Using a dynamic url with Feed Me

Question

I'm trying to import posts using the Feed Me plugin. I'd like to make a dynamic URL so that I can access the feed from a Cron job or from elsewhere in the CP. It says in the docs that I can use environment variables inside the Feed URL, but it isn't working for me. Am I using them the wrong way?

My Feed URL (not working):

http://some-url.com/{{issueNumber}}

Apart from environment variables, is there some other way to pass variables into Feed Me? The client won't have direct access to the Feed Me plugin and therefore won't be able to manually edit the URL each time.

Answer 1

There's currently no method to parse variables into the feed itself through this, or any means. Typically, we approach this as feeds being third-party, or otherwise non-editable. How would you see utilising issueNumber to work in this scenario?

You can use the concept of aliases in your URL if that helps?

Lastly, you could also make use of the (undocumented) Datatype::EVENT_AFTER_FETCH_FEED event to perform any parsing on the feed once its been fetched?

Answer 2

Feed Me supports this but the setting isn't turned on by default.

1. Create an feed-me.php file under your /config directory
2. Turn on the parseTwig option using:

<?php

return [
    '*' => [
        'parseTwig' => true
    ]
];

3. You can now use twig variables in the default value field eg. if issueNumber is a field and the field is being populated by your feed you can set the default to http://some-url.com/{issueNumber}