feedtxt gem - reads Feed.TXT - feeds in text (unicode) - publish & share posts, articles, podcasts, 'n' more

• home :: github.com/feedtxt/feedtxt
• bugs :: github.com/feedtxt/feedtxt/issues
• gem :: rubygems.org/gems/feedtxt
• rdoc :: rubydoc.info/gems/feedtxt
• forum :: groups.google.com/group/wwwmake

Usage

Use Feedtxt.parse to read / parse feeds in text using the Feed.TXT format also known as RSS (Really Simple Sharing) 5.0 ;-). The parse method will return an array:

[ feed_metadata,
  [
    [ item_metadata, item_content ],
    [ item_metadata, item_content ],
    ...
  ]
]

• The 1st element is the feed metadata hash.
• The 2nd element is the items array.
  • The 1st element in an item array is the item metadata hash.
  • The 2nd element in an item array is the item content.

Easier to see it in action. Let's read in:

require 'feedtxt'

text =<<TXT
|>>>
title:          "My Example Feed"
home_page_url:  "https://example.org/"
feed_url:       "https://example.org/feed.txt"
</>
id:  "2"
url: "https://example.org/second-item"
---
This is a second item.
</>
id:  "1"
url: "https://example.org/initial-post"
---
Hello, world!
<<<|
TXT

feed = Feedtxt.parse( text )
pp feed

resulting in:

[
  {"title"        =>"My Example Feed",
   "home_page_url"=>"https://example.org/",
   "feed_url"     =>"https://example.org/feed.txt"
  },
  [[
     {"id" =>"2",
      "url"=>"https://example.org/second-item"
     },
     "This is a second item."
   ],
   [
     {"id"=>"1",
      "url"=>"https://example.org/initial-post"
     },
     "Hello, world!"
  ]]
]

and use like:

feed_metadata = feed[0]
feed_items    = feed[1]

feed_metadata[ 'title' ]
# => "My Example Feed"
feed_metadata[ 'feed_url' ]
# => "https://example.org/feed.txt"

item          = feed_items[0]   # or feed[1][0]
item_metadata = item[0]         # or feed[1][0][0]
item_content  = item[1]         # or feed[1][0][1]

item_metadata[ 'id' ]
# => "2"
item_metadata[ 'url' ]
# => "https://example.org/second-item"
item_content
# => "This is a second item."

item          = feed_items[1]    # or feed[1][1]
item_metadata = item[0]          # or feed[1][1][0]
item_content  = item[1]          # or feed[1][1][1]

item_metadata[ 'id' ]
# => "1"
item_metadata[ 'url' ]
# => "https://example.org/initial-post"
item_content
# => "Hello, world!"
...

Another example. Let's try a podcast:

text =<<TXT
|>>>
comment: "This is a podcast feed. You can add..."
title:   "The Record"
home_page_url: "http://therecord.co/"
feed_url:      "http://therecord.co/feed.txt"
</>
id:        "http://therecord.co/chris-parrish"
title:     "Special #1 - Chris Parrish"
url:       "http://therecord.co/chris-parrish"
summary:   "Brent interviews Chris Parrish, co-host of The Record and one-half of Aged & Distilled."
published: 2014-05-09T14:04:00-07:00
attachments:
- url:           "http://therecord.co/downloads/The-Record-sp1e1-ChrisParrish.m4a"
  mime_type:     "audio/x-m4a"
  size_in_bytes: 89970236
  duration_in_seconds: 6629
---
Chris has worked at [Adobe][1] and as a founder of Rogue Sheep, which won an Apple Design Award for Postage.
Chris's new company is Aged & Distilled with Guy English - which shipped [Napkin](2),
a Mac app for visual collaboration. Chris is also the co-host of The Record.
He lives on [Bainbridge Island][3], a quick ferry ride from Seattle.

