Thread

Hi
I am trying to create a data feed file for a google merchant account. I’m already using LG better meta to generate sitemaps, and thought I might be able to adapt this somehow to output a data file - but don’t really know where to start with this. I notice that my version 1.6.8 of EE comes with a module called RSS. Would it be possible to use this to output a datas file?
I would really appreciate some advice on where to start with this. If there are any simple solutions out there (the simpler the better!) then that would make my day.
cheers
Max

I don’t follow, why can’t you use the weblog module for this? What format do these feed files have?

Thanks for the swift reply Ingmar. I think I haven’t explained what I want very well, so I’ll try again:
I am trying to create a data feed to a file which has to be one of the following formats:
Atom 1, RSS 2.0, Tab delimited (.txt) or Tab delimited (.xls).
I guessed that as EE has an RSS module, this would be the most straightforward format to choose.
The file will contain selected data fields from my “products” weblog, and will then be registered with google, prior to being uploaded to the Google Merchant Centre. I should then be able to schedule a regular upload of the file to google, by giving them the URL of where the file is hosted on my website.
I’m sure that this must have been done many times and in many ways by EE users, and would like to know what is the most straightforward method, and how to do it.
I suppose its a case of outputting data from multiple weblogs to a single file, that will then be accessible as a webpage in one of the four formats listed above.
Any help would be gratefully received
Max

Hi Dipsacus,

The EE RSS module can do this for you. The RSS module works in conjunction with the Weblog module and will take your weblog content and output it in the right format. Please have a look at the documentation which contains an example template.

Cheers

Greg

Thanks Greg, I’ll have a go at that. I noticed that the sample RSS feed, which is presumably the example template you were referring to, is no longer available. Do you have another link to where I can access it?

Hi Dipsacus,

The sample RSS template Greg referred to is linked off that page at http://expressionengine.com/legacy_docs/modules/rss/sample_rss.txt

Does that help?

Hi Brandon
thanks for that. When I tried to open it in Internet Explorer I just got the message “Feed Code Error”, but it opened fine in Firefox, so at least I’ve now got something to play with.
Thanks for your help

Yes, it looks like you just need to get the feed right, i.e. to validate. Please let us know in case there are any other issues, thanks.