Third-Party Apps from Bloglines and FriendFeed to Parse .xml Files in Multimedia Format

Introduction

Back in 2004, I learned how to create an rss feed and update it regularly with new items. This rss feed in .xml file format can only be read in the browser through feed readers like Newsgator.com. It can also be given a landing page for your readers if it is "burned" through FeedBurner.com. After learning how to syndicate content with an rss feed, I wanted to know the code to transform the .xml file to an .html file. After obtaining so many results in a search made at Google, and studying them as much as I could, I realized that a self-study of the process is really beyond the scope of basic and small Catholic web developer knowledge.

Parsing .xml to .html

The process of transforming .xml to .html is called parsing. Parsing can be done in a variety of codes, but all of them appear very complex. One expert at parsing says that it requires a collection of five functions: function initArray(), function startElement(), function endElement(), function parseData(), and function parseRDF(). I printed out a copy of this code for these five functions. I am attempting to study it step by step, but it will probably take more time before I can comprehend what it really involves. If anyone reads this article, is familiar with parsers, knows how to parse in simple code, and is willing to share his knowledge, I would be very grateful if he shares his code with our web site. I can feature his own web site or blog in our Resource Links Directory to also help other small Catholic web sites and web developers.

Parsing through Bloglines

The code for our web site's rss feed is found at http://www.c-web-developer.net/rss.xml. You can copy and paste this URL into your favorite feed reader. For basic web site developers, to save much on time, energy and money, we can opt to parse an rss feed through Bloglines. Bloglines provides us with a page that presents 15-20 items of an rss feed, so that readers can view the rss feed code items in text format. The URL for this web site's Bloglines landing page is at: http://www.bloglines.com/preview?siteid=19177942.

Parsing in multimedia format through FriendFeed

Friendfeed.com, acquired this year (2009) by Facebook, is a more comprehensive "parser". It can "parse" both rss.xml and atom.xml feeds, and the URLs from YouTube to present a rich multimedia interface. All that is required is to add all your multimedia sites into your FriendFeed account. If you have two or more Blogger.com accounts, just register the atom.xml feeds of those blogs. You can also add your microblogging site Twitter in FriendFeed. When you share a link from YouTube at Twitter, it will be sent to FriendFeed, and FriendFeed can present the video file of that link in video format.

Embedding the FriendFeed widget for site visitors

After registering an account with FriendFeed, you can add all your social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, photo and audio sites, your web site's rss feed, your Blogger.com atom.xml feeds, your microblogging sites, and other multimedia sites. You can then obtain the widget from FriendFeed, and then copy and paste the code in any page of your site or blog. As you make updates to any two or more of your registered sites at FriendFeed, FriendFeed will then update your site visitors through the widget, with multimedia content from those multimedia sites. Through FriendFeed, you can make your small Catholic web site and blog a rich multimedia experience for your visitors and subscribers.

Summary

It took me years to realize that parsing .xml to .html is really beyond basic and small Catholic web site development. Therefore, for the purposes of building a small Catholic site of information, the use of third-party applications would suffice to "parse" easily rss feed items and other multimedia content for the site's visitors. Bloglines.com and FriendFeed.com can save us on time, money and brain energy at our level of basic and small web site development. What is important is that we keep note of where we embed our third-party applications, and to use them sparingly so as to manage and control their usability better.

Dennis Emmanuel Cabrera
Web Site Administrator

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