[SOLVED] Whoever solves this for me gets a nice X-mas card!

minute44 · #1 (**permalink**) Dec 3rd, 2007, 20:00

OK, I don't know if this is in the right forum so please excuse me if not. I have a problem. Well, not so much a problem, I want to do something and have no idea where to start.

If you look at minute44.com and scroll right down to the footer you will see my "Movie news at Empire" section.

At the moment I just update that when I feel like it but what I'd like it to do is pull the three most recent headlines from the news RSS feed: http://www.empireonline.com/rss/

I trust someone will have the knowledge to do this if not done it before.

Thanks in advance

Dan

alexgeek · #2 (**permalink**) Dec 3rd, 2007, 20:05

This is a mixture of RSS(XML) and PHP.
You need to grab the feed, then use an XML parser or regex to output stuff!
You can grab the feed with file_get_contents() or if they have leech protection, lookup CURL.

minute44 · #3 (**permalink**) Dec 3rd, 2007, 20:12

Thanks alex but I know nothing of PHP at this point so can you make the process simple for me... I kinda get what you're saying it has to do but I can't code PHP.

alexgeek · #4 (**permalink**) Dec 3rd, 2007, 20:38

Well you won't be able to do this without PHP.
Maybe try customizing this tutorial? http://openkapow.com/blogs/support/a...from-Digg.aspx

dab42pat · #5 (**permalink**) Dec 3rd, 2007, 20:50

You could also take a look at this link.

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum98/465.htm

Pat

Rakuli · #6 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 05:58

Moving to PHP forum

I will have a shot at some code for you sometime tonight or tomorrow - if you haven't sorted it already.

Cheers

minute44 · #7 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 07:40

Cheers matey

Rakuli · #8 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 16:02

Okay as promised, this does it for you...

Now all you need to do is save this as a php file

PHP: Select all


<?php





function getLatestEmpireNews($numLinks = 3, $linkSeparator = '<br />') 

// send a value other than three to change the amount of links to output

// send something other than <br /> to put between the links, just use '' for nothing

{





// create an xml parser



$xmlReader = xml_parser_create();





// to make this easier for all involved, parse the 

xml_parse_into_struct($xmlReader, file_get_contents('http://www.empireonline.com/rss/rss.asp'), $values, $indices);



// Now, what we should have is -- $values with an associative array of all xml tags that hold a reference to the location in the values array



// Having looked at the rss, each item has a title, a link and a description --  this will output the links with teh description as the link title

// The first one is just a link to empireonline so we can ignore



$output = ''; // set up the output



for ($i = 1; $i <= $numLinks; $i++)

{

    // cycle through the $values array and set up the links etc

    $output .= '<a href="' . $values[$indices['LINK'][$i]]['value'] . '" title="' . $values[$indices['DESCRIPTION'][$i]]['value'] . '">' . $values[$indices['TITLE'][$i]]['value'] . '</a>' . $linkSeparator;

}



// by now we should have the desired number of links, simply return them and all is well



return $output;



}

?>

Then... on your page (that is .php or being interpreted as php by the server) you simply add this where you want the links to appear

PHP: Select all


<html stuff to here>

<?php

include('C:/the/absolute/path/to/the/file.php');

echo getLatestEmpireNews();

?>



<html stuff from here>

Hope that helps,

Cheers

minute44 · #9 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:11

You're certainly on to something mate... it's not working though...

You on MSN...? Perhaps we can discuss getting this working.

Rakuli · #10 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:15

It's working fine for me.. Are you pages .php on a compatible server? If yes, are you receiving and error messages on page or in your logs?

minute44 · #11 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:19

look in the footer as it is now. view the source.

alexgeek · #12 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:20

Luke, isn't this using PHP5 objects? Maybe he's on PHP4.

Rakuli · #13 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:26

No, this is php4&5.

PHP is not able to open the file, something is refusing the connection.

Be sure that you have the path to the file correct.

Also, try adding the entire script as above into that page (at the top before <html> etc), then just drop the include part from the area you want to display it.

minute44 · #14 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:29

ok, I've changed the path but now I'm getting a parse error....

look now and tell me what you think

Rakuli · #15 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:35

Have you removed the comments? Line 8 is nothing in the script I posted..

Be sure there is a { after the ) in the function declaration

minute44 · #16 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:39

my line 8 is:

PHP: Select all


 function getLatestEmpireNews($numLinks = 3, $linkSeparator = '<br />')

and all curly brackets seem in place.

the error I get is:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in /home/sites/minute44.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/juicy-20/empirenews.php on line 8

alexgeek · #17 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:48

What are the previous and next 2 lines?
Copy a chunk over please.

Rakuli · #18 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:48

There is nothing wrong with that line.

Can you post the whole code as you are using it because something has gone wrong here

The code is still working perfectly for me.

minute44 · #19 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:49

from the top it goes:

PHP: Select all


<?php





function getLatestEmpireNews($numLinks = 3, $linkSeparator = '<br />') 

// send a value other than three to change the amount of links to output

// send something other than <br /> to put between the links, just use '' for nothing

{





// create an xml parser



$xmlReader = xml_parser_create();





// to make this easier for all involved, parse the 

xml_parse_into_struct($xmlReader, file_get_contents('http://www.empireonline.com/rss/rss.asp'), $values, $indices);



// Now, what we should have is -- $values with an associative array of all xml tags that hold a reference to the location in the values array



// Having looked at the rss, each item has a title, a link and a description --  this will output the links with teh description as the link title

// The first one is just a link to empireonline so we can ignore



$output = ''; // set up the output



for ($i = 1; $i <= $numLinks; $i++)

{

    // cycle through the $values array and set up the links etc

    $output .= '<a href="' . $values[$indices['LINK'][$i]]['value'] . '" title="' . $values[$indices['DESCRIPTION'][$i]]['value'] . '">' . $values[$indices['TITLE'][$i]]['value'] . '</a>' . $linkSeparator;

}



// by now we should have the desired number of links, simply return them and all is well



return $output;



}

?>

alexgeek · #20 (**permalink**) Dec 4th, 2007, 17:53

Remove the comments maybe? Try this:

PHP: Select all



function getLatestEmpireNews($numLinks = 3, $linkSeparator = '<br />') {

$xmlReader = xml_parser_create();

.....

add the rest in obviously

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[SOLVED] Whoever solves this for me gets a nice X-mas card!