Hi MattD, I'm not sure how quick you'll receive this but you can see this problem in action now by visitng www.wildfigurines.com I'll post this and then post the cron task etc, but it's obvious to me it hasn't fixed the problem Cheers Dean
/usr/bin/php -f /home/tridean/public_html/wf/NG.php this is what I was told to put on the command to run section by my host. i then set the times as once per day. What struck me straight away after creating this was that every time I edited the file NG.php in my file manager, I could see the difference in my feed as soon as I updated the file. Of course straight away I asked my self, if this is only supposed to update at 5am every day why is it updating every time I make an edit in the NG.php file. Right now there is no response from http://www.wildfigurines.com/NG.php where as earlier today when I typed that into my browser I saw the rss feed. Dean
Ok what that does is run the NG.php file through the PHP interpreter. You will need to pipe the output out to a file. e.g. /usr/bin/php -f /home/tridean/public_html/wf/NG.php > /home/tridean/public_html/wf/NGstatic.html Then include NGstatic.html as usual. All this says is "Run this PHP file every x hours, and save the output into this file" i.e. that file is your cached copy that is updated every time your cron task runs.
OK, I think I'm getting it now, but do I have to convert it to a html file or could I just convert it to another php file with another name for eg cache.php? Then just place this code on my web site <!--#include virtual="/cache.php" --> Instead of <!--#include virtual="/NG.php" --> Would that work, and if so, do I place this in my 'command to run' section of the cron job manager? /usr/bin/php -f /home/tridean/public_html/wf/NG.php > /home/tridean/public_html/wf/cache.php Cheers Dean
Hi MattD, It's ok, I think I've cracked it. What was confusing me was for some reason I didn't think you could place xxxx.html inside a html page. Don't ask me why I thought that, maybe it's like my brain saying you can't place an <a> tag inside another <a> tag (but then again maybe you can!!) All i did was change <!--#include virtual="/NG.php"--> to <!--#include virtual="/NGstatic.html"--> and place this in my web site whereever I want the feed Thanks for all your efforts and patience Dean
Where did you get the code to put into the CRON job? /usr/bin/php -f /home/tridean/public_html/wf/NG.php > /home/tridean/public_html/wf/NGstatic.html Code (markup): And after I submit the cron task, is it supposed to email me some sort of code, or is the file ngstatic.html automatically made and I just add the SSI include to my site?
Hi I was given the first part of the code by my host, and it wasn't until MattD read it that he corrected it to include the part after the > I think my host was probably not fully aware of what exactly I waas trying to do, or my lack of knowledge. They always seem so busy! My host uses cpanel if this helps any. The NGstatsic.html is automatically made so you only have to include it in the piece of code to go in your web site (the SSI include) - Of course you can name it whatever you like, Also, once you have done it all, test it out in a browser for example i can type in www.wildfigurines.com/NG.php and I will see the RSS feed. I can then type in www.wildfigurines.com/NGstatic.html and I will see the exact same thing. If you see nothing, it means the RSS feed was timed out (which seems to happen a lot using rss feedreader), and this will return a blank screen when typing in www.yourdomain.com/NGstatic.html To overcome this I am setting the cron task for every hour until I can work out the quiest time of the day, because I've been using my own stats to find out the quiest time for my web site but this doesn't seem to correlate with Rssfeedreaders quiet time because the rSS feed will time out during my quiet times! You can ask your cron task to email you, but if it does all it emails you is the NGstatic.html file
Do i have to make my page .shtml so it can have the SSI include? Or can I use a php include, because I did something to my .htaccess to allow php.
Wow, this is EXACTLY the same problem I have been having. I use the 'Free' version of RSSfeederreader.com to create feeds. I include about 5-10 of these on one .shtml page with SSI include code just like Dean. Sometimes it's quick, but all too often I have the EXACT same symptoms. I contacted RSSfeedreader.com and they said that the feeds can run slowly from their server when taxed but the 'paid' version would run on my server and so potentially not bog down. I am commited to the SSI include of php include files on an .shtml page for now. My questions are these: Firstly, has Dean got this to work and how? Is paying for the 'paid' version a potential solution or is the real problem in fetching the feeds from the primary source rather than the 'feed parser' = RSSfeedreader.com in this case? How do I do this CRON caching thing? Thanks...I'd love to get this thing working cleanly like I had planned!!!
