cssxsltrssatom-feedsyndication-feed

How to Add CSS Reference to .NET SyndicationFeed?


I have created a simple SyndicationFeed with many SyndicationItems. Each SyndicationItem has HtmlContent. The HtmlContent is a table. This displays OK, but now I need a minimum of styling/padding on the table. I believe I need to add a stylesheet reference like

<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="http://you.com/rss.css" ?>

But I do not see how to do this with the .NET 4.5 SyndicationFeed or Atom10FeedFormatter classes.

Here is the (pseudo) code that is generated by a WCF service.

var feed = new feed(......);
var xqn = new XmlQualifiedName( "mysys" , "http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/" );
feed.AttributeExtensions.Add( xqn , myuri );
feed.ElementExtensions.Add( "creator" , "sys" , teaminfo );
feed.Authors.Add( new SyndicationPerson( emailaddr) );
feed.Categories.Add( new SyndicationCategory( mycategory ) );
feed.Description = new TextSyndicationContent( feedDesc );
feed.Copyright = SyndicationContent.CreatePlaintextContent(copyr);
feed.Language = "en-us";
feed.ImageUrl = new Uri( myuri + "/logo" );
var dbitems = GetListFromDb(key);
var syndItems = new List<synitem>();
foreach (var item in dbitems)
{
    var htmlContent =
        SyndicationContent.CreateHtmlContent( MakeHtmlFromStuff(item) );
    var itemUri = new Uri( myuri + itemuri );
    var synitem = new synitem( item.code , htmlContent , itemUri , item.key , DateTimeOffset.UtcNow );
    syndItems.Add( synitem);
}
feed.Items = syndItems;
return new Atom10FeedFormatter(feed);

Hopefully not missing something obvious. All ideas appreciated.

Thanks.


Solution

  • I believe I need to add a stylesheet reference like

    <?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="http://you.com/rss.css" ?>
    

    But I do not see how to do this with the .NET 4.5 SyndicationFeed or Atom10FeedFormatter classes.

    Here is a complete code example how to do this:

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.ServiceModel.Syndication;
    using System.Xml;
    
    namespace FeedProcessing
    {
        class FeedProcessing
        {
            static void Main(string[] args)
            {
                FeedProcessing fp = new FeedProcessing();
                fp.CreateFeed();
            }
            public void CreateFeed()
            {
                SyndicationFeed feed = new SyndicationFeed("Feed Title", "Feed Description", new Uri("http://Feed/Alternate/Link"), "FeedID", DateTime.Now);
                // Add a custom attribute.
                XmlQualifiedName xqName = new XmlQualifiedName("CustomAttribute");
                feed.AttributeExtensions.Add(xqName, "Value");
    
                SyndicationPerson sp = new SyndicationPerson("jesper@contoso.com", "Jesper Aaberg", "http://Jesper/Aaberg");
                feed.Authors.Add(sp);
    
                SyndicationCategory category = new SyndicationCategory("FeedCategory", "CategoryScheme", "CategoryLabel");
                feed.Categories.Add(category);
    
                feed.Contributors.Add(new SyndicationPerson("lene@contoso.com", "Lene Aaling", "http://lene/aaling"));
                feed.Copyright = new TextSyndicationContent("Copyright 2007");
                feed.Description = new TextSyndicationContent("This is a sample feed");
    
                // Add a custom element.
                XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
                XmlElement feedElement = doc.CreateElement("CustomElement");
                feedElement.InnerText = "Some text";
                feed.ElementExtensions.Add(feedElement);
    
                feed.Generator = "Sample Code";
                feed.Id = "FeedID";
                feed.ImageUrl = new Uri("http://server/image.jpg");
    
                TextSyndicationContent textContent = new TextSyndicationContent("Some text content");
                SyndicationItem item = new SyndicationItem("Item Title", textContent, new Uri("http://server/items"), "ItemID", DateTime.Now);
    
                List<SyndicationItem> items = new List<SyndicationItem>();
                items.Add(item);
                feed.Items = items;
    
                feed.Language = "en-us";
                feed.LastUpdatedTime = DateTime.Now;
    
