######################################################################
    XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple 0.01
######################################################################

NAME
    XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple - Create RSS feeds for sites that don't offer
    them

SYNOPSIS
        use XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple;

        my $proc = XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple->new({
            url      => "http://perlmeister.com/art_eng.html",
            rss_file => "new_articles.xml",
        });

        $proc->link_filter( sub {
            my($link, $text) = @_;

                # Only extract links that contain 'linux-magazine'
                # in their URL
            if( $link =~ m#linux-magazine#) {
                return 1;
            } else {
                return 0;
            }
        });

            # Create RSS file
        $proc->make_rss() or die $proc->error();

ABSTRACT
    This module helps creating RSS feeds for sites that don't them. It
    examines HTML documents, extracts their links and puts them and their
    textual descriptions into an RSS file.

DESCRIPTION
    "XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple" helps reeling in web pages and creating RSS
    files from them. Typically, it is used to contact websites that are
    displaying news content in HTML, but aren't providing RSS files of their
    own. RSS files are typically used to track the content on frequently
    changing news websites and to provide a way for other programs to figure
    out if new news have arrived.

    To create a new RSS generator, call "new()":

        use XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple;

        my $f = XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple->new({
            url      => "http://perlmeister.com/art_eng.html",
            rss_file => $outfile,
        });

    "url" is the URL to a site whichs content you'd like to track.
    "rss_file" is the name of the resulting RSS file, it defaults to
    "out.xml".

    Instead of reeling in a document via HTTP, you can just as well use a
    local file:

        my $f = XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple->new({
            html_file => "art_eng.html",
            base_url  => "http://perlmeister.com",
            rss_file  => "perlnews.xml",
        });

    Note that in this case, a "base_url" is necessary to allow the generator
    to put fully qualified URLs into the RSS file later.

    "XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple" creates accessor functions for all of its
    attributes. Therefore, you could just as well create a boilerplate
    object and set its properties afterwards:

        my $f = XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple->new();
        $f->html_file("art_eng.html");
        $f->base_url("http://perlmeister.com");
        $f->rss_file("perlnews.xml");

    Typically, not all links embedded in the HTML document should be copied
    to the resulting RSS file. The "link_filter()" attribute takes a
    subroutine reference, which decides for each URL whether to process it
    or ignore it:

        $f->link_filter( sub {
            my($url, $text) = @_;

            if($url =~ m#linux-magazine\.com/#) {
                return 1;
            } else {
                return 0;
            }
        });

    The "link_filter" subroutine gets called with each URL and its link
    text, as found in the HTML content. If "link_filter" returns 1, the link
    will be added to the RSS file. If "link_filter" returns 0, the link will
    be ignored.

    In addition to decide if the Link is RSS-worthy, the filter may also
    change the value of the URL or the corresponding text by modifying $_[0]
    or $_[1] directly.

    To start the RSS generator, run

        $f->make_rss() or die $f->error();

    which will generate the RSS file. If anything goes wrong, "make_rss()"
    returns false and the "error()" method will tell why it failed.

    This module has been inspired by Sean Burke's article in TPJ 11/2002.
    I've discussed its code in the 02/2005 issue of Linux Magazine:

        http://www.linux-magazine.com/issue/51/Perl_Collecting_News_Headlines.pdf

    There's also XML::RSS::FromHTML on CPAN, which looks like it's offering
    a more powerful API. The focus of XML::RSS::FromHTML::Simple, on the
    other hand, is simplicity.

LEGALESE
    This program is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHOR
    2007, Mike Schilli <m@perlmeister.com>

