Microsoft Access: Adding Live CNN RSS Feeds to Database

Recently, while experimenting with RSS feeds, I came across a very interesting technique to integrate RSS feeds into MS Access 2007 and I could not stop myself from sharing it.

In this demonstration, I will be adding CNN RSS feed to my Access 2007 database.

1- Go to CNN.com and select an RSS feed of your choice. In my case, I chose Middle East News (http://rss.cnn.com/rss/edition_meast.rss)

2- Open your MS Access 2007 software and Click on XML File in the Import Tab (External Data) on the Ribbon and paste the URL of the RSS feed in the File Name text box as shown below.

3- Access will open an interface as follows for you to select among different choices regarding import of XML data. In my case, I did not have any tables in the database, therefore, I selected Structures and Data. Click OK to proceed.

4- Upon clicking OK, Access will tell you that all of the data is not imported and there are some errors in your import operation. Click OK again and continue.

5- After completing above steps, you will find following tables in the database.
channel, image, ImportErrors, and Item.

6- The latest news imported into the database will be available in Item table as shown below.

And that is it. Notice how easy it is to harness the power of RSS feeds into your Access databases. In my next post, I will discuss in details the errors encountered during this import operation and as mentioned in ImportErrors table and also slight help of VBA to keep the database constantly updated with fresh news from the web sources.