[1]: http://adobe.com/
[2]: http://aged-and-distilled.com/napkin/
[3]: http://www.ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us/
<<<|  
TXT

feed = Feedtxt.parse( text )
pp feed

resulting in:

[{"comment"=>"This is a podcast feed. You can add...",
  "title"=>"The Record",
  "home_page_url"=>"http://therecord.co/",
  "feed_url"=>"http://therecord.co/feed.txt"
 },
 [
   [{"id"=>"http://therecord.co/chris-parrish",
     "title"=>"Special #1 - Chris Parrish",
     "url"=>"http://therecord.co/chris-parrish",
     "summary"=>"Brent interviews Chris Parrish, co-host of The Record and...",
     "published"=>2014-05-09 23:04:00 +0200,
     "attachments"=>
      [{"url"=>"http://therecord.co/downloads/The-Record-sp1e1-ChrisParrish.m4a",
        "mime_type"=>"audio/x-m4a",
        "size_in_bytes"=>89970236,
        "duration_in_seconds"=>6629}]
     },
     "Chris has worked at [Adobe][1] and as a founder of Rogue Sheep..."
   ]
 ]
]

and use like:

feed_metadata = feed[0]
feed_items    = feed[1]

feed_metadata[ 'title' ]
# => "The Record"
feed_metadata[ 'feed_url' ]
# => "http://therecord.co/feed.txt"

item          = feed_items[0]  # or feed[1][0]
item_metadata = item[0]        # or feed[1][0][0]
item_content  = item[1]        # or feed[1][0][1]

item_metadata[ 'title' ]
# => "Special #1 - Chris Parrish"
item_metadata[ 'url' ]
# => "http://therecord.co/chris-parrish
item_content
# => "Chris has worked at [Adobe][1] and as a founder of Rogue Sheep..."
...

Alternative Meta Data Formats

Note: Feed.TXT supports alternative formats / styles for meta data blocks. For now YAML, JSON and INI style are built-in and shipping with the feedtxt gem. To use a format-specific parser use:

• Feedtxt::YAML.parse
• Feedtxt::JSON.parse
• Feedtxt::INI.parse

Note: Feedtxt.parse will handle all formats auto-magically, that is, it will check the text for the best matching (first) feed begin marker to find out what meta data format parser to use:

Format	FEED_BEGIN
YAML	`\
JSON	`\
INI	[>>>

Or use the built-in text pattern (regular expression) constants to find out:

Feedtxt::YAML::FEED_BEGIN
# => "^[ ]*\\|>>>+[ ]*$"
Feedtxt::JSON::FEED_BEGIN
# => "^[ ]*\\|{+[ ]*$"
Feedtxt::INI::FEED_BEGIN
# => "^[ ]*\\[>>>+[ ]*$"

JSON Example

|{
"title":          "My Example Feed",
"home_page_url":  "https://example.org/",
"feed_url":       "https://example.org/feed.txt"
}/{
"id":  "2",
"url": "https://example.org/second-item"
}-{
This is a second item.
}/{
"id":  "1",
"url": "https://example.org/initial-post"
}-{
Hello, world!
}|

Note: Use |{ and }| to begin and end your Feed.TXT. Use }/{ for first or next item and }-{ for meta blocks inside items.

(Source: feeds/spec/example.json.txt)

INI Example

[>>>
title         = My Example Feed
home_page_url = https://example.org/
feed_url      = https://example.org/feed.txt
</>
id  = 2
url = https://example.org/second-item
---
This is a second item.
</>
id  = 1
url = https://example.org/initial-post
---
Hello, world!
<<<]

or

[>>>
title:         My Example Feed
home_page_url: https://example.org/
feed_url:      https://example.org/feed.txt
</>
id:  2
url: https://example.org/second-item
---
This is a second item.
</>
id:  1
url: https://example.org/initial-post
---
Hello, world!
<<<]

(Source: feeds/spec/example.ini.txt)

Note: Use [>>> and <<<] to begin and end your Feed.TXT. Use </> for first or next item and --- for meta blocks inside items.

License

The feedtxt scripts are dedicated to the public domain. Use it as you please with no restrictions whatsoever.

Questions? Comments?

Send them along to the wwwmake Forum/Mailing List. Thanks!