Fetch and display RSS feed using ASP.NET

ASP.NET and RSS feed

• After you have launched Visual Studio, click on File at the top left corner.
• Select New > Project.
• In the New Project window, select Web from the options on the left.
• Select ASP.NET Web Forms Application.
• Set the location from the options at the bottom where you’d like to store the application you are creating.
• Give a suitable name as well. The project here has been named ‘RSSFeedReader‘.
• The next step would be to add a class.

Adding a Class

• Right-click on the project name in Solutions Explorer.
• From the options that show, select Add > New Item.
• In the Add New Item windows that opens, select Code from the options on the left.
• Select Class from the options in the middle.
• Give a Class name, like in this case, RSS.
• Click OK. In the RSS.cs page, enter the following code:

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Web;
 namespace RSSFeedReader
    {
        public class RSS
        {
            public string Title { get; set; }
            public string Link { get; set; }
            public string PublishDate { get; set; }
            public string Description { get; set; }
        }
    }

You will next need a page to display the RSS feed.

• In Solution Explorer, click on the Default.aspx page under your project.
• Enter the following code on the page.

<h3>Read RSS Feed from "XYZ"</h3>
/* Where XYZ refers to the publication from where you wish to fetch the RSS feed from */
    <div style="max-height:350px; overflow:auto">
        <asp:GridView ID="gvRss" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false" ShowHeader="false" Width="90%">
            <Columns>
                <asp:TemplateField>
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5">
                            <tr>
                                <td>
                                    <h3 style="color:#3E7CFF"><%#Eval("Title") %></h3>
                                </td>
                                <td width="200px">
                                    <%#Eval("PublishDate") %>
                                </td>
                            </tr>
                            <tr>
                                <td colspan="2">
                                    <hr />
                                    <%#Eval("Description") %>
                                </td>
                            </tr>
                            <tr>
                                <td>&nbsp;</td>
                                <td align="right">
                                    <a href='<%#Eval("Link") %>' target="_blank">Read More...</a>
                                </td>
                            </tr>
                        </table>
                    </ItemTemplate>
                </asp:TemplateField>
            </Columns>
        </asp:GridView>
    </div>

Now, you will have to write the code to fetch RSS feed.

• For that, Right-Click on an empty portion on the Default.aspx page and select View Code.
• In the Default.aspx.cs page that opens, enter the following code.

  private void PopulateRssFeed()
    {
        string RssFeedUrl = "The URL of the site from where you wish to fetch the RSS feed from";
        List<Feeds> feeds = new List<Feeds>();
        try
        {
            XDocument xDoc = new XDocument();
            xDoc = XDocument.Load(RssFeedUrl);
            var items = (from x in xDoc.Descendants("item")
                         select new
                         {
                             title = x.Element("title").Value,
                             link = x.Element("link").Value,
                             pubDate = x.Element("pubDate").Value,
                             description = x.Element("description").Value
                         });
            if (items != null)
            {
                foreach (var i in items)
                {
                    Feeds f = new Feeds
                    {
                        Title = i.title,
                        Link = i.link,
                        PublishDate = i.pubDate,
                        Description = i.description
                    };

                    feeds.Add(f);
                }
            }

            gvRss.DataSource = feeds;
            gvRss.DataBind();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw;
        }
    }

That’s it.

Run the application. The page just created will fetch RSS feed from the URL provided and will display the same as well.

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