Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on RSS Feeds

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for RSS, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build RSS-connected web applications for RSS feeds. This article shows how to connect to RSS with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing RSS feeds.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live RSS feeds in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from RSS, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to RSS and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to RSS Feeds

Connecting to RSS feeds looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

You can connect to RSS and Atom feeds, as well as feeds with custom extensions. To connect to a feed, set the URL property. You can also access secure feeds. A variety of authentication mechanisms are supported. See the help documentation for details.

After installing the CData RSS Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing RSS through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize RSS Feeds in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.rss as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData RSS Connector to create a connection for working with RSS feeds.

cnxn = mod.connect("URI=http://broadcastCorp/rss/;")

Execute SQL to RSS

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Author, Pubdate FROM Latest News WHERE Category = 'US'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-rssedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our RSS feeds and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.Author, y=df.Pubdate, name='Author')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='RSS Latest News Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the RSS feeds.

python rss-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for RSS to start building Python apps with connectivity to RSS feeds. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.rss as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("URI=http://broadcastCorp/rss/;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Author, Pubdate FROM Latest News WHERE Category = 'US'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-rssdataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.Author, y=df.Pubdate, name='Author')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='RSS Latest News Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)