Beware of Third-party Plugins
Solution: It turns out that all you have to do to solve the problem outlined below is to add the line define('MAGPIE_CACHE_ON', false); to the rss-functions.php file in the wp-includes folder. (Ezio Tuveri, the author of the content-related rss feeds plugin, said to turn Wordpress Magpie caching off, and I found that adding the line define('MAGPIE_CACHE_ON', false); to the rss-functions.php file in the wp-includes folder (in my Wordpress installation) solved the problem. The news feeds are no longer stored in my database.)
In short, the solution is to add the line define('MAGPIE_CACHE_ON', false); to the rss-functions.php file in the wp-includes folder (in Wordpress). But if you cut and paste this line of code, make sure that the single quotation marks ( ' ) are not "curly." You might have to retype the single quotation marks, the ones encasing the phrase MAGPIE_CACHE_ON.
--
Today I asked the author of the "Content Related Feeds Plugin for Wordpress" for help. I posted the following comment to his blog:
In your plugin script you say, "The plugin is set up to display the news from yahoo.com, you can change it if you are familiar with php, if you don't or you need any help leave a message in the plugin page at http://www.2very.com/content-related-rss-feeds-plugin/."I have noticed that your content-related rss feeds plugin caches entire Yahoo news articles in the "options" portion of the mySQL database used by my Wordpress installation. But I only use headlines and do not even need a cache.
How can I truncate or eliminate the Yahoo news cache so that I can reduce the size of my database. (The Yahoo news cache sometimes grows to 90 MB or more.)
Update:
Ezio Tuveri, the author of the content-related rss feeds plugin, http://www.2very.com, emailed me to say,
Sorry I Couldn't get to you yesterday.This plugin doesn't use the data base at all, it writes on the fly everytime you open the the page.
I don't know why this is happening to you, are you sure it's my plugin?
And I replied,
Yes, when I disable your plugin the problem with the database goes away. If your plugin does not use my database then sem-extract-terms does. Your plugin requires sem-extract-terms. Any insight you can give me about how to resolve the issue will be very helpful. Maybe we have to modify sem-extract-terms.php.
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Here is the complete email conversation:
From: Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 12:02 PM
Hello David,
Sorry I Couldn't get to you yeasterday.
This plugin doesn't use the data base at all,
it writes on the fly everytime you open the the page.
I don't know why this is happening to you, are you sure it's my plugin?
I went to your website but you don't have installed there.
If you want to use just the headlines call the plugin like this:
< ?php rss4content(number of feeds,false,false,false,0);?>
as in on my page.
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From: Me Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 12:27 PM
To: Ezio Tuveri
Yes, when I disable your plugin the problem with the database goes away. If your plugin does not use my database then sem-extract-terms does. Your plugin requires sem-extract-terms. Any insight you can give me about how to resolve the issue will be very helpful. Maybe we have to modify sem-extract-terms.php.
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From: Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 12:34 PM
As futher as I know sem-extract-tems
Doesn’t use data base either.
Could you go to your database admin
And get some of the data that you think
Has been put by these 2 plugins
Looking at the data might help to find out
How it got there.
Ciao.
