xPLRSS - How To

["Neil Frost" <neil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is how I set up the xPLRSS application.



I downloaded the following apps from



http://www.chickfamily.net/xPL/default.htm



xPLRSS and xPL-PCOSD.



As xPLRSS picks up OSD messages and creates the xml file I wanted to see
what messages were being displayed and compare them with the xml file
created as I do not have another xPL enabled OSD device I used
xPL-PCOSD.



Both are applications as opposed to services so use xpl.ocx (I think).



After starting the xPLRSS app, I configured it in xPLHAL Manager. (PETEC
RSS "instance")

I changed the following:



Targetfile = xPLRSS.xml

Targetpath = c:\inetpub\wwwroot\home

LinksMode = Auto

LinksURL =

Feedtitle = Put some sort of title

Feeddesc = Put a description



I then ran the xPL-PCOSD app, left it as default apart from the instance
name.



I then created a script to display an OSD message, I used the following
for the script.



Sub TestOSD()

mymsg="command=clear" & chr(10) & "Text=Hi
There"

call xpl.sendmsg("","","OSD.BASIC",mymsg)

End Sub



I then created an event in xPLHAL Manager so that I could manually
trigger the script (I set it up as recurring event and just right
clicked and selected "Execute Now")



I now have an xml file called xPLRSS.xml in my www folder for my home
website that picks up every OSD message. It also seems to create the
html files for the link.



Now I have the weather script working, I've set a determinator action
which looks for the change in the observed time and, along with
recording the information in xQL, sends an OSD message with the
temperature and the windchill which in turn adds an entry in xPLRSS.xml.



An example of the xml file is:



<?xml version="1.0" encoding ="ISO-8859-1"?>

<rss version="0.91">

<channel>

<title>Frostie's xPL RSS Feed</title>

<description>RSS Feed of xPL Messages</description>

<item>

<title>Current Temperature is 5C </title>

<description>Windchill Temperature is 1C</description>

<link>400.htm</link>

</item>

</channel>

</rss>



It appears that the first line of an OSD message is treated as the title
and following is treated as the description, I shall reformat it for 1st
line = "Current Weather Conditions" and the 2nd line for the
info. I
need some further playing to see if a 3rd line stays as the description.



I have noticed, and this may be a feature, that the file clears down
every so often, thus I suppose giving up to date "news".



I should imagine there may be some mileage in a separate schema for RSS
feeds as opposed to piggy backing the OSD messages... any thoughts?



Neil



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



xPL Links: http://www.xplproject.org.uk http://www.xplhal.com http://www.xpl.myby.co.uk
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