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RSS FAQs - Atom Feed File Structure and Elements

By: FYIcenter.com

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A collection of 15 FAQs on Atom feed file structure and elements. Clear answers are provided with tutorial samples on Atom feed documents and Atom entry documents; sub-elements of the feed and entry elements; generating contents for id, updated, and link sub-elements. Topics included in this collection are:

  1. Are Atom Feed Files XML Documents?
  2. How Many Document Types Are Defined for Atom Feed Files?
  3. What Is the Structure of Atom Feed Documents?
  4. What Are Sub-elements of the feed Element?
  5. How To Generate a Feed title Element?
  6. How To Generate a Feed subtitle Element?
  7. How To Generate a Feed link Element?
  8. How To Generate a Feed id Element?
  9. How To Generate a Feed updated Element?
  10. How To Generate a Feed author Element?
  11. What Are Sub-elements of the entry Element?
  12. How To Generate a Feed Entry link Element?
  13. How To Generate a Feed title Element?
  14. How To Generate a Feed summary Element?
  15. Can One Atom Feed Document Have Multiple Entries?

Are Atom Feed Files XML Documents?

Yes. Atom feed files are XML (eXtensible Markup Language) documents. Atom feed files must be well-formed XML documents, respecting the following XML rules.

  • The first line must be the "xml" processing instruction with "version" and "encoding" attributes.
  • There must be only one root element in a single XML document.
  • All elements must be closed with the closing tags.
  • One element can be nested inside another element.
  • One element can not be partially nested inside another element.
  • Element attribute values must be quoted with double quotes.
  • Special characters in element attribute values or element contents must be protected using entities, like < and >.

How Many Document Types Are Defined for Atom Feed Files?

There are 2 document types defined for Atom feed files:

  • Atom Feed Document - Representing an Atom feed, including metadata about the feed, and some or all of the entries associated with it. Its root element is the <feed> element.
  • Atom Entry Document - Representing only one Atom entry. Its root element is the <entry> element.

What Is the Structure of Atom Feed Documents?

An Atom feed document must have a root element called "feed". Within in the "feed" element, one or more "entry" elements are enclosed. The high level structure of an Atom feed document looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
 (other feed sub-elements)
 <entry>
  ...
 </entry>
 <entry>
  ...
 </entry>
 (more entry elements)
</feed>

What Are Sub-elements of the feed Element?

The "feed" element has the following sub-elements defined:

  • <author> - Specifying the personal information about an author of the contents provided in this feed. A feed element may have zero, one or more author sub-elements.
  • <category> - Specifying the category information of the contents provided in this feed. A feed element may have zero, one or more category sub-elements.
  • <contributor> - Specifying the personal information about a contributor of the contents provided in this feed. A feed element may have zero, one or more contributor sub-elements.
  • <generator> - Specifying the information about the software used to generate this feed. A feed element may have zero or one generator sub-element.
  • <icon> - Specifying the URL location of an icon image that identifies this feed. A feed element may have zero or one icon sub-element.
  • <logo> - Specifying the URL location of an logo image that identifies this feed. A feed element may have zero or one logo sub-element.
  • <id> - Specifying a URI that universally and uniquely identifies this feed. A feed element must exactly one id sub-element.
  • <link> - Specifying a URL location of a Web page as a reference to this feed. A feed element may have zero, one or more link sub-elements. However, at least one link sub-element with rel="self" is recommended.

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