Feed

Reads RSS/Atom feeds from URLs or files, and creates new RSS/Atom feeds from data. Compatible with CFML's cffeed tag.

Syntax

Read Action

<bx:feed
    action="read"
    source="string"
    result="string"
    properties="string"
    query="string"
    xmlVar="string"
    outputFile="string"
    overwrite="boolean"
    timeout="numeric"
    userAgent="string"
    maxItems="numeric"
    itunes="boolean"
    mediaRss="boolean" />

Create Action

<bx:feed
    action="create"
    properties="struct"
    data="array|query"
    xmlVar="string"
    outputFile="string"
    overwrite="boolean"
    columnMap="struct"
    feedType="string"
    escapeChars="boolean"
    result="string" />

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required	Description	Default
action	string	No	Action to perform: "read" or "create"	"read"
source	string	Yes (read)	URL or file path to the feed to read
result	string	No	Variable name to store the full feed structure
name	struct/string	No	For read: alias for result. For create: input struct containing full feed data
properties	struct/string	Yes (create)	For create: feed metadata. For read: output variable for channel metadata
data	array/query	Yes (create)	Feed items/entries for creation
query	any	No	For create: alias for data. For read: output variable for items
columnMap	struct	No	Map query columns to feed fields (for query data)	{}
outputFile	string	No	File path to write the feed XML
overwrite	boolean	No	Whether to overwrite existing output file	false
xmlVar	string	No	Variable name to store the raw XML string
timeout	numeric	No	HTTP timeout in seconds for read action	60
userAgent	string	No	Custom User-Agent for HTTP requests	""
maxItems	numeric	No	Maximum number of items to return (read action)	0 (unlimited)
itunes	boolean	No	Parse iTunes podcast extensions (read action)	false
mediaRss	boolean	No	Parse Media RSS extensions (read action)	false
feedType	string	No	Feed format for creation: "rss_2.0" or "atom"	"rss_2.0"
escapeChars	boolean	No	Escape special characters in create action	false

Examples

Basic Feed Reading

<!-- Read a feed and store in result variable -->
<bx:feed
    action="read"
    source="https://example.com/feed.xml"
    result="feedData" />

<bx:output>
    <h2>#feedData.channel.title#</h2>
    <p>Found #arrayLen(feedData.items)# items</p>

    <bx:loop array="#feedData.items#" index="item">
        <h3><a href="#item.link#">#item.title#</a></h3>
        <p>#item.description#</p>
        <small>Published: #item.pubDate#</small>
    </bx:loop>
</bx:output>

Reading with Multiple Output Variables

<!-- Read feed with separate output variables for different data -->
<bx:feed
    action="read"
    source="https://news.example.com/rss.xml"
    result="fullFeed"
    properties="channelInfo"
    query="feedItems"
    xmlVar="rawXml"
    timeout="30" />

<bx:output>
    <h1>#channelInfo.title#</h1>
    <p>#channelInfo.description#</p>

    <!-- feedItems contains just the items array -->
    <bx:loop array="#feedItems#" index="item">
        <div>
            <h3>#item.title#</h3>
            <p>#item.description#</p>
        </div>
    </bx:loop>
</bx:output>

Reading Podcast Feed with iTunes Extensions

<!-- Read podcast feed with iTunes metadata -->
<bx:feed
    action="read"
    source="https://podcast.example.com/feed.xml"
    result="podcastData"
    itunes="true"
    maxItems="10" />

<bx:output>
    <h1>#podcastData.channel.title#</h1>
    <p>Author: #podcastData.channel.itunesAuthor#</p>
    <p>Category: #podcastData.channel.itunesCategory#</p>

    <bx:loop array="#podcastData.items#" index="episode">
        <div>
            <h3>#episode.title#</h3>
            <p>Duration: #episode.itunesDuration ?: 'Unknown'#</p>
            <p>Author: #episode.itunesAuthor ?: 'Unknown'#</p>
            <p>#episode.itunesSummary ?: episode.description#</p>
        </div>
    </bx:loop>
</bx:output>

Reading with Media RSS Extensions

<!-- Read video/media feed with thumbnails -->
<bx:feed
    action="read"
    source="https://video.example.com/feed.xml"
    result="mediaFeed"
    mediaRss="true" />

<bx:output>
    <bx:loop array="#mediaFeed.items#" index="video">
        <div>
            <h3>#video.title#</h3>
            <bx:if condition="structKeyExists(video, 'mediaThumbnailUrl')">
                <img src="#video.mediaThumbnailUrl#" alt="Thumbnail" />
            </bx:if>
            <p>#video.description#</p>
            <bx:if condition="structKeyExists(video, 'mediaContentUrl')">
                <a href="#video.mediaContentUrl#">Watch Video</a>
            </bx:if>
        </div>
    </bx:loop>
</bx:output>

Saving Feed to File

<!-- Read feed and save raw XML to file -->
<bx:feed
    action="read"
    source="https://example.com/feed.xml"
    result="feedData"
    outputFile="/backups/feed-backup.xml"
    overwrite="true" />

