SocketTools includes a component that makes it simple to access news feeds that use RSS. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a collection of standardized formats that are used to publish information about content that is frequently changed. A news feed is published in XML format, which contains one or more items that includes summary text, hyperlinks to source content and additional metadata that is used to describe the item. News feeds can be used for a variety of purposes, including providing updates for weblogs, news headlines, video and audio content. RSS can also be used for other purposes, such as a software updates, where new updates are listed as items in the feed.
News feeds can be accessed remotely from a web server, or locally as an XML formatted text file. The source of the feed is determined by the URI scheme that is specified. If the http or https scheme is specified, then the feed is retrieved from a web server. If the file scheme is used, the feed is considered to be local and is accessed from the disk or local network. The News Feed control provides an interface that enables you to open a feed by URL and iterate through each of the items in the feed or search for a specific feed item. The control also provides a method that can be used to parse a string that contains XML data in RSS format, where the feed may have been retrieved from other sources such as a database.
Each SocketTools Edition includes an RSS newsfeed component. The Library Edition includes an API that can be used to access a feed with just a few function calls. The .NET Edition and ActiveX Edition include high-level components that make it simple to download a feed and enumerate each of the articles in the feed. You can download a free evaluation of SocketTools from our site and review the documentation online.