Carousel API: Integration Options

Need to get data in or out of Carousel? This is the right place!

There are many ways to integrate your data with Carousel. With RSS and iCal, the Carousel server will reach out to your servers to
download the data, and format for display. With HTML, the Carousel players will simply show the web page.
If you need to push data at Carousel, CAP or the REST API is a great option.

REST API

CAP

HTML

ICAL FEEDS

RSS FEEDS

RSS Feeds

Consume RSS feeds with media extensions. This is a great option for lists of things or even single pieces of data.
There are filtering and sorting options specifically for RSS feeds.

Use this for list-based data

Create a new RSS bulletin
Type in the URL to your feed
Set the feed properties
Use the #hashtags# to define where the data from your RSS feed will go.
Make sure to expand the 'Dynamic Fields List' under the content tab
Carousel will download, render, and publish the content every 15 minutes

Pro Tip: Use a service like zapier to convert data into an RSS feed. We use it all the time!

ICAL Feeds

Consume a calendar in iCal format. This is great for showing time-based things like events.
There are filtering and sorting options specifically for iCal feeds.

Use this for time-based data

Create a new Event Schedule bulletin
Type in the URL to your iCal feed
Set the feed properties
Use the #hashtags# to define where the data from your calendar feed will go
Make sure to expand the 'Dynamic Fields List' under the content tab
Carousel will download, render, and publish the content every 15 minutes

Pro Tip: Google Calendar has an iCal feed.

HTML Content

Website addresses are passed to the media players, and viewports are scaled to the zone dimensions.
The players implement a full Chrome browser, and all of your scripts will work.

Use this for interactive touch content or highly custom applications

Create a new interactive bulletin
Type in the URL to your web page
Set when Carousel should reload the webpage, or use Javascript to update your content
Note: This only works on BrightSign and Windows players
Use the WebPicture blocks feature for Apple TV

Pro Tip: Google Data Studio is a great way to build dashboards

CAP

Receive Common Alerting Protocol commands via HTTP POSTs. Carousel will parse the command, replace text placeholders,
and turn on tagged bulletins. Great for integrating with emergency systems.

Use this for emergency messages triggered from other systems

Go to Main Menu -> Configure -> System
Set your CAP Token for security
Create and tag alert bulletin(s)
Test CAP using the specified tag from Carousel
Use the URL as the HTTP POST endpoint in your emergency system

Pro Tip: Check out this knowledge base article about CAP.

REST API

Our entire web user interface is build exclusively on our own REST API. You can do everything with this API!
It's a great option if you want to push data into Carousel.

Use this for pushing data at Carousel or
if you need super responsive content changes

Read the Carousel REST API Overview
Explore the Carousel API Documentation
Use our demo server or code against your own Carousel server
If using Swagger to make API calls, log into Carousel in another browser tab,
this will make your life way easier!

Pro Tip: Check out this awesome PHP Package that we made for the Carousel API.

Carousel Labs

Open source projects you can use as examples

PHP Package for the Carousel API
A Composer package for interfacing with the Carousel 7+ API.
Carousel RDA Tester
Utility for testing commands sent to Carousel's Remote Data Adaptor service.
This is for legacy Carousel platforms.

PageToTemplate
Page to Template is a utility to convert a bulletin package to
a media package of templates.
InformaCast RDA Integration
This script takes a HTTP GET from InformaCast by SingleWire and
converts it to an Carousel RDA command