RSS Feed Importer WordPress Plugin

This WordPress plugin imports posts from a specified RSS or Atom feed into your WordPress site on a recurring schedule.

Features

• Scheduled Imports: Automatically checks a specified feed URL for new posts based on standard WordPress cron schedules (e.g., hourly, twice daily, daily).
• Configurable Import Quantity: Set the maximum number of posts to attempt importing during each scheduled check.
• Post Status Control: Choose the status (Draft, Published, Pending Review, Private) for newly imported posts.
• Category Assignment: Assign all imported posts to a specific category selected from a dropdown list.
• Image Handling:
  • Imports images found within the feed item's content, uploads them to the WordPress Media Library, and updates the image URLs in the post content.
  • Detects image enclosures in the feed and attempts to set them as the post's Featured Image.
• Duplicate Prevention: Stores the feed item's GUID (or permalink as fallback) in post meta to prevent importing the same item multiple times.
• Simple Settings Page: Configure the feed URL, schedule, quantity, status, and category under "Tools" -> "RSS Importer" in the WordPress admin area.

How it Works

1. Settings: Configure the plugin via the admin settings page. Saving the settings schedules (or reschedules) the import task using WP-Cron.
2. Cron Job: On the chosen schedule, the rss_importer_cron function runs.
3. Fetch Feed: It fetches the specified RSS/Atom feed using WordPress's built-in fetch_feed() function.
4. Check for Duplicates: For each item in the feed (up to the specified quantity), it checks if a post with the same GUID has already been imported by checking post meta (_rss_importer_guid).
5. Process Content Images: It parses the feed item's content (the_content), finds <img> tags, downloads the images using download_url(), uploads them to the Media Library using media_handle_sideload(), and updates the src attributes in the content with the new URLs.
6. Insert Post: It creates a new post using wp_insert_post(), mapping the feed item's title, processed content, date, and selected status/category. It also stores the original GUID, feed URL, and item permalink as post meta.
7. Featured Image: If the feed item has an image enclosure, it attempts to download and upload that image using media_handle_sideload() and sets it as the Featured Image for the newly created post using set_post_thumbnail().

Requirements

• WordPress (tested vaguely around recent versions)
• PHP (with standard extensions like DOM, mbstring, and an image library like GD or Imagick for thumbnail generation)
• A functioning WP-Cron system (standard WordPress cron or a server-side cron job triggering wp-cron.php)

Installation

1. Download the plugin files (e.g., rss_importer.php).
2. Place the rss_importer.php file (or the directory containing it, if packaged) into your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
3. Activate the "RSS Feed Importer" plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress.
4. Go to "Tools" -> "RSS Importer" to configure the settings.

Notes

• Import scheduling relies on WP-Cron, which depends on site traffic to trigger schedules. For guaranteed timing, consider setting up a server-level cron job to hit wp-cron.php.
• Image import success depends on the remote server allowing downloads, PHP memory limits, and correct image library setup on your server.
• The author for imported posts is currently hardcoded to user ID 1 (the initial admin user). This could be made configurable in future versions.