I'm looking for a way to extract some information from this site via PHP:
http://www.mycitydeal.co.uk/deals/london
There ist a counter where the time left is displayed, but the information is within the JavaScript. Since I'm really a JavaScript rookie, I didn't really know how to get the information.
Normally I would extract the information with "preg_match" and some regular expressions. Can someone help me to extract the information (Hrs., Min., Sec.) ?
Jennifer
Extracting the count-down time is not going to be easy, because it is fetched and set purely using JavaScript, which cannot be parsed using pure PHP. You would have to de-code the JavaScript code and see what calls it makes to fetch the initial times.
That is not an easy process, and could be changed by the site owners in no time.
Also, doing that, you would be in clear breach of their T&C:
For the avoidance of doubt, scraping of the Website (and hacking of the Website) is not allowed.
I hate to say "no", but in this situation PHP is not the right job for this. JavaScript requires a browser to run (in this case) and on top of that you probably have a jQuery lib.
The only thing PHP could do is invoke a browser that would contain some JavaScript (i.e., GreaseMonkey) that could try and scrape the page for the info. But this is really a job for embedded JavaScript.
As the others have said you can usually not access JavaScript stuff from PHP. However JavaScript has to get its data from somewhere, and this is where to start.
I found this in the source code:
<input type="hidden" id="currentTimeLeft" value="3749960"/>
That's the number of microsecond until whatever it is.
However this was only present in firefox, not when fetching it with wget. I found out it's the cookie that matters, so you'd have to request the page once, store the cookies and then access it a second time.
Related
I am currently trying to load an HTML page via cURL. I can retrieve the HTML content, but part is loaded later via scripting (AJAX POST). I can not recover the HTML part (this is a table).
Is it possible to load a page entirely?
Thank you for your answers
No, you cannot do this.
CURL does nothing more than download a file from a URL -- it doesn't care whether it's HTML, Javascript, and image, a spreadsheet, or any other arbitrary data; it just downloads. It doesn't run anything or parse anything or display anything, it just downloads.
You are asking for something more than that. You need to download, parse the result as HTML, then run some Javascript that downloads something else, then run more Javascript that parses that result into more HTML and inserts it into the original HTML.
What you're basically looking for is a full-blown web browser, not CURL.
Since your goal involves "running some Javascript code", it should be fairly clear that it is not acheivable without having a Javascript interpreter available. This means that it is obviously not going to work inside of a PHP program (*). You're going to need to move beyond PHP. You're going to need a browser.
The solution I'd suggest is to use a very specialised browser called PhantomJS. This is actually a full Webkit browser, but without a user interface. It's specifically designed for automated testing of websites and other similar tasks. Your requirement fits it pretty well: write a script to get PhantomJS to open your URL, wait for the table to finish rendering, and grab the finished HTML code.
You'll need to install PhantomJS on your server, and then use a library like this one to control it from your PHP code.
I hope that helps.
(*) yes, I'm aware of the PHP extension that provides a JS interpreter inside of PHP, and it would provide a way to solve the problem, but it's experimental, unfinished, would be still difficult to implement as a solution, and I don't think it's a particularly good idea anyway, so let's not consider it for the purposes of this answer.
No, the only way you can do that is if you make a separate curl request to ajax request and put the two results together afterwards.
I looked for answers to this question, and it seems that most people have a specific problem. I'm looking for a more general answer. I have a text box where a user will type in their name and I would like to have PHP constantly monitor the text box and change the value of the $name as it is typed or edited.
I would also like to do the same with buttons, and as different buttons are clicked, the content of a variable would change to match that which the button represents. Basically, is there a way to get PHP to constantly run on the page and gather information from a user as it is changed?
It seems like it should be possible, but my experience with PHP is limited, and I'm not sure how to begin, so I don't have any code to really show.
This sounds to me like you require an ajax script checking for input changes(eg/ keystroke, on_blur or on_click for your buttons) and sending back to a php script that will update your variables/tables and return the new variables to the ajax script once they are updated.
1 - Ajax checking for changes on the page, and firing off to a php script on server.
2 - Have a method in your js that waits for the action to be completed and load the new variables into the HTML document.
Basically look up Ajax/PHP - Check username availability, Then adapt to your specific needs.
:)
Simple ajax script will be what your after, there are many scripts available for checking username availability --- As for a lone PHP script, this will not be possible as the PHP code has already ran on the server before the html document is rendered to the browser.
My first answer so my wording may not be perfect comment back if i have confused you more.
