# Atom & the Standard Library RSS Module **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 4, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/atom-the-standard-library-rss-module/133918 "2008-04-04T23:25:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grant)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/atom-the-standard-library-rss-module/133918/1 "2008-04-04T23:25:55Z")
I need to parse RSS 1.0, 2.0 and ATOM feeds. I upgraded my RSS module to the latest version (0.2.4) to get ATOM support. The strange thing is that the data structure returned for ATOM feeds is ugly and wildly inconsistent with the nice, clean one that is returned for RSS feeds. I’ve noticed there are a couple of competing Ruby ports of Mark Pilgrim’s Universal Feedparser. The ‘rfeedparser’ one looks to be the best and FeedTools looks interesting, but I haven’t actually tried them yet. (I really like the Universal Feedparser for Python.) Does anyone have any suggestions on which direction to take? ---
**Author:** ![grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grant)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/atom-the-standard-library-rss-module/133918/2 "2008-04-05T02:30:51Z")
Hi, In [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) “Atom & the Standard Library RSS Module” on Sat, 5 Apr 2008 06:25:05 +0900, grant [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I need to parse RSS 1.0, 2.0 and ATOM feeds. I upgraded my RSS module > to the latest version (0.2.4) to get ATOM support. The strange thing > is that the data structure returned for ATOM feeds is ugly and wildly > inconsistent with the nice, clean one that is returned for RSS feeds. Please show an example. ---
**Author:** ![grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grant)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/atom-the-standard-library-rss-module/133918/3 "2008-04-05T13:45:59Z")
On 5 Apr, 01:29, Kouhei S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Please show an example. Sorry, I got tangled up in my own wishes. My problem with the library was just in my head. I suppose I was just hoping for a more consistent representation of a feed than I’ve had to deal with in the past. I know that what is generated by RSS/ATOM parsing libraries is a reflection of the feeds themselves. Anyway, a few examples of what bugs me, demonstrated in irb: require ‘rss’ rss = ‘[http://www.giftedslacker.com/feed/](http://www.giftedslacker.com/feed/)’ atom = ‘[OBLIVIONATION](http://oblivionation.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default)’ rssfeed = RSS::Parser.parse(rss) atomfeed = RSS::Parser.parse(atom) #print the content of the most recent post puts rssfeed.items[0].content\_encoded puts atomfeed.items[0].content.content #print the titles of the posts in the feed rssfeed.items.each {|item| puts item.title} atomfeed.items.each {|item| puts item.title.content} #print the author of the most recent post rssfeed.items[0].dc\_creator atomfeed.entries[0].author.name.content * * * What I’d like is a consistent interface to the commonly used elements in ATOM and RSS feeds, regardless of version. It must be more difficult than it seems to me, because I’m not aware that anyone does it. I might give it a try just for fun. But, being new to Ruby, I’m not sure where to begin. -grant ---
**Author:** ![grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grant)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/atom-the-standard-library-rss-module/133918/4 "2008-04-06T04:33:04Z")
Hi, In [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) “Re: Atom & the Standard Library RSS Module” on Sat, 5 Apr 2008 20:45:06 +0900, grant [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > require ‘rss’ > > rss = ‘[http://www.giftedslacker.com/feed/](http://www.giftedslacker.com/feed/)’ > atom = ‘[OBLIVIONATION](http://oblivionation.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default)’ > > rssfeed = RSS::Parser.parse(rss) > atomfeed = RSS::Parser.parse(atom) You can normalize parsed feed by to\_rss, to\_atom or to\_xml. For example: rss10feed = atomfeed.to\_rss(“1.0”) You may need to set default value: rss10feed = atomfeed.to\_rss(“1.0”) do |maker| maker.channel.about ||= maker.channel.link maker.channel.description ||= “No description” maker.items.each do |item| item.title ||= “UNKNOWN” item.link ||= “UNKNOWN” end end > atomfeed.entries[0].author.name.content > The atom specification says that all atom element may have > xml:base and xml:lang attributes. If > RSS:⚛:Entry::Author#name returns a String, we can’t > get such attribute values. This is why > RSS:⚛:Entry::Author#name returns an > RSS:⚛:Entry::Author::Name not a String. BTW, what about the following API? atomfeed.entries[0].author.name # =\> a String atomfeed.entries[0].author.name do |name| # name: a RSS:⚛:Entry::Author::Name name.content # =\> a String end # =\> the last evaluated value (name.content) Thanks, ---
**Author:** ![grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@grant](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/grant)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/atom-the-standard-library-rss-module/133918/5 "2008-04-05T14:15:26Z")
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 grant wrote: | On 5 Apr, 01:29, Kouhei S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: | What I’d like is a consistent interface to the commonly used elements | in ATOM and RSS feeds, regardless of version. It must be more | difficult than it seems to me, because I’m not aware that anyone does | it. I might give it a try just for fun. But, being new to Ruby, I’m | not sure where to begin. You could build upon/look at/submit patches to Simple RSS: [http://simple-rss.rubyforge.org/](http://simple-rss.rubyforge.org/) I’ve used it, and while it is simple to use, it comes at the cost of limited functionality (as far as I could see. I only used it to grab NetBeans Ruby IDE builds off the web, when the buildserver used updated its RSS feed, so take my comments with a grain of salt.) - – Phillip G. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - [http://enigmail.mozdev.org](http://enigmail.mozdev.org) iEYEARECAAYFAkf3bSUACgkQbtAgaoJTgL9ijwCfZPylNfWZHsTE02Pec6fQXTcl F6EAoJCO3lkfChpIKji9hc52aUaWm9BV =Uhvw -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----