Introduces RSS Reader by AgileInfoSoftware

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• Download demo project - 116 Kb

Introduction

This article introduces an application to consume RSS feed from the Internet.

Background (optional)

I used to use stylesheet to convert RSS feed into web page and then click link to get the latest articles. I also played a couple of Feed Readers or News Aggregator software, some crashed from time to time, others consume a lot of memory after running a while and they are not free. So I decided to write my own reader, here it is: AgileReader.

Using the application

I quickly wrote this application and tested it with 15 feeds or so, it works fine and can totally replace my existing stylesheet functions. Here is how to use it:

1. Double click in the left tree to refresh that feed (subscription).
2. Click or select a different group in the left tree to switch to a different subscription.
3. Double click in the right list view to read that article. Corresponding article will be marked as read.
4. Select a subscription in the left tree and click "Del" key to delete subscription.
5. Select a list of articles in the right list view and click "Del" key to delete selected articles from the database.
6. Press "Ctrl+B" or click File --> "Subscribe Feed" to subscribe a feed.
7. Select Tools-->Refresh now to refresh all subscriptions.

Subscription information is stored in an Access Database which has two tables (FeedSource and FeedItem).

Notes

1. The source code is self-documented, it is not difficult to understand at all.
2. I did not spend time to cleanup the code, as it is obvious in FeedSource.cpp file: Connection Object can be created once and saved somewhere.
3. AgileReader.mdb file may grow very fast. I will implement Compact function at some point, for now you can manually open it and compact the database.
4. Database AgileReader.mdb is password protected. Password is "philips".

Points of Interest

1. XML Download and Parsing algorithm.
2. ADO operation with MS Access Repository.

History

This application is totally free. There are several FeedReaders or NewsAggregators available on the internet, some of them charges $20 dollars or so, this one is absolutely free. If you are interested in other software from my company, please go to AgileInfoSoftware.com. By the way, we are specialized in Database Management and Data Integration software.