It seems like it should be possible, but my experience with PHP is limited, and I'm not sure how to begin, so I don't have any code to really show.
Yes, it's possible, but most likely only due to the nature that the browser (e.g. Firefox) and PHP itself are Free Software.
A proof of concept is missing so far, so you really need to start at a very basic level.
You can download these software packages and modify them to your needs, e.g. make the browser interactively corresponding to the DOM and DOM events process PHP scripts that you embed like script tags inside HTML.
But well, as you wrote, you're starting, so I guess, you don't want to start with rewriting the browser and the PHP interpreter, so even if possible, it's perhaps best to stick that interactive part inside the browser to Javascript and some HTTP request / response programming on the server with PHP.
I need to go to http://butlercountyclerk.org/bcc-11112005/ForeclosureSearch.aspx, enter data in the fields, then click the button to get results. When taken to the result page, I'm given a table of data but it's paginated into 5 different pages.
I'm able to do the above using cURL, but it's at this point that I get stuck.
Once I'm on the result page, I need to click the "date" header twice to make the data order by decreasing date, then skim off the current day's results.
Any idea how to do this, advanced detail or in concept? Either way should help.
Thanks!
The problem is that the click is actually performing a postback using javascript, with the limitations of PHP and cURL you will need to inspect the HTTP headers (GET, POST and COOKIES) being sent by the browser, and emulate them. Taking in mind that some values might be session dependent. Right now I don't have time to do this for you but I know it can be quite tricky with ASP.Net websites in some cases. There might be easier ways to do it, but that's what it will always come down to, because that's what happens.
If you weren't tied to PHP a whole world of options open - for example, the aggregator in the project I'm working on is actually capable of executing (controlled) javascript specifically for these kinds of tasks/pages (albeit on a grander scale).
I can't get a working set of results - if you could post some dummy data that gives results, that would help.
As a generic answer, you need something that can manipulate the DOM. You can go server-side with something like PHP and Webdriver, or purely client-side with Selenium. Simulate the click, get the resulting HTML and parse that.
This should work. try this.
$url ='http://butlercountyclerk.org/bcc-11112005/ForeclosureSearch.aspx';
## do curl , with cookies enabled.
## after do this.
$url =$url.'?'.'__EVENTTARGET=Search%3AdgSearch%3A_ctl2%3A_ctl1&__EVENTARGUMENT=&__VIEWSTATE=dDwtMjk2Mjk5NzczO3Q8O2w8aTwxPjs%2BO2w8dDw7bDxpPDE%2BOz47bDx0PDtsPGk8Mz47aTwxNz47aTwxOT47PjtsPHQ8dDw7cDxsPGk8MD47aTwxPjtpPDI%2BO2k8Mz47aTw0PjtpPDU%2BOz47bDxwPDIwMDY7MjAwNj47cDwyMDA3OzIwMDc%2BO3A8MjAwODsyMDA4PjtwPDIwMDk7MjAwOT47cDwyMDEwOzIwMTA%2BO3A8MjAxMTsyMDExPjs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VmlzaWJsZTs%2BO2w8bzx0Pjs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8QDA8cDxwPGw8Q3VycmVudFBhZ2VJbmRleDtQYWdlQ291bnQ7XyFJdGVtQ291bnQ7XyFEYXRhU291cmNlSXRlbUNvdW50O0RhdGFLZXlzOz47bDxpPDA%2BO2k8ND47aTwxMD47aTw0MD47bDw%2BOz4%2BOz47Ozs7Ozs7Ozs7PjtsPGk8MD47PjtsPHQ8O2w8aTwyPjtpPDM%2BO2k8ND47aTw1PjtpPDY%2BO2k8Nz47aTw4PjtpPDk%2BO2k8MTA%2BO2k8MTE%2BOz47bDx0PDtsPGk8MD47aTwxPjtpPDI%2BO2k8Mz47aTw0Pjs%2BO2w8dDw7bDxpPDA%2BOz47bDx0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7TmF2aWdhdGVVcmw7PjtsPENWIDIwMTEgMDUgMTQzNjtodHRwOi8vd3d3LmJ1dGxlcmNvdW50eWNsZXJrLm9yZy9wYS9wYS51cmQvcGFtdzIwMDAtb19jYXNlX3N1bT8xNjE3NzE0OSAgICAgICAgICAgIDs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8NS8zLzIwMTE7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPFNVTlRSVVNUIE1PUlRHQUdFIElOQzs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8TkFUSEFOSUVMIEdBQkJBUkQ7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPDEzNTQgVkFOREVSVkVFUiBBVkUgSEFNSUxUT04sIE9IIDQ1MDExOz4%2BOz47Oz47Pj47dDw7bDxpPDA%2BO2k8MT47aTwyPjtpPDM%2BO2k8ND47PjtsPHQ8O2w8aTwwPjs%2BO2w8dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0O05hdmlnYXRlVXJsOz47bDxDViAyMDExIDA1IDE0MTU7aHR0cDovL3d3dy5idXRsZXJjb3VudHljbGVyay5vcmcvcGEvcGEudXJkL3BhbXcyMDAwLW9fY2FzZV9zdW0%2FMTk2MzQ4ODUgICAgICAgICAgICA7Pj47Pjs7Pjs%2BPjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPDUvMi8yMDExOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDxUSElSRCBGRURFUkFMIFNBVklOR1MgQU5EIExPQU4gQVNTTiBPRiBDTEVWRUxBTkQ7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPEdBWUxFIE5BU0g7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPDg5NDEgQ09YIFJEIFdFU1QgQ0hFU1RFUiwgT0ggNDUwNjk7Pj47Pjs7Pjs%2BPjt0PDtsPGk8MD47aTwxPjtpPDI%2BO2k8Mz47aTw0Pjs%2BO2w8dDw7bDxpPDA%2BOz47bDx0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7TmF2aWdhdGVVcmw7PjtsPENWIDIwMTEgMDUgMTUwMztodHRwOi8vd3d3LmJ1dGxlcmNvdW50eWNsZXJrLm9yZy9wYS9wYS51cmQvcGFtdzIwMDAtb19jYXNlX3N1bT8yMjY1MTYxMiAgICAgICAgICAgIDs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8NS85LzIwMTE7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPFUgUyBCQU5LIE4gQTs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8TE9VSVMgTUlSTUFOOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDw2OTkxIEdBUlkgTEVFIERSIFdFU1QgQ0hFU1RFUiwgT0ggNDUwNjk7Pj47Pjs7Pjs%2BPjt0PDtsPGk8MD47aTwxPjtpPDI%2BO2k8Mz47aTw0Pjs%2BO2w8dDw7bDxpPDA%2BOz47bDx0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7TmF2aWdhdGVVcmw7PjtsPENWIDIwMTEgMDUgMTQ5MjtodHRwOi8vd3d3LmJ1dGxlcmNvdW50eWNsZXJrLm9yZy9wYS9wYS51cmQvcGFtdzIwMDAtb19jYXNlX3N1bT8yMzk3NTc5MiAgICAgICAgICAgIDs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8NS82LzIwMTE7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPEZJRlRIIFRISVJEIE1PUlRHQUdFIENPOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDxSQVlNT05EIFNURUlOOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDwyMzU5IFRIUlVTSCBBVkUgRkFJUkZJRUxELCBPSCA0NTAxNDs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8O2w8aTwwPjtpPDE%2BO2k8Mj47aTwzPjtpPDQ%2BOz47bDx0PDtsPGk8MD47PjtsPHQ8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDtOYXZpZ2F0ZVVybDs%2BO2w8Q1YgMjAxMSAwNSAxNDM4O2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuYnV0bGVyY291bnR5Y2xlcmsub3JnL3BhL3BhLnVyZC9wYW13MjAwMC1vX2Nhc2Vfc3VtPzI0NzgyOTYzICAgICAgICAgICAgOz4%2BOz47Oz47Pj47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDw1LzMvMjAxMTs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8V0VMTFMgRkFSR08gQkFOSyBOIEE7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPEpBTkVUIEJPRUhNOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDw4NjA4IEdPTERGSU5DSCBXQVkgV0VTVCBDSEVTVEVSLCBPSCA0NTA2OTs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8O2w8aTwwPjtpPDE%2BO2k8Mj47aTwzPjtpPDQ%2BOz47bDx0PDtsPGk8MD47PjtsPHQ8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDtOYXZpZ2F0ZVVybDs%2BO2w8Q1YgMjAxMSAwNSAxNDQwO2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuYnV0bGVyY291bnR5Y2xlcmsub3JnL3BhL3BhLnVyZC9wYW13MjAwMC1vX2Nhc2Vfc3VtPzI1NTkwMjAzICAgICAgICAgICAgOz4%2BOz47Oz47Pj47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDw1LzQvMjAxMTs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8RklGVEggVEhJUkQgQkFOSzs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8VEhFT0RPUkUgQ09PSzs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8UE8gQk9YIDE3MTEgV0VTVCBDSEVTVEVSLCBPSCA0NTA3MTs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8O2w8aTwwPjtpPDE%2BO2k8Mj47aTwzPjtpPDQ%2BOz47bDx0PDtsPGk8MD47PjtsPHQ8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDtOYXZpZ2F0ZVVybDs%2BO2w8Q1YgMjAxMSAwNSAxNDkwO2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuYnV0bGVyY291bnR5Y2xlcmsub3JnL3BhL3BhLnVyZC9wYW13MjAwMC1vX2Nhc2Vfc3VtPzI2ODY3MDkxICAgICAgICAgICAgOz4%2BOz47Oz47Pj47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDw1LzYvMjAxMTs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8Q0lUSUZJTkFOQ0lBTCBJTkM7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPERPTk5BIE1BUkRJUzs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8NjU0OSBDQU5BU1RPVEEgRFJJVkUgSEFNSUxUT04sIE9IIDQ1MDExOz4%2BOz47Oz47Pj47dDw7bDxpPDA%2BO2k8MT47aTwyPjtpPDM%2BO2k8ND47PjtsPHQ8O2w8aTwwPjs%2BO2w8dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0O05hdmlnYXRlVXJsOz47bDxDViAyMDExIDA1IDE0Njg7aHR0cDovL3d3dy5idXRsZXJjb3VudHljbGVyay5vcmcvcGEvcGEudXJkL3BhbXcyMDAwLW9fY2FzZV9zdW0%2FMjk4NzU2MDIgICAgICAgICAgICA7Pj47Pjs7Pjs%2BPjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPDUvNS8yMDExOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDxDSVRJTU9SVEdBR0UgSU5DOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDxNQVRUSEVXIEJMVU5ERUxMOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDwxNDEyIEhFTE1BIEFWRSBIQU1JTFRPTiwgT0ggNDUwMTM7Pj47Pjs7Pjs%2BPjt0PDtsPGk8MD47aTwxPjtpPDI%2BO2k8Mz47aTw0Pjs%2BO2w8dDw7bDxpPDA%2BOz47bDx0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7TmF2aWdhdGVVcmw7PjtsPENWIDIwMTEgMDUgMTQzMjtodHRwOi8vd3d3LmJ1dGxlcmNvdW50eWNsZXJrLm9yZy9wYS9wYS51cmQvcGFtdzIwMDAtb19jYXNlX3N1bT8zMjI0MzYxNyAgICAgICAgICAgIDs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8NS8zLzIwMTE7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPFdFTExTIEZBUkdPIEJBTksgTiBBOz4%2BOz47Oz47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDxKT0hOIEJPV01BTjs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8Jm5ic3BcOzs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BOz4%2BO3Q8O2w8aTwwPjtpPDE%2BO2k8Mj47aTwzPjtpPDQ%2BOz47bDx0PDtsPGk8MD47PjtsPHQ8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDtOYXZpZ2F0ZVVybDs%2BO2w8Q1YgMjAxMSAwNSAxNDYzO2h0dHA6Ly93d3cuYnV0bGVyY291bnR5Y2xlcmsub3JnL3BhL3BhLnVyZC9wYW13MjAwMC1vX2Nhc2Vfc3VtPzQyMjcwMTE5ICAgICAgICAgICAgOz4%2BOz47Oz47Pj47dDxwPHA8bDxUZXh0Oz47bDw1LzQvMjAxMTs%2BPjs%2BOzs%2BO3Q8cDxwPGw8VGV4dDs%2BO2w8VSBTIEJBTksgTkFUSU9OQUwgQVNTT0NJQVRJT047Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPEJSWUFOIFNDSE1JRFQ7Pj47Pjs7Pjt0PHA8cDxsPFRleHQ7PjtsPDI4OTUgV0VFUElORyBXSUxMT1cgRFJJVkUgSEFNSUxUT04sIE9IIDQ1MDExOz4%2BOz47Oz47Pj47Pj47Pj47Pj47Pj47Pj47PtVTse1TdIXrxq%2FXrY%2Fp22QQ7pAh&Search%3AddlMonth=5&Search%3AddlYear=2011&Search%3AtxtCompanyName=&Search%3AtxtLastName=&Search%3AtxtCaseNumber=';
## DO curl with cookies on again
I need to write a script that takes a link and parses the HTML of the linked page to pull in the title and a few other pieces of data like potentially a short description much like when you link to something on Facebook.
It will be called when a user adds a link to the site, so could see a decent number of hits when the client launches the site.
