RSS .91 to 1.0 using ASP

What is RSSup?

RSSup is an ASP script that allows webmaster who already generate an RSS .91 feed for their site to dynamically create an RSS 1.0 feed. Using the Microsoft XML parser (supplied with IE 5) on the server side, you can now move to RSS 1.0 without having to worry about recoding your channel.

Minimum Requirements

I haven’t tested these scripts on multiple platforms but here’s the environment I used to create them:

• NT 4.0 with service pack 6
• IIS 4.0
• Internet Explorer 5.5 (this is important because Microsoft replaced the XML engine on which this script relies)
• A well formatted RSS .91 file

What files are in RSSup.zip?

Recently, I’ve started doing some manipulations or RSS file for different presentations. Included in this zip file are three files to do so:

• rssup.asp Creates the 1.0 channel
• rssupvars.asp Variables you have to change
• Readme.html Basic documentation

Installation

Installing those files is relatively easy.

• Download the source code
• Open rssupvars.asp and edit it. For your reference, here are the different variables:
• • myRSSfile is the location of your RSS file.
  • myRSSurl is the root directory for your server. In my case, it would be https://www.tnl.net
  • myRSStitle is the name of your channel. In my case, it would be TNL.net newsletter
  • myRSSlink is the name of a directory on the server you want to point to. For example, if your feed is not for the main page, you can put the subdirectory here. In my case, that would be https://www.tnl.net/weblog/
  • myRSSdescription is a description of what your channel is about. This allows directories to get more data on what the channel is. In my case it would be something along the line of "a newsletter about Internet technology"
  • myRSSlogo is the location of an image logo for your channel. Please specify the full path to the URL like http://www.foo.com/images/foologo.gif for example
• Put the files on your site and that’s it. You’re up and running with a new 1.0 channel at http://www.yoursite.com/rssup.asp

How much does it cost?

RSSup is free.

Copyright and final comments

I’ve created those files for my personal use and am happy to share them with you. However, I do not make any guarantee as to their impact on your server. They seem to work fine on mine. If you use them, I’d appreciate a link back to TNL.net. I’ve moved my site off the Microsoft platform in late 2002 so I do not plan to update or continue supporting those scripts. Use them at your own risk.