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Valid Feed and Folder Names

Valid Feed and Folder Names

The Common Feed List subscription store caches the XML of a feed in a file with the same name. Because of the limits on file names imposed by the file system, certain characters are not allowed by the Windows RSS Platform in feed and folder names. This topic discusses conventions and limitations of valid names.

Naming Constraints

The Windows RSS Platform imposes the following constraints on feed and folder names:

  1. You may use any character in the current code page, including Unicode characters, for a feed or folder name, except control characters in the range of 0 (zero) through 31. If a method is called with a name that contains one or more control characters, the method will fail.
  2. The backslash (\) is reserved for use as a path separator and may not be used as part of a feed or folder name. It is valid only as part of a path.
  3. Folder and feed names are limited to 120 characters in length. If a method is called with a name longer then 120 characters, the method will fail.
  4. Folder paths (including the feed name) must be less than MAX_PATH in length after encoding.
    Note   To allow a wider variety of names, some characters that are normally disallowed by the file system are encoded. Encoding introduces additional characters into a name, up to twice its original length. The encoded names, when concatenated, must not exceed MAX_PATH.
  5. The empty string (string of zero length) is reserved for the root subscription folder.