SID-01128: RSS Feed has stopped working after upgrade to Office 2010

Status:	Answered	TWiki version:	4.2.3	Perl version:	5.8.8
Category:	CategoryEmail	Server OS:	Ubuntu 8.04.1 (Hardy), 2.6.24.21.virtual	Last update:	15 years ago

Firstly - apologies if this is posted under an incorrect category - email is the closest I could find...

We have recently upgraded all our staff PCs to Office 2010 Professional Plus, which includes Outlook 2010.

Our Development team use a local-network based "Twiki" Wiki site (http://localipaddress/cgi-bin/twiki/view/CPT/WebRss)

When we were using Outlook 2007, the RSS feed from that site worked perfectly. Since the upgrade to Office 2010, it can no longer be added, or if imported via the CFL, gives the error:

""outlook cannot download the RSS content from" <twikiaddress> "because of a problem connecting to the server"

Nothing else has changed (Antivirus/Firewall etc), and if a test installation of Outlook 2007 is made, the RSS feed continues to work as it did before the Office 2010 upgrade

Any ideas?

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-03-15

Discussion and Answer

Not sure. Is TWiki configured to require authentication to access CPT.WebRss ? Does the RSS feed work properly when using Firefox or another browser that reads RSS?

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-03-16

Yes - the site ( http://192.168.0.18/cgi-bin/twiki/view/CPT/WebRss - (local network address) is configured for the RSS feed.

RSS still works within browsers, e.g. IE8's favourites sidebar, or Firefox's Bookmark Toolbar.

The difference appears to be the change from Microsoft Outlook 2007 to Outlook 2010.

All staff PCs are now installed with Office 2010, as it is required. As it is a common install, it is the most useful for seeing updates to the Development Team's Twiki site, rather than requiring a third-party reader.

If i set up a standalone installation of Outlook 2007, the RSS feed will work if added manually in Outlook, or by selecting the 'Subscribe to this feed' option in either browser.

I asked this hoping that this had maybe been seen by other users - even though the problem would seem to lie with Outlook 2010...

Thanks.

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-03-16

Also - I should note - I have tried adding a number of public Twiki RSS feeds to my Outlook 2010 install, and these ARE successfully added.

The clash appears to be between our local network Twiki / Outlook 2010.

I wonder if any other 'local install' users have experienced this?

Thanks

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-03-16

Does your internal TWiki site require authentication to access the WebRss page? That could be the issue.

Changing from "answered" to "asked" since it is not resolved.

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-03-16

No, no authentication is required.

With Outlook 2007, it is possible to click the orange RSS logo in Firefox, which then allows the Twiki RSS feed to be set up in Outlook 2007.

If the same procedure is attempted in Outlook 2010, the error message that I reported initially is received in Outlook.

Leaving status as 'asked'.

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-03-16

Changing the status to 'answered' - if that means I have replied, but it is yet to be resolved.

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-03-18

Opening again. Leave it as "asked question" until your issue is resolved.

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-03-18

Update:

The RSS Feed in question continues to work if added to a browser favourites (IE/FF).

It also works using third-party RSS readers, such as 'FeedReader'.

And just this week, I've seen it working with the Windows 7 Desktop RSS Gadget.

This would appear to suggest that it is solely Outlook 2010 that is the problem.

Would updating to a newer version of Twiki help perhaps? E.g our version is not compatible with Outlook 2010.

Thanks

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-04-13

I don't think anything changed recently in TWiki on RSS feeds, so it is unlikely that a TWiki upgrade will fix the issue.

As a workaround you probably can use an RSS aggregation service such as Wikipedia:FeedBurner to generate an RSS feed of TWiki and point your Outlook to that feed.

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-04-13

Hi,

I'm not sure FeedBurner is any use to us - as it is a local network based Twiki site, meant for internal use only.

I have raised the issue in Microsoft's forums, as it appears the issue is with them - especially if an upgrade of Twiki is not likely to help.

Thanks.

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-04-20

As a workaround you could create your own feed. See HowToCacheRssFeedsWithRewriteRule.

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-04-20

Hi,

I have been carrying out some investigation into this:

Tests so far:

1. When navigating to the URL of our RSS feed: http://<localmachineIP>/cgi-bin/twiki/view/CPT/WebRss (no explicit .xml extension), I selected View Page Source, and saved off the file as WebRss.xml.

2. Placed the XML file on webservers running IIS - public and local (was able to subscribe), and another local Linux server using Apache (was able to subscribe).

A quick search for a Public Twiki implementation (http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki/WebRss) shows that its NOT possible to subscribe to those in Outlook 2010 either.

This may mean that Outlook 2010 now looks for an explicit .XML extension for an RSS feed (which it didnt appear to in 2007, as it worked)

As far as I can see (I didnt implement our Twiki install), Twiki's RSS is provided via the WebRss.lease, WebRss.txt and WebRss.txt,v files.

I've asked the MS Support contact for any comments/confirmation of a change in handling RSS/XML from OL2007 to OL2010 - any comments you have would also be appreciated.

Thanks

-- ScottBerwick - 2011-05-24

Outlook 2010 seems to be overly restrictive with RSS feeds. To workaround this limitation you can create your own feed with a .xml extension using wget. For inspiration see HowToCacheRssFeedsWithRewriteRule.

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-05-24

Closing this question after more than 30 days of inactivity. Feel free to reopen if needed. Consider engaging one of the TWiki consultants if you need timely help. We invite you to get involved with the community, it is more likely you get community support if you support the open source project!

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-07-08

If you answer a question - or someone answered one of your questions - please remember to edit the page and set the status to answered. The status selector is below the edit box.