The Moth

If you followed the links from my Windows RSS Platform blog entry, you will have found the infamous example of using the RSS API to create a screensaver. In that same MSDN area from the treeview on the left you can find the RSS object model reference. The RSS API allows browsing the feed hierarchy, add/edit/delete the hierarchy, listening for events to changes in the hierarchy and controlling the process of synching/downloading.

Please see my blog post with a short example of utilising managed code for using the RSS API (skip to the code section and keep it in mind while reading the following).

What I want to do here is provide some tips for when you start using the RSS API.
1. It is a COM dll, so locate and reference msfeeds.dll (Microsoft Feeds, version 1.0) from the COM tab in the Visual Studio references dialog
2. This will bring in Microsoft.Feeds.Interop which is also the namespace you use from code
3. Everything starts with the FeedsManager and his RootFolder property (there is always a implicit root folder).
4. The object hierarchy is RootFolder->Subfolder->subfolder->feed->feeditem->feedenclosure
5. Most class/interface members return an object typed as System.Object. That means you have to do some casting in your code e.g. the Feeds and Subfolders properties in my example have to be cast to IFeedsEnum.

To help you navigate the RSS API, in addition to the links and descriptions above, check out the 4 class diagrams I laid out (collectively, the depict the entire API):
FeedManager , Folder and Feed , Item and Enclosure , Events

Now go to our nuggets page and watch one (by MikeT) on how to build an RSS viewer in C# using the API.