Ajax Can Parse RSS

Filed in archive AJAX on September 28, 2006

RSS and Ajax are simply revolutionalizing the world of web. You all must be aware that RSS or Really Simple Syndication is used for providing news and this is achieved by serving an RSS feed from a website.

An RSS feed is simply a link to an XML file that is structured in a certain way. The RSS specification tells us the expected structure of the XML file

Ajax can be used to parse RSS as by using it the work of processing the RSS XML file over the web browser would reduce the load of the server. Along with it you would also get a seamless web experience as the entire RSS XML file can be fetched from the server without requiring to refresh the page. Ajax has been designed for handling XML files therefore RSS can be parsed in a simple an elegant manner.

This is how the parser works:

First, the file name of the RSS feed is selected in an HTML form. Once the user clicks Submit, the getRSS() function is called. This function is responsible for fetching the specified RSS XML file from the server. Once it's fetched successfully, processRSS() converts the received XML file into a JavaScript object. Finally, showRSS(RSS) is called, which displays some of the information contained in the RSS JavaScript object to us by updating the HTML page

Thnx Paul