What is your goal?
I want to automatically create a photo post on my Facebook page whenever there’s a new entry in a podcast’s RSS feed. The post should include the cover art for the current episode along with a short description. Since Facebook can’t handle a component in the URL that starts with “0x,” I have to add an extra step to remove that part from the RSS element so that Facebook can process it in the next step.
What is the problem & what have you tried?
When I run the RSS module as a test, it finds the latest entry in the feed. When I try to insert the URL of the episode image as an element from the RSS feed into the “Text” field in the “Text Parser” module, the link is also displayed there in the preview. Actually, all elements with the corresponding content are displayed. But no matter which elements I insert into the field, as soon as the test run starts, it shows that these elements have no content, even though the content is displayed in the preview when I insert them.
Hey Markus,
can you share some screenshots of the setup you have and what the bundles look like?
Sure, here are a few screenshots. Thank you very much in advance!
But I dont see 0x, anywhere in the url.
Also, can you open the scenario history, find the test runs in question and send screenshots of the output bundles of the modules so we can see what the data looks like, not just the preview from the mapping window?
You’ll find the “0x,” right after the first part of the URL (…cdn.net/). And here are the screenshots from the test runs of the RSS module and the text parser.
Click the Choose where to start button and select a previous feed so you can run it.
I’ve now selected a slightly older episode and started a test run. You’ll find the screenshot attached. I reinserted the RSS element with the URL, but I’m getting exactly the same result as before. The element’s content is displayed as empty.
You mean when creating the post? Can you show what the input looks like for that module and how its setup?
Cause I can open the image from that url no problem.
No, the issue is that when I insert the URL from the feed as a variable into the text parser, it has no content there and therefore can’t be modified. As a result, I can’t use a modified URL for the post in the next module because there’s no content there either. Unfortunately, I’m forced to modify the URL because Facebook can’t handle the URL—or rather, this small part of it. As a result, the post appears on my timeline without the photo. As you mentioned, the photo opens just fine—it’s just that Facebook is the problem.
Are you running the modules one by one or something?
Wow, yeah, that was the problem. I tested the modules one by one, and when I ran through the entire process, it retrieved the data. Great… thank you so much for your help!
It sounds like the RSS module is detecting the item correctly, but the value you’re mapping may not actually be present in the output bundle during the test execution.
I would first open the output bundle of the RSS module after the test run and check the exact field that contains the image URL. The mapping preview can show available fields, but what matters is whether that field contains a value in the actual bundle.
For podcast feeds, the cover/image URL may also be stored in an enclosure or media-related field rather than the normal RSS link field. So I would check the raw RSS output and identify the exact field containing the image URL before passing it to Text Parser.
You can troubleshoot it like this:
-
Run the RSS module by itself.
-
Open the output bundle.
-
Find the field containing the actual image URL.
-
Map that exact field into Text Parser.
-
Run the scenario again and check whether Text Parser receives the value.
If the field is still empty in the RSS output, then the issue is with how that particular RSS feed exposes its media/image data, rather than the Text Parser module.
If you can share the RSS feed URL or a sample output bundle, it would be much easier to identify the exact field to map.
This issue is already solved mate. What are you talking about?
The RSS URL is available in the screenshots provided.
