RSS Feed

The RSS Feed Page allows you to create, edit, and delete RSS feeds for the Announcements section.

From this page, you can select to set or update the URL for RSS feeds for the Announcements section. The broadcast messages selected are displayed to all district users. Heartland School Solutions is responsible for displaying broadcast messages in a table but not for formatting the content. The content contained in the RSS feed is solely the responsibility of the district and WebSMARTT only displays what is transmitted in the feed.

Use the RSS Feed to point to a RSS formatted XML document stored on a web server (for instance the server on which WebSMARTT is installed). There is a template named \RSS\DistrictNews.xml which is included with WebSMARTT in the Inetpub folder that you can modify for use. This RSS feed document contains a template for you to add news items using any text editor. There is also a style sheet named RSSFeed.css that you can use to change the way announcements look.

Note that this template has three required fields: Title, Description, and Link. All three elements of the template file are required for the RSS feed to display properly. They do not require content, but all the elements must be present. Even if you want to use the Title field to display messages that do not require a linked page, the Link field must still be populated.

It is best if someone with some technical experience handles the RSS feed setup, which is why the function is limited to users with administrative privileges. RSS feeds are simple XML that can be created in any text editor or by using a third party application. There are web pages that can help generate RSS feeds for you. Some are free and some are available for purchase.