1 ==============================
2 The syndication feed framework
3 ==============================
5 Django comes with a high-level syndication-feed-generating framework that makes
6 creating RSS_ and Atom_ feeds easy.
8 To create any syndication feed, all you have to do is write a short Python
9 class. You can create as many feeds as you want.
11 Django also comes with a lower-level feed-generating API. Use this if you want
12 to generate feeds outside of a Web context, or in some other lower-level way.
14 .. _RSS: http://www.whatisrss.com/
15 .. _Atom: http://www.atomenabled.org/
17 The high-level framework
18 ========================
23 The high-level feed-generating framework is a view that's hooked to ``/feeds/``
24 by default. Django uses the remainder of the URL (everything after ``/feeds/``)
25 to determine which feed to output.
27 To create a feed, just write a ``Feed`` class and point to it in your URLconf_.
29 .. _URLconf: ../url_dispatch/
34 If you're not using the latest Django development version, you'll need to make
35 sure Django's sites framework is installed -- including its database table.
36 (See the `sites framework documentation`_ for more information.) This has
37 changed in the Django development version; the syndication feed framework no
38 longer requires the sites framework.
40 To activate syndication feeds on your Django site, add this line to your
43 (r'^feeds/(?P<url>.*)/$', 'django.contrib.syndication.views.feed', {'feed_dict': feeds}),
45 This tells Django to use the RSS framework to handle all URLs starting with
46 ``"feeds/"``. (You can change that ``"feeds/"`` prefix to fit your own needs.)
48 This URLconf line has an extra argument: ``{'feed_dict': feeds}``. Use this
49 extra argument to pass the syndication framework the feeds that should be
50 published under that URL.
52 Specifically, ``feed_dict`` should be a dictionary that maps a feed's slug
53 (short URL label) to its ``Feed`` class.
55 You can define the ``feed_dict`` in the URLconf itself. Here's a full example
58 from django.conf.urls.defaults import *
59 from myproject.feeds import LatestEntries, LatestEntriesByCategory
62 'latest': LatestEntries,
63 'categories': LatestEntriesByCategory,
66 urlpatterns = patterns('',
68 (r'^feeds/(?P<url>.*)/$', 'django.contrib.syndication.views.feed',
69 {'feed_dict': feeds}),
73 The above example registers two feeds:
75 * The feed represented by ``LatestEntries`` will live at ``feeds/latest/``.
76 * The feed represented by ``LatestEntriesByCategory`` will live at
77 ``feeds/categories/``.
79 Once that's set up, you just need to define the ``Feed`` classes themselves.
81 .. _sites framework documentation: ../sites/
82 .. _URLconf: ../url_dispatch/
83 .. _settings file: ../settings/
88 A ``Feed`` class is a simple Python class that represents a syndication feed.
89 A feed can be simple (e.g., a "site news" feed, or a basic feed displaying
90 the latest entries of a blog) or more complex (e.g., a feed displaying all the
91 blog entries in a particular category, where the category is variable).
93 ``Feed`` classes must subclass ``django.contrib.syndication.feeds.Feed``. They
94 can live anywhere in your codebase.
99 This simple example, taken from `chicagocrime.org`_, describes a feed of the
100 latest five news items::
102 from django.contrib.syndication.feeds import Feed
103 from chicagocrime.models import NewsItem
105 class LatestEntries(Feed):
106 title = "Chicagocrime.org site news"
108 description = "Updates on changes and additions to chicagocrime.org."
111 return NewsItem.objects.order_by('-pub_date')[:5]
115 * The class subclasses ``django.contrib.syndication.feeds.Feed``.
116 * ``title``, ``link`` and ``description`` correspond to the standard
117 RSS ``<title>``, ``<link>`` and ``<description>`` elements, respectively.
118 * ``items()`` is, simply, a method that returns a list of objects that
119 should be included in the feed as ``<item>`` elements. Although this
120 example returns ``NewsItem`` objects using Django's
121 `object-relational mapper`_, ``items()`` doesn't have to return model
122 instances. Although you get a few bits of functionality "for free" by
123 using Django models, ``items()`` can return any type of object you want.
124 * If you're creating an Atom feed, rather than an RSS feed, set the
125 ``subtitle`` attribute instead of the ``description`` attribute. See
126 `Publishing Atom and RSS feeds in tandem`_, later, for an example.
128 One thing's left to do. In an RSS feed, each ``<item>`` has a ``<title>``,
129 ``<link>`` and ``<description>``. We need to tell the framework what data to
130 put into those elements.
