Information about channels and feed items is stored as metadata (information about information), arranged in a tree-like hierarchy.
A metadata entry can be one of two types:
For example, a channel's metadata might look something like the diagram to the right. There are two metadata groups,
and , and everything else is a metadata value.While each type of metadata can be used either as a value or group, in practice each is typically used as one or the other.
The following are usually used as metadata groups.
Metadata ID
| Description
|
Author | Feed/item author.
This will have one or more of the following child nodes:
, , |
Contributor | Feed/item contributor.
This will have one or more of the following child nodes:
, , |
Editor | Channel editor.
This will have either a
or child node. |
Webmaster | Channel webmaster.
This will have either a
or child node. |
Image | Channel image.
This will have a
child node and optionally and/or child nodes. |
Icon | Channel icon.
This will have a
child node. |
Category | Feed/item category.
This will have one or more of the following child nodes:
, , |
Link | A link.
This will have a
child node and any of the following optional child nodes: , , , . |
Comments | Indicates where a feed item's comments can be found.
This metadata node is found in RSS feeds only and has a single
child node. |
Source | States the item's source.
For RSS feeds, this will have a
and/or a child node. For Atom 1.0 feeds, it will have one or more of the following child nodes: , , , , , , , , , , . |
The following are usually used as metadata values.
Metadata ID
| Description
|
ID | Feed/item identifier. |
Name | Feed/item name. |
Description | Feed/item description. |
Copyright | Feed/item copyright message. |
Language | Feed/item language ID. |
Published | Feed/item published date. |
Modified | Feed/item modified date. |
URL | Specifies a URL. |
Specifies an email address. | |
SkipDays | Specifies which days a feed should not be updated.
This metadata is found in RSS feeds only and is a list of day numbers (where 0=Sunday).
|
SkipHours | Specifies which hours a feed should not be updated.
This metadata is found in RSS feeds only and is a list of hour numbers (0-23).
|
Relation | Specifies a relation type.
This is usually a child of a
node and specifies the link's reltype. |
MediaType | Specifies a media type.
This is usually a child of a
node and specifies the link's media type. |
Width | Specifies a width. |
Height | Specifies a height. |
Size | Specifies a size. |
Length | Specifies a length. |