How To Read RSS Using VB.NET and ASP.NET

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is one of web feed formats that is commonly used to share recently updated web contents such as blogs. With this article, you will learn how to incorporate RSS with your VB or ASP.NET application. The sample code below contains a simple function that process the RSS feed from a sample URL. It reads the title, link and description of each RSS item from the sample URL and display it on a web page. First you need to import the following namespaces.

Imports System.Net
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Xml

Then copy and paste the following code for ReadRSS function. This function performs the dirty work.

    Private Sub ReadRSS(ByVal URL As String)

        Dim wr As WebRequest = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(URL)
        Dim resp As WebResponse = wr.GetResponse()

        Dim rssStream As Stream = resp.GetResponseStream()
        Dim rssDoc As New XmlDocument()
        rssDoc.Load(rssStream)

        Dim rssItems As XmlNodeList = rssDoc.SelectNodes("rss/channel/item")

        Dim title As String = ""
        Dim link As String = ""
        Dim description As String = ""
        Dim i As Integer

        For i = 0 To rssItems.Count - 1
            Dim rssDetail As XmlNode
            'Get the title
            rssDetail = rssItems.Item(i).SelectSingleNode("title")
            If rssDetail.Equals(Nothing) = False Then
                title = rssDetail.InnerText
            Else
                title = ""
            End If
            'Get the link
            rssDetail = rssItems.Item(i).SelectSingleNode("link")
            If rssDetail.Equals(Nothing) = False Then
                link = rssDetail.InnerText
            Else
                link = ""
            End If
            'Get the description
            rssDetail = rssItems.Item(i).SelectSingleNode("description")
            If rssDetail.Equals(Nothing) = False Then
                description = rssDetail.InnerText
            Else
                description = ""
            End If

            Response.Write("" + title + "
")
            Response.Write(description + "
")
        Next
    End Sub

Now call it from the Page_Load event as shown below.

    Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        Dim URL As String = "http://feeds.feedburner.com/fryan0911/postfeed"
        ReadRSS(URL)
    End Sub

You can also download the complete sample project here. It is written in Visual Studio 2008.

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