RSS Feed

[Visualbomber]

Hi there, I have been reasearching RSS and XML, in order to form a
program that works with RSS to organize information, such as places on
a map. Does anyone here have any ideas how I can get this idea off the
ground. I have a basic sence of XML, RSS, C++ and Visual bascis.
Another thought is which would be easier, using C++ or Visual Basics?

 

[Joe Kesselman]

Another thought is which would be easier, using C++ or Visual Basics?

Easiest is using the language (a) for which you can find support
routines, so you don't have to re-code all that yourself, and (b) which
you understand best. I'd expect there are more good XML manipulation
libraries for C++ than for VB, but that's just a guess.

Getting the idea off the ground: Define the problem you're trying to
solve much more precisely. Design your data structures. Design the
representation of the data structures in XML, and their transport
mechanism in RSS. Code. Test. Repeat until it works.

(From your note, it's pretty clear that you haven't yet gotten through
the first stage of that process, which makes trying to work on the rest
somewhat counterproductive.)

 

[vbJustin]

Well, what I hope to do is create a updating system of RSS feeds for a
GEO RSS feed. I need to figure out a way to organmize the data, sort
it all into the subcatigories in RSS, and be able to have it grow as
the list of data grows. At this time, I am not sure how much data
there is, I just know it is a list of Logitudanal and latitude points,
instead of a URL, ill use the point for the place. Whats your thoughts
people?

 

[Greger]

Well, what I hope to do is create a updating system of RSS feeds for a
GEO RSS feed. I need to figure out a way to organmize the data, sort
it all into the subcatigories in RSS, and be able to have it grow as
the list of data grows. At this time, I am not sure how much data
there is, I just know it is a list of Logitudanal and latitude points,
instead of a URL, ill use the point for the place. Whats your thoughts
people?

what platform?

 

[vbJustin]

what platform?

Windows XP Pro, Im probably going to consider using C++ to write the
program.

 

[Andy Dingley]

Hi there, I have been reasearching RSS and XML, in order to form a
program that works with RSS to organize information, such as places on
a map.

As always, this is a question of system architecture design, not just
coding. _What_ information are you organising? Where does it come from?
Where might it be going?

Another thought is which would be easier, using C++ or Visual Basics?

It makes almost no difference. You might use a DOM, like MSXML, and you
could use XPath and XSLT to process RSS within this. Your key
algorithms are thus in one of these languages, and VB/VC++ is just a
container for them.

RSS isn't (reliably) in XML, so you might find a need to provide a
better RSS-friendly parser than a strict XML DOM for it. That's a job
for C++ or Java, not VB, but you would probably encapsulate that in a
COM component anyway, through the standard W3C DOM interrface.

On the M$oft platforms, then choose whichever language you're
personally happier with.

 

[vbJustin]

RSS isn't (reliably) in XML, so you might find a need to provide a
better RSS-friendly parser than a strict XML DOM for it. That's a job
for C++ or Java, not VB, but you would probably encapsulate that in a
COM component anyway, through the standard W3C DOM interrface.

Would you tell me where I could get W3C DOM?

 

[Andy Dingley]

Would you tell me where I could get W3C DOM?

W3C DOM is a standard, not a product. Your easiest way to obtain a
product that supports this standard would be to use MSXML.

If MSXML doesn't do everything you need (which for production-grade RSS
reading it won't) then you'll probably have to write your own
replacement. It's still a good idea to make this support the same
standard though.

 

[vbJustin]

Well, i found this website with a few methods on how to create a XML
document, but wich one should I choose for the RSS feed im trying to
make?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/default.aspx?pull=/msdnmag/issues/06/06/testrun/default.aspx

 

[Greger]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/default.aspx?pull=/msdnmag/issues/06/06

testrun/default.aspx
hmm.
outputting xml documents is pretty simple, reading them is more difficult.
I create my rss feed at my site with a simple stupid php script. you don't
need C++ for that. for reading feeds it is a different matter. I use
libxml2 for that ( www.xmlsoft.org ).

if you need classes for rss reading and downloading off of the web see my
site and QxRSS Reader for some classes I recently wrote. C++ documentation
is online.

 

[Joe Kesselman]

W3C DOM is a standard, not a product. Your easiest way to obtain a
product that supports this standard would be to use MSXML.

Or the Apache Xerces project, which is cross-platform and hews closer to
the standards in some places.