Parse RSS with jQuery

Question

I want to use jQuery to parse RSS feeds. Can this be done with the base jQuery library out of the box or will I need to use a plugin?

Answer 1

Use jFeed - a jQuery RSS/Atom plugin. According to the docs, it's as simple as:

jQuery.getFeed({
   url: 'rss.xml',
   success: function(feed) {
      alert(feed.title);
   }
});

Answer 2

Use google ajax api, cached by google and any output format you want.

Code sample; http://code.google.com/apis/ajax/playground/#load_feed

<script src="http://www.google.com/jsapi?key=AIzaSyA5m1Nc8ws2BbmPRwKu5gFradvD_hgq6G0" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
/*
*  How to load a feed via the Feeds API.
*/

google.load("feeds", "1");

// Our callback function, for when a feed is loaded.
function feedLoaded(result) {
  if (!result.error) {
    // Grab the container we will put the results into
    var container = document.getElementById("content");
    container.innerHTML = '';

    // Loop through the feeds, putting the titles onto the page.
    // Check out the result object for a list of properties returned in each entry.
    // http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxfeeds/documentation/reference.html#JSON
    for (var i = 0; i < result.feed.entries.length; i++) {
      var entry = result.feed.entries[i];
      var div = document.createElement("div");
      div.appendChild(document.createTextNode(entry.title));
      container.appendChild(div);
    }
  }
}

function OnLoad() {
  // Create a feed instance that will grab Digg's feed.
  var feed = new google.feeds.Feed("http://www.digg.com/rss/index.xml");

  // Calling load sends the request off.  It requires a callback function.
  feed.load(feedLoaded);
}

google.setOnLoadCallback(OnLoad);
</script>

Answer 3

jFeed is easy and has an example for you to test. But if you're parsing a feed from another server, you'll need to allow Cross Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) on the feed's server. You'll also need to check browser support.

I uploaded the sample but still did not get support from IE in any version when I changed the url in the example to something like example.com/feed.rss via the http protocol. CORS should be supported for IE 8 and above but the jFeed example did not render the feed.

Your best bet is to use Google's API:
https://developers.google.com/feed/v1/devguide

See:
https://github.com/jfhovinne/jFeed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-origin_resource_sharing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same_origin_policy
http://caniuse.com/cors

Answer 4

I agree with @Andrew, using Google is a solid, reusable way to do it with the huge benefit that you get JSON back instead of XML. An added advantage of using Google as a proxy is that services that might block your direct access to their data are unlikely to stop Google. Here is an example using ski report and conditions data. This has all of the common real world applications: 1) Third party RSS/XML 2) JSONP 3) Cleaning strings and string to array when you can't get the data exactly the way you want it 4) on load add elements to the DOM. Hope this helps some people!

<!-- Load RSS Through Google as JSON using jQuery -->
<script type="text/javascript">

    function displaySkiReport (feedResponse) {

    // Get ski report content strings
    var itemString = feedResponse.entries[0].content;
    var publishedDate = feedResponse.entries[0].publishedDate;

    // Clean up strings manually as needed
    itemString = itemString.replace("Primary: N/A", "Early Season Conditions"); 
    publishedDate = publishedDate.substring(0,17);

    // Parse ski report data from string
    var itemsArray = itemString.split("/");


    //Build Unordered List
    var html = '<h2>' + feedResponse.entries[0].title + '</h2>';
    html += '<ul>';

    html += '<li>Skiing Status: ' + itemsArray[0] + '</li>';
    // Last 48 Hours
    html += '<li>' + itemsArray[1] + '</li>';
    // Snow condition
    html += '<li>' + itemsArray[2] + '</li>';
    // Base depth
    html += '<li>' + itemsArray[3] + '</li>';

    html += '<li>Ski Report Date: ' + publishedDate + '</li>';

    html += '</ul>';

    $('body').append(html);    

    }


    function parseRSS(url, callback) {
      $.ajax({
    url: document.location.protocol + '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/feed/load?v=1.0&num=10&callback=?&q=' + encodeURIComponent(url),
    dataType: 'json',
    success: function(data) {
      callback(data.responseData.feed);
    }
      });
    }

    $(document).ready(function() {              

        // Ski report
        parseRSS("http://www.onthesnow.com/michigan/boyne-highlands/snow.rss", displaySkiReport);

    });

</script>

Answer 5

<script type="text/javascript" src="./js/jquery/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="./js/jFeed/build/dist/jquery.jfeed.pack.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    function loadFeed(){
        $.getFeed({
            url: 'url=http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/rss/news/',
            success: function(feed) {

                //Title
                $('#result').append('<h2><a href="' + feed.link + '">' + feed.title + '</a>' + '</h2>');

                //Unordered List
                var html = '<ul>';

                $(feed.items).each(function(){
                    var $item = $(this);

                    //trace( $item.attr("link") );
                    html += '<li>' +
                        '<h3><a href ="' + $item.attr("link") + '" target="_new">' +
                        $item.attr("title") + '</a></h3> ' +
                        '<p>' + $item.attr("description") + '</p>' +
                        // '<p>' + $item.attr("c:date") + '</p>' +
                        '</li>';
                });

                html += '</ul>';

                $('#result').append(html);
            }
        });
    }
</script>

Answer 6

zRSSfeed is built on jQuery and the simple theme is awesome.
Give it a try.