132 * To specify the contents of ``<title>`` and ``<description>``, create
133 `Django templates`_ called ``feeds/latest_title.html`` and
134 ``feeds/latest_description.html``, where ``latest`` is the ``slug``
135 specified in the URLconf for the given feed. Note the ``.html`` extension
136 is required. The RSS system renders that template for each item, passing
137 it two template context variables:
139 * ``{{ obj }}`` -- The current object (one of whichever objects you
140 returned in ``items()``).
141 * ``{{ site }}`` -- A ``django.contrib.sites.models.Site`` object
142 representing the current site. This is useful for
143 ``{{ site.domain }}`` or ``{{ site.name }}``. Note that if you're
144 using the latest Django development version and do *not* have the
145 Django sites framework installed, this will be set to a
146 ``django.contrib.sites.models.RequestSite`` object. See the
147 `RequestSite section of the sites framework documentation`_ for
150 If you don't create a template for either the title or description, the
151 framework will use the template ``"{{ obj }}"`` by default -- that is,
152 the normal string representation of the object. You can also change the
153 names of these two templates by specifying ``title_template`` and
154 ``description_template`` as attributes of your ``Feed`` class.
155 * To specify the contents of ``<link>``, you have two options. For each
156 item in ``items()``, Django first tries executing a
157 ``get_absolute_url()`` method on that object. If that method doesn't
158 exist, it tries calling a method ``item_link()`` in the ``Feed`` class,
159 passing it a single parameter, ``item``, which is the object itself.
160 Both ``get_absolute_url()`` and ``item_link()`` should return the item's
161 URL as a normal Python string. As with ``get_absolute_url()``, the
162 result of ``item_link()`` will be included directly in the URL, so you
163 are responsible for doing all necessary URL quoting and conversion to
164 ASCII inside the method itself.
166 * For the LatestEntries example above, we could have very simple feed templates:
168 * latest_title.html::
172 * latest_description.html::
174 {{ obj.description }}
176 .. _chicagocrime.org: http://www.chicagocrime.org/
177 .. _object-relational mapper: ../db-api/
178 .. _Django templates: ../templates/
179 .. _RequestSite section of the sites framework documentation: ../sites/#requestsite-objects
184 The framework also supports more complex feeds, via parameters.
186 For example, `chicagocrime.org`_ offers an RSS feed of recent crimes for every
187 police beat in Chicago. It'd be silly to create a separate ``Feed`` class for
188 each police beat; that would violate the `DRY principle`_ and would couple data
189 to programming logic. Instead, the syndication framework lets you make generic
190 feeds that output items based on information in the feed's URL.
192 On chicagocrime.org, the police-beat feeds are accessible via URLs like this:
194 * ``/rss/beats/0613/`` -- Returns recent crimes for beat 0613.
195 * ``/rss/beats/1424/`` -- Returns recent crimes for beat 1424.
197 The slug here is ``"beats"``. The syndication framework sees the extra URL bits
198 after the slug -- ``0613`` and ``1424`` -- and gives you a hook to tell it what
199 those URL bits mean, and how they should influence which items get published in
202 An example makes this clear. Here's the code for these beat-specific feeds::
204 from django.contrib.syndication import FeedDoesNotExist
206 class BeatFeed(Feed):
207 def get_object(self, bits):
208 # In case of "/rss/beats/0613/foo/bar/baz/", or other such clutter,
209 # check that bits has only one member.
211 raise ObjectDoesNotExist
212 return Beat.objects.get(beat__exact=bits[0])
214 def title(self, obj):
215 return "Chicagocrime.org: Crimes for beat %s" % obj.beat
219 raise FeedDoesNotExist
220 return obj.get_absolute_url()
222 def description(self, obj):
223 return "Crimes recently reported in police beat %s" % obj.beat
225 def items(self, obj):
226 return Crime.objects.filter(beat__id__exact=obj.id).order_by('-crime_date')[:30]
228 Here's the basic algorithm the RSS framework follows, given this class and a
229 request to the URL ``/rss/beats/0613/``:
231 * The framework gets the URL ``/rss/beats/0613/`` and notices there's
232 an extra bit of URL after the slug. It splits that remaining string by
233 the slash character (``"/"``) and calls the ``Feed`` class'
234 ``get_object()`` method, passing it the bits. In this case, bits is
235 ``['0613']``. For a request to ``/rss/beats/0613/foo/bar/``, bits would
236 be ``['0613', 'foo', 'bar']``.
