W3C validated feed fails to parse: http://local.sfgate.com/177387/blog/rss/

[dhilowitz]

Hi all,

The following feed fails to parse using SimplePie: http://local.sfgate.com/177387/blog/rss/

The feed validates using every validator I've found. See here: https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Flocal.sfgate.com%2F177387%2Fblog%2Frss%2F

I've tried it both using code and via the demo page: http://simplepie.org/demo/?feed=http%3A%2F%2Flocal.sfgate.com%2F177387%2Fblog%2Frss%2F

Both claim that there is no feed at that address. When I do force_feed(true), I get this error:

PHP Notice: This XML document is invalid, likely due to invalid characters. XML error: SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing at line 1, column 48 in /vol/code/dsh/mobile_sites/vendor/simplepie/simplepie/library/SimplePie.php on line 1386

[pawlows-dog]

Greetings,
it seems we are having the same issue:
since updating to WordPress 4.3.1. (german installation) there is (just one!) specific RSS Feed which I can't get to run with the standard RSS Widget that ships with the original WordPress.
Other RSS Feeds are still working.
When I enter the URL the feed widget itself gives me the following error: "A feed could not be found at http://www.proasyl.de/de/news/?type=100. A feed with an invalid mime type may fall victim to this error, or SimplePie was unable to auto-discover it.. Use force_feed() if you are certain this URL is a real feed."
I can see the RSS Feed in my browser. I am also in contact with the guys that are providing this feed. In the beginning different RSS Feed validators were giving a few errors about the feed. By now they have overhauled their feed - and all validators are giving out "congrats" when you test their feed.
All but the standard RSS Widget in WordPress (which I now have learned seems to be SimplePie). Which just won't accept the feed.

Other feeds from other sites I can incorporate without any problems. Any ideas? Could someone test and verify that the feed at http://www.proasyl.de/de/news/?type=100 CAN be incorporated with WordPress 4.3.1. and the standard RSS Widget?

I am completely stumped, I have no idea where to look anymore and it would help me to know if it is a bug with RSS Feed Widget, or if something in my own installation is screwed up.

Cheers and thanks in advance to any kind soul that gives it a shot.

Edit to add: I am not completely sure if it really resulted from upgrading from 4.3.0 to 4.3.1 - but I noticed it shortly after the upgrade, so I think that might have caused it. The same feed above DID work once (and I believe under 4.3.0)

Miez

[mblaney]

Hello @pawlows-dog a quick glance at http://www.proasyl.de/de/news/?type=100 shows there's a " in the title one of the items. That's not valid xml so SimplePie would reject it. I wrote a function to declare all html entities, but it's not part of mainline SimplePie. Also that feed times out at http://simplepie.org/demo for some reason, so I couldn't test it there, but it's valid in my version.

[pawlows-dog]

Hello Malcolm,
many thanks for your reply. I have the impression that SimplePie is a bit too picky. Every validator I test it on gives out kudos (e.g.: https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.proasyl.de%2Fde%2Fnews%2F%3Ftype%3D100, or http://www.rssboard.org/rss-validator/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.proasyl.de%2Fde%2Fnews%2F%3Ftype%3D100, or http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.proasyl.de%2Fde%2Fnews%2F%3Ftype%3D100, ...).
I am not deep enough into XML to be a judge of validity - but if every known validator is happy with the feed format - shouldn't SimplePie just accept that feed as well?
I am not sure what to tell the guys anymore. They overhauled their feed - all validators are happy. I can hardly ask them for more. It seems it is me who should find another parser / feed-injection tool to use on my wordpress site.
Does anyone have a recommendation? I don't need super-funky functionality. Just a lil' tool to enter the url of the feed that displays the feed - preferably in a widget.
When I search for rss plugins in wordpress there seem to be no actual and simple ones. Obviously because everyone is using the onboard SimplePie-based widget.
sigh

[dhilowitz]

The following feed also exhibits this same behavior: http://local.chron.com/168499/blog/rss/

[mblaney]

@dhilowitz @pawlows-dog this should be fixed now, please update your version of SimplePie and try again.

[dhilowitz]

@mblaney This issue is still happening with http://local.chron.com/168499/blog/rss/. I just tested with version 1.4.

[dhilowitz]

Here's a hint. This doesn't work:

$feed = new SimplePie();
$feed->set_feed_url('http://local.chron.com/168499/blog/rss/');

But this does work:

$feed = new SimplePie();
$xml = file_get_contents('http://local.chron.com/168499/blog/rss/');
$feed->set_raw_data($xml);

In other words, it would seem that the problem is being caused by something in the way the feed is being downloaded from certain HTTP servers.

[dhilowitz]

Disregard! I figured out the issue. The server was returning 403 because of SimplePie's default user agent. Looks like I have to spoof user agents.