Polycom® Digital Signage™ (PDS™) 2000 Administrator Guide 1.
Trademark Information Polycom®, the Triangles logo, ReadiManager®, SoundPoint®, SoundStation®, ViaVideo®, VoiceStation®, Vortex®, and VSX® are registered trademarks of Polycom, Inc.
Contents Contents About this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide The PDS Player Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Current Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents Screenshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 System Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Network Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Remote Player Management Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Crawling Ticker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Slide Show Tickers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Video Slide Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Message Board/Webcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Alerts . . .
Contents Modifying Flipbook Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Adding and Editing a Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Basic Crawl Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating a Manual Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating a Data-Driven Crawl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crawl Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Parsing Rule Reference Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GetImage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GetTag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GetUrl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
About this Guide This introduction provides a brief overview of the Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide, describes the conventions used in this manual, and explains how to get additional information or support. Purpose The Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide describes how to configure and use the Polycom Digital Signage Player and Remote Manager for a complete digital signage solution.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Customer Support Audience This guide is primarily for: • Polycom Digital Signage Administrators - Responsible for configuring and managing the Polycom appliance. You should have a working knowledge of media publication, peripheral ports, network protocols, and media streaming and editing. You should also be familiar with Web fundamentals, such as URLs and HTML.
About Polycom Digital Signage This chapter explains the Polycom Digital Signage architecture.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Architecture Overview Polycom Digital Signage Web Controller The Polycom Digital Signage Web Controller software lets users easily update and manage content on the Players in a Polycom Digital Signage network, with point-and-click simplicity. Polycom Digital Signage Agent The Polycom Digital Signage Agent software is the link between Players and the Server, enabling network status and health monitoring.
Architecture Overview About Polycom Digital Signage Polycom Digital Signage Player, and sends regular heartbeat and status messages to the Polycom Digital Signage Server. The Agent can also take steps to "heal" the Player if it detects a problem. Administrators monitor and manage the system using the Polycom Digital Signage Remote Manager application. This software displays the status and details of all the Players connected to the system.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 4 Architecture Overview Polycom, Inc.
1 Configuring the PDS Player This chapter explains the basic configuration processes for the Polycom Digital Signage Player.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Configuring the Player Directly If using RDP to access a Player, you will not be prompted to enter login credentials. Please note, however, that to reboot a PDS Player using RDP you will need to enter ALT + F4. This will launch a shut down dialog, from which you must select Restart. NOTE: Accessing the Player via RDP locks the Player output. As a result, RDP is not a recommended tool for routine player management.
Configuring PDS Player Video Settings Configuring the PDS Player Output Windows Settings The Output Window section of Video Settings includes the following configuration options: Polycom, Inc. • Standard: Specifies the dimensions of the video output window. Choose from a list of standard resolutions: 640x480, 720x480 (DV-NTSC), 720x486 (NTSC SMPTE), 720x576 (PAL), 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, and 1920x1080.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Startup Settings • Full screen: When selected, the PDS Player output will be displayed in full screen mode (either on the primary or secondary display). When unselected, the PDS Player output will be displayed in a separate window. • Output Window Zoom: Select to resize the CG Rendering window to 100% (full size) or 50% half size when the Full screen mode is disabled.
Startup Settings Configuring the PDS Player Settings defined in Startup Properties let you specify templates or scripts that may load when PDS Player initially launches, as well as application functions that may occur when PDS Player initially launches. Startup Properties The Startup Properties settings of Startup Settings are described as follows: • Default Background Template: Specifies a template to load by default in the background layer of the CG output when the PDS Player first launches.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide • Options Load previously loaded playlist on startup: When enabled, loads the previously loaded playlist when the PDS Player launches. When disabled, the PDS Player launches remaining in a ready state with no content displayed on the CG output.
Options Configuring the PDS Player General The General Settings panel allows administrators to dictate certain general configuration settings for the CG Rendering engine that is launched by default from the PDS Player. The settings are described as follows: • Show renderer control panel: When enabled, displays the CG rendering engine control panel. • Enable auto screenshot: When enabled, takes screenshots of the content being displayed by the PDS Player.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Configuring PDS Player Advanced Settings Audio The Audio Settings of the Options window are described as follows: • Adjust volume on slide load: When enabled, increases or decreases the audio output level based on the number configured in the Player Default Volume.
Configuring PDS Player Advanced Settings Configuring the PDS Player Renderer Settings The Renderer Settings options of Advanced Program Settings are described as follows: • Renderer IP Address: Displays the IP address of the rendering engine. • Renderer Executable Filename: Displays the executable filename that corresponds to the PDS rendering engine. • Connection Delay: Displays the delay, in seconds, from the time you click the Render button until the scene is submitted CG rendering engine.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide • Configuring PDS Player Advanced Settings Command folder: Displays the folder to which the commands are stored on the system for use with other PDS applications such as Remote Manager, or Web Screens. Playout Settings The Playout Settings of the Advanced Program Settings are as follows: • Player Mode box: — Standard: Configures the PDS Player to function as an authoring station.