Creating a Basic RSS Feed

<!-- Create feed properties -->
<bx:set feedProperties = {
    title: "My Blog",
    link: "https://myblog.com",
    description: "Latest posts from my blog",
    language: "en-us",
    pubDate: now(),
    generator: "BoxLang RSS Module"
} />

<!-- Create feed items -->
<bx:set feedItems = [
    {
        title: "First Post",
        link: "https://myblog.com/post1",
        description: "This is my first blog post",
        pubDate: now(),
        guid: "https://myblog.com/post1"
    },
    {
        title: "Second Post",
        link: "https://myblog.com/post2",
        description: "This is my second blog post",
        pubDate: dateAdd("d", -1, now()),
        guid: "https://myblog.com/post2"
    }
] />

<!-- Create the RSS feed -->
<bx:feed
    action="create"
    properties="#feedProperties#"
    data="#feedItems#"
    xmlVar="rssXml"
    outputFile="/feeds/myblog.xml"
    overwrite="true" />

<bx:output>
    <p>RSS feed created successfully!</p>
    <textarea rows="10" cols="80">#rssXml#</textarea>
</bx:output>

Creating Feed from Query Data

<!-- Get blog posts from database -->
<bx:query name="blogPosts">
    SELECT title, slug, content, published_date, author
    FROM blog_posts
    WHERE published = 1
    ORDER BY published_date DESC
    LIMIT 20
</bx:query>

<!-- Map query columns to RSS fields -->
<bx:set columnMapping = {
    title: "title",
    link: "slug",  // Will be processed to create full URL
    description: "content",
    pubDate: "published_date",
    author: "author"
} />

<!-- Create feed properties -->
<bx:set feedProps = {
    title: "Company Blog",
    link: "https://company.com/blog",
    description: "Latest updates from our company blog"
} />

<!-- Create RSS feed from query -->
<bx:feed
    action="create"
    properties="#feedProps#"
    data="#blogPosts#"
    columnMap="#columnMapping#"
    xmlVar="blogRss"
    outputFile="/public/feeds/blog.xml"
    overwrite="true" />

Creating Atom Feed

<!-- Create Atom feed instead of RSS -->
<bx:feed
    action="create"
    properties="#feedProperties#"
    data="#feedItems#"
    feedType="atom"
    xmlVar="atomXml"
    outputFile="/feeds/myblog.atom" />

Using Name Attribute for Simplified Creation

<!-- All-in-one feed structure -->
<bx:set feedStruct = {
    title: "My Podcast",
    link: "https://mypodcast.com",
    description: "Weekly tech discussions",
    items: [
        {
            title: "Episode 1: Getting Started",
            link: "https://mypodcast.com/episode1",
            description: "Introduction to our podcast",
            pubDate: now()
        }
    ]
} />

<!-- Create feed using name attribute -->
<bx:feed
    action="create"
    name="#feedStruct#"
    xmlVar="podcastXml"
    outputFile="/feeds/podcast.xml" />

Reading Local Feed File

<!-- Read feed from local file -->
<bx:feed
    action="read"
    source="/data/feeds/local-feed.xml"
    result="localFeed" />

Creating Feed with Result Information

<!-- Create feed and get creation details -->
<bx:feed
    action="create"
    properties="#feedProperties#"
    data="#feedItems#"
    result="createResult"
    xmlVar="feedXml" />

<bx:output>
    <p>Feed Type: #createResult.feedType#</p>
    <p>Item Count: #createResult.itemCount#</p>
    <p>XML Size: #len(createResult.xml)# characters</p>
</bx:output>

Output Variables

Read Action Output

When using the read action, the component can populate multiple output variables:

result Variable Structure

{
    items: [
        {
            title: "Item title",
            link: "Item URL",
            description: "Item content",
            pubDate: "Publication date",
            author: "Item author",
            categories: ["category1", "category2"],
            guid: "Unique identifier"
            // Additional fields based on extensions
        }
    ],
    channel: {
        title: "Feed title",
        link: "Feed URL",
        description: "Feed description",
        language: "Feed language",
        lastBuildDate: "Last update",
        generator: "Feed generator"
        // Additional metadata fields
    }
}

properties Variable (Channel Metadata Only)

Contains only the channel/feed metadata without the items array.

query Variable (Items Only)

Contains only the items array without the channel metadata.

xmlVar Variable

Contains the raw XML content as retrieved from the source.

Create Action Output

xmlVar Variable

Contains the generated RSS/Atom XML as a string.

result Variable Structure (Create)

{
    xml: "Generated XML content",
    feedType: "rss_2.0 or atom",
    itemCount: 10
}

Usage Notes

Read Action

• Supports RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 (RDF), and Atom feeds

• Can read from HTTP/HTTPS URLs or local file paths

• Multiple output variables can be used simultaneously

• iTunes and Media RSS extensions provide additional metadata

• Use maxItems to limit memory usage for large feeds

Create Action

• Generates RSS 2.0 or Atom feeds

• Accepts data as arrays of structs or query objects

• Use columnMap to map query columns to RSS fields

• Set escapeChars=true to escape special characters in content

• Can output to variable, file, or both

File Operations

• Set overwrite=true to replace existing files

• Component will create parent directories if they don't exist

• File paths can be absolute or relative to the application root

Related

• RSS Function - Simple BIF for reading RSS feeds