How to: Create a Basic RSS Feed

Article
03/30/2023

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) allows you to create a service that exposes a syndication feed. This topic discusses how to create a syndication service that exposes an RSS syndication feed.

To create a basic syndication service

Define a service contract using an interface marked with the WebGetAttribute attribute. Each operation that is exposed as a syndication feed should return a Rss20FeedFormatter object.
```
[ServiceContract]
public interface IBlog
{
    [OperationContract]
    [WebGet]
    Rss20FeedFormatter GetBlog();
}
```
```
<ServiceContract()> _
Public Interface IBlog
    <OperationContract()> _
    <WebGet> _
    Function GetBlog() As Rss20FeedFormatter
End Interface
```
Note

All service operations that apply the WebGetAttribute attribute are mapped to HTTP GET requests. To map your operation to a different HTTP method, use the WebInvokeAttribute instead. For more information, see How to: Create a Basic WCF Web HTTP Service.

Implement the service contract.

public class BlogService : IBlog
{
    public Rss20FeedFormatter GetBlog()
    {
        SyndicationFeed feed = new SyndicationFeed("My Blog Feed", "This is a test feed", new Uri("http://SomeURI"));
        feed.Authors.Add(new SyndicationPerson("someone@microsoft.com"));
        feed.Categories.Add(new SyndicationCategory("How To Sample Code"));
        feed.Description = new TextSyndicationContent("This is a how to sample that demonstrates how to expose a feed using RSS with WCF");

        SyndicationItem item1 = new SyndicationItem(
            "Item One",
            "This is the content for item one",
            new Uri("http://localhost/Content/One"),
            "ItemOneID",
            DateTime.Now);

        SyndicationItem item2 = new SyndicationItem(
            "Item Two",
            "This is the content for item two",
            new Uri("http://localhost/Content/Two"),
            "ItemTwoID",
            DateTime.Now);

        SyndicationItem item3 = new SyndicationItem(
            "Item Three",
            "This is the content for item three",
            new Uri("http://localhost/Content/three"),
            "ItemThreeID",
            DateTime.Now);

        List<SyndicationItem> items = new List<SyndicationItem>();

        items.Add(item1);
        items.Add(item2);
        items.Add(item3);

        feed.Items = items;

        return new Rss20FeedFormatter(feed);
    }
}

Public Class BlogService
    Implements IBlog

    Public Function GetBlog() As Rss20FeedFormatter Implements IBlog.GetBlog
        Dim feed As SyndicationFeed = New SyndicationFeed("My Blog Feed", "This is a test feed", New Uri("http://SomeURI"))
        feed.Authors.Add(New SyndicationPerson("someone@microsoft.com"))
        feed.Categories.Add(New SyndicationCategory("How To Sample Code"))
        feed.Description = New TextSyndicationContent("This is a how to sample that demonstrates how to expose a feed using RSS with WCF")

        Dim item1 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
            "Item One", _
            "This is the content for item one", _
            New Uri("http://localhost/Content/One"), _
            "ItemOneID", _
            DateTime.Now)

        Dim item2 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
            "Item Two", _
            "This is the content for item two", _
            New Uri("http://localhost/Content/Two"), _
            "ItemTwoID", _
            DateTime.Now)

        Dim item3 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
            "Item Three", _
            "This is the content for item three", _
            New Uri("http://localhost/Content/three"), _
            "ItemThreeID", _
            DateTime.Now)

        Dim items As New List(Of SyndicationItem)()

        items.Add(item1)
        items.Add(item2)
        items.Add(item3)

        feed.Items = items

        Return New Rss20FeedFormatter(feed)
    End Function
End Class

Create a SyndicationFeed object and add an author, category, and description.

SyndicationFeed feed = new SyndicationFeed("My Blog Feed", "This is a test feed", new Uri("http://SomeURI"));
feed.Authors.Add(new SyndicationPerson("someone@microsoft.com"));
feed.Categories.Add(new SyndicationCategory("How To Sample Code"));
feed.Description = new TextSyndicationContent("This is a how to sample that demonstrates how to expose a feed using RSS with WCF");

Dim feed As SyndicationFeed = New SyndicationFeed("My Blog Feed", "This is a test feed", New Uri("http://SomeURI"))
feed.Authors.Add(New SyndicationPerson("someone@microsoft.com"))
feed.Categories.Add(New SyndicationCategory("How To Sample Code"))
feed.Description = New TextSyndicationContent("This is a how to sample that demonstrates how to expose a feed using RSS with WCF")

Create several SyndicationItem objects.

