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Android RSS Feed Reader

The RSS stands for Rich Site Summary. It is used to read the latest update made on the content of a blog or website. RSS feed is mostly used for reading the summary of a blog (newsletter). The content for RSS feed is provided in XML format.

The XML format for RSS reader contains the following tags.

<channel>
    <title></title>
    <link></link>
    <description></description>
    <item>
        <title></title>
        <link></link>
        <pubDate></pubDate>
        <description></description>
    </item>
    <item>
    .
    .
    .
    .
    </item>
</channel>

In this tutorial, we will read the content of the website (Rediff.com and Cinemablend.com) using Android RSS Feed reader. The contents are displayed in ListView of Android and clicking on these items will load their respective URL.

Android RSS Feed Reader Example

Create an activity MainActivity.java with the following code. Clicking on the button of this activity redirect to RSSFeedActivity.java class and load the content of a given URL.

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnRediff"
        android:layout_width="300dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:layout_marginBottom="101dp"
        android:text="REDIFF RSS FEED" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/btnCinemaBlend"
        android:layout_width="300dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/btnRediff"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignStart="@+id/btnRediff"
        android:layout_marginBottom="28dp"
        android:text="CINEMA BLEND RSS FEED" />
</RelativeLayout>

MainActivity.java

package example.tutorialsinfo.com.androidrssfeed;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements View.OnClickListener {

    ArrayList<String> rssLinks = new ArrayList<>();
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        Button btnRediff = findViewById(R.id.btnRediff);
        Button btnCinemaBlend = findViewById(R.id.btnCinemaBlend);
        btnRediff.setOnClickListener(this);
        btnCinemaBlend.setOnClickListener(this);
        rssLinks.add("http://www.rediff.com/rss/moviesreviewsrss.xml");
        rssLinks.add("http://www.cinemablend.com/rss_review.php");
    }

    @Override
    public void onClick(View view) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), RSSFeedActivity.class);
        switch (view.getId()) {
            case R.id.btnRediff:
                intent.putExtra("rssLink", rssLinks.get(0));
                startActivity(intent);
                break;
            case R.id.btnCinemaBlend:
                intent.putExtra("rssLink", rssLinks.get(1));
                startActivity(intent);
                break;
        }
    }
}

Create a layout rss_item_list_row.xml which contains the fields of a newsletter (page URL, title, publishing date) which are displayed in RSS Feed.

rss_item_list_row.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:padding="8dip">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/page_url"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:visibility="gone" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/title"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:paddingBottom="1dip"
        android:textColor="#212121"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:textStyle="bold" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/pub_date"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_below="@id/title"
        android:paddingBottom="3dip"
        android:textColor="#9b737775"
        android:textSize="14sp" />

</RelativeLayout>

RSSItem.java

package example.tutorialsinfo.com.androidrssfeed;

public class RSSItem {
    public String title;
    public String link;
    public String description;
    public String pubdate;
    public String guid;

    public RSSItem(String title, String link, String description, String pubdate, String guid) {
        this.title = title;
        this.link = link;
        this.description = description;
        this.pubdate = pubdate;
        this.guid = guid;
    }
}

Create RSSParser.java class, in this class; we will use the instance of DocumentBuilderFactory class to parse the XML document.

RSSParser.java

package example.tutorialsinfo.com.androidrssfeed;

import android.util.Log;
import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;
import org.w3c.dom.Document;
import org.w3c.dom.Element;
import org.w3c.dom.Node;
import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
import org.xml.sax.SAXException;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.StringReader;
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;

public class RSSParser {

    // RSS XML document CHANNEL tag
    private static String TAG_CHANNEL = "channel";
    private static String TAG_TITLE = "title";
    private static String TAG_LINK = "link";
    private static String TAG_DESRIPTION = "description";
    private static String TAG_ITEM = "item";
    private static String TAG_PUB_DATE = "pubDate";
    private static String TAG_GUID = "guid";

    public RSSParser() {
    }

    public List<RSSItem> getRSSFeedItems(String rss_url) {
        List<RSSItem> itemsList = new ArrayList<RSSItem>();
        String rss_feed_xml;

        rss_feed_xml = this.getXmlFromUrl(rss_url);
        if (rss_feed_xml != null) {
            try {
                Document doc = this.getDomElement(rss_feed_xml);
                NodeList nodeList = doc.getElementsByTagName(TAG_CHANNEL);
                Element e = (Element) nodeList.item(0);

