How to Import and Export RSS Feeds
Wednesday 20 August 2008 12:14:00 pm
RSS imports
It is possible to configure eZ Publish to parse RSS feeds on every page load and present the content of those feeds to website visitors. However, in an RSS context at least, this has a number of disadvantages because it results in the following:
- A high load on your web server
- Slower response time for website visitors
- Increased web traffic for the RSS file from its originating website
eZ Publish offers a neat and efficient solution: it imports RSS items, creating a new eZ Publish object for each item. For example, BBC News RSS items could be imported as custom eZ Publish "BBC News RSS Item" objects. In addition to avoiding the problems noted above, this also means standard eZ Publish functionality can be used for:
- Fetching and displaying RSS items
- Searching RSS items
- Caching pages with RSS content
This method of handling RSS import is shown in the diagram below.
Overview: eZ Publish RSS import
As indicated by Step 1 in the diagram above, the RSS import process is initiated by an eZ Publish cronjob. This is a script run at set intervals to handle eZ Publish functions like cleaning up drafts, sending e-mail notifications, completing workflows, and importing RSS feeds. Cronjobs will be described more later.
RSS exports
In eZ Publish, RSS exports work by presenting selected website content in an RSS feed. An overview of this is shown in the following diagram.
Overview: eZ Publish RSS export