2 Using the PDS Player This chapter outlines local control of the Polycom Digital Signage Player. In a typical implementation, however, all configuration and content management will be performed through the PDS Remote Manager and PDS Web Controller. Please note that these tools are described in subsequent chapters.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 3 Getting Started If you have elected not to use full-screen mode, the content will be displayed on the CG Rendering Window. To disable the CG Rendering Window, open Tools > VertigoCG and select Stop. Alternatively, press ALT + ESC. Further controls for the CG Renderer are detailed below. Loading a Playlist 1 To load a PDS Playlist, in the PDS Player choose File > Load Playlist… 2 Browse to a PDS Playlist (.xplst) on your computer and choose Open.
The PDS Player Interface Using the PDS Player The PDS Player Interface The PDS Player is designed to facilitate the task of playing out either individual templates, playlists, or creating schedules of events. Current Playlist Displays the directory path and name of the currently active playlist. NOTE: Previously loaded playlists can be quickly loaded by clicking on the Current Playlist filename bar and choosing a playlist from the drop-down list that appears. Default Layer Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide The PDS Player Interface Specifies the rendering layer in which a template loads. Options available are Background and Foreground. Default Transition Specifies the default transition effect to be used in between templates loaded in a playlist. Transitions from which you can select include Cut, Fade, Crossfade, Push Right, Push Left, and Random. Events • Last Event: The time of the last event loaded or executed in the Player.
The PDS Player Interface Using the PDS Player : Button Function Pauses the playback of the currently loaded playlist. When paused, resumes playback of the currently loaded playlist. Plays the previous event in the currently loaded playlist. Plays the next event in the currently loaded playlist. Jumps to the first event in the currently loaded playlist. Jumps to the last event in the currently loaded playlist. Message Control • When Show Messages is enabled, displays messages from the PDS Player.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Scheduling Events with the PDS Player Scheduling Events with the PDS Player With the PDS Scheduler, you can create playout schedules for several different playlists, or assign PDS commands to occur at specific times throughout the day. Schedules can also include control events, such as starting a crawling ticker on the output screen.
Scheduling Events with the PDS Player Polycom, Inc. Using the PDS Player 2 If the Schedule is presented by Month rather than Day, go to the View Mode box and select Day. 3 In the Day view, right-click on the date and time at which to start playing the slideshow. From the Scheduler menu that appears, select Add Event…. The Add Schedule Event dialog appears.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 4 Scheduling Events with the PDS Player In the Event box, select Load Presentation. You can also select any of the following and schedule its playout: Load Presentation: Schedules playout of a complete presentation. Load Slide: Schedules playout of an individual slide. You must select the presentation and specific slide. Load Playlist: Schedules playout of a playlist. Browse to select a playlist (.xplst) file.
Scheduling Events with the PDS Player Using the PDS Player 10 From the Recurrent Pattern options, set the frequency of recurrence. Choosing Daily, Weekly, and Monthly will appear. 11 From the Range of Recurrence options, set start and end dates. 12 Click OK. 13 The scheduled presentation and any recurrences you specified appear in the PDS Scheduler calendar. To delete a scheduled event: 1 In the PDS Scheduler, select the event you want to delete and right-click.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Scheduling Events with the PDS Player To edit a scheduled event: 1 In the PDS Scheduler, select the event you want to edit and right-click. 2 In the menu that appears, select Edit Event… The Add Schedule Event dialog appears. To immediately execute a scheduled event: 1 In the PDS Scheduler, select the event you want to execute and right-click. 2 In the menu that appears, select Run Event Now.
Controlling the VertigoCG Renderer Using the PDS Player Controlling the VertigoCG Renderer The PDS Player lets you gain access to the CG rendering engine directly. This lets you start and stop the CG as desired. To start and stop the VertigoCG, do the following: 1 In the PDS Player, choose Tools > VertigoCG > Start. 2 The CG rendering window appears. 3 When ready to stop the CG rendering engine, choose Tools > VertigoCG > Stop. 4 The CG rendering window disappears.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 4 Controlling the VertigoCG Renderer Click Control Panel to launch the VertigoCG Control Panel. Hardware Settings allow users to choose a video card device for output, select video and audio capture devices, whether to display the Renderer in full screen or in a moveable window, the TV output format (NTSC, PAL, etc.), and whether to display FPS along with the output.
Controlling the VertigoCG Renderer Using the PDS Player 5 The Software Settings tab provides another set of configuration options. Users can change the scene directory, dictate a log file, change the TCPIP Port for the CG Renderer, change the Cel Cache Size, and enable MipMapping, a faster but more memory-intensive form of rendering. If MipMapping is enabled, users can adjust the negative level of detail bias.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 28 Controlling the VertigoCG Renderer Polycom, Inc.
