Blogging Roller

The Windows RSS Platform (or Feeds API) is the feed handling engine that powers the new RSS features in IE7. It will also be included in Windows Vista for use by other applications. Note that here, RSS is a generic term meant to include both RSS and Atom -- the Feeds API supports both. The Feeds API is packaged in a DLL called msfeeds.dll and available to programmers as a set of dual-interface COM objects. Here are the features exposed via the Feeds API.

• Common feed list: list of feeds for current user, organized as folder hierarchy.
  
• Feed store: local cache of feeds, feeds available via abstract object model
  
• Download engine: for managing and monitoring large enclosure downloads
  
• RSS sharing extensions: new XML elements to support bi-directional sync via RSS

The Feeds API gives you access to the current user's feed subscription list, a feed parser that can handle any form of RSS and Atom as well as the IE7 podcast download engine. The parser parses feeds to an abstract object model designed to represent any sort of feed. It handles funky RSS and in some cases prefers the funky elements (e.g. <content:escape> over <description>).

I'd like to learn more about how the Feeds API decides which elements to use, how sync works, and how the whole package compares to the premier Java Feeds API ROME. So, I've downloaded IE7 and started experimenting with the API from C#. I'll be posting more on this topic in the next week or two.

Here are some of the references I've been using to understand the API:

Feeds API docs, specs and whitepapers from Microsoft 

• The Feeds API documentation at MSDN Library
  
• The Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE) for RSS and OPML specification
• The Simple List Extentions for RSS specification
  
• Simple Sharing Extensions for RSS tutorial (in Vista only?)
• RSS Support in Longhorn - good overview
• PDC05 presentation about RSS in Windows Vista

Microsoft employee blogs about the RSS platform

• The Windows RSS Platform described on the Microsoft RSS Team Blog
• The Windows RSS Platform ala carte from the  Microsoft RSS Team Blog
• A blog about the RSS Simple Sharing Extensions from Microsoft's Jack Ozzie
  
• Related: Ray Ozzie's blog post Wiring the Web
  
• FeedBandit developer Dare Obasanjo's feedback on Windows RSS Platform
  
• Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta (RSS feeds and "blog-it" feature)
  

Other blogs about it

• Newsgator's Nick Bradbury's feedback on Windows RSS Platform
  
• PDC'05 blog about the above Windows RSS Platform presentation
  
• Jim Mathies built an aggregator in a weekend with the RSS platform
  
• A simple windows RSS store viewer and exploration of msfeeds.dll implementation
  
• John Udell interviews Microsoft's Amar Ghandi about the RSS platform

Update1: added a couple of new links suggested by Mark Woodman
Update2: added reference to Simple List Extensions
Update3: added link to RSS in Windows Vista presentaton

Tags: atom, rss, ie7, atom protocol