SyndicationItem item1 = new SyndicationItem(
    "Item One",
    "This is the content for item one",
    new Uri("http://localhost/Content/One"),
    "ItemOneID",
    DateTime.Now);

SyndicationItem item2 = new SyndicationItem(
    "Item Two",
    "This is the content for item two",
    new Uri("http://localhost/Content/Two"),
    "ItemTwoID",
    DateTime.Now);

SyndicationItem item3 = new SyndicationItem(
    "Item Three",
    "This is the content for item three",
    new Uri("http://localhost/Content/three"),
    "ItemThreeID",
    DateTime.Now);

Dim item1 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
    "Item One", _
    "This is the content for item one", _
    New Uri("http://localhost/Content/One"), _
    "ItemOneID", _
    DateTime.Now)

Dim item2 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
    "Item Two", _
    "This is the content for item two", _
    New Uri("http://localhost/Content/Two"), _
    "ItemTwoID", _
    DateTime.Now)

Dim item3 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
    "Item Three", _
    "This is the content for item three", _
    New Uri("http://localhost/Content/three"), _
    "ItemThreeID", _
    DateTime.Now)

Add the SyndicationItem to the feed.

List<SyndicationItem> items = new List<SyndicationItem>();

items.Add(item1);
items.Add(item2);
items.Add(item3);

feed.Items = items;

Dim items As New List(Of SyndicationItem)()

items.Add(item1)
items.Add(item2)
items.Add(item3)

feed.Items = items

Return the feed.

return new Rss20FeedFormatter(feed);

Return New Rss20FeedFormatter(feed)

To host a service

Create a WebServiceHost object.

Uri baseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:8000/BlogService");
WebServiceHost svcHost = new WebServiceHost(typeof(BlogService), baseAddress);

Dim baseAddress As New Uri("http://localhost:8000/BlogService")
Dim svcHost As New WebServiceHost(GetType(BlogService), baseAddress)

Open the service host and wait until the user presses ENTER.

svcHost.Open();
Console.WriteLine("Service is running");

XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog");
SyndicationFeed feed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader);
Console.WriteLine(feed.Title.Text);
Console.WriteLine("Items:");
foreach (SyndicationItem item in feed.Items)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Title: {0}", item.Title.Text);
    Console.WriteLine("Summary: {0}", ((TextSyndicationContent)item.Summary).Text);
}
Console.WriteLine("Press <enter> to quit...");
Console.ReadLine();
svcHost.Close();

svcHost.Open()
Console.WriteLine("Service is running")

Dim reader As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog")
Dim feed As SyndicationFeed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader)
Console.WriteLine(feed.Title.Text)
Console.WriteLine("Items:")
For Each item As SyndicationItem In feed.Items
    Console.WriteLine("Title: {0}", item.Title.Text)
    Console.WriteLine("Summary: {0}", item.Summary.Text)
Next
Console.WriteLine("Press <enter> to quit...")
Console.ReadLine()
svcHost.Close()

To call GetBlog() with an HTTP GET

In a web browser, browse to the following URL: http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog. The URL contains the base address of the service (http://localhost:8000/BlogService), the relative address of the endpoint, and the service operation to call.

To call GetBlog() from code

Create an XmlReader with the base address and the method you are calling.

Uri serviceAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog");

Dim serviceAddress As New Uri("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog")

Call the static Load(XmlReader) method, passing in the XmlReader you just created.

XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog");
SyndicationFeed feed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader);

Dim reader As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog")
Dim feed As SyndicationFeed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader)

This invokes the service operation and populates a new SyndicationFeed with the formatter returned from the service operation.

Access the feed object.

Console.WriteLine(feed.Title.Text);
Console.WriteLine("Items:");
foreach (SyndicationItem item in feed.Items)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Title: {0}", item.Title.Text);
    Console.WriteLine("Summary: {0}", ((TextSyndicationContent)item.Summary).Text);
}

Console.WriteLine(feed.Title.Text)
Console.WriteLine("Items:")
For Each item As SyndicationItem In feed.Items
    Console.WriteLine("Title:  {0}", item.Title.Text)
    Console.WriteLine("Summary:  {0}", item.Summary.Text)
Next

Example

The following is the full code listing for this example.

using System;
using System.Xml;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.ServiceModel.Description;
using System.ServiceModel.Syndication;
using System.ServiceModel.Web;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace Service
{
    [ServiceContract]
    public interface IBlog
    {
        [OperationContract]
        [WebGet]
        Rss20FeedFormatter GetBlog();
    }

    public class BlogService : IBlog
    {
        public Rss20FeedFormatter GetBlog()
        {
            SyndicationFeed feed = new SyndicationFeed("My Blog Feed", "This is a test feed", new Uri("http://SomeURI"));
            feed.Authors.Add(new SyndicationPerson("someone@microsoft.com"));
            feed.Categories.Add(new SyndicationCategory("How To Sample Code"));
            feed.Description = new TextSyndicationContent("This is a how to sample that demonstrates how to expose a feed using RSS with WCF");