3 Using the Remote Manager This chapter explains the interface and use cases for the Polycom Digital Signage Remote Manager. The installation of the Remote Manager is detailed in the Polycom Digital Signage Server Getting Started Guide. This chapter contains the following sections: • Main Window • Tool Bar • Network and Groups Pane • Remote Player Management Console Main Window The PDS Remote Manager interface consists of the toolbars and four panes, as shown in the image below: Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Main Window The toolbars provide the buttons used for a number of high-level operations within PDS Remote Manager. Most other operations are available through dialog boxes that will be displayed (e.g., on a Player name or thumbnail image). Networks and Groups Pane The Networks & Groups pane shows a tree view of the hierarchy of networks and groups you can manage that are running on the PDS Server.
Tool Bar Using the Remote Manager Current Incidents Pane The Current Incidents pane shows the actual log messages from PDS Server and the PDS Remote Manager. The events shown here are all major and minor log messages from the Polycom PDS Server and the PDS Remote Manager, including the events shown in the Events pane.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Tool Bar Auto-Refresh Menu The Auto-Refresh menu allows you to select the interval at which the status information in Remote Manager is refreshed. This includes refreshing the screenshots as well as all other system information displayed in the different tabs in the Network pane.
Tool Bar Using the Remote Manager Publish New Content Click Publish Content to bring up the Publish Content dialog. The dialog has a Package Name field at the top (enter the name of your content package here) and three tabs in the main section: To publish content: 1 Click Add Files… to select files from your computer to be added to the package. You may select multiple files in the file browser by holding down Shift and clicking the file icons.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide a 34 Tool Bar The Assets tab and the Detail File List tab allow you to select from two different views of the list of files in the package. 2 Click Remove All to remove all of the assets from the package. (Select an asset and press the Delete key to remove only one asset from the package.) 3 Click Reset Target Paths to reset the destination paths for all assets back to their default values. 4 To set individual destination paths, use the Assets view.
Tool Bar Using the Remote Manager Remove Old Content If there is old content to be removed from the Players receiving the package, you can specify the file names for the old content in the Remove Old Content tab. Click "Add Files" to add files to the removal list and bring up the deletion dialog: Execute Actions After you have selected your assets and made any required changes to the destination paths, click Next to bring up the Package Properties dialog: Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Tool Bar Publish Software Update Polycom Digital Signage Remote Manager can be used to publish routine software maintenance updates to the network of Players. To publish a software update: 1 Click Publish Software Update. 2 The Open Executable File dialog will appear. Choose a file and click Open. 3 The Package Properties dialog will appear.
Network and Groups Pane Using the Remote Manager Network and Groups Pane The Networks & Groups pane shows a tree view of the hierarchy of networks and groups of Players managed by the PDS Server. The network or group you select here will select the Players shown in the Network pane and the operations performed on those Players.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Network and Groups Pane managers. One potential use case for multiple networks is for an organization with multiple geographic locations and unique content managers for each location. Groups can incorporate players across multiple networks. Players can also be associated with multiple groups.
Network and Groups Pane Using the Remote Manager Manage Players The Networks and Groups Pane allows direct configuration changes to the Players on a Server. Polycom, Inc. 1 Right click on a Server, Network, or subnetwork in the Networks and Groups Pane. Select Manage Players from the context menu. 2 The Edit Properties of Players menu will appear. 3 Click within the Player Name region to edit the name of a given PDS Player.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Network and Groups Pane Delete Offline Players Offline Players can be deleted individually by right-clicking on the Player in the Connections tab of the Network pane. Alternatively, selecting Delete Offline Players will delete all offline Players in a network. Please note that online Players cannot be deleted. 40 1 Selecting the Delete Offline Players dialogue will launch the Offline Players menu.
Network and Groups Pane Using the Remote Manager Create New Network New Networks can be created by right-clicking on a Server in the Remote Manager. Subnetworks can be created by right-clicking on a Network. 1 Right click on a Server, Network, or subnetwork in the Networks and Groups Pane. Select Create Network from the context menu. The Create New Network window will appear. 2 Provide a Name and optional Network Description.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Network and Groups Pane Manage Users 1 Right click on a Server, Network, or subnetwork in the Networks and Groups Pane. Select Manage Users from the context menu. 2 The Manage Accounts window will appear. 3 To delete an account, right-click on the username and select Delete Account. 4 Click Add Account to create a new account, or double-click on an existing account to edit the properties.
Network and Groups Pane Using the Remote Manager — The Network Administrator oversees all configuration on a given network via the Remote Manager, as well as all content oversight abilities. — The Content Manager has content update privileges on a given network via the Web Controller; the Content Manager can log into but make no changes in the Remote Manager. 7 Provide an email address and login credentials. 8 Click OK.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Network Pane Network Pane The Network pane shows different properties of the Players that are in the network or group selected in the Networks & Groups pane. Manager List A list of managers appears below the Player list in the Network Pane. Details about managers currently online are visible here. 44 Polycom, Inc.
Network Pane Using the Remote Manager Double-clicking a manager’s username launches a chat pop-up: Connections The Connections tab shows a table with one row for each Player. The table columns show the following information for each Player: — Name — Online status — IP address — Network — Date and time it came online — System ID — Number of dropped connections — Player (agent) version number Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Network Pane — Date and time the Player was last online (for