Data feed created in php doesn't validate - php

Question

I have to following code to upload data to a third party. However when I test it in a validator I get the following error:
Undefined root elements:items and text/xml media type is not specific enough.
I have no clue has what I need to change.
Here is the code:
header('Content-Type: text/xml');
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items>';
mysql_select_db($database_dconn, $dconn);
$query_feed = "SELECT * FROM dat_table WHERE time BETWEEN (NOW() - INTERVAL 7 DAY) AND NOW()";
$feed = mysql_query($query_feed, $dconn) or die(mysql_error());
while ($row_feed = mysql_fetch_assoc($feed)){
echo'<item>
<name>'.$row_feed['Name'].'</name>
<email>'.$row_feed['email'].'</email>
<date>'.$row_feed['Date'].'</date>
<description>'.$row_feed['Make'].' '.$row_feed['Model'].' '.$row_feed['Type'].'</description>
<logon>'.$row_feed['Logon'].'</logon>
<category>'.$row_feed['Type'].'/'.$row_feed['Make'].'</category>
<product_search_code>'.$row_feed['Product_search_code'].'</product_search_code>
<order_ref>'.$row_feed['Invoice'].'</order_ref>
<product_link>'.$row_feed['Product_link'].'</product_link>
<customer_ref>'.$row_feed['Invoice'].'</customer_ref>
<amount>'.$row_feed['Price'].'</amount>
<currency>GBP</currency>
</item>';
}
echo '</items>
';
This is RSS out put in validator:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items><item>
<name>Name of customer</name>
<email>customer#gmail.com</email>
<date>03/04/2014</date>
<description>Roland FP80BK Piano</description>
<logon>www.pianoandkeyboardshoponline.co.uk</logon>
<category>Piano/Roland</category>
<product_search_code>264</product_search_code>
<order_ref>8336</order_ref>
<product_link>http://www.pianoandkeyboardshop.co.uk/Roland-FP80-Digital-Piano-in-Satin-Black/264</product_link>
<customer_ref>8336</customer_ref>
<amount>1500.00</amount>
<currency>GBP</currency>
</item><item>
next item etc
---
--
</item><items>
Any help is really appreciated.

Answer 1

The text/xml content type is for generic XML documents. For a feed, try using
header('Content-Type: application/rss+xml');
But anyway, in order to create a valid RSS you have to use the correct RSS tags (Something like this). You seem to use a lot of custom tags instead, so I don't know what exactly you need to do. The easiest solution would be to use namespaces for your custom tags, so something like:
header('Content-Type: application/rss+xml');
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:mytags="http://mytags.something.net">
<channel>
<title>My RSS Title</title>
<description>This is the description for my RSS feed</description>
<link>http://www.someexamplerssdomain.com/main.html</link>
<mytags:items>';
mysql_select_db($database_dconn, $dconn);
$query_feed = "SELECT * FROM dat_table WHERE time BETWEEN (NOW() - INTERVAL 7 DAY) AND NOW()";
$feed = mysql_query($query_feed, $dconn) or die(mysql_error());
while ($row_feed = mysql_fetch_assoc($feed)){
echo '<mytags:item>
<mytags:name>'.$row_feed['Name'].'</mytags:name>
<mytags:email>'.$row_feed['email'].'</mytags:email>
<mytags:date>'.$row_feed['Date'].'</mytags:date>
<mytags:description>'.$row_feed['Make'].' '.$row_feed['Model'].' '.$row_feed['Type'].'</mytags:description>
<mytags:logon>'.$row_feed['Logon'].'</mytags:logon>
<mytags:category>'.$row_feed['Type'].'/'.$row_feed['Make'].'</mytags:category>
<mytags:product_search_code>'.$row_feed['Product_search_code'].'</mytags:product_search_code>
<mytags:order_ref>'.$row_feed['Invoice'].'</mytags:order_ref>
<mytags:product_link>'.$row_feed['Product_link'].'</mytags:product_link>
<mytags:customer_ref>'.$row_feed['Invoice'].'</mytags:customer_ref>
<mytags:amount>'.$row_feed['Price'].'</mytags:amount>
<mytags:currency>GBP</mytags:currency>
</mytags:item>';
}
echo '</mytags:items>
</channel>
</rss>';

Answer 2

You have no xmlns (XML name space) defined. Thus the error is probably due to the fact that the root element items is... not defined, as said in the error message. See this link or that link for explanations on xmlns.
First, to complete the previous answer, after the first echo, add a rss-specific line: echo '<rss version="2.0">';
Second, you either need to add an xmlns definition in the above line echo '<rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">'; for example, or to change the root element name. try with channel or feed. Better yet, find a feed which is read by the service you want your feed to be read by, and have a look at the beginning of the file; look for xmlns and root element names.
best,