            SyndicationItem item1 = new SyndicationItem(
                "Item One",
                "This is the content for item one",
                new Uri("http://localhost/Content/One"),
                "ItemOneID",
                DateTime.Now);

            SyndicationItem item2 = new SyndicationItem(
                "Item Two",
                "This is the content for item two",
                new Uri("http://localhost/Content/Two"),
                "ItemTwoID",
                DateTime.Now);

            SyndicationItem item3 = new SyndicationItem(
                "Item Three",
                "This is the content for item three",
                new Uri("http://localhost/Content/three"),
                "ItemThreeID",
                DateTime.Now);

            List<SyndicationItem> items = new List<SyndicationItem>();

            items.Add(item1);
            items.Add(item2);
            items.Add(item3);

            feed.Items = items;

            return new Rss20FeedFormatter(feed);
        }
    }

    public class Host
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Uri baseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:8000/BlogService");
            WebServiceHost svcHost = new WebServiceHost(typeof(BlogService), baseAddress);

            try
            {
                svcHost.Open();
                Console.WriteLine("Service is running");

                XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog");
                SyndicationFeed feed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader);
                Console.WriteLine(feed.Title.Text);
                Console.WriteLine("Items:");
                foreach (SyndicationItem item in feed.Items)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Title: {0}", item.Title.Text);
                    Console.WriteLine("Summary: {0}", ((TextSyndicationContent)item.Summary).Text);
                }
                Console.WriteLine("Press <enter> to quit...");
                Console.ReadLine();
                svcHost.Close();
            }
            catch (CommunicationException ce)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("An exception occurred: {0}", ce.Message);
                svcHost.Abort();
            }
        }
    }
}

Imports System.Xml
Imports System.ServiceModel
Imports System.ServiceModel.Description
Imports System.ServiceModel.Syndication
Imports System.ServiceModel.Web
Imports System.Collections.ObjectModel
Imports System.Collections.Generic

<ServiceContract()> _
Public Interface IBlog
    <OperationContract()> _
    <WebGet> _
    Function GetBlog() As Rss20FeedFormatter
End Interface

Public Class BlogService
    Implements IBlog

    Public Function GetBlog() As Rss20FeedFormatter Implements IBlog.GetBlog
        Dim feed As SyndicationFeed = New SyndicationFeed("My Blog Feed", "This is a test feed", New Uri("http://SomeURI"))
        feed.Authors.Add(New SyndicationPerson("someone@microsoft.com"))
        feed.Categories.Add(New SyndicationCategory("How To Sample Code"))
        feed.Description = New TextSyndicationContent("This is a how to sample that demonstrates how to expose a feed using RSS with WCF")

        Dim item1 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
            "Item One", _
            "This is the content for item one", _
            New Uri("http://localhost/Content/One"), _
            "ItemOneID", _
            DateTime.Now)

        Dim item2 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
            "Item Two", _
            "This is the content for item two", _
            New Uri("http://localhost/Content/Two"), _
            "ItemTwoID", _
            DateTime.Now)

        Dim item3 As SyndicationItem = New SyndicationItem( _
            "Item Three", _
            "This is the content for item three", _
            New Uri("http://localhost/Content/three"), _
            "ItemThreeID", _
            DateTime.Now)

        Dim items As New List(Of SyndicationItem)()

        items.Add(item1)
        items.Add(item2)
        items.Add(item3)

        feed.Items = items

        Return New Rss20FeedFormatter(feed)
    End Function
End Class


Module Program

    Sub Main()
        Dim baseAddress As New Uri("http://localhost:8000/BlogService")
        Dim svcHost As New WebServiceHost(GetType(BlogService), baseAddress)

        Try
            svcHost.Open()
            Console.WriteLine("Service is running")

            Dim reader As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("http://localhost:8000/BlogService/GetBlog")
            Dim feed As SyndicationFeed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader)
            Console.WriteLine(feed.Title.Text)
            Console.WriteLine("Items:")
            For Each item As SyndicationItem In feed.Items
                Console.WriteLine("Title: {0}", item.Title.Text)
                Console.WriteLine("Summary: {0}", item.Summary.Text)
            Next
            Console.WriteLine("Press <enter> to quit...")
            Console.ReadLine()
            svcHost.Close()
        Catch ce As CommunicationException
            Console.WriteLine("An exception occurred: {0}", ce.Message)
            svcHost.Abort()
        End Try
    End Sub
End Module

Compiling the Code

When compiling the preceding code, reference System.ServiceModel.dll and System.ServiceModel.Web.dll.