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Easy question on - Creating the "Sidebar" in RSS??


Ok, so I got the video to play ok, but now trying to add the sidebar on the right.

In your example, the line reads… (playlist: "/uploads/myPlaylist.rss") … I'm new to RSS and have never made one from scratch, only edited data in ones that were already made and formatted. The file I edited before was essentially just an .XML file in basic-text. When I researched RSS I saw it was the same thing.

1). But what about the .RSS extension you have in that example? Where does the .RSS file come from? Do I just put together a generic XML file with rss coding & formatting - save as playlist.XML… then just change the xml file extension to .RSS? Or change that .RSS extension in the actual code path to .XML? Or do I need some kind of program to generate/convert that xml file to a .RSS file?

2). Can you post an example of an .RSS already setup to run your sidebar so I can just copy & edit it?

I decided to ask for directions this time rather than spending days of lost & confused experimentation again. lol
Thank you

14 Community Answers

Andrew

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Some media systems can generate an RSS natively, though it is entirely possible to use a static RSS. For example, our JW Platform can generate an RSS feed that is compatible with the player which can be dynamically altered. This really depends on the use case, however.

jherrieven

User  
0 rated :

@rcbiz

When linking to "RSS" it can have the extension ".rss" or ".xml" - essentially they are the same thing - you just need to ensure your server understands the chosen extension and sends the correct mime-type with the file (ideally for JW Player use this should be "text/plain" - which is why the ".rss" extension is sometimes preferred over ".xml").

As a result, these files can be edited in any text editor or XML editor and saved with either file extension.

Whilst there are advantages in adding a playlist this way, you don't actually need to use an external playlist - you could use inline JSON instead - and in fact external RSS playlists can commonly cause confusion and frustration due to the following:

> Cross-protocol / Cross-domain loading issues - particularly evident when cloud-hosting the player code, and having it render in Flash mode. This will require a valid crossdomain.xml file to be available on the RSS hosting server which allows access from the *.jwpcdn.com sub-domain.

> CORS issues - this requires cross-domain security to be allowed on the individual RSS file when accessed from a difference origin domain. Commonly an issue when the player is rendered in HTML5 mode.

> 302 redirects - depending on where the RSS file is hosted, it may be subject to a 302 redirect. Increasingly, hosting providers offer vanity URL or application level URLs which are translated to lower-level URLs on request. Unfortunately when used in conjunction with certain browsers, JW Player doesn't handle 302 redirects when requesting additional assets via XHR.

As part of my Listy for JW Player plugin, I've written an RSS to JSON converter which allows you to build and maintain your playlists in RSS format and then convert these to JSON so you can embed directly and overcome these issues.

You could also use the Listy interface to build the playlist for you, using your own files, or those from YouTube or Soundcloud (Vimeo Pro is in the pipeline) and then export to RSS or JSON.

As a registered Listy user you can also have your playlists saved in the cloud and then access them from anywhere using any Listy enabled JW Player instance.

You can find out more here: http://dev.powered-by-haiku.co.uk/solutions/listy/index.htm

James Herrieven

mark

User  
0 rated :

I would like to know more about using xml extension. As I tested it it seems to work just as well too. I would prefer to use xml as it is easier to read with notepad++ and easier to convey to customers.
So as my server reads it well are there any other downsides at all, like not working with vtt files or something else that I don't usually use.
Also, Does this line have to be in it <rss version="2.0" xmlns:jwplayer="https://rss.jwpcdn.com/"> what does this line mean anyway

Andrew

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Hi Mark,

Here’s a quick example of a sample XML file:
http://content.jwplatform.com/jw6/vqtiNOP4.xml

This is coming from our platform and is formatted for playlists.

Regards,
Andrew

mark

User  
0 rated :

ok thanks , so you can say that if i use xml extension I wont loose any features or have problems but the top line should be
<rss xmlns:jwplayer="http://rss.jwpcdn.com/">
instead of
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:jwplayer="https://rss.jwpcdn.com/">
And what is the purpose of the lines under channel
<title>Test Playlist</title>
<description>This is a sample playlist</description>
<link>http://jwplayer.com</link>

Andrew

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

This is metadata specified within our platform. It may not be required, but it is generated based on user (me) preference.

mark

User  
0 rated :

cool. I will use xml then instead. It allows the creator to drop down or up and hide the items making it easier to manage.

Andrew

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Sounds good!

mark

User  
0 rated :

it works on my site but a customer of mine, i updated to xml and it does not show the player, his is a Word Press site. I easily roll back so it's no drama but seems Word Press wont work with xml playlist

mark

User  
0 rated :

Ignore that. My mistake for referencing the wrong file name

mark

User  
0 rated :

ahh sorry, i still have problem. If I use xml on said customers site I get crossdomain issue. If I use rss it is ok. Why would that be

mark

User  
0 rated :

got it, http vs http links for m3u8 files

mark

User  
0 rated :

vs https i meant, ( need forum editor)

Andrew

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

Awesome. If this is working, I’ll mark the case as resolved.

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