/blogs/index.php

 

Here is my php code....

 

<?php
define('MAGPIE_DIR', '../blogs/magpie/');
require_once(MAGPIE_DIR.'rss_fetch.inc');

$rss = fetch_rss('http://xenianaz.org/blogs/jim/atom.xml');

$item = $rss->items[0];
$content = $item['atom_content'];
echo "<p>Latest Blog Entry:<br>$content</p>\n";
?> 

 

THANKS!

[ultrus]

Hello brad45429,

Use the following additional line:

 

<?php

$content = substr($content, 0, 50); //source string, starting point, how many

?>

 

Hope this helps

[brad45429]

Ultrus,

 

Thank You.  I have added the additional line to include the line you recommended to show as follows:

 

<?php
define('MAGPIE_DIR', '../blogs/magpie/');
require_once(MAGPIE_DIR.'rss_fetch.inc');

$rss = fetch_rss('http://xenianaz.org/blogs/jim/atom.xml');

$item = $rss->items[0];
$content = substr($content, 0, 50); //source string, starting point, how many
$content = $item['atom_content'];
echo "<p>Latest Blog Entry:<br>$content</p>\n";
?> 

 

Did I get it right?  However it still shows the ENTIRE most recent post.  I wonder if it is something to do with the files associated with Magpie?  These are the files...  http://www.xenianaz.org/blogs/magpie/

[brad45429]

Ultrus - IT WORKS!

 

I moved the location of the additional line and it works now.  (I used 200 instead of 50)

 

<?php
define('MAGPIE_DIR', '../blogs/magpie/');
require_once(MAGPIE_DIR.'rss_fetch.inc');

$rss = fetch_rss('http://xenianaz.org/blogs/jim/atom.xml');

$item = $rss->items[0];
$content = $item['atom_content'];
$content = substr($content, 0, 200); //source string, starting point, how many
echo "<p>Latest Blog Entry:<br>$content...</p>\n";
?> 

 

I also added a ... at the end of $content to display ... at the end of the breakoff.  Here is a question though.  It is cutting off in the middle of words.  Is there anyway to have it cut off after a word or at the end of a sentance even?  This may not be possible I realize.

 

Here is what it looks like currently (I have not formatted the page yet with graphics or anything)

 

http://www.xenianaz.org/blogs/index.php

 

THANKS!

[ultrus]

very nice 

[ultrus]

uggh. my brain quit working. Perhaps find a " " after 200 character, perhaps create a substring like the line I sent you of 200 to  ???

 

$addedContent = substr($content, 200, (strlen($content) - 200));

 

//get next space location - sorry, can't think of what to write on this

$addedContent = substr($addedContent , 0, */ number to next space */);

 

$content .= $addedContent; //append the remaining of the last word

 

I know all of the above is probably jiberish. I will take a fresh look at it tomorrow.

 

Good night.

 

 

[brad45429]

Ultrus,

 

Thanks SO MUCH for all your help.  It is jiberish to me.  (then again it always is until it works!)

 

I will try this substring later tonight and see if it works.

 

Thank God for people like you helping out the little people of the world!

 

Take Care,

 

Brad

[ultrus]

Ok. I'm back with a brain. Here is how I would limit your content sample to 200 characters, plus the remaining of any word that might have been chopped off:

 

<?php

//this changed a bit. It's not $content anymore
$allContent = $item['atom_content'];

//first 200 characters, some word might be chopped off here
$content = substr($allContent, 0, 200);

//whatever is being hidden, with possible chopped in half word at beginning
$remainingContent = substr($allContent , 200, (strlen($allContent) - 200));

//might want to check if a space is the last character of the current content
//if so, no words were chopped in half
if(substr($content, (strlen($content) - 1), 1)) {
     $remainingContent = false;
}

//if there were less than 200 characters to begin with, skip the following
if($remainingContent && strlen($remainingContent) > 0) {
     $spacePosition = stripos($remainingContent, " "); //position of next space/word break
     if($spacePosition)
          $content .= substr($remainingContent, 0, ($spacePosition + 1));
     } else {
          $content .= $remainingContent;
     }
}

?>

 

That should do it. I have not tested it for errors so let me know if there are issues.

[brad45429]

Thanks Ultrus,

 

$remainingContent does not seem to be working though.  Thanks for all your hard work though.

 

Please make sure I have the echo line correct.  I tried $allContent which worked and $content by itself - both work.  $remainingContent does not work by itself or with $content.

 

<?php
define('MAGPIE_DIR', '../blogs/magpie/');
require_once(MAGPIE_DIR.'rss_fetch.inc');

$rss = fetch_rss('http://xenianaz.org/blogs/jim/atom.xml');
$item = $rss->items[0];
//this changed a bit. It's not $content anymore
$allContent = $item['atom_content'];
//first 200 characters, some word might be chopped off here
$content = substr($allContent, 0, 200);
//whatever is being hidden, with possible chopped in half word at beginning
$remainingContent = substr($allContent , 200, (strlen($allContent) - 200));
//might want to check if a space is the last character of the current content
//if so, no words were chopped in half
if(substr($content, (strlen($content) - 1), 1)) {
     $remainingContent = false;
}
//if there were less than 200 characters to begin with, skip the following
if($remainingContent && strlen($remainingContent) > 0) {
     $spacePosition = stripos($remainingContent, " "); //position of next space/word break
     if($spacePosition)
          $content .= substr($remainingContent, 0, ($spacePosition + 1));
     } else {
          $content .= $remainingContent;
    }
echo "<p>Latest Blog Entry:<br>$content$remainingContent</p>\n";
?> 

 

http://www.xenianaz.org/blogs/index.php

 

THANKS A BILLION.

[ultrus]

ah, I see a mistake. Try this and see if it works:

 

<?php
define('MAGPIE_DIR', '../blogs/magpie/');
require_once(MAGPIE_DIR.'rss_fetch.inc');

$rss = fetch_rss('http://xenianaz.org/blogs/jim/atom.xml');
$item = $rss->items[0];

//this changed a bit. It's not $content anymore
$allContent = $item['atom_content'];

//first 200 characters, some word might be chopped off here
$content = substr($allContent, 0, 200);

//whatever is being hidden, with possible chopped in half word at beginning
$remainingContent = substr($allContent , 200, (strlen($allContent) - 200));

//might want to check if a space is the last character of the current content
//if so, no words were chopped in half
if(substr($content, (strlen($content) - 1), 1) == " ") { //this is where I made my mistake
     $remainingContent = false;
}

//if there were less than 200 characters to begin with, skip the following
if($remainingContent && strlen($remainingContent) > 0) {
     $spacePosition = stripos($remainingContent, " "); //position of next space/word break

     if($spacePosition)
          $content .= substr($remainingContent, 0, ($spacePosition + 1));
     } else {
          $content .= $remainingContent;
    }

echo "<p>Latest Blog Entry:<br>$content</p>\n";
?> 

[brad45429]

Copied and pasted it in, now I get...

 

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: stripos() in /home/www/xenianaz/blogs/index.php on line 258

 

[brad45429]

Sorry - Line 258 is this line...

 <?php
$spacePosition = stripos($remainingContent, " "); //position of next space/word break 
?>

[brad45429]

GOT IT!

 

I learned from here...  http://codewalkers.com/archives/phpcoding/10127.html

 

That stripos does not exist in PHP4, ( I am using PHP 4.4.2 )

 

So I added the code there and NOW IT WORKS!

 

THANKS AGAIN!

[ultrus]

sweet.