237 * ``get_object()`` is responsible for retrieving the given beat, from the
238 given ``bits``. In this case, it uses the Django database API to retrieve
239 the beat. Note that ``get_object()`` should raise
240 ``django.core.exceptions.ObjectDoesNotExist`` if given invalid
241 parameters. There's no ``try``/``except`` around the
242 ``Beat.objects.get()`` call, because it's not necessary; that function
243 raises ``Beat.DoesNotExist`` on failure, and ``Beat.DoesNotExist`` is a
244 subclass of ``ObjectDoesNotExist``. Raising ``ObjectDoesNotExist`` in
245 ``get_object()`` tells Django to produce a 404 error for that request.
246 * To generate the feed's ``<title>``, ``<link>`` and ``<description>``,
247 Django uses the ``title()``, ``link()`` and ``description()`` methods. In
248 the previous example, they were simple string class attributes, but this
249 example illustrates that they can be either strings *or* methods. For
250 each of ``title``, ``link`` and ``description``, Django follows this
253 * First, it tries to call a method, passing the ``obj`` argument,
254 where ``obj`` is the object returned by ``get_object()``.
255 * Failing that, it tries to call a method with no arguments.
256 * Failing that, it uses the class attribute.
258 Inside the ``link()`` method, we handle the possibility that ``obj``
259 might be ``None``, which can occur when the URL isn't fully specified. In
260 some cases, you might want to do something else in this case, which would
261 mean you'd need to check for ``obj`` existing in other methods as well
262 (the ``link()`` method is called very early in the feed generation
263 process, so is a good place to bail out early).
265 * Finally, note that ``items()`` in this example also takes the ``obj``
266 argument. The algorithm for ``items`` is the same as described in the
267 previous step -- first, it tries ``items(obj)``, then ``items()``, then
268 finally an ``items`` class attribute (which should be a list).
270 The ``ExampleFeed`` class below gives full documentation on methods and
271 attributes of ``Feed`` classes.
273 .. _DRY principle: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?DontRepeatYourself
275 Specifying the type of feed
276 ---------------------------
278 By default, feeds produced in this framework use RSS 2.0.
280 To change that, add a ``feed_type`` attribute to your ``Feed`` class, like so::
282 from django.utils.feedgenerator import Atom1Feed
285 feed_type = Atom1Feed
287 Note that you set ``feed_type`` to a class object, not an instance.
289 Currently available feed types are:
291 * ``django.utils.feedgenerator.Rss201rev2Feed`` (RSS 2.01. Default.)
292 * ``django.utils.feedgenerator.RssUserland091Feed`` (RSS 0.91.)
293 * ``django.utils.feedgenerator.Atom1Feed`` (Atom 1.0.)
298 To specify enclosures, such as those used in creating podcast feeds, use the
299 ``item_enclosure_url``, ``item_enclosure_length`` and
300 ``item_enclosure_mime_type`` hooks. See the ``ExampleFeed`` class below for
306 Feeds created by the syndication framework automatically include the
307 appropriate ``<language>`` tag (RSS 2.0) or ``xml:lang`` attribute (Atom). This
308 comes directly from your `LANGUAGE_CODE setting`_.
310 .. _LANGUAGE_CODE setting: ../settings/#language-code
315 The ``link`` method/attribute can return either an absolute URL (e.g.
316 ``"/blog/"``) or a URL with the fully-qualified domain and protocol (e.g.
317 ``"http://www.example.com/blog/"``). If ``link`` doesn't return the domain,
318 the syndication framework will insert the domain of the current site, according
319 to your `SITE_ID setting`_.
321 Atom feeds require a ``<link rel="self">`` that defines the feed's current
322 location. The syndication framework populates this automatically, using the
323 domain of the current site according to the SITE_ID setting.
325 .. _SITE_ID setting: ../settings/#site-id
327 Publishing Atom and RSS feeds in tandem
328 ---------------------------------------
330 Some developers like to make available both Atom *and* RSS versions of their
331 feeds. That's easy to do with Django: Just create a subclass of your ``Feed``
332 class and set the ``feed_type`` to something different. Then update your
333 URLconf to add the extra versions.
335 Here's a full example::
337 from django.contrib.syndication.feeds import Feed
338 from chicagocrime.models import NewsItem
339 from django.utils.feedgenerator import Atom1Feed
341 class RssSiteNewsFeed(Feed):
342 title = "Chicagocrime.org site news"
344 description = "Updates on changes and additions to chicagocrime.org."