                SyndicationLink link = new SyndicationLink(new Uri("http://server/link"), "alternate", "Link Title", "text/html", 1000);
                feed.Links.Add(link);
    
                XmlWriter atomWriter = XmlWriter.Create("atom.xml");
                atomWriter.WriteProcessingInstruction("xml-stylesheet", 
                                                      "type='text/css' href='http://you.com/rss.css'");
                Atom10FeedFormatter atomFormatter = new Atom10FeedFormatter(feed);
                atomFormatter.WriteTo(atomWriter);
                atomWriter.Close();
    
                XmlWriter rssWriter = XmlWriter.Create("rss.xml");
                rssWriter.WriteProcessingInstruction("xml-stylesheet",
                                                     "type='text/css' href='http://you.com/rss.css'");
                Rss20FeedFormatter rssFormatter = new Rss20FeedFormatter(feed);
                rssFormatter.WriteTo(rssWriter);
                rssWriter.Close();
            }
        }
    }
    

    When this program is executed, two files are created:

    atom.xml:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' href='http://you.com/rss.css'?>
    <feed xml:lang="en-us" CustomAttribute="Value" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
        <title type="text">Feed Title</title>
        <subtitle type="text">This is a sample feed</subtitle>
        <id>FeedID</id>
        <rights type="text">Copyright 2007</rights>
        <updated>2012-12-28T19:50:18-08:00</updated>
        <category term="FeedCategory" label="CategoryLabel" scheme="CategoryScheme" />
        <logo>http://server/image.jpg</logo>
        <author>
            <name>Jesper Aaberg</name>
            <uri>http://Jesper/Aaberg</uri>
            <email>jesper@contoso.com</email>
        </author>
        <contributor>
            <name>Lene Aaling</name>
            <uri>http://lene/aaling</uri>
            <email>lene@contoso.com</email>
        </contributor>
        <generator>Sample Code</generator>
        <link rel="alternate" href="http://feed/Alternate/Link" />
        <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="Link Title" length="1000" href="http://server/link" />
        <CustomElement xmlns="">Some text</CustomElement>
        <entry>
            <id>ItemID</id>
            <title type="text">Item Title</title>
            <updated>2012-12-28T19:50:18-08:00</updated>
            <link rel="alternate" href="http://server/items" />
            <content type="text">Some text content</content>
        </entry>
    </feed>
    

    and rss.xml:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <?xml-stylesheet type='text/css' href='http://you.com/rss.css'?>
    <rss xmlns:a10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0">
        <channel CustomAttribute="Value">
            <title>Feed Title</title>
            <link>http://feed/Alternate/Link</link>
            <description>This is a sample feed</description>
            <language>en-us</language>
            <copyright>Copyright 2007</copyright>
            <managingEditor>jesper@contoso.com</managingEditor>
            <lastBuildDate>Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:50:18 -0800</lastBuildDate>
            <category domain="CategoryScheme">FeedCategory</category>
            <generator>Sample Code</generator>
            <a10:contributor>
                <a10:name>Lene Aaling</a10:name>
                <a10:uri>http://lene/aaling</a10:uri>
                <a10:email>lene@contoso.com</a10:email>
            </a10:contributor>
            <image>
                <url>http://server/image.jpg</url>
                <title>Feed Title</title>
                <link>http://feed/Alternate/Link</link>
            </image>
            <a10:id>FeedID</a10:id>
            <a10:link rel="alternate" type="text/html" title="Link Title" length="1000" href="http://server/link" />
            <CustomElement>Some text</CustomElement>
            <item>
                <guid isPermaLink="false">ItemID</guid>
                <link>http://server/items</link>
                <title>Item Title</title>
                <description>Some text content</description>
                <a10:updated>2012-12-28T19:50:18-08:00</a10:updated>
            </item>
        </channel>
    </rss>
    

    Explanation:

    Whenever the XmlWriter instance is created, but before calling either:

    atomFormatter.WriteTo(atomWriter);
    

    or:

    rssFormatter.WriteTo(rssWriter);
    

    call the WriteProcessingInstruction() method on the respective XmlWriter instance, passing to it the two required parameters -- the name of the PI (in this case "xml-stylesheet") and the text of the PI (in this case "type='text/css' href='http://you.com/rss.css'").