AmphetaDesk - XML: myServices
Description: This documentation describes the XML format of myChannels.opml, myStrips.opml and myWebCams.opml, which keep track of a user's subscriptions to various services.

Documentation Home | Give Thanks / Docs & Website / Email Support

# XML: myServices This documentation describes the XML format of myChannels.opml, myStrips.opml and myWebCams.opml, which keep track of a user's subscriptions to various services. As the file extension suggests, this document is based off the OPML format, described in some detail at http://www.opml.org/. Furthermore, the xml is loosely based off Dave Winer's mySubscriptions.opml to provide further compatibility between AmphetaDesk and Radio Userland on the Desktop. A complete (yet rather minimal) myChannels.opml file is shown below (myStrips.opml and myWebCams.opml have the same syntax). We've broken up the attributes onto multiple lines for readability.
`<?xml version="1.0"?> <opml> <body> <outline description="The best little example description around!" filename="thebestlittleexample.xml" htmlurl="http://www.superlugnuts.com/example.htm" imageurl="http://www.superlugnuts.com/image.jpg" title="Super LugNuts and Happy Examples" xmlurl="http://www.superlugnuts.com/example.xml" /> </body> </opml>`
The user of this myChannels.opml subscribes to the RSS feed from the fictional SuperLugNuts.. Note that this is not perfectly valid OPML as it does not contain a <head> element.
## description Allowed Within: <outline> Frequency: Once Required: No The "description" attribute is determined by the actual subscribed service and can be a string of any length. Most of the time, the service author will put a little blurb about the service - others will put the last modified date of the service.
## filename Allowed Within: <outline> Frequency: Once Required: Yes (myChannels.opml); No (myStrips.opml, myWebCams.opml) The "filename" attribute contains up to a 20 letter filename, ending with ".xml" to make 24 in total (24 is close to the maximum filename length on Macintosh's). This entry points to the filename where the channel data is stored (for example, ~/data/channels/filename.xml) and is determined each time the myChannels.opml file is recreated. Developers can automatically create a valid channel filename by calling `&create_channel_filename` (located in ~/lib/Channels.pl) with the channel's title as it's only parameter. To create a "unique" filename, we remove nonword characters, lowercase anything remaining, chop the remaining string to 20 characters, and then chalk on ".xml". This isn't perfectly unique, but it has proven good enough in beta testing.
## htmlurl Allowed Within: <outline> Frequency: Once Required: No See Also: imageurl, xmlurl Convincingly enough, the "htmlurl" attribute contains the full URI to the webpage of the service in question.
## imageurl Allowed Within: <outline> Frequency: Once Required: Yes (myWebCams.opml, myStrips.opml); No (myChannels.opml) See Also: htmlurl, xmlurl Although "imageurl" sounds easy enough, there is a bit of confusion concerning what exactly it means in different contexts. In myChannels.opml, it means nothing, and you'll never see it. If, on the other hand, you're messing with myStrips.opml and myWebCams.opml, the "imageurl" points to the URI of the comic strip or webcam image in question.
## <outline> Allowed Within: <body> Frequency: Multiple Required: Yes From the OPML spec: "An <outline> is an XML element, possibly containing one or more attributes, and containing any number of <outline> sub-elements.". In this regard, our <outline> element defines a single service subscription, with attributes describing that service.
## title Allowed Within: <outline> Frequency: Once Required: Yes "title" showcases the title or name of the service in question and can be any length.
## xmlurl Allowed Within: <outline> Frequency: Once Required: Yes (myChannels.opml); No (myWebCams.opml, myStrips.opml) See Also: htmlurl, imageurl "xmlurl" is the full URI to the document that contains the channel xml. It's ignored for myStrips.opml and myWebCams.opml.
Any questions about the above? Email morbus@disobey.com. This footer was last updated 05/24/01; odds are the whole document was too.

Documentation Home | Give Thanks / Docs & Website / Email Support