Minimalistic but legal atom feed?

CoderMan · 02-20-2010, 07:14 PM

Hi. I want to create my own Atom feed file covering some informational posts on a web page. I will maintain it by hand, so I would prefer it to be as minimalistic a file as possible, yet still a valid Atom file.

This is the pattern of what I have at the moment:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
    <title>Gentoo Cluster Project</title>
    <link type="text/html" href="http://www.indicium.us/cgi-bin/pages/get?view=cluster" />
    <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.indicium.us/feeds/gentoo.atom.xml" />
    <updated>2010-02-20T01:04:04Z</updated>
    <subtitle>Building a Beowulf-Style Cluster Using Gentoo Linux</subtitle>

<entry>
    <title>2010-02-09</title>
    <link type="text/html" href="http://www.indicium.us/cgi-bin/pages/get?view=cluster#2010-02-09" />
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>2010-02-10</title>
    <link type="text/html" href="http://www.indicium.us/cgi-bin/pages/get?view=cluster#2010-02-10" />
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>2010-02-14</title>
    <link type="text/html" href="http://www.indicium.us/cgi-bin/pages/get?view=cluster#2010-02-14" />
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>2010-02-17</title>
    <link type="text/html" href="http://www.indicium.us/cgi-bin/pages/get?view=cluster#2010-02-17" />
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>2010-02-20</title>
    <link type="text/html" href="http://www.indicium.us/cgi-bin/pages/get?view=cluster#2010-02-20" />
</entry>
</feed>

Is this valid Atom, or are there any more /required/ elements?

I found Atom specification documents online, but there was so much information I felt like a rowboat on the Pacific ocean. I did not find a specific section declaring exactly what /had/ to be in a Atom feed file.

paulsm4 · 02-21-2010, 03:21 PM

Hi -

It certainly *looks* reasonable. I thought id's were *required* .. but perhaps not...

Q: Have you tried this feed with a few readers, and does it seem to work?

Q: Any reason you don't have an "<updated>" element in your "entry's"? Or use "<author>" elements? (it should still be fine without them, however). Or, for that matter, id's?

'Hope that helps .. PSM

PS:
What does the W3C validator say?
http://validator.w3.org/feed/

Telemachos · 02-21-2010, 03:23 PM

Don't guess or eyeball it, validate it: http://validator.w3.org/feed/

Long story short: The validator fails it. Id is a required element (for the feed as a whole and for each element of the feed).

http://www.atomenabled.org/developers/syndication/