Feed2Html PHP Script: README
============================


Contents
--------

   Overview
   Templates
   Launching script
   Copyright and license
   Technical support




Overview
--------


Feed2Html is a free PHP script that converts data from RSS to HTML. If you already have an RSS feed, just install this script to your website. You will be amazed how simple it will become to publish news.

The Feed2Html PHP script provides on-the-fly web page generation and prepares information from your RSS feeds to be processed by any search robots. To output information, design templates are used, which allows you to embed the page generated by the script into any website.

Use this script to create new web pages or to embed information from an RSS feed to existing web pages.

Script version: 1.2, released on May, 27, 2006.


Templates
---------


The feed2html.php script uses templates to generate its output. The templates allow you to easily control what the resulting webpage will look like. A template can be used to generate a complete web page, or a portion of a web page like a table (which can then be included into an existing webpage). 


Feed2Html templates are simple text files that contains special variables as well as the formatted text. Use these variables to tell Feed2Html where to insert data:

%FeedTitle%
%FeedDescription%
%FeedLink%
%Editor%
%Webmaster%
%FeedPubTime%

%ImageItem%

%ItemTitle%
%ItemDescription%
%ItemLink%
%Author%
%ItemPubTime%


Besides variables, special commands in templates:

%BeginItemsRecord% and %EndItemsRecord% mark the beginning of the part of the template, common for all items of your RSS feed.



Launching script
----------------


Before using the script, it should be properly configured. This can be done in one of the following two ways: 


Method 1  Setting all parameters manually by editing the script code. To do this, open the feed2html.php file in any text editor and edit the following lines:


$rss_feed="http://www.extralabs.net/my-mix.xml";

Replace http://www.extralabs.net/my-mix.xml with the local path or the full URL of your RSS feed.


$template="sample-template.rat";

Replace "sample-template.rat" with the local path or the full URL of the necessary template (for example http://www.mywebsite.com/mytemplate.rat).


$FeedMaxItems = 5000;

Replace 5000 with the maximum number of items you want.


$RandomItems=0;

Select a random items from the feed (0=Off, 1=On).

Upload the script (the "export_rss.php" and "feed2html.php" files), template and your RSS feed to your server.


Method 2  Passing data as parameters of the script.

Syntax:
http://[yourwebsite]/feed2html.php?RSSFILE=[yourrssfeed]&TEMPLATE=[yourtemplate]&MAXITEMS=5000&RANDOM=0

The above URL should fit a single line, with no spaces. 

Replace [yourwebsite] with the address of your website (for example, www.mysite.com).
Replace [yourrssfeed] with the full URL of your RSS feed (for example, http://www.mysite.com/myrss.xml).
Replace [yourtemplate] with the full URL of the template that you want to use in the script, (for example http://www.mywebsite.com/mytemplate.rat).
Replace [5000] with the maximum number of items from your RSS feed you want included on the webpage. This variable is optional.




Copyright and License
---------------------


Feed2Html PHP Script is developed by ExtraLabs Software.

See "license.txt" file.



Technical support
-----------------

Our technical support service is always glad to help you and to answer any your questions. Please, keep to the following rules when contacting the technical support service:

- If your question concerns incorrect operation of the software, do not forget to provide the version number of your operating system, service/upgrade pack.
- Please, include any additional details you see appropriate so that the developers could reconstruct your exact situation in the lab.
- If you are a registered the user, specify your serial number or number of the order. It will help us to process your inquiry faster.
- See the list of latest upgrades in the Internet, the problem might be already corrected in the newer version.

You can contact the technical support service via email: support@extralabs.net. We also recommend visiting our web-site (http://www.extralabs.net) where you can find additional information on the about our products.



(c) ExtraLabs Software 2002-2006