New server is up and running, engine updated

Finally, our new server is up and running, and serving free feeds as well. The migration took a bit longer than expected, and we appreciate your patience.

The new server is running as www3.feed43.com currently; as the new DNS values propagate, it will be running as feed43.com (this should be a transparent move).

As a positive note, the new server is running the newer version of Feed43 engine which should be faster and more stable, especially when dealing with Unicode pages and patterns.

Update on migration

Our new shiny server is in the racks. We'll start deployng Feed43 engine there and migrating database today.

Temporarily serving paid users only

While we are in the process of moving to a faster server, which can take couple of days, we are currently serving paid users only, to reduce the overall load. We'll keep you updated.

Moving Feed43 to a dedicated server

Feed43 was experiencing a high load recently; we are currently moving it to a dedicated server. Hope everything will go smoothly.

Access Feed43 feeds via HTTPS

Since today, you can request Feed43 feeds over the secure connection. All you need is just use the following URL to request your feeds:

https://feed43.com/your_feed_name.xml

This, along with feed password-protection, will allow you to really secure your private feeds. We are likely to restrict this feature to paid feeds eventually, but currently you can use it with every feed.

Note that you can also use entire Feed43 site in secure mode (when creating or editing feeds, sending feedback to us, etc.). Just go to https://feed43.com instead of regular http://feed43.com address.

We are also planning to support https:// in feed source URL soon. Stay tuned.

Problems with broken links on 'Upgrade' page fixed

Some of our users expected problems with Feed43 'Upgrade' page with broken links. This has been fixed. Just reload the http://feed43.com/upgrade.html page and please welcome to upgrade your Feed43 accounts.

Dealing with search forms that hide full queries from user

This is the letter from one of Feed43 users:

I'm trying to make a feed off of a page that requires a search first.
It is a job bank and I want certain items defined first - like the type of job
and the county. However, the search results don't give off a unique
URL. Here is the site: http://www.illinoiseducationjobbank.org/IASAScripts/IASA.dll/JobSearch

Any idea how I could get this to work?

The problem with this site is that whatever you want to search, it doesn't show you the full query in browser's address bar, because it uses POST method to transmit data to the server.

Feed43 uses only GET method, i.e. passes all parameters in URL string. Luckily, most servers that use POST method, also accept parameters passed in URL. The rest is simple: you need to peek into POST string transmitted to the server in question and append it to server URL being displayed in your browser. Here comes handy the Firefox browser with Live HTTP Headers plugin installed.

Here is step-by-step solution to customer's request:

1. Open Firefox browser, choose Tools > Live HTTP Headers and make sure that '[x]Capture' checkbox is enabled.
2. Switch back to Firefox without closing the Live HTTP Headers window.
3. Open original search form (http://www.illinoiseducationjobbank.org/JobBank/View.asp) in Firefox browser.
4. Fill out the form and press 'Search' button.
5. When you get the results, switch back to Live HTTP Headers window again, scroll down to the end of report and look for a block starting with line: POST /IASAScripts/IASA.dll/JobSearch? HTTP/1.1
6. At the end of this block you will see actual query line. It will look something like:
   PositionType=5&Category=Other+School+Service+Personnel
   &County=&Grades=&EmployType=&EmployType=100&SUBMIT=Search
7. This is what you need. Copy it to clipboard and then append to the URL you see now in FireFox browser. Your full URL will be:
   http://www.illinoiseducationjobbank.org/IASAScripts/IASA.dll/JobSearch?PositionType=5&Category=Other+School+Service+Personnel
   &County=&Grades=&EmployType=&EmployType=100&SUBMIT=Search
8. Use this URL in Feed43.