RSSApplet - XML tools - exploring XML

RSSApplet 1.2 User documentation

What is RSSApplet?

RSSApplet is a Java applet that displays news headlines stored in the Rich Site Summary (RSS) XML format.

What is RSSApplet good for?

RSSApplet is a simple way to display RSS news from your Web site. Just copy the sample HTML, replace the src parameter with your news feed, and you are ready to roll. For an even more convenient method to display WebReference news try the RSS Configurator.

What does RSSApplet do?

RSSApplet reads RSS newsfeeds from a given URL and displays the resulting headlines. Style parameters let you choose colors and fonts to have the applet match your Web site's look and feel.

What doesn't RSSApplet do?

RSSApplet, as the name implies, is a Java applet. Therefore it has to adhere to the Java security rules, most importantly it can only connect back to the host it came from to fetch the RSS news feed file. This means the src parameter needs to have the same host name as the archive and codebase attributes. If you want to display RSS feeds from a different site, get their webmaster to put the applet somewhere on their site, too, and embed this remote applet into your HTML like so:

<APPLET code=com.exploringxml.rss.applet.RSSViewerApplet.class 
  archive=https://www.webreference.com/xml/rssApplet.jar 
  codebase=https://www.webreference.com/ width=300 height=300>
<PARAM name=src value=https://www.webreference.com/xml/index.rss>
</APPLET>

How do I incorporate RSSApplet into my Web site?

Incorporating RSSApplet into your own site is fairly simple:

Get the newest class jar file from the download section
Copy the jar file somewhere in your Web server directory
Create an RSS file somewhere in your Web server directory
Create an HTML page with the <applet> tag as shown above in the previous question, replacing www.webreference.com with your host name, /xml/ with your directory name, and index.rss with your RSS file.

How do I use RSSApplet?

RSSApplet displays the headlines parsed from the given RSS source URL and displays them according to the many style parameters that can be supplied:

Parameter	Type	Description
src	String	URL of RSS file
box.foreground	int	box foreground color
box.background	int	box background color
box.border	int	box border width
title.foreground	int	title foreground color
title.background	int	title background color
title.foreground.mouseover	int	title foreground color on mouse-over
title.background.mouseover	int	title background color on mouse-over
title.font.family	String	title font family
title.font.size	int	title font size
title.font.style	String	title font style
item.foreground	int	item foreground color
item.background	int	item background color
item.foreground.mouseover	int	item foreground color on mouse-over
item.background.mouseover	int	item background color on mouse-over
item.font.family	String	item font family
item.font.size	int	item font size
item.font.style	String	item font style
item.margin	int	item margin

Can you give me an example?

Sure. The RSSApplet Configurator produces the necessary HTML snippet to copy and paste as well as a preview of the applet's configuration for one of the many WebReference newsfeeds. Give it a try!

Where is the Javadoc of RSSApplet?

Right here.

What is the licence of RSSApplet?

RSSApplet is published under the GNU Public License. Feel free to use it on your Web site.

Where do I send feedback, suggestions, gripes?

When you are using RSSApplet, I'd like to hear from you. Just send me feedback.

Where can I find useful information on RSS?

Congratulations, you've come to the right place ;-)