How to Make a Separate RSS Feed for Each Custom Post Type

Question

How can I make a separate RSS feed for each custom post type?

I had searched the net for it and found suggestions to do something like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/feed/?post_type=book

I tried the above, but it just didn't work! It only takes me back to the custom post type archive page again...

Does anybody knows where I went wrong or what I am missing???

FYI, I used the Custom Post Permalinks plugin to allow post type specific permalinks for post type archive pages. Not sure if this may affect the RSS feed problem.

Cheers!

Answer 1

Okay, thanks to all who contributed to answering my question, but I had finally figured out the solution to my problem.

Sorry for being naive but it turned out that I had a template_redirect action added to direct anything that's related to my post types to their respective template files. Something like this:

function my_template_redirect()
{
    global $wp, $wp_query;

    if ( ( $wp->query_vars["post_type"] == "news" ) && !is_single() )
    {
        if (have_posts())
        {
            include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/news.php');
            die();
        }
        else
        { $wp_query->is_404 = true; }
    }
}
add_action("template_redirect", 'my_template_redirect');

It, apparently, also redirected my post-type feeds to the template files, thus "it only takes me back to the custom post type archive page again...'

So I just added an extra filter to exclude feeds from this redirection, that is, I added !is_feed() in the if statement:

if ( ( $wp->query_vars["post_type"] == "news" ) && !is_single() && !is_feed() )

...and the feeds work as they should be again. I knew there was something wrong with the theme...

Thanks again for the help, guys! :)

Answer 2

add the small example function:

    add_action( 'request', 'fb_add_to_feed' );

    // add to post-feed
    function fb_add_to_feed($request) {

        if ( isset($request['feed']) && !isset($request['post_type']) ) {
            $request['post_type'] = get_post_types( $args = array(
                'public'          => true,
                'capability_type' => 'post'
            ) );
        }

        return $request;
    }

Alternative you can creat a own feed onl yfor the custom post type. See the follow example for a "Draft Feed" of draft posts.

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Drafts Feed
Plugin URI:  http://bueltge.de/wordpress-feed-fuer-entwuerfe/829/
Description: Add a new Feed for drafts: <code>/?feed=draft</code>
Version:     0.2
Author:      Frank Bültge
Author URI:  http://bueltge.de/
Licence:     GPL
Last Change: 17.06.2009 10:50:19
*/

//avoid direct calls to this file, because now WP core and framework has been used
if ( !function_exists('add_action') ) {
    header('Status: 403 Forbidden');
    header('HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden');
    exit();
}

if ( function_exists('add_action') ) {
    //WordPress definitions
    if ( !defined('WP_CONTENT_URL') )
        define('WP_CONTENT_URL', get_option('siteurl') . '/wp-content');
    if ( !defined('WP_CONTENT_DIR') )
        define('WP_CONTENT_DIR', ABSPATH . 'wp-content');
    if ( !defined('WP_PLUGIN_URL') )
        define('WP_PLUGIN_URL', WP_CONTENT_URL.'/plugins');
    if ( !defined('WP_PLUGIN_DIR') )
        define('WP_PLUGIN_DIR', WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins');
    if ( !defined('PLUGINDIR') )
        define( 'PLUGINDIR', 'wp-content/plugins' ); // Relative to ABSPATH.  For back compat.
    if ( !defined('WP_LANG_DIR') )
        define('WP_LANG_DIR', WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/languages');

    // plugin definitions
    define( 'FB_DF_BASENAME', plugin_basename(__FILE__) );
    define( 'FB_DF_BASEFOLDER', plugin_basename( dirname( __FILE__ ) ) );
    define( 'FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN', 'draft_feed' );
}

if ( !class_exists('DraftFeed') ) {
    class DraftFeed {

        // constructor
        function DraftFeed() {

            add_action( 'init', array(&$this, 'add_draft_feed') );
            if ( is_admin() ) {
                add_action( 'wp_dashboard_setup', array(&$this, 'my_wp_dashboard_setup') );
                add_action( 'admin_head', array(&$this, 'add_my_css') );
                add_action( 'admin_init', array(&$this, 'textdomain') );
            }
        }

        function textdomain() {

            if ( function_exists('load_plugin_textdomain') ) {
                if ( !defined('WP_PLUGIN_DIR') ) {
                    load_plugin_textdomain( FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN, str_replace( ABSPATH, '', dirname(__FILE__) ) . '/languages' );
                } else {
                    load_plugin_textdomain( FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN, false, dirname( plugin_basename(__FILE__) ) . '/languages' );
                }
            }
        }

        function my_wp_dashboard_recent_drafts( $drafts = false, $view_content = false ) {
            if ( $drafts )
                return;

