Using FlashAlert files in your station or newspaper's website and/or CGS
Files for automatic placement in your website
FlashAlert can automatically place a file into your server containing all the latest data. Through FTP, the file is replaced every five minutes. Information can be provided in a generic HTML style, tab-delimited form, CSV, JSON or as an XML file you can parse.
Here is what the HTML version of the file looks like on a station website.
Important: FlashAlert does not allow "hotlinking" to its site. It is acceptable for stations to periodically pull reports from FlashAlert (every 5 to 15 minutes) if FTP is not available; however you need to cache and re-display this information to your site visitors instead of sending them directly to our servers via hot-linking or iframing FlashAlert report pages.
Files that can automatically populate your TV station CGS
FlashAlert has two XML data feeds available. One contains all of the data: emergencies, news releases and participants. The other, designed for use in TV CGS, has only the emergency postings.
Complete XML file for the Portland area (select View Source)
Sample XML File Structure
<flashnews updated="2012-08-14 03:12:18">
<emergency>
<emergency_category name="Central Co. Schools">
<emergency_report report_id="26940" effective_date="2012-08-14 15:08:40" updated="0" last_update="2012-08-14 15:08:50" testing="0" schoolrelated="1" orgid="413" custom="0" operating_code="5" transpo_code="20">
<detail><![CDATA[2 hrs late, Buses on snow rts]]></detail>
<tomorrow><![CDATA[Effective tomorrow – Wed Aug 15th]]></tomorrow>
<orgname orgid="413" tier="1" zipcode="x"><![CDATA[Cityville Schools]]></orgname>
</emergency_report>
</emergency_category>
</emergency>
</flashnews>
Field/Element/Attributes Descriptions
Time the information was posted or last changed
Type of info (emergency, news release, sports)
The grouping, i.e. schools, police, military
A unique number for this incident, stays constant if the info is updated
The time the report was first published
0 = no updates since posting; 1 = updated
The time when the report was last altered
1 = school-related, 0 = non-school
An org's unique ID number
0 = preconfigured message, 1 = handwritten
The message content
Next-day message; resets at midnight
In Portland/Colorado Springs: 1 = premium, 2 = basic
Zip of the org’s registration
To FTP files into your website or CGS, FlashAlert needs the server address, any folder, a username and password.
How to Pull a Feed from a Single FlashAlert Region
All feeds include all information for all regions. To filter the region(s) appropriate for your needs, use the region codes listed below:
Region Codes
Example Code Pull
Example pull from Columbia/Tri Cities/Pendleton/Yakima region using the rich HTML closures feed:
<iframe style="width:100%; height:150px;" src="https://www.flashalertnewswire.net/IIN/reportsX/cwc-closures.php?RegionID=13&Testing=0"></iframe>