Integrating Content from External Sources

with RSS, PHP, and JavaScript

Chris Gilligan University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Companion Blog Post •  Code Samples •  Explanations •  utc.edu/outc16

Content from WordPress via RSS

•  WordPress RSS – Categories, Tags and Search strings –  Images, Media attachments

•  Media attachments and customized template require some additional tweaks

PHP files and OU Assets

•  Parse feed and display HTML –  “heavy lifting” “dev side”

•  Variables set to defaults for testing – verify feed access and XML structure

•  Files for various types of display html •  Files for various sources of RSS

PHP files and OU Assets •  Simple structure, “user friendly” •  Specify RSS source •  Limit number of posts to display

More Speed •  cache RSS feeds via WordPress plugin,

e.g. W3 Total Cache – cron job to fetch feeds to local server

•  minimize external requests –  faster page load

Event Calendar RSS feeds from Master Calendar via RSS

Somewhat limited in terms of data, unless you build landing page

Content from WordPress via RSS

•  WordPress provides some RSS •  RSS from categories, tags and search

strings •  media attachments and a customized

template require some additonal tweaks

Social Media Streams •  jQuery plugin and PHP to pull in social

media posts for the university account, as well as for individual departments and colleges.

•  $8 jQuery Social Stream (Code Canyon) –  “What you pay for vs. what you work for”

Blog Post Links, Examples, Code Samples

utc.edu/outc16

Chris Gilligan University of Tennessee at Chattanooga