            $drafts_query = new WP_Query( array(
                                                                                    'post_type' => 'post',
                                                                                    'post_status' => 'draft',
                                                                                    'posts_per_page' => 5,
                                                                                    'orderby' => 'modified',
                                                                                    'order' => 'DESC'
                                                                                    ) );
            $drafts =& $drafts_query->posts;

            if ( $drafts && is_array( $drafts ) ) {
                $list = array();
                foreach ( $drafts as $draft ) {
                    $url = get_edit_post_link( $draft->ID );
                    $title = _draft_or_post_title( $draft->ID );
                    $user = get_userdata($draft->post_author);
                    $author = $user->display_name;
                    $item = '<a href="' . $url . '" title="' . sprintf( __( 'Edit “%s”', FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN ), esc_attr( $title ) ) . '">' . $title . '</a> ' . __( 'by', FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN ) . ' ' . stripslashes( apply_filters('comment_author', $author) ) . ' <abbr title="' . get_the_time(__('Y/m/d g:i:s A'), $draft) . '">' . get_the_time( get_option( 'date_format' ), $draft ) . '</abbr>';
                    $list[] = $item;
                }
        ?>
            <ul>
                <li><?php echo join( "</li>\n<li>", $list ); ?></li>
            </ul>
            <p class="textright"><a href="edit.php?post_status=draft" class="button"><?php _e('View all', FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN); ?></a></p>
        <?php
            } else {
                _e( 'There are no drafts at the moment', FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN );
            }
        }

        function my_wp_dashboard_setup() {

            wp_add_dashboard_widget( 'my_wp_dashboard_recent_drafts', __( 'Recents Drafts', FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN ) . ' <small>' . __( 'of all authors', FB_DF_TEXTDOMAIN ) . '</small>', array(&$this, 'my_wp_dashboard_recent_drafts') );
        }

        function add_my_css() {

            $echo  = '';
            $echo .= "\n";
            $echo .= '<style type="text/css">'."\n";
            $echo .= '<!--'."\n";
            $echo .= '#my_wp_dashboard_recent_drafts abbr {' . "\n";
            $echo .= 'font-family: "Lucida Grande", Verdana, Arial, "Bitstream Vera Sans", sans-serif;' . "\n";;
            $echo .= 'font-size: 11px;' . "\n";
            $echo .= 'color: #999;' . "\n";
            $echo .= 'margin-left: 3px;' . "\n";
            $echo .= '}'."\n";
            $echo .= '-->'."\n";
            $echo .= '</style>'."\n";

            echo $echo;
        }

        // add feed via hook
        function add_draft_feed() {

            // set name for the feed
            // http://examble.com/?feed=draft
            add_feed( 'draft', array(&$this, 'get_draft_feed') );
        }

        // get feed
        function get_draft_feed() {
            global $wpdb;

            // draft or future
            $sql = "
                            SELECT ID, post_title, post_date, post_author, post_author, guid, post_excerpt, post_content
                            FROM $wpdb->posts
                            WHERE post_status = 'draft'
                            ORDER BY post_date_gmt DESC
                        ";
            $items = $wpdb->get_results($sql);

            if ( !headers_sent() )
                header('Content-Type: text/xml; charset=' . get_option('blog_charset'), true);
            $more = 1;
        ?>
        <?php echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="' . get_option('blog_charset') . '"?' . '>'; ?>

<rss version="2.0"
    xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
    xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
    xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
    <?php do_action('rss2_ns'); ?>
>

<channel>
    <title><?php bloginfo_rss( 'name' ); wp_title_rss(); ?></title>
    <atom:link href="<?php self_link(); ?>" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
    <link><?php bloginfo_rss( 'url' ) ?></link>
    <description><?php bloginfo_rss( 'description' ) ?></description>
    <pubDate><?php echo mysql2date( 'D, d M Y H:i:s +0000', get_lastpostmodified('GMT'), false ); ?></pubDate>
    <generator>http://bueltge.de/</generator>
    <language><?php echo get_option( 'rss_language' ); ?></language>
    <sy:updatePeriod><?php echo apply_filters( 'rss_update_period', 'hourly' ); ?></sy:updatePeriod>
    <sy:updateFrequency><?php echo apply_filters( 'rss_update_frequency', '1' ); ?></sy:updateFrequency>
    <?php do_action('rss2_head'); ?>
    <?php
    if ( empty($items) ) {
        echo '<!-- No submissions found yet. //-->';
    } else {
        foreach ($items as $item) {
    ?>
        <item>
            <title><?php echo stripslashes( apply_filters( 'comment_author', $item->post_title ) ); ?></title>
            <link><?php echo stripslashes( apply_filters( 'comment_author_url', get_permalink($item->ID) ) ); ?></link>
            <pubDate><?php echo mysql2date( 'D, d M Y H:i:s +0000', $item->post_date ); ?></pubDate>
            <dc:creator><?php echo stripslashes( apply_filters('comment_author', $item->post_author) ); ?></dc:creator>

            <guid isPermaLink="false"><?php echo stripslashes( apply_filters('comment_author_url', $item->guid) ); ?></guid>
            <?php if ( $item->post_excerpt != '' ) { ?>
            <description><![CDATA[<?php echo trim(stripslashes( apply_filters('comment_text', $item->post_excerpt) ) ); ?>]]></description>
            <?php } else { ?>
            <description><![CDATA[<?php echo strip_tags( trim( stripslashes( apply_filters('comment_text', $item->post_content) ) ) ); ?>]]></description>
            <?php } ?>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<?php echo trim( stripslashes( apply_filters( 'comment_text', $item->post_content ) ) ); ?>]]></content:encoded>
            <?php do_action('rss2_item'); ?>
        </item>
    <?php
        }
    }
    ?>
    </channel>
</rss>
        <?php
        }

    } // end class

    $df_wp_injector = new DraftFeed();
} // end if class exists

// WP init and add ne function for feed
if ( isset($df_wp_injector) && function_exists( 'add_action' ) ) {
    add_action( 'DraftFeed',  array(&$df_wp_injector, 'init') );
}
?>

Answer 3

You should be able to get the feed by going to http://www.yoursite.com/?feed=rss2&post_type=your_post_type as long as the post type is set to be publicly_queryable.