iphone - retrieving information from the internet (rss alternative?)

Question

(Very) basically my app is just a load of information collected from the internet - eg: someone can log into an admin panel on a website and update their app from there. The information gets put into a mysql database.

The way I thought about going about this was to use an RSS feed - it works for blog/twitter feeds, so I thought why not do it for the rest of the information that I want to get.

My question is, is this a suitable way to do it? Basically just make dynamic XML files (php scripts that output XML) and parse them on the iphone, or is there a better way to do it?

I'm not looking for a full blown tutorial, just maybe a few keywords that I can go off and look up myself - or a "XML is the best way... stick at that". :p

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

I personally like JSON more than XML, since it creates less characters to transfer the same data = less bandwidth/transfer used and faster response.

You can use a JSON library from here or just stick with XML since you're familiar with it. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference.