[FakeFrench]

Hey champs!

Am working on this project at the moment which needs to generate individual rss feeds for each profile, each contains a list of items. I have managed to create 1 rss feed ok, but wondered the best way of going about doing all these multiple ones?! I have tried google but just wondered if anyone has done this before / has any suggestions?! I was thinking of creating an rss folder and simply creating an rss feed for each profile as they add items to their list. Also is the best way to update an rss feed using a cron tab or simply by generating the new xml file each time an item is added to the db?! And finally does anyone know a tutorial on how to generate an image from this feed ala last.fm?!

Thanks!

[cam]

unless the information you're displaying is going to change often and invalidate the query cache, do it dynamic - e.g. url.com/profile/user_name/rss would hit the database and get all the latest info you want in your feed.

[FakeFrench]

Originally Posted by cam

unless the information you're displaying is going to change often and invalidate the query cache, do it dynamic - e.g. url.com/profile/user_name/rss would hit the database and get all the latest info you want in your feed.

Ah so that way it could use 1 php script to dynamically generate the appropriate xml file for any user that looks at it?! So there would be no redundant xml files lying around?! Good idea! But can this cause problems if its being accessed by lots of people simultaneously?!

[cam]

Originally Posted by FakeFrench

Ah so that way it could use 1 php script to dynamically generate the appropriate xml file for any user that looks at it?! So there would be no redundant xml files lying around?! Good idea! But can this cause problems if its being accessed by lots of people simultaneously?!

Technically, yes - especially if the query cache (DB cache) is being cleared.

[FakeFrench]

Originally Posted by cam

Technically, yes - especially if the query cache (DB cache) is being cleared.

So if it had say 500 profiles with active rss feeds would you say its a bit risky to do it that way?! would generating individual xml files be any 'safer' ?

[cam]

Not risky as such, I doubt 500 profiles served via XML feeds would have much of an impact on your server load, but if you're worried about it maybe it'd be best to do it with statically generated/updated XML files.

[FakeFrench]

Originally Posted by cam

Not risky as such, I doubt 500 profiles served via XML feeds would have much of an impact on your server load, but if you're worried about it maybe it'd be best to do it with statically generated/updated XML files.

Ok sure, thanks for your help on that cam! I've gone with the way you suggested and seems to be working well so far...