Powershell script to create an RSS feed from a local set of MP3s

createPodcastRss.ps1

# Based on the format described at http://podcast411.com/howto_1.html

function createRssElement{
param(
  [string]$elementName,
  [string]$value,
  $parent
)

  $thisNode = $rss.CreateElement($elementName)
  $thisNode.InnerText = $value
  $null = $parent.AppendChild($thisNode)
  return $thisNode
}

$mp3s = gci $pwd -filter *.mp3 # -recurse
[xml]$rss = ''
$root = $rss.CreateElement('rss')
$null = $root.SetAttribute('version','2.0')
$null = $rss.AppendChild($root)
$rssChannel  = $rss.CreateElement('channel')
$null = $root.AppendChild($rssChannel)
# Channel metadata 
$null = createRssElement -elementName 'title' -value 'Your title' -parent $rssChannel
$null = createRssElement -elementName 'description' -value 'Your description' -parent $rssChannel
$null = createRssElement -elementName 'link' -value 'http://example.com' -parent $rssChannel
$null = createRssElement -elementName 'language' -value 'en-US' -parent $rssChannel
$null = createRssElement -elementName 'copyright' -value 'entity' -parent $rssChannel
$null = createRssElement -elementName 'lastBuildDate' -value $([datetime]::Now.ToString('s')) -parent $rssChannel
$null = createRssElement -elementName 'pubDate' -value $([datetime]::Now.ToString('s')) -parent $rssChannel
# Items in rss feed
foreach ($item in $mp3s)
{
  $thisItem = createRssElement -elementName 'item' -value '' -parent $rssChannel
  $null = createRssElement -elementName 'title' -value $item.Name -parent $thisItem
  $null = createRssElement -elementName 'link' -value 'http://example.com' -parent $thisItem
  $null = createRssElement -elementName 'description' -value 'Your description' -parent $thisItem
  $null = createRssElement -elementName 'guid' -value $item.FullName -parent $thisItem
  $enclosure = createRssElement -elementName 'enclosure' -value '' -parent $thisItem
  $null = createRssElement -elementName 'category' -value "Podcasts" -parent $thisItem
  $null = createRssElement -elementName 'pubDate' -value $item.LastWriteTimeUtc.ToString('u') -parent $thisItem
  # The URL is by default the file path.
  # You may want something like:
  # $null = $enclosure.SetAttribute('url',"http://example.com/pathToMp3s/$($item.Name)")
  $null = $enclosure.SetAttribute('url',"file://$($item.FullName)")
  $null = $enclosure.SetAttribute('length',"$($item.Length)")
  $null = $enclosure.SetAttribute('type','audio/mpeg')
}

$_filename = join-path $pwd "test.rss"

$xmlWriterSettings =  new-object System.Xml.XmlWriterSettings
$xmlWriterSettings.CloseOutput = $true
# 4 space indent
$xmlWriterSettings.IndentChars = '    '
$xmlWriterSettings.Indent = $true
# $xmlWriterSettings.ConformanceLevel = 2
write-verbose  $('xml formatting - writing to ' + $_filename)
$xmlWriter = [System.Xml.XmlWriter]::Create($_filename, $xmlWriterSettings)
$rss.Save($xmlWriter)
$xmlWriter.Close()
Write-Verbose ("Tabbify finish " + ("*" * 60))

Hey this is awesome work!

Have you used this for anything worthwhile?

I actually am going to adapt this for a site that doesn't have an RSS feed but does have easy access to a JSON file I have parsed through.

Just one question about your script... why do you have all the $null = in front of the commands?

@sizzleweet the null = construction is to suppress the output of the PowerShell functions.