I am curious if I should do this on the server side with PHP or the end user side with Javascript? I have been writing the logic behind trying to figure out which areas of the markup are filled with potential content and it made me wonder if the load would be too much if I continue in PHP.
The client has just the one decent web server and I worry parsing/analyzing HTML pages may be too much load where we could do it in Javascript and farm it out to the user adding the link.
Any advice or thoughts on the matter would be awesome. Thank you.
Edit: This data is not going straight into the database, it is used to help the user by auto filling the description of their link which still goes through my regular vetting before being stored to the DB.
Well, this is an easy one, because performing this from the client-side purely with JavaScript just plain isn't an option at all due to the same origin policy.
Parsing HTML isn't that heavy of a task, you should be fine doing it in PHP.
I would offload this to the end-user via javascript, with a listener you could then bind it back to the server. The reasons why are simple:
This is a helper to the front-end not the backend (values aren't stored or manipulated on the backend directly.)
The load is better spread around than localized on your server, also you'll probably give a better user experience here if the end-user is only pulling 1 url vs. the server pulling thousands.
Processing in the front-end also mitigates the possibility of malicious code being executed directly on your server.
If you're thinking about having the client actually got and fetch some random site, parse it for you in Javascript, grab the title, description and other data and then submit that in your form for you, your form's submit time is going to be held hostage to your user's network connection speed for fetching that page and whatever overhead (likely miniscule) for parsing the data. If you do that server side using cURL, the hit will be in parsing the document for what you need. the best speed solution would probably be to let the person enter the URL, get it back in PHP, have PHP hand it off to a Perl script (which has some wicked fast DOM parsers) and get the required data back for the PERL script. From personal experience, the Perl scripts outperform cURL all day long, and cURL generally outperforms javascript AJAX gets by a wide margin just by nature of being on a bigger pipe than a home user.
You can do both....
1) PHP:
checkout HTML DOM Parser, could be helpful
or use php curl and then parse with DOMDocument
2) JavaScript:
you don't have to bother your server (pro)
parsing content with jQuery is easy (pro)
you need to handle cross domain policy (cons)
i have a php script who parser a rss and give me the data in a know pattern. Im very new with ASP, JavaScript and Jquery so i dont have any idea of how to autoupdate the script and display the new data with a smooth animation (see this example, that exactly what i want). Thanks for the support and if you know a good script to made this i will appreciate it.
Seems like you're looking for this:
http://leftlogic.com/lounge/articles/jquery_spy2/
It's PHP (not ASP), so that might be an issue, though the code is SUPER easy to implement (I've written by own implementation on three separate occasions).
The site itself has some decent documentation on getting things up and running, but if you need some extra help, comment and I'll point you in the right direction :)
Good luck!
The resources people have linked here are helpful and merely mentioning jQuery means you're probably headed in the right direction. But if you're new to this it might still be worth mentioning some of the concepts you'll be looking to play with here.
First of all, you'll probably want to stick with one language on the client side and one on the server side. This means choosing either PHP or ASP -- this isn't clear from your question but I'll assume you're dealing with PHP since that's the language I use for this kind of thing. JavaScript + jQuery is the right choice for the browser (client) side of things.
Like Luca points out, you'll have to set up some JavaScript code that goes live on page load and "polls" the server at a set interval. In JavaScript you do this using something called XMLHttpRequest (or "XHR") and it's pretty complicated. You could use combination of jQuery and a library like the one Matt points to in his answer, or just jQuery -- sample code abounds but it's basically a loop with a function call and sleep timer.
That function call is going to be one of the more difficult parts if you're trying to emulate the Twitter World Cup site. But here's the basic idea: You need to populate a list using jQuery and a data standard like JSON. Since the RSS feed you'll be parsing is written in XML, you'll have to write a server side (PHP/ASP) script that fetches, parses and converts the feed to JSON. In PHP, this is best done through cURL (file_get_contents() if you're lazy), SimpleXML and json_encode(), respectively.
Your JavaScript should load the list based on JSON. To do this, and display any new items, what you'll do is load the JSON from the client (browser) side using a jQuery method like getJSON(). Then you spin through the array object and add any new items to the list by adding new <li> elements to the "DOM." The same jQuery code that does this can easily also do the cross dissolve with something like fadeIn().
It looks like the script on that example page has an Ajax request running every TOT seconds.
You could simply have your PHP script return the RSS data (in JSON format say) and let JavaScript parse it and generate some HTML with it.
If all of this doesn't make sense to you I advice reading a little about JavaScript and PHP... there's plenty of good books.