Sunrise reports date error

[TJM]

I've been a begrudging user of Avantgo because they've successfully kept the palm-formatted content of my local paper (Minneapolis Star Tribune) to themselves.

Now, I see that the Star Tribune has an RSS feed that I can get with Sunrise/Plucker. But I am getting an error when I try to run Sunrise on this feed. Here is the error message from the report file:

error: Cannot convert dates prior to Jan 1, 1970

The RSS URL is: http://www.startribune.com/rss/462.xml

I see in the xml file that date fields look like this:
<pubDate>Tue, 02 May 2006 15:30:25 -0400</pubDate>

Whereas in a NY Times xml file, which converts successfully, they look like this:
<pubDate>Tue, 02 May 2006 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate>

Is it possible that the timezone is not being parsed correctly? Or does this have nothing to do with it?

In the Sunrise console, the error message says something about "could not retrieve home resource".

Thanks,
Tom

Oops, forgot to mention: Sunrise v2 beta 9f.

[Laurens]

The error originates from the date/time library and this cannot be fixed. Actually, one of the dates in the feed is "Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:59:59 -0500". This can't be right.

[TJM]

Originally Posted by Laurens

Actually, one of the dates in the feed is "Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:59:59 -0500". This can't be right.

Yes, I agree.

I see that now -- down at the bottom. Sorry to have suspected Sunrise, especially since I've been a very happy user after only a few days.

I guess I need to send a note to my local paper and ask them if their pubdate really is 1969.

Thanks again,
Tom

[Laurens]

On second thought, his might be fixable. Dates prior to 1970 should just be ignored. Even so, this is an exceptional case.

[TJM]

Originally Posted by Laurens

On second thought, his might be fixable. Dates prior to 1970 should just be ignored.

That would sure be nice if you could do that!

After trying several times throughout the day, the feed sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. When it doesn't work, it's because one of the pubdates on one of the stories is "Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:59:59 -0500".

Even if you can't fix this, I appreciate you helping me figure out the problem so quickly.

Regards,
Tom

[Laurens]

Fixed in 2.0 beta 9g.

[TJM]

Wow! Thanks, Laurens! I'm looking forward to trying it, as this odd date behavior still comes and goes from my local paper. I guess it must be an error in their automated RSS feed generator.

Your download site is currently giving a Server Error 503, but I'll keep checking back.

Thanks again,
Tom

[doogie68]

Originally Posted by TJM

Wow! Thanks, Laurens! I'm looking forward to trying it, as this odd date behavior still comes and goes from my local paper. I guess it must be an error in their automated RSS feed generator.

Your download site is currently giving a Server Error 503, but I'll keep checking back.

Thanks again,
Tom

Tom, have you tried using the Palm-optimized version of the Star Tribune's? I found the link elsewhere in these forums:

http://www.startribune.com/news/palm/palm.shtml

Edit: Nevermind, after I actually tried that, I saw that they don't maintain it at that site anymore. Oops!

[TJM]

Originally Posted by doogie68

Edit: Nevermind, after I actually tried that, I saw that they don't maintain it at that site anymore. Oops!

Yeah, I see those URLs are still floating around on a lot of not-so-up-to-date portals, etc. I blame Avantgo for bullying the Mpls Star Tribune into getting rid of those links, too, although I have nothing whatsoever to back up that claim.

Getting the paper's RSS feed with Sunrise was my first workaround to the Avantgo issue. And, as of last night, I've been figuring out Link Filtering to get even better results.

BTW, in addition to Laurens, and the Plucker development team, I owe you a "thanks" as well -- your tutorial was what finally got me "over the hump". So...thanks!

Regards,
Tom