                NodeList items = e.getElementsByTagName(TAG_ITEM);
                for (int i = 0; i < items.getLength(); i++) {
                    Element e1 = (Element) items.item(i);

                    String title = this.getValue(e1, TAG_TITLE);
                    String link = this.getValue(e1, TAG_LINK);
                    String description = this.getValue(e1, TAG_DESRIPTION);
                    String pubdate = this.getValue(e1, TAG_PUB_DATE);
                    String guid = this.getValue(e1, TAG_GUID);

                    RSSItem rssItem = new RSSItem(title, link, description, pubdate, guid);
                    // adding item to list
                    itemsList.add(rssItem);
                }
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // Check log for errors
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
        return itemsList;
    }


    public String getXmlFromUrl(String url) {
        String xml = null;
        try {
            DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
            HttpGet httpGet = new HttpGet(url);
            HttpResponse httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpGet);
            HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity();
            xml = EntityUtils.toString(httpEntity);
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return xml;
    }

    public Document getDomElement(String xml) {
        Document doc = null;
        DocumentBuilderFactory dbf = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
        try {

            DocumentBuilder db = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();
            InputSource is = new InputSource();
            is.setCharacterStream(new StringReader(xml));
            doc = db.parse(is);
        } catch (ParserConfigurationException e) {
            Log.e("Error: ", e.getMessage());
            return null;
        } catch (SAXException e) {
            Log.e("Error: ", e.getMessage());
            return null;
        } catch (IOException e) {
            Log.e("Error: ", e.getMessage());
            return null;
        }
        return doc;
    }

    public final String getElementValue(Node elem) {
        Node child;
        if (elem != null) {
            if (elem.hasChildNodes()) {
                for (child = elem.getFirstChild(); child != null; child = child
                        .getNextSibling()) {
                    if (child.getNodeType() == Node.TEXT_NODE || (child.getNodeType() == Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE)) {
                        return child.getNodeValue();
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        return "";
    }

    public String getValue(Element item, String str) {
        NodeList n = item.getElementsByTagName(str);
        return this.getElementValue(n.item(0));
    }
}

Now, create an activity RSSFeedActivity.java with the following code. This class uses AsyncTask class to load the items of RSS Feed from the URL in the background.

activity_rssfeed.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:id="@+id/relativeLayout"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <ListView
        android:id="@android:id/list"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:dividerHeight="1dp" />
</RelativeLayout>

RSSFeedActivity.java

package example.tutorialsinfo.com.androidrssfeed;

import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ListAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.ProgressBar;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;
import android.widget.SimpleAdapter;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Locale;

public class RSSFeedActivity extends ListActivity {

    private ProgressBar pDialog;
    ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> rssItemList = new ArrayList<>();
    RSSParser rssParser = new RSSParser();
    List<RSSItem> rssItems = new ArrayList<>();
    private static String TAG_TITLE = "title";
    private static String TAG_LINK = "link";
    private static String TAG_PUB_DATE = "pubDate";

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_rssfeed);

        String rss_link = getIntent().getStringExtra("rssLink");
        new LoadRSSFeedItems().execute(rss_link);
        ListView lv = getListView();

        lv.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {

            public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view,
                                    int position, long id) {
                Intent in = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), WebActivity.class);
                String page_url = ((TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.page_url)).getText().toString().trim();
                in.putExtra("url", page_url);
                startActivity(in);
            }
        });
    }

    public class LoadRSSFeedItems extends AsyncTask<String, String, String> {

        @Override
        protected void onPreExecute() {
            super.onPreExecute();
            pDialog = new ProgressBar(RSSFeedActivity.this, null, android.R.attr.progressBarStyleLarge);
            RelativeLayout relativeLayout = findViewById(R.id.relativeLayout);
            RelativeLayout.LayoutParams layoutParams = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(
                    RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
                    RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
            );

            layoutParams.addRule(RelativeLayout.CENTER_IN_PARENT);
            pDialog.setLayoutParams(layoutParams);
            pDialog.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            relativeLayout.addView(pDialog);
        }