347 return NewsItem.objects.order_by('-pub_date')[:5]
349 class AtomSiteNewsFeed(RssSiteNewsFeed):
350 feed_type = Atom1Feed
351 subtitle = RssSiteNewsFeed.description
354 In this example, the RSS feed uses a ``description`` while the Atom feed
355 uses a ``subtitle``. That's because Atom feeds don't provide for a
356 feed-level "description," but they *do* provide for a "subtitle."
358 If you provide a ``description`` in your ``Feed`` class, Django will *not*
359 automatically put that into the ``subtitle`` element, because a subtitle
360 and description are not necessarily the same thing. Instead, you should
361 define a ``subtitle`` attribute.
363 In the above example, we simply set the Atom feed's ``subtitle`` to the
364 RSS feed's ``description``, because it's quite short already.
366 And the accompanying URLconf::
368 from django.conf.urls.defaults import *
369 from myproject.feeds import RssSiteNewsFeed, AtomSiteNewsFeed
372 'rss': RssSiteNewsFeed,
373 'atom': AtomSiteNewsFeed,
376 urlpatterns = patterns('',
378 (r'^feeds/(?P<url>.*)/$', 'django.contrib.syndication.views.feed',
379 {'feed_dict': feeds}),
386 This example illustrates all possible attributes and methods for a ``Feed`` class::
388 from django.contrib.syndication.feeds import Feed
389 from django.utils import feedgenerator
391 class ExampleFeed(Feed):
393 # FEED TYPE -- Optional. This should be a class that subclasses
394 # django.utils.feedgenerator.SyndicationFeed. This designates which
395 # type of feed this should be: RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0, etc.
396 # If you don't specify feed_type, your feed will be RSS 2.0.
397 # This should be a class, not an instance of the class.
399 feed_type = feedgenerator.Rss201rev2Feed
401 # TEMPLATE NAMES -- Optional. These should be strings representing
402 # names of Django templates that the system should use in rendering the
403 # title and description of your feed items. Both are optional.
404 # If you don't specify one, or either, Django will use the template
405 # 'feeds/SLUG_title.html' and 'feeds/SLUG_description.html', where SLUG
406 # is the slug you specify in the URL.
408 title_template = None
409 description_template = None
411 # TITLE -- One of the following three is required. The framework looks
412 # for them in this order.
414 def title(self, obj):
416 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
417 title as a normal Python string.
422 Returns the feed's title as a normal Python string.
425 title = 'foo' # Hard-coded title.
427 # LINK -- One of the following three is required. The framework looks
428 # for them in this order.
432 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
433 link as a normal Python string.
438 Returns the feed's link as a normal Python string.
441 link = '/foo/bar/' # Hard-coded link.
443 # GUID -- One of the following three is optional. The framework looks
444 # for them in this order. This property is only used for Atom feeds
445 # (where it is the feed-level ID element). If not provided, the feed
446 # link is used as the ID.
448 # (New in Django development version)
450 def feed_guid(self, obj):
452 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the globally
453 unique ID for the feed as a normal Python string.
458 Returns the feed's globally unique ID as a normal Python string.
461 feed_guid = '/foo/bar/1234' # Hard-coded guid.
463 # DESCRIPTION -- One of the following three is required. The framework
464 # looks for them in this order.
466 def description(self, obj):
468 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
469 description as a normal Python string.
472 def description(self):
474 Returns the feed's description as a normal Python string.
477 description = 'Foo bar baz.' # Hard-coded description.
479 # AUTHOR NAME --One of the following three is optional. The framework
480 # looks for them in this order.
482 def author_name(self, obj):
484 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
485 author's name as a normal Python string.
488 def author_name(self):
490 Returns the feed's author's name as a normal Python string.
493 author_name = 'Sally Smith' # Hard-coded author name.
495 # AUTHOR E-MAIL --One of the following three is optional. The framework
496 # looks for them in this order.
498 def author_email(self, obj):
500 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
501 author's e-mail as a normal Python string.
504 def author_email(self):
506 Returns the feed's author's e-mail as a normal Python string.
509 author_email = 'test@example.com' # Hard-coded author e-mail.
511 # AUTHOR LINK --One of the following three is optional. The framework
512 # looks for them in this order. In each case, the URL should include
513 # the "http://" and domain name.
515 def author_link(self, obj):
517 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
518 author's URL as a normal Python string.
