Add RSS Feed into Your phpBB3 Forum

RSS is basically feed formats which can be installed on any website to

publish frequently updated content. For example, you can implement RSS feed in a

news website where content is updated continually. RSS feeds make enough sense

for readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from several websites. It

also benefits publishers by letting them syndicate their site's content

automatically.

Recently we have upgraded PCQuest forums to phpBB3 and incorporated RSS feeds

in it. Now our users can easily be aware of the recent posts and queries on the

forum and retort accordingly. For us, this ensures that we get maximum

participation from our users and they don't miss out on topics they would like

to contribute to and be a part of. Readers need to simply subscripe to the RSS

feed and nothing more.

Implementation



In case you are running an older phpBB version, upgrade it to phpBB3. Here

is how to implement RSS feed into your phpBB3 forums. Before we proceed any

further, keep backup of these three files, overall_hear der.html, common.php and

functions.php. Just in case anything goes wrong, you can always revert back by

simply replacing these files.

Download the mod file from http://tinyurl.com/yh3r6f3. Copy the rss.php file

to the phpBB3 root folder of the web server. Next, open up the

overall_hearder.html file in editor and provide the link for RSS feed anywhere

you like, by writing following code:

RSS Feeds

Now open common.php file which resides inside the language/en/ directory, and

add the following line after the code 'READING_FORUM':

'RSS_EXPLAIN' => 'Click here to add RSS feed ',



'RSS_READ_TOPIC' => 'Read Main Topic',


'RSS_COPYRIGHT' => 'Copyright by',


'RSS_FAILURE' => 'Failed to get latest topics',

Once done, open up functions.php file, found inside the include directory.

Add the following line after 'L_ONLINE_EXPLAIN' :

'U_RSS'=> append_sid("{$phpbb_root_path}rss.$phpEx"),

Finally you have installed RSS feeds on your phpBB3 forums. To view the RSS

feeds, just open the phpBB3 website and click on the 'RSS Feed' link.