Workaround to auto refresh RSS feed web part for SharePoint 2010 lists

If you have seen previous blog, you might know SharePoint 2010 RSS feed web part does not support AJAX asynchronous load as it should be. As a result,  you will not be able to setup to auto refresh the web part with the latest SharePoint list  feeds using AJAX options without IIS reset. 

This result has been acknowledged by Microsoft that it can be confusing to users if they try to use this option when  it does not perform this function one would expect. However, the RSS feed web part was not designed to provide this functionality so presently the issue in regards to a fix, is that the option is there in the first place. 

This is a workaround we tested it you could auto refresh the web part. The workaround is to setup the web part refresh (This is inherited from Date View web part) instead of AJAX asynchronous load. The result will be refresh through webpart refresh that is causing page refresh. You should see these options on the properties of the web part itself:

Now, you could adjust the refresh time to get the latest SharePoint list RSS feeds. The potential issue is the performance impact. This is NOT AJAX asynchronous load but a whole page refresh. If you have multiple BCS webparts,  multiple PSS feed webparts, you may run into performance issue. User experience might be impacted too.

Regrading the future enhancement or fix, here is the feedback from Microsoft. If the first then we can explore the best approach for dealing with the confusion in the option being present when it shouldn’t be. If the request is for the functionality to be added then this would be a design change request, as we are requesting new functionality. For this the product group would need a strong business reason as to why this functionality should be added in the context of a cumulative update. I can’t guarantee this can be done, it depends on a lot of factors, but if it’s something you feel strongly about pursuing we can certainly push forward the request.