521 def author_link(self):
523 Returns the feed's author's URL as a normal Python string.
526 author_link = 'http://www.example.com/' # Hard-coded author URL.
528 # CATEGORIES -- One of the following three is optional. The framework
529 # looks for them in this order. In each case, the method/attribute
530 # should return an iterable object that returns strings.
532 def categories(self, obj):
534 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
535 categories as iterable over strings.
538 def categories(self):
540 Returns the feed's categories as iterable over strings.
543 categories = ("python", "django") # Hard-coded list of categories.
545 # COPYRIGHT NOTICE -- One of the following three is optional. The
546 # framework looks for them in this order.
548 def copyright(self, obj):
550 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
551 copyright notice as a normal Python string.
556 Returns the feed's copyright notice as a normal Python string.
559 copyright = 'Copyright (c) 2007, Sally Smith' # Hard-coded copyright notice.
561 # TTL -- One of the following three is optional. The framework looks
562 # for them in this order. Ignored for Atom feeds.
566 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns the feed's
567 TTL (Time To Live) as a normal Python string.
572 Returns the feed's TTL as a normal Python string.
575 ttl = 600 # Hard-coded Time To Live.
577 # ITEMS -- One of the following three is required. The framework looks
578 # for them in this order.
580 def items(self, obj):
582 Takes the object returned by get_object() and returns a list of
583 items to publish in this feed.
588 Returns a list of items to publish in this feed.
591 items = ('Item 1', 'Item 2') # Hard-coded items.
593 # GET_OBJECT -- This is required for feeds that publish different data
594 # for different URL parameters. (See "A complex example" above.)
596 def get_object(self, bits):
598 Takes a list of strings gleaned from the URL and returns an object
599 represented by this feed. Raises
600 django.core.exceptions.ObjectDoesNotExist on error.
603 # ITEM LINK -- One of these three is required. The framework looks for
604 # them in this order.
606 # First, the framework tries the two methods below, in
607 # order. Failing that, it falls back to the get_absolute_url()
608 # method on each item returned by items().
610 def item_link(self, item):
612 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's URL.
617 Returns the URL for every item in the feed.
620 # ITEM_GUID -- The following method is optional. This property is
621 # only used for Atom feeds (it is the ID element for an item in an
622 # Atom feed). If not provided, the item's link is used by default.
624 # (New in Django development version)
626 def item_guid(self, obj):
628 Takes an item, as return by items(), and returns the item's ID.
631 # ITEM AUTHOR NAME -- One of the following three is optional. The
632 # framework looks for them in this order.
634 def item_author_name(self, item):
636 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
637 author's name as a normal Python string.
640 def item_author_name(self):
642 Returns the author name for every item in the feed.
645 item_author_name = 'Sally Smith' # Hard-coded author name.
647 # ITEM AUTHOR E-MAIL --One of the following three is optional. The
648 # framework looks for them in this order.
650 # If you specify this, you must specify item_author_name.
652 def item_author_email(self, obj):
654 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
655 author's e-mail as a normal Python string.
658 def item_author_email(self):
660 Returns the author e-mail for every item in the feed.
663 item_author_email = 'test@example.com' # Hard-coded author e-mail.
665 # ITEM AUTHOR LINK --One of the following three is optional. The
666 # framework looks for them in this order. In each case, the URL should
667 # include the "http://" and domain name.
669 # If you specify this, you must specify item_author_name.
671 def item_author_link(self, obj):
673 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
674 author's URL as a normal Python string.
677 def item_author_link(self):
679 Returns the author URL for every item in the feed.
682 item_author_link = 'http://www.example.com/' # Hard-coded author URL.
684 # ITEM ENCLOSURE URL -- One of these three is required if you're
685 # publishing enclosures. The framework looks for them in this order.
687 def item_enclosure_url(self, item):
689 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
693 def item_enclosure_url(self):
695 Returns the enclosure URL for every item in the feed.
698 item_enclosure_url = "/foo/bar.mp3" # Hard-coded enclosure link.
700 # ITEM ENCLOSURE LENGTH -- One of these three is required if you're
701 # publishing enclosures. The framework looks for them in this order.
702 # In each case, the returned value should be either an integer, or a
703 # string representation of the integer, in bytes.
705 def item_enclosure_length(self, item):
707 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
711 def item_enclosure_length(self):
713 Returns the enclosure length for every item in the feed.
716 item_enclosure_length = 32000 # Hard-coded enclosure length.
