matthewmueller/x-ray

Issue handling URL from XML

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#21 opened on Mar 14, 2015

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 (8 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (5,804 stars) (415 forks)batch import
featurehelp wanted

Description

I've been digging on this for a while, but I'm pretty stumped right now.

<item>
    <title>Greece's Varoufakis says QE to fuel unsustainable equity rally</title>
    <link>http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/businessNews/~3/EaR-N8x3VzU/story01.htm</link>
    <description>CERNOBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's bond purchases will create an unsustainable stock market rally and are unlikely to boost euro zone investments...</description>
</item>

With .select(['item title']) I'm able to get all of the titles. With .select(['item description']) I'm able to get all of the descriptions. But with .select(['item link']) I only get an array of empty strings back. The number of empty strings equals the number of items in the page.

I'm going to keep digging in, but I think I already have keyboard marks on my forehead. =|

I've tried this using a $root with a link: 'link' attribute already, but same difference.

This is the specific URL I'm scraping: http://feeds.reuters.com/reuters/businessNews?format=xml

Contributor guide

Tech stack
nodejsjavascript
Domain
backendapi
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
needs investigation
Prerequisites
Familiarity with Node.jsBasic understanding of XML parsing
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
30
Research direction
Start by examining how x ray handles XML vs HTML, particularly the select method's internal logic. Look at the source code for parsing 'link' elements, as the issue suggests that 'item link' returns empty strings. Check if there's a namespace issue or if the XML structure differs from HTML. Review the comments on the issue for any hints or proposed solutions.