        @Override
        protected String doInBackground(String... args) {
            // rss link url
            String rss_url = args[0];
            // list of rss items
            rssItems = rssParser.getRSSFeedItems(rss_url);
            // looping through each item
            for (final RSSItem item : rssItems) {
                // creating new HashMap
                if (item.link.toString().equals(""))
                    break;
                HashMap<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>();

                // adding each child node to HashMap key => value
                String givenDateString = item.pubdate.trim();
                SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z");
                try {
                    Date mDate = sdf.parse(givenDateString);
                    SimpleDateFormat sdf2 = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE, dd MMMM yyyy - hh:mm a", Locale.US);
                    item.pubdate = sdf2.format(mDate);

                } catch (ParseException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();

                }

                map.put(TAG_TITLE, item.title);
                map.put(TAG_LINK, item.link);
                map.put(TAG_PUB_DATE, item.pubdate);
                // adding HashList to ArrayList
                rssItemList.add(map);
            }

            // updating UI from Background Thread
            runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
                public void run() {
                    ListAdapter adapter = new SimpleAdapter(
                            RSSFeedActivity.this,
                            rssItemList, R.layout.rss_item_list_row,
                            new String[]{TAG_LINK, TAG_TITLE, TAG_PUB_DATE},
                            new int[]{R.id.page_url, R.id.title, R.id.pub_date});

                    // updating listview
                    setListAdapter(adapter);
                }
            });
            return null;
        }

        protected void onPostExecute(String args) {
            pDialog.setVisibility(View.GONE); 
        }
    }
}

Create an activity WebActivity.java containing WebView, that load the content of the link clicked in the previous activity.

activity_web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:id="@+id/relativeLayout"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">
        
        <WebView
            android:id="@+id/webView"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent" />

    </android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView>
</RelativeLayout>

WebActivity.java

package example.tutorialsinfo.com.androidrssfeed;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.text.TextUtils;
import android.webkit.WebChromeClient;
import android.webkit.WebResourceError;
import android.webkit.WebResourceRequest;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.webkit.WebViewClient;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class WebActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    WebView webView;
    String url;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_web);
        Intent in = getIntent();
        url = in.getStringExtra("url");
        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(url)) {
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "URL not found", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            finish();
        }
        webView = findViewById(R.id.webView);
        initWebView();
        webView.loadUrl(url);
    }

    private void initWebView() {
        webView.setWebChromeClient(new MyWebChromeClient(this));
        webView.clearCache(true);
        webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        webView.setHorizontalScrollBarEnabled(false);
        webView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient() {
            @Override
            public void onPageStarted(WebView view, String url, Bitmap favicon) {
                super.onPageStarted(view, url, favicon);
            }
            @Override
            public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
                webView.loadUrl(url);
                return true;
            }
            @Override
            public void onPageFinished(WebView view, String url) {
                super.onPageFinished(view, url);
            }
            @Override
            public void onReceivedError(WebView view, WebResourceRequest request, WebResourceError error) {
                super.onReceivedError(view, request, error);
                invalidateOptionsMenu();
            }
        });
        webView.clearCache(true);
        webView.clearHistory();
        webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        webView.setHorizontalScrollBarEnabled(false);
    }

    private class MyWebChromeClient extends WebChromeClient {
        Context context;
        public MyWebChromeClient(Context context) {
            super();
            this.context = context;
        }
    }
}

Permission Required

Add the INTERNET permission in AndroidMenifest.xml file.

Output:

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