Can't get Service Alerts Protobuff to include header_text or description_text using Python gtfs_realtime_pb2 module - service

Question

We are having difficulty adding header_text and description_text to a Service Alerts protobuff file. We are attempting to match the example shown on this page here.
https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime/examples/alerts
Our data starts in the following dictionary:
alerts_dict = {
"header": {
"gtfs_realtime_version": "1",
"timestamp": "1543318671",
"incrementality": "FULL_DATASET"
},
"entity": [{
"497": {
"active_period": [{
"start": 1525320000,
"end": 1546315200
}],
"url": "http://www.capmetro.org/planner",
"effect": 4,
"header_text": "South 183: Airport",
"informed_entity": [{
"route_type": "3",
"route_id": "17",
"trip": "",
"stop_id": "3304"
}, {
"route_type": "3",
"route_id": "350",
"trip": "",
"stop_id": "3304"
}],
"description_text": "Stop closed temporarily",
"cause": 2
},
"460": {
"active_period": [{
"start": 1519876800,
"end": 1546315200
}],
"url": "http://www.capmetro.org/planner",
"effect": 4,
"header_text": "Ave F / Duval Detour",
"informed_entity": [{
"route_type": "3",
"route_id": "7",
"trip": "",
"stop_id": "1167"
}, {
"route_type": "3",
"route_id": "7",
"trip": "",
"stop_id": "1268"
}],
"description_text": "Stop closed temporarily",
"cause": 2
}
}]
}
Our Python code is as follows:
newfeed = gtfs_realtime_pb2.FeedMessage()
newfeedheader = newfeed.header
newfeedheader.gtfs_realtime_version = '2.0'
for alert_id, alert_dict in alerts_dict["entity"][0].iteritems():
print(alert_id)
print(alert_dict)
newentity = newfeed.entity.add()
newalert = newentity.alert
newentity.id = str(alert_id)
newtimerange = newalert.active_period.add()
newtimerange.end = alert_dict['active_period'][0]['end']
newtimerange.start = alert_dict['active_period'][0]['start']
for informed in alert_dict['informed_entity']:
newentityselector = newalert.informed_entity.add()
newentityselector.route_id = informed['route_id']
newentityselector.route_type = int(informed['route_type'])
newentityselector.stop_id = informed['stop_id']
print(alert_dict['description_text'])
newdescription = newalert.header_text
newdescription = alert_dict['description_text']
newalert.cause = alert_dict['cause']
newalert.effect = alert_dict['effect']
pb_feed = newfeed.SerializeToString()
with open("servicealerts.pb", 'wb') as fout:
fout.write(pb_feed)
The frustrating part is that we don't receive any sort of error message. Everything appears to run properly but the resulting pb file doesn't contain the new header_text or description_text items.
We are able to read the pb file using the following code:
feed = gtfs_realtime_pb2.FeedMessage()
response = open("servicealerts.pb")
feed.ParseFromString(response.read())
print(feed)
We truly appreciate any help that anyone can offer in pointing us in the right direction of figuring this out.

Answer 1

I was able to find the answer. This Python Notebook showed that by properly formatting the dictionary the PB could be generated with a few of lines of code.
from google.transit import gtfs_realtime_pb2
from google.protobuf.json_format import MessageToDict
newfeed = gtfs_realtime_pb2.FeedMessage()
ParseDict(alerts_dict, newfeed)
pb_feed = newfeed.SerializeToString()
with open("servicealerts.pb", 'wb') as fout:
fout.write(pb_feed)
All I had to do was format by dictionary properly.
if ALERT_GROUP_ID not in entity_dict.keys():
entity_dict[ALERT_GROUP_ID] = {"id": ALERT_GROUP_ID,
"alert":{
"active_period": [{
"start": int(START_TIME),
"end": int(END_TIME)
}],
"cause": cause_dict.get(CAUSE, ""),
"effect": effect_dict.get(EFFECT),
"url": {
"translation": [{
"text": URL,
"language": "en"
}]
},
"header_text": {
"translation": [{
"text": HEADER_TEXT,
"language": "en"
}]
},
"informed_entity": [{
'route_id': ROUTE_ID,
'route_type': ROUTE_TYPE,
'trip': TRIP,
'stop_id': STOP_ID
}],
"description_text": {
"translation": [{
"text": "Stop closed temporarily",
"language": "en"
}]
},
},
}
# print(entity_dict[ALERT_GROUP_ID]["alert"]['informed_entity'])
else:
entity_dict[ALERT_GROUP_ID]["alert"]['informed_entity'].append({
'route_id': ROUTE_ID,
'route_type': ROUTE_TYPE,
'trip': TRIP,
'stop_id': STOP_ID
})