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Documentation Center
If you want a more detailed look at our content and technology, contact us to request access to the documentation center.

You will find out more about:

  • Each FlexSport operational mode
  • Our software
  • Our database
  • Our web services API
  • Our formatting flexibility

Architectural Diagrams
See an outline of the various modes in which our platform can be deployed.
FeedFetcher Software: A Closer Look

XML Team's FeedFetcher software is the industry-leading platform for receiving sports data feeds. FeedFetcher runs on either Windows or Linux, and is installed in the data centers of our clients.

  • FeedFetcher can receive content from XML Team either via Pulling it from our servers (say, once per minute), having the content Pushed once the content is available, or via a combination of the two. FeedFetcher can also load XML files placed in local directories.
  • FeedFetcher Basic drops off all received content into a configurable directory structure on the client's server.
  • FeedFetcher Deluxe parses the XML files, and splits out all the news, scores, stats, injuries, odds, etc. into a fancy SQL database structure called SportsDB, which we have released as open-source.

The Basic and Deluxe platforms both come with robust and flexible content formatting tools, which convert the XML into sharp-looking HTML renditions which you can customize.

FeedFetcher Deluxe also comes with the SportsCaster Web Service API, a suite of tools that allow you to pull content from your database without writing custom SQL queries. Instead, you simply need to write URLs that tell SportsCaster what content you want to retrieve, and how you want to format that content.

Typical Data Flow

  End-user requests to see a scoreboard for their favorite teams
  A pass-through "gateway" page:
  • receives the request
  • queries some internal (non-SportsDB) database tables for the list of teams designated by the User as "favorites"
  • constructs a SportsCaster URL using the unique IDs of those teams
  The SportsCaster Web Service:
  • makes efficient calls to the SportsDB database for the latest scores for those teams
  • formats the content either using XSLT or using PHP's native formatting capabilities
  A sharp HTML page in your look and feel is returned to the User
  • potentially using SportsCaster's bundled AJAX javascript and caching capabilities

See our Delivered Feed Architectural Diagram for another look at this system's design.