in progress RSS Feed Reader

[Terminal]

RSS Feed Reader

 

RSS workflow to make viewing RSS feeds pleasurable in Alfred

 

Submission Questions

1. I am the Author
2. None
3. RSS Feed
4. None
5. None
6. Attached to Repo, Post and Workflow

Edited June 16 by Terminal
Update title

[vitor]

This looks quite fun. I have thought about something like this in the past and I’m glad to see someone else also come up with it.

Having fully tested the functionality yet, but a few notes:

• There’s no default Keyword to start the workflow. There should be something (rss seems appropriate).
• Regarding the checkbox, screen readers read the right side so Enabled won’t be clear. Should be something like New Feeds: [ ] Open feed after adding.
• Instead of saving to ~/.alfred_feeds, which adds to the user’s home directory, it should add to alfred_workflow_data (be sure to create the directory if it does not exist).
• There is an extra v in the version. Should be just 0.0.1 (see how it looks near the description at the top).
• Maybe adding a feed should be a different keyword and/or have a different (colour) icon? Your choice, though, just a suggestion.
• The name is a bit short and non-descriptive. RSS Feed Reader, as you have in the description, would be better. Then in the description something like Add and Read RSS Feeds.
  

[Terminal]

All great feedback.  Thanks I’ll get an update out shortly. 

[Terminal]

On 6/12/2023 at 10:58 AM, vitor said:

This looks quite fun. I have thought about something like this in the past and I’m glad to see someone else also come up with it.

Having fully tested the functionality yet, but a few notes:

• There’s no default Keyword to start the workflow. There should be something (rss seems appropriate).
• Regarding the checkbox, screen readers read the right side so Enabled won’t be clear. Should be something like New Feeds: [ ] Open feed after adding.
• Instead of saving to ~/.alfred_feeds, which adds to the user’s home directory, it should add to alfred_workflow_data (be sure to create the directory if it does not exist).
• There is an extra v in the version. Should be just 0.0.1 (see how it looks near the description at the top).
• Maybe adding a feed should be a different keyword and/or have a different (colour) icon? Your choice, though, just a suggestion.
• The name is a bit short and non-descriptive. RSS Feed Reader, as you have in the description, would be better. Then in the description something like Add and Read RSS Feeds.

 

Everything is addressed in the latest release

 

• ✅ Default keyword switched to `rss`
• ✅ Right side updated for screen readers
• ✅ Directory updated to  `alfred_workflow_data`
• ✅ `v` removed
• ✅ Keyword for adding a feed added `rssa`
• ✅ Name Updated

Edited June 16 by Terminal

[vitor]

Changes look good! But adding feeds fails:

 

[20:51:09.763] ERROR: RSS Feed Reader[Run Script] Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/username/Library/Caches/com.runningwithcrayons.Alfred/Workflow Scripts/8D17D26A-9ECE-4321-ADBA-E4BCE0D3B108", line 22, in <module>
    with open(file_path, "r") as file:
NameError: name 'file_path' is not defined

 

[Terminal]

8 hours ago, vitor said:

Changes look good! But adding feeds fails:

 

[20:51:09.763] ERROR: RSS Feed Reader[Run Script] Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/username/Library/Caches/com.runningwithcrayons.Alfred/Workflow Scripts/8D17D26A-9ECE-4321-ADBA-E4BCE0D3B108", line 22, in <module>
    with open(file_path, "r") as file:
NameError: name 'file_path' is not defined

 

Oops ! Forgot a single change. Will push an update shortly. 

[vitor]

8 hours ago, Terminal said:

Will push an update shortly.

 

Please ping me when you do, so I can check back.

[Terminal]

On 6/20/2023 at 7:42 AM, vitor said:

 

Please ping me when you do, so I can check back.

All done

[vitor]

Looking better, but I’m still bumping into issues. Specifically, the parser fails with certain feeds. Try this one: https://developer.apple.com/news/rss/news.rss

A few other notes, which aren’t as pressing but should get some attention:

• The About has outdated information. It’s still mentioning ~/.alfred_feeds and the screenshots show :rss as a keyword.
• There’s seemingly no way to delete a feed, other than manually editing the config file. That could be handled in the workflow with something like ⌘↩ on a feed.
• Suggestion: Instead of having to ask for all information (feed name, description, URL, XML or JSON), I’d consider an option to ask just for the URL and then derive the rest of information from there. That would allow you to verify if the feed is valid too. Then maybe add a ⌥↩ option to open the file for editing so users can make manual tweaks if desired. That’s just a recommendation, though, it doesn’t affect inclusion. What matters now are the other points.
  

[Textdriven]

Love this workflow. Just one correction. The default action should say "Add an RSS feed" not and. 

[dood]

Hi @Terminal, thanks for this workflow! I was able to add this feed (https://jodiettenberg.substack.com/feed), but the following error message appeared when I tried to open the feed through Alfred:

 

ERROR: RSS Feed Reader[Script Filter] JSON error: JSON text did not start with array or object and option to allow fragments not set. around line 1, column 0. in JSON: null

 

[dood]

Also, the descriptions in the "subtitle" aren't appearing – not sure if this is related to the workflow or the feeds themselves. In the picture below, I'm using this feed: https://www.alfredforum.com/forum/51-submit-your-workflows-to-alfred-gallery.xml

 

[Terminal]

Thanks, I’ll have an update out shortly to address off of these issues. Been a bit busy with personal life. 

[Terminal]

@vitor New release

1. DONE

2. DONE
3. WIP, 1-2 weeks depending on personal life.

@dood

Fixed both issues in this

[dood]

awesome, thanks!

[vitor]

@Terminal Version 0.0.4 continues to fail on https://developer.apple.com/news/rss/news.rss. The tag stripping code seems to be the problem.