Manage RSS Feeds

Portal administrators can now manage the RSS feed functionality when the source URL of a feed changes. For example, if an RSS feed (e.g., Weather, News, etc.) is enabled in the Student Portal home page, but the source URL of the feed is no longer valid , the system will inactivate such feeds and capture the error in the CMC Event Log in Portal Admin Console. An Administrator can update the source URL and enable the automatically disabled RSS feed or remove them. This will prevent invalid or disabled RSS feeds from causing recurring errors caused by repeated attempts to reach the feed URL.

To manage the RSS feeds, administrators use the Web Part Administration page in the Portal Admin Console. The settings in the Web Parts Administration determine whether an RSS feed is available and active in the Student Portal. Portal version 22.3 will inactivate all the bad / non-responsive RSS feeds automatically, whether out of the box feeds or custom. These inactivated feeds can be made active once it is updated or can be removed from the list. Below is a flow illustrated for the new functionality to manage the correct and incorrect RSS feeds in the system.

To manage RSS feeds, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to the Portal Admin Console and Administration section and select the Web Parts Administration link.

  2. Click the Add RSS Feed button at the top of the page to add a new feed or click the Edit button to modify an existing feed. The Web Part Detail Screen is displayed.

  3. Specify the Name and URL for the RSS feed.

  4. Select the Active check box if you want the RSS feed to be available as an option for students to select when they personalize their homes pages in the Student Portal. If the Active check box is cleared, the RSS feed will not be available for selection in the Student Portal.

    For example, the RSS feeds for Yahoo, New Center, BBC News, and NY Times are set to active in the Portal Admin Console. When students personalize their home pages, they can select these feeds. Any RSS feeds that are configured in the Portal Admin Console as inactive will not be listed as options for selection and will not be displayed on the home page.

    Note: Web parts are validated in the Portal, and the settings in the Portal Admin Console will reflect the validation status. The validation takes places when the student login and the student’s home page personalization pages are refreshed.

    If an RSS feed is not validated in the Student Portal (e.g., due to an invalid URL), the Active check box for the RSS feed will be cleared in the Portal Admin Console and the web part for the RSS feed is removed from the student’s home page and the personalization page.

    If an RSS feed is redirected by the content provider, the Portal administrator will need to update the URL configuration in the Portal Admin Console.

    Any updates in the RSS feeds (e.g., change in status from inactive to active or updates to the URLs) will require students to log out and log in again or update their home page personalization.

  5. Select the Enabled check box is you want allow time zone changes on the RSS feed.

  6. Select Security options as needed.

  7. Click the Update button.

The following is an example of a fully configured active RSS feed.