Using XML for data exchange

XML has become a lingua franca for information exchange between applications. ViewsFlash now supports this important protocol in the following ways. You can create Style Templates in XML. With these, and the appropriate commands, you can retrieve live poll results and capture the questions and answers being asked.

Creating XML Style templates.
1. Construct a template, but write it in XML instead of HTML. If the first characters of such a template are <?XML and a space, ViewsFlash will automatically recognize it as an XML template and it will return a page of MIME type text/xml instead of the usual text/html.

2. Within the template, you can use all the tags available to a Form, Response, or Archive template, as needed.

Using the Web Services API
If you have licensed the API, you can issue the following servlet commands:

/servlet/viewsflash?cmd=getpoll&pollid=pollingplace!poll&spotname=SSSS&style=XMLStructure
/servlet/viewsflash?cmd=getresults&pollid=pollingplace!poll&spotname=SSSS&style=XMLResults

SSSS is a pollingplace name, PPPP is a poll id in pollingplacename!pollname format,
style is a Poll Style template or a Results style template, as appropriate.

You can also use for a single questionnaire and for rotating polls, respectively:
/servlet/viewsflash?cmd=getxmlstructure&pollid=pollingplace!poll
/servlet/viewsflash?cmd=getxmlstructure&spotname=SSSS

Both of these commands can also specify:
style=TTTTT
If this is not specified, the simple built-in XMLStructure style will be used. You can create your own XML form style as well.
If style=* is specified, the XML returned will be exactly the same as generated by the Export questionnaire as XML option in the Place page.

 

Next: Automated poll rotation