Ok, i'm writing a CMS script and I need help deciding how to handle my RSS imports. Here are the two choices:

1) Like IPB, the feed gets read, and then it inserts all of the feed's items into the database as news entries and puts those news entries in a special RSS category.

or

2) Like IP.Dynamic (I think), the feed's articles aren't inserted into the database, but rather a page just shows the live feed's articles parsed, and is updated every 5 visitors to that page.

Which would you rather use if your website was importing RSS, or if you have another idea, please tell me.

Caching.

Parsing XML *can* be a fairly resource intensive procedure, so I'd recommend caching the results for a configurable period of time per RSS feed. By caching, I mean something as simple as storing the results in a text file, or a database. Whatever you see fit.

Personally I perform an MD5 of the RSS feed's url create a file with that name, and store the results in it. On each page, check if the file is over 1 hour old, and if it is, re-fetch the feed and cache the new results.

Ya I was going to use cache, but with the information, should I insert it (like IPB does with RSS import posts) or just show the cached feed without inserting it into the database as news articles.

That sounds a bit stupid to me. It could be way out of date by the time the 5th visitor gets to it.

Ya, but a visitor still needs to visit before it re-caches anyway, and it could be super out of date by the time it re-caches if no one is visiting the website as well.