Web Frameworks - Workbook - Week 06
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Web feeds
Today we'll learn how to consuming an existing web feed.
Step 1 - create a new action and view
First let's create a new "feed" action in our existing "guestbook" controller:
% zf.sh create action feed guestbook
As usual don't forget to chmod the newly created files.
Step 2 - edit new action
Next, let's add some code in our new action.
Reading an RSS feed is as simple as instantiating a Zend_Feed_Rss object with the URL of the feed. We then pass the feed data to the view.
// application/controllers/GuestbookController.php
public function feedAction()
{
// Read remote feed
try
{
$rss = new Zend_Feed_Rss('http://news.sky.com/sky-news/rss/home/rss.xml');
}
catch (Zend_Feed_Exception $e)
{
// feed import failed
echo "Exception caught importing feed: {$e->getMessage()}\n";
exit;
}
// Pass feed data to view
$this->view->entries = $rss;
}
Step 3 - edit new view
Next, we need to edit our view and add some code to loop through and display feed data passed by the controller:
<!-- application/views/scripts/guestbook/feed.phtml -->
<!-- Display feed title -->
<h1><?=$this->entries->title()?></h1>
<dl>
<!-- Loop through the entries provided by the controller -->
<? foreach ($this->entries as $entry): ?>
<dt><?= $this->escape($entry->title()) ?></dt>
<dd><?= $this->escape($entry->description()) ?></dd>
<? endforeach ?>
</dl>
Step 4 - add link to feed
Finally, let's add a link to our feed in our navigation menu. To do this, add the following code in our existing layout:
- <a href="<?php echo $this->url(
array('controller'=>'guestbook', 'action'=>'feed'),
'default',
true) ?>">Feed</a>
Our whole layout should now look like this:
<?php
// application/layouts/scripts/layout.phtml
echo $this->doctype() ?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Zend Framework Quickstart Application</title>
<?php echo $this->headLink()->appendStylesheet('/css/global.css') ?>
</head>
<body>
<div id="header" style="background-color: #EEEEEE; height: 30px;">
<div id="header-logo" style="float: left">
<b>ZF Quickstart Application</b>
</div>
<div id="header-navigation" style="float: right">
<a href="<?php echo $this->url(
array('controller'=>'guestbook'),
'default',
true) ?>">Guestbook</a>
- <a href="<?php echo $this->url(
array('controller'=>'guestbook', 'action'=>'feed'),
'default',
true) ?>">Feed</a>
</div>
</div>
<?php echo $this->layout()->content ?>
</body>
</html>
Checkpoint
This is what you should see on your screen when clicking on your new "Feed" link in your navigation bar:
Note: For simplicity and clarity we are importing the feed in the controller, but a feed is an XML file, and as such could (should?) be considered as a data source. In line with MVC principles it would therefore be better practice to move the feed import code to a "model" file.
More on feeds
For more information on web feeds, see Zend documentation : http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.feed.html