--
From: Me
Sent: 09 February 2007 17:27
To: Ezio Tuveri
I'm sure it must be sem-extract terms, because I do not access Yahoo news from anywhere else in my blogs. Here is some of the data from the database of http://oil.fuelspace.com
1019 0 rss_43b2f99bef01ed3d1da071ab38274865 Y 1 O:9:"magpierss":17:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current... 20 8 1 no
1020 0 rss_43b2f99bef01ed3d1da071ab38274865_ts Y 1 1171041269 20 8 1 no
1021 0 rss_0a24feec916b9f4a5c928e52ad6e2c80 Y 1 O:9:"magpierss":17:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current... 20 8 1 no
And here is [part of] the content of 1019:
O:9:"magpierss":17:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current_item";a:0:{}s:5:"items";a:10:{i:0;a:6:{s:5:"title";s:25:"Gas prices (ePolitix.com)";s:4:"link";s:160:" http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/susan+kramer/SIG=12q7nair1/*http%3A//www.epolitix.com/EN/ForumBriefs/200702/4b12c171-30ee-4529-b9a7-adf3d6f9856c.htm ";s:4:"guid";s:160:"http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/susan+kramer/SIG=12q7nair1/*http%3A//www.epolitix.com/EN/ForumBriefs/200702/4b12c171-30ee-4529-b9a7-adf3d6f9856c.htm ";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:06:45 GMT";s:11:"description";s:265:"ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on news that British Gas is to lower some of its prices. Liberal Democrat trade and industry spokesman Susan Kramer said: "This is a welcome move that will begin to undo some of the big increases that have hit bill payers recently.";s:7:"summary";s:265:" ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on news that British Gas is to lower some of its prices. Liberal Democrat trade and industry spokesman Susan Kramer said: "This is a welcome move that will begin to undo some of the big increases that have hit bill payers recently.";}i:1;a:6:{s:5:"title";s:48:""Iron Chefs" cook up winners (Asbury Park Press)";s:4:"link";s:145:" http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/susan+kramer/SIG=12bk6mng0/*http%3A//www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/NEWS02/702080524 ";s:4:"guid";s:145:"http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/susan+kramer/SIG=12bk6mng0/*http%3A//www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/NEWS02/702080524 ";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:46:11 GMT";s:11:"description";s:128:"Using a paring knife, Carl Kramer used his artistic talents and his culinary skills to create a turkey out of a shiny red apple.";s:7:"summary";s:128:"Using a paring knife, Carl Kramer used his artistic talents and his culinary skills to create a turkey out of a shiny red apple.";}i:2;a:6:{s:5:"title";s:32:"Bowles (Hanover Herald-Progress)";s:4:"link";s:136:" http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/susan+kramer/SIG=1220elbta/*http%3A//www.herald-progress.com/articles/2007/02/09/obituaries/ ";s:4:"guid";s:136:"http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/susan+kramer/SIG=1220elbta/*http%3A//www.herald-progress.com/articles/2007/02/09/obituaries/ ";s:7:"pubdate";s:29:"Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:42:49 GMT";s:11:"description";s:258:"Arthur Broaddus Bowles, 74, passed away Friday, Feb. 2, 2007. Remains rest at the Mechanicsville Chapel of the Bennett Funeral Home, where the family received friends Monday, and where services were held Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007. Interment Forest Lawn Cemetery.";s:7:"summary";s:258:"Arthur Broaddus Bowles, 74, passed away Friday, Feb. 2, 2007. Remains rest at the Mechanicsville Chapel of the Bennett Funeral Home, where the family received friends Monday, and where services were held Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007. Interment Forest Lawn Cemetery.";}i:3;a:6:{s:5:"title";s:89:"Heart disease treatments tend to favor men over women (Glenwood Springs Post Independent)";s:4:"link";s:158:"
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Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 2:48 PM
To: me
Hi Dave,
sem-extract terms, I double checked the script and
it doesn’t use any database at all,
You got magpierss,
that could be conflicting
We the other 2?
I found this info about magpierss
· How does Magpie caching work?
When Magpie successfully fetches and parses a feed, it saves the results PHP object to a file in the "cache directory". (this is called "serializing") Next time Magpie is asked to fetch that feed, Magpie will check for a cached version first.
The data you gave me is it from the MySQL database or the cache?
Please let me know, because if you are using content related rss feeds you don’t need magpie
The plugin uses the wordpress parser.
Please let me know
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From: me Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 3:38 PM
To: Ezio Tuveri
the data i sent you was from my mySQL database.
and i found this info: "Wordpress, with its built in MAGPIE support, stores the cache internally so you don't need to manage it anymore. Wordpress stores the cache in the Database."
Is Wordpress automatically caching the Yahoo feeds? How do we turn it off?
I use your plugin on various blogs, and they all cache the yahoo stuff to the database, even though they all use different combinations of plugins. I have one site that only uses your plugin, backup, and sitemap, and it still caches to the database.
you should check your database and see if it is happening to you too. you will find the data in the "options" table in your mySQL database, from page 3 of the "options" table onwards.