Hi affycons, It amazes me, I spent weeks searching forums all over to find someone who was having the same problem as me. I just hope you didn't go through the same as me. Firstly, I have fixed it without having to pay, and by using a cron task. I can't advise on whether or not to pay but I do have a suspicion that this problem has been increasing in recent times and whether this is being done by rssfeedreader on purpose or not is another matter. It certainly didn't happen as often a few months ago as it does now. Second, if you have cpanel, then I suggest reading through the earlier posts, especially those by MattD. If there is something you don't understand I'll try and help. I have my cron tasks set up to do it every hour. I did try doing it once a day but what was the quietest period (according to my AWStats) for me, didn't necassarily be the quietest period for rssfeedreader. If the RSS feed times out, my web site shows nothing (where I have the code). If it doesn't time out and my cron task manages to create the html file, then my web site will show that file. Either way, I now don't get the slow load times or page cutting out Dean
Hey guys sorry I didn't get back to answer the questions sooner! Glad you worked it out in the end - simple huh?
I'll start working on this. And I was very lucky to find this post on my first search once I isolated the real the problem, thank you. My current host GoDaddy doesn't use C-panel. I was all ready to transfer over to HostGator that does, AND allows remote mysql database access which I will need soon. But I just found out that they have banned rssfeedreader & rsscontentbuilder. So ultimately I will need to find a suitable new hosting for this that allows unlimited domains, remote mysql database accessa and doesn't ban these programs - suggestions welcome. Might I assume that C-panel makes this Cron/caching task simple & straightforward? First I'll try it with my current host GD.
How have you gone so far? I just got booted form Hostgator because their TOS say I can not refer to FOREX on any web site hosted by them. Now I read your post and WOW, they're banning rssfeedreader too. I moved my site over to GoDaddy simply because I had other accounts with them but now I have the cron job problem, as it seems Godaddy don't cater for that. Mmmmm - headaches
Another thing - although I now have left Hostgator and am thoroughly pissed off at the pathetic reason, I would advise that you make sure you have asked the right people at Hostgator regarding Rssfeedreader. If you ask the live online help, you should ask I have asked online help for many things and have been told 'no' only to email support and have then say 'yes'. The online help are not qualified at technical stuff Dean
Yes, with GoDaddy you can't run the cron jobs; that's where I am at now. I have received more information from rssfeedreader support, confirming that the cron jobs can speed display. They also noted that on their 'paid version' (contentbuilder) they have a "cache' function which can be enabled for each feed that is different that cron. Sounds interesting. The rest of the past week I've spent searching for searching for a suitable host for this with a couple other criteria. Good news is I found one and will be setting it up shortly. I have therefore yet to start on the cron implementation.
I own the paid version of RSSCB and am using host GoDaddy. It's true that RSSCB offers several caching options per rss feed, but that has had no effect on my problem. I still experience significant delays when displaying web pages with RSS feeds - sometimes over 30 seconds. The problem is intermittent and seems to be a result of delayed feeds from the RSS sites. And I'm only displaying feeds from Google, Yahoo, and MSN. RSSCB support on this issue has been abysmal. I need to decide if keeping the rss feeds on the web pages is worth it. Obviously not if I'm losing potential visitors because all they see is a blank screen. I asked RSSCB if they could implement an option whereby if a result isn't received from the RSS feed sites within X seconds, simply return "no items found" to the web page. Seems like a simple fix but haven't heard anything.
Great input Doze...I'm hoping we can troubleshoot this thing. It is interesting to hear the the 'paid version' caching option is seemingly not helpful with the issue. I believe that 'cron task' caching was proven to be helpful but that GoDaddy does not allow cron. I will shortly be joining a new host that allows the cron tasks; I had been planning on using the paid version but now perhaps I'll stick with the basic. My current template uses 4 or 5 feeds and lags 95% or more of the time, rarely displaying totally, if at all. But when it does...it looks good. I'm fairly confident we can get this working well.
Happily today, I noticed my pages were all loading within 30 seconds or so with many quicker. This is with 4-5 rss/php SSI includes. It wasn't instant but I have not set up cron task caching (can't w/GD) nor am I using internal caching available on RSSCB. At best I would say the load time was a barely acceptable minimum standard; but that is if it never got slower. Don't know what was different. Had not made any changes. My best guess is the time/day dependant server or line loads at the feed originators, RSSFR server, or GD server where I host are making the difference.