718 # ITEM ENCLOSURE MIME TYPE -- One of these three is required if you're
719 # publishing enclosures. The framework looks for them in this order.
721 def item_enclosure_mime_type(self, item):
723 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
727 def item_enclosure_mime_type(self):
729 Returns the enclosure MIME type for every item in the feed.
732 item_enclosure_mime_type = "audio/mpeg" # Hard-coded enclosure MIME type.
734 # ITEM PUBDATE -- It's optional to use one of these three. This is a
735 # hook that specifies how to get the pubdate for a given item.
736 # In each case, the method/attribute should return a Python
737 # datetime.datetime object.
739 def item_pubdate(self, item):
741 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
745 def item_pubdate(self):
747 Returns the pubdate for every item in the feed.
750 item_pubdate = datetime.datetime(2005, 5, 3) # Hard-coded pubdate.
752 # ITEM CATEGORIES -- It's optional to use one of these three. This is
753 # a hook that specifies how to get the list of categories for a given
754 # item. In each case, the method/attribute should return an iterable
755 # object that returns strings.
757 def item_categories(self, item):
759 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
763 def item_categories(self):
765 Returns the categories for every item in the feed.
768 item_categories = ("python", "django") # Hard-coded categories.
770 # ITEM COPYRIGHT NOTICE (only applicable to Atom feeds) -- One of the
771 # following three is optional. The framework looks for them in this
774 def item_copyright(self, obj):
776 Takes an item, as returned by items(), and returns the item's
777 copyright notice as a normal Python string.
780 def item_copyright(self):
782 Returns the copyright notice for every item in the feed.
785 item_copyright = 'Copyright (c) 2007, Sally Smith' # Hard-coded copyright notice.
788 The low-level framework
789 =======================
791 Behind the scenes, the high-level RSS framework uses a lower-level framework
792 for generating feeds' XML. This framework lives in a single module:
793 `django/utils/feedgenerator.py`_.
795 Feel free to use this framework on your own, for lower-level tasks.
797 The ``feedgenerator`` module contains a base class ``SyndicationFeed`` and
800 * ``RssUserland091Feed``
804 Each of these three classes knows how to render a certain type of feed as XML.
805 They share this interface:
807 ``__init__(title, link, description, language=None, author_email=None,``
808 ``author_name=None, author_link=None, subtitle=None, categories=None,``
811 Initializes the feed with the given metadata, which applies to the entire feed
812 (i.e., not just to a specific item in the feed).
814 All parameters, if given, should be Unicode objects, except ``categories``,
815 which should be a sequence of Unicode objects.
817 ``add_item(title, link, description, author_email=None, author_name=None,``
818 ``pubdate=None, comments=None, unique_id=None, enclosure=None, categories=())``
820 Add an item to the feed with the given parameters. All parameters, if given,
821 should be Unicode objects, except:
823 * ``pubdate`` should be a `Python datetime object`_.
824 * ``enclosure`` should be an instance of ``feedgenerator.Enclosure``.
825 * ``categories`` should be a sequence of Unicode objects.
827 ``write(outfile, encoding)``
829 Outputs the feed in the given encoding to outfile, which is a file-like object.
831 ``writeString(encoding)``
833 Returns the feed as a string in the given encoding.
838 This example creates an Atom 1.0 feed and prints it to standard output::
840 >>> from django.utils import feedgenerator
841 >>> f = feedgenerator.Atom1Feed(
842 ... title=u"My Weblog",
843 ... link=u"http://www.example.com/",
844 ... description=u"In which I write about what I ate today.",
846 >>> f.add_item(title=u"Hot dog today",
847 ... link=u"http://www.example.com/entries/1/",
848 ... description=u"<p>Today I had a Vienna Beef hot dog. It was pink, plump and perfect.</p>")
849 >>> print f.writeString('utf8')
850 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf8"?>
851 <feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:lang="en"><title>My Weblog</title>
852 <link href="http://www.example.com/"></link><id>http://www.example.com/</id>
853 <updated>Sat, 12 Nov 2005 00:28:43 -0000</updated><entry><title>Hot dog today</title>
854 <link>http://www.example.com/entries/1/</link><id>tag:www.example.com/entries/1/</id>
855 <summary type="html"><p>Today I had a Vienna Beef hot dog. It was pink, plump and perfect.</p></summary>
858 .. _django/utils/feedgenerator.py: http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/django/utils/feedgenerator.py
859 .. _Python datetime object: http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/module-datetime.html