How do you pull info from a source to be displayed on your site?

[watchthestorms]

Hey! I'm new to web design and I was wondering if any of you could answer a question for me.

I've seen sites people create that is able to pull information or data from another site. For example, earlier I saw a movie site that automatically pulls information from IMDB.

How is this done? Is it a custom script or a simple trick? Could someone shed some light on it or maybe explain how its done?

Thanks guys.

 

[Modern_Media]

http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/tag_iframe.asp <--the most simple way is to use an iFrame.

There are HUNDREDS of ways to do this. Most websites make it really easy to do. For starters, let's say you want to display a Google Map on your website...SIMPLE!

1) Go to Google - click on the MAPS link.
2) Put your destination address and have Google pull it up.
3) At the top right of the location, you will see a "link" button.
4) Copy and paste the HTML code to your own website!

It's that easy.

 

[conor]

You are probably looking at RSS feeds.

To recieve an RSS feed you need to connect to a generator, http://blog.macaoidh.name/index.php/feed and then reed an XML file. You can then display it's contents in whatever way you want.

 

[wachtn]

Modern_Media, thank you. I have been looking for a way to do that. I have looked around and even made some forum posts. Doesnt help that I had no idea what I was looking for. This is perfect, for people like me that dont know anything better, for making ads and other content that needs to be changed from time to time but remain constant over many pages.

Small code, single source, 1 change. Muah! This is perfect!

 

[emopoops]

no. there are not hundreds of ways of doing this. sorry that is too exaggerative. its called mysql and its not another site that is very unsecure. its called a mysql database.