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From: Me Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 3:55 PM
To: Ezio Tuveri
Your plugin requires wp-includes/rss-functions.php which is the Wordpress magpie script. You have these two lines at the top of your plugin:
require_once(ABSPATH.'wp-content/plugins/sem-extract-terms/sem- extract-terms.php');
require_once(ABSPATH.'wp-includes/rss-functions.php');
And the wp-includes/rss-functions.php script begins as
< ?php
/*
* Project: MagpieRSS: a simple RSS integration tool
* File: A compiled file for RSS syndication
* Author: Kellan Elliott-McCrea
* Version: 0.51
* License: GPL
*/
define('RSS', 'RSS');
define('ATOM', 'Atom');
define('MAGPIE_USER_AGENT', 'WordPress/' . $wp_version);
class MagpieRSS {
var $parser;
var $current_item = array(); // item etc., etc.
Also, the data i sent you was from my mySQL database.
and i found this info: "Wordpress, with its built in MAGPIE support, stores the cache internally so you don't need to manage it anymore. Wordpress stores the cache in the Database."
Is Wordpress automatically caching the Yahoo feeds? How do we turn it off?
I use your plugin on various blogs, and they all cache the yahoo stuff to the database, even though they all use different combinations of plugins. I have one site that only uses your plugin, backup, and sitemap, and it still caches to the database.
you should check your database and see if it is happening to you too. you will find the data in the "options" table in your mySQL database, from page 3 of the "options" table onwards.
--
Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 4:09 PM
To: me
Hi dave
I am reading that function now,
What version of wordpress have you got?
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Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 4:19 PM
To: me
Hi dave,
Try to disable the cache
And see what happens
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Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 4:36 PM
To: me
How you getting on Dave?
My database is ok.
Have you disabled the cache?
The easiest way to do that
Is to install the wp-cache plugin
Than you go to options you choose wp-cache
And disable it, make sure your .htaccess file
Is writeable or CMod 666
--
From: me Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 4:57 PM
To: Ezio Tuveri
I will give it a try and let you know.
I use Wordpress 2.0
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From: me Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 5:15 PM
To: Ezio Tuveri
wp-cache does not cache to the database, so how will disabling it help? From http://dev.wp-plugins.org/wiki/WP-Cache - "WP-Cache is an extremely efficient WordPress page caching system to make you site much faster and responsive. It works by caching Worpress pages and storing them in a static file for serving future requests directly from the file rather than loading and compiling the whole PHP code and the building the page from the database."
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Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 5:29 PM
To: me
OK
Magpie doesn’t write to database
I just finished reading the script the chache makes static page
Sem-extract-terms and rss4content don’t either
So who’s writing to the database?
What version of rss4content have you got?
If you got the old one delete it and install the new one
--
From: me
Sent: 09 February 2007 22:15
To: Ezio Tuveri
On http://wordpress.org/support/topic/62712 the Wordpress moderator says, "WP's MagpieRSS facility caches feeds in the database. Have a look in the options table for any rss_* records there."
So the code is in there somewhere.
In one of my blogs, I use your updated plugin. It makes no difference.
But here is the good news. I added the line define('MAGPIE_CACHE_ON', false); to rss-functions.php and it seems to be working. I'll keep an eye on the database and let you know.
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Ezio Tuveri Fri, Feb 9, 2007 at 7:07 PM
To: me
There is nothing in my database
I have been using this for about 3 months now
And I have never noticed anything like that at all.
The only reference that I found to the database
In the rss-functions.php is to check if the cache is
On or something like that but I don’t remember noticing
Anything that could put data in there.
The gay using these words “MagpieRSS facility caches feeds in the database”
Is probably using the wrong words,
You don’t cache things in a data base, you store them
Database is for storing data, or maybe I am wrong.
Anyway dave I am glad you solved the problem.
And if you don’t mind I put this as a comment in the site
So if someone else has the same problem we know what to do.
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From: me Sat, Feb 10, 2007 at 8:40 AM
To: Ezio Tuveri
I checked my database this morning and, indeed, adding the line define('MAGPIE_CACHE_ON', false); to the rss-functions.php file in the wp-includes folder solved the problem. The Yahoo news items are no longer stored in my database.
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