Question

Get image path from RSS feed and save to sql database.

Asked by: Qsorb

RSS feeds such as Yahoo.com that contain images, I'd like to save the img src image path from the feed to a database.

I'm already saving the feeditems TITLE, DATE and CONTENT into separate columns and I can identify if there's an image in the CONTENT but understanding how to get the url path is beyond me.

Each feed has about 20 different stories and 20 different images.

There are many more feeds other than Yahoo so we can't just use it as a model. The solution should include a method to get the full src parameters and the image path for any RSS story that contains an image.

An example yahoo image path is:

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090830/capt.c6dc2bf1604347cc94d5258779fd5c65.china_myanmar_xhg106.jpg

The image information and path is contained in feeditems.content. But how do I get that path out and save it?

<cffeed source="http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/world" query="feeditems">
 
<cfoutput query="feeditems"><br />
 
  <cfquery name="qStory" datasource="daily-news">
   select pubdate
   from story
   where title = '#trim(feeditems.title)#'
   and catid = #catid#
  </cfquery>
 
<!--- Example image path and src values below --->
<!--- Note the &#60; preceding the img. -->
 
&#60;img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090830/capt.c6dc2bf1604347cc94d5258779fd5c65.china_myanmar_xhg106.jpg?x=130&amp;y=86&amp;q=85&amp;sig=jWbG4FEQuphsL_zAvjm.uw--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="Chinese paramilitary police patrol the grounds of a temporary refugee camp set up by the Chinese government to house Myanmar refugees in Nansan in southwestern China&#039;s Yunnan province, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Thousands of refugees have fled across the Chinese border to escape fighting between government troops and ethnic militia in Myanmar&#039;s Kokang region.  (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)" border="0" />
   
<cfset pubdate = '#dateformat(qStory.pubdate,"m/dd/yyyy")# #timeformat(qStory.pubdate,"hh:mm:ss tt")#'>
 
<cfif NOT qStory.RecordCount>
  <cfif FindNoCase("<img", feeditems.content)>
      <cfset images = 1>
    <cfelse>
      <cfset images = 0>
   </cfif>
 <cfquery name="qStoryinsert" datasource="daily-news">
  insert into story
 (catid,title,posted,pubdate,content,rsslink,images)
  VALUES
 (#CatInfo.catid#,'#trim(feeditems.title)#', #NOW()#, '#gmtDate#', '#feeditems.content#','#feeditems.rsslink#', #images#)
 </cfquery>
 </cfif>
 
<!--- Get the saved stories  based on the category id (pk) --->
  <cfquery name="ShowStory" datasource="daily-news">
   select *
   from story
   where catid = #catid#
   order by id desc
  </cfquery>
 
<!--- Simplified output --->
<cfoutput query="ShowStory">
 #title#<br>
 #content#<br>
</cfoutput>

                                  
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Asked On
2009-08-30 at 00:49:47ID24692792
Topics

ColdFusion Application Server

,

Cold Fusion Markup Language

Participating Experts
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: duncancummingPosted on 2009-08-30 at 14:00:41ID: 25219329

I was initially going to suggest a regular expression.   However if you look at their RSS feed, you'll see as well as embedding the image into the Description, they also use this element to store just the image src:
media:content url

It seems with CFFeed, you would then have to use the xmlVar attribute to be able to then get to the media node.  You can then use XMLParse and XMLSearch to hopefully get the values you need.

 

by: QsorbPosted on 2009-08-30 at 16:04:38ID: 25219779

duncancumming:

Well, sounds helpful, if I had a clue as to what you mean.

> then get to the media node.
> image src: media:content url
> then get to the media node.
> use XMLParse and XMLSearch to hopefully get the values

Sorry, I don't have a clue as to what any of that means, not even a hint.  I am a beginner and have no idea what you mean or how to begin to use what you seem to be saying. I know next to nothing about XML or XMLSearch.

Are you suggesting I ask another question to find the solution, something in regard to XML?

Totally confused. I'd welcome some code in regard to what I left.

 

by: QsorbPosted on 2009-08-30 at 22:51:30ID: 25220713

If you have no code to show me how to do this via your suggestion, then can we use Coldfusion to get the image path, to get the text beween the startstring and endstring below?

If so, show me how and I may be able to handle the rest.

<cffeed source="http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/world" query="feeditems">
 
<!--- The image path varies greatly but in most cases it will include the same basic start and end strings --->
<cfif FindNoCase("<img", feeditems.content)>
 <cfset startstring = '<img src='>
 <cfset endstring = '.jpg'>
<cfset srcpath = '????????'>
</cfif>
                                              
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by: QsorbPosted on 2009-08-31 at 02:19:15ID: 25221407

I just purchased a custom tag, CF_REextract, which I believe will do what I want.

RE1 and RE2 respectively are search start and end strings. The string in the middle is what I wanted, the image url.

<CF_REextract
	INPUTMODE="HTTP"
	INPUT="http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/world"
	OUTPUTMODE="OUTPUT"
	RE1='img src="'
	RE2="jpg"    
    OUTPUT="jpg<BR>">

                                              
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by: duncancummingPosted on 2009-08-31 at 02:50:08ID: 25221537

I'd be surprised that'll work for you, it's too simple.  If you look at the actual img src in the Yahoo RSS, you'll see they append a load of url parameters after the .jpg:
.jpg?x=130&amp;y=86 etc


 

by: QsorbPosted on 2009-08-31 at 09:44:44ID: 25224244

I wrote the author of the custom tag Claude Schneegans about it and he said simply escape the question mark or any other non regular expression. I tried it and it does work. All I had to do was use a cfloop and I've got the solution. Of course, it did cost $15 but for me it was worth it.

If you'd like to post some code to do the same thing from a different direction, if it works, I'll give you the points. Thanks for your help.

<!--- To get the image url I used the custom tag, CF_REextract. A backslash before the question mark (?) allowed me to use it without an error. --->
 
<CF_REextract
	INPUTMODE="HTTP"
	INPUT="http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/world"
	OUTPUTMODE="OUTPUT"
	RE1='img src="'
	RE2="\?"    
    OUTPUT="<BR>">

                                              
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