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View Full Version : Feature Request: RSS Feeds

CHz
Sep 30, 2007, 07:18 PM
I notice a few feature request threads have been chucked into this forum, even though I don't think they really fall under the "Report and discuss errors in the database or interface" category. Maybe the description should be changed or a new place should be set up?

Anyway, some RSS feeds to keep tabs on updates would be snazzy. I was thinking one for the news updates on the front page and one for each of the three recent updates (http://www.vgmdb.net/db/recent.php) displays: albums, scans, and tracklists. It'd be nice to be able to see when things are updated without having to saunter on over in my web browser and F5.
Secret Squirrel
Oct 1, 2007, 06:36 AM
Seems like a good idea, though there are a lot of database edits, so this would potentially be a very active feed. Do you know how to set this up, from the technical side?
CHz
Oct 1, 2007, 07:44 AM
For the album/scan/tracklist feeds, it'd be updating an XML file each time an update is made to something. Here's an example of what one might look like for album updates:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>VGMdb Album Updates</title>
<link>http://www.vgmdb.net/db/recent.php</link>
<description>Recent album updates to VGMdb</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2007 VGMdb.net</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:30:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>

<item>
<title>Parade of Happiness / Winbee [KICA-7649]</title>
<link>http://www.vgmdb.net/db/albums.php?id=4820</link>
<description>Parade of Happiness / Winbee [KICA-7649] updated by seanne.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:30:00 GMT</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Parade of Happiness / Winbee [KICA-7649]</title>
<link>http://www.vgmdb.net/db/albums.php?id=4820</link>
<description>Parade of Happiness / Winbee [KICA-7649] updated by seanne.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:18:00 GMT</pubDate>
</item>

...

<item>
<title>Parade of Happiness / Winbee [KICA-7649]</title>
<link>http://www.vgmdb.net/db/albums.php?id=4820</link>
<description>Parade of Happiness / Winbee [KICA-7649] added by seanne.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:16:00 GMT</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Winbee's Neo Cinema 2 ~Paradise side~ [KICA-7642]</title>
<link>http://www.vgmdb.net/db/albums.php?id=4140</link>
<description>Winbee's Neo Cinema 2 ~Paradise side~ [KICA-7642] updated by seanne.</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:53:00 GMT</pubDate>
</item>

...

</channel>
</rss>

The spec is here (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html). There are a lot of optional elements (contact information, tagging, etc.) and a bunch of different ways you can fill out the fields (perhaps a longer description for items that actually tells what was changed in each update, for example), but what I've got above at least covers the basics of what'd be in the feed.

Then, for browsers to autodetect the feed, you'd stick something like this in the <head> section of the album updates page: <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="albumupdates.xml" />

As far as front page news updates go, that'd probably have to tie in somehow with vBulletin. I dunno if the capability is built in, if there's a plug-in available, or if custom code would have to be written, although I'd greatly expect one of the first two cases to hold.