Xibo

Sharepoint RSS feed not displaying (just "Loading...")

Asked by Adrian

I've got xibo up and running and displaying various RSS feeds.

However, what I'm trying to use it for is to pull out the RSS feed from a couple of sharepoint lists which are internally hosted.

Specifically, the URL is http://staff/ict/_layouts/listfeed.aspx?List=%7BB95166F9%2D14B2%2D412F%2D93FD%2D94F68C86357C%7D

If I paste that URL into IE or Firefox, I get valid XML/RSS feed.

Xibo, however, just says "Loading..."

It would not surprise me if the problem is with the feed itself, this being Microsoft, after all. Feed source is (with extra <item>(s) stripped out):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:cf="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/rss/core/2005"><channel xmlns:cfi="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/rss/core/2005/internal" cfi:lastdownloaderror="None"><title cf:type="text">Staff Portal: Announcements</title><link>http://staff/Lists/Announcements/Upcoming.aspx</link><description cf:type="text">RSS feed for the Announcements list.</description><lastBuildDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:17:24 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:updated>2009-08-31T22:17:24Z</atom:updated><generator>Windows SharePoint Services V3 RSS Generator</generator><ttl>60</ttl><image><url>http://staff/_layouts/images/homepage.gif</url><title>Staff Portal: Announcements</title><link>http://staff/Lists/Announcements/Upcoming.aspx</link></image>

<item><title xmlns:cf="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/rss/core/2005" cf:type="text">Yr 7 visit to Marwell zoo- cancelled.</title><link>http://staff/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=413</link><description xmlns:cf="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/rss/core/2005" cf:type="html">&lt;div&gt;&lt;b&gt;Body:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;div class=ExternalClassEA1DE83C579149689FA8076D3BD5EB44&gt;
&lt;div&gt;Due to various issues Fridays year 7 visit to Marwell zoo will need to be reorganised later in the term. Could tutors/form teachers PLEASE asked the children to write this in their diaries so their parents know.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;I am considering taking all the yr 7 from &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;09.00-13.30 on Wednesday 9th Sept.&lt;/font&gt; Please let me know if this will cause any problems.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;&lt;b&gt;Expires:&lt;/b&gt; 07/09/2009&lt;/div&gt;
</description><author>Kevin Nicholls</author><atom:author xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><atom:name>Kevin Nicholls</atom:name></atom:author><pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:28:12 GMT</pubDate><atom:published xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">2009-08-30T12:28:12Z</atom:published><atom:updated xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">2009-08-30T12:28:12Z</atom:updated><guid isPermaLink="true">http://staff/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=413</guid><cfi:id>4</cfi:id><cfi:read>true</cfi:read><cfi:downloadurl>http://staff/_layouts/listfeed.aspx?List=%7B4EBEE85A%2D12C4%2D427B%2D862E%2D2F69B96262D1%7D</cfi:downloadurl><cfi:lastdownloadtime>2009-08-31T22:17:27.945Z</cfi:lastdownloadtime></item>

</channel></rss>

I don't think it's an auth problem, as Xibo can display the RSS feed when I set it up as a Webpage rather than a ticker, and IE goes straight in - the feed isn't setup for anon access (and never will be), but it uses Windows auth.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Xibo Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Adrian
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Alex Harrington (alexharrington) said : 		#1

I think Authentication will be your problem. Xibo uses a .net library to access the RSS feeds, not Internet Explorer so I think that will be why it fails.

You could probably verify that by looking at the logs on the webserver it's hosted on and see if it hits it with the credentials you expect or not.

I know very little about sharepoint so I can't be more specific about where you need to look.

Alex

Revision history for this message
Dan Garner (dangarner) said : 		#2

If the .NET client is having trouble opening or parsing the RSS feed there should be a log message indicating this in the server log - however this message may have only made it in the release from 1.0.3.

The client uses a .NET WebClient to get the contents of the RSS URL. I think that I need to set this webclient to use the default credentials of the logged in user - which is not something I currently do (I thought it was done by default).

Could you confirm that the RSS feed has not been downloaded on the client? The entire feed will be pulled and stored in the client library as an <id>.xml file. If that file is not there then its a bug with the authentication.

Cheers,
Dan

Revision history for this message
Adrian (taylor-adrian) said : 		#3

There's no XML feed pulled down in the library (not for that feed), and nothing in the webserver logs either (no surprise, it's IIS after all, it never logs anything useful).

If it is auth, is there anyway to tell xibo to authenticate?

As a workaround, I've tried pulling the rss feed via wget and cron on one of my Linux boxes, then telling xibo to read that instead. That also fails, which surprised me.

Revision history for this message
Adrian (taylor-adrian) said : 		#4

Got it - trouble (with the downloaded with wget RSS feed) was that the encoding was UTF-8. Xibo now displays this correctly.

Still can't get it to auth to sharepoint, but that's ok, I have a workaround.

Revision history for this message
Dan Garner (dangarner) said : 		#5

Glad you have found a workaround - I will still create a bug from this question and target to the next release. We should be able to use the credentials of the signed in user.

Revision history for this message
Alexis (a-ruyant) said : 		#6

I would really like to see this feature on the next realase (1.0.5) as i am having the same issue

Revision history for this message
Dan Garner (dangarner) said : 		#7

Alexis,

You can check the status of this and subscribe to updates in the attached bug. It is targetted to 1.0.5 at the moment.
If you subscribe you will get email when the status is updated.

Cheers,
Dan

Revision history for this message
Hal Douglas (haldouglas) said : 		#8

Hi,

Does anyone know if this was ever addressed (ie. authenticated RSS feeds)? I posted a sort of workaround here - http://goo.gl/wQH0ws - for posterity but I'd like to see it addressed properly as I know a number of schools who are using Xibo and have Sharepoint as a source of RSS info.

Thanks.

Revision history for this message
Vincent Vandermeeren (vandermeeren-vincent) said : 		#9

Hi all,
Have look at the link below as it is posisble to enable anonymous access for the lists you want to distribute via RSS.

https://razorleaf.com/2010/04/anonymous-wss-access/

Kind regards,
Vincent