.Net Tips , C# Tips : Process or Read the Content of an Atom or RSS Feed with C# Examples and VB.Net Examples

Click Here to Download ProcessRSSorATOMFeed.zip

You can process the content of an Atom 1.0 or RSS 2.0 feed to extract or get details of the feed. .Net framework provide classes to parse the feed data.
We are using System.ServiceModel.Syndication.SyndicationFeedFormatter and System.ServiceModel.Syndication.SyndicationFeed classes.

The SyndicationFeedItem  and SyndicationFeed classes gives a generic abstraction of Atom 1.0 and RSS 2.0 feeds and feed items, and provide a common interface to simplify the processing of both feed types. The Rss20FeedFormatter class allows to create a SyndicationFeed object from an RSS 2.0 feed, and the Atom10FeedFormatter class provides support for Atom 1.0 feeds. Both classes are available in the System.ServiceModel.Syndication namespace.
We are using "ReadFrom" method and "Feed" property of these classes.

Here is example for this.
In this example we read the feed and display it's details.

C# Examples :

        Uri objFeedUrl = null;
        string strUrl = "http://jayeshsorathia.blogspot.com/rss.xml";
        if (strUrl.Length == 0 || String.IsNullOrEmpty(strUrl) || !Uri.TryCreate(strUrl, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, out objFeedUrl))
        {
            Response.Write("Invalid feed.");
            return;
        }

        // Create the web request.
        WebRequest objReqFeed = WebRequest.Create(objFeedUrl);

        // Get the data from the feed.
        WebResponse objResFeed = objReqFeed.GetResponse();

        
        SyndicationFeedFormatter objFeedFormatter = null;

        XElement feed = XElement.Load(objResFeed.GetResponseStream());

        // Check for the feed type
        if (feed.Name.LocalName == "rss")
        {
            objFeedFormatter = new Rss20FeedFormatter();
        }
        else if (feed.Name.LocalName == "feed")
        {
            objFeedFormatter = new Atom10FeedFormatter();
        }
        else
        {
            Response.Write("Unsupported feed type: " + feed.Name.LocalName);
            return;
        }

        // Read the feed data into the formatter.
        objFeedFormatter.ReadFrom(feed.CreateReader());

        // Display feed Details

        Response.Write("<b>Feed Title : </b>" + objFeedFormatter.Feed.Title.Text);
        Response.Write("<br/><br/>");
        Response.Write("<b>Feed Description : </b>" + objFeedFormatter.Feed.Description.Text);
        Response.Write("<br/><br/>");
        Response.Write("<b>Items in the Feed : </b>");
        Response.Write("<br/><br/>");
        
        foreach (var objItem in objFeedFormatter.Feed.Items)
        {
            Response.Write("<b>Title : </b> " + objItem.Title.Text);
            if (objItem.Summary != null)
            {
                Response.Write("<br/><b>Summary : </b>" + objItem.Summary.Text);
            }

            Response.Write("<br/><b>Publish Date : </b>" + objItem.PublishDate);
            Response.Write("<br/><br/>");
        }

VB.net Examples :

        Dim objFeedUrl As Uri = Nothing
        Dim strUrl As String = "http://jayeshsorathia.blogspot.com/rss.xml"
        If strUrl.Length = 0 Or String.IsNullOrEmpty(strUrl) Or Not Uri.TryCreate(strUrl, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, objFeedUrl) Then
            Response.Write("Invalid feed.")
            Return
        End If

        ' Create the web request.
        Dim objReqFeed As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create(objFeedUrl)

        ' Get the data from the feed.
        Dim objResFeed As WebResponse = objReqFeed.GetResponse()


        Dim objFeedFormatter As SyndicationFeedFormatter = Nothing

        Dim feed As XElement = XElement.Load(objResFeed.GetResponseStream())

        ' Check for the feed type
        If feed.Name.LocalName = "rss" Then
            objFeedFormatter = New Rss20FeedFormatter()
        ElseIf feed.Name.LocalName = "feed" Then
            objFeedFormatter = New Atom10FeedFormatter()
        Else
            Response.Write("Unsupported feed type: " & feed.Name.LocalName)
            Return
        End If

        ' Read the feed data into the formatter.
        objFeedFormatter.ReadFrom(feed.CreateReader())

        ' Display feed Details

        Response.Write("<b>Feed Title : </b>" & objFeedFormatter.Feed.Title.Text)
        Response.Write("<br/><br/>")
        Response.Write("<b>Feed Description : </b>" & objFeedFormatter.Feed.Description.Text)
        Response.Write("<br/><br/>")
        Response.Write("<b>Items in the Feed : </b>")
        Response.Write("<br/><br/>")

        Dim objItem As SyndicationItem
        For Each objItem In objFeedFormatter.Feed.Items
            Response.Write("<b>Title : </b> " & objItem.Title.Text)
            If Not objItem.Summary Is Nothing Then
                Response.Write("<br/><b>Summary : </b>" & objItem.Summary.Text)
            End If

            Response.Write("<br/><b>Publish Date : </b>" & objItem.PublishDate.ToString())
            Response.Write("<br/><br/>")
        Next

Output : 

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