Sportwire must parse input from a variety of source media. These media include
Direct and continuous TCP/IP socket feeds.
Direct and continuous dedicated line (modem) feeds.
Periodic FTP feeds.
Local command line (stdin) input.
Some input may be directly transfered from a spreadsheet to the database using ODBC.
The input stage must recognize the incoming document type and map that document through to the database. Support for new document types should be possible through re-use of similar documents. Document types not specifically handled by the system should be ignored.
The following vendor feed formats must be supported:
Sportsticker pre-2002 binary feed.
AFP Winter Olympics XML feed.
Sportsticker 2002 XML feed.
Different feeds may need to run on different servers and may or may not feed into the same DBMS. Feeds should be selected when the program launches (perhaps through server properties) and do not need to be added or removed from a running Sportwire system.
There is no slow period in sports news. Changes to the Sportwire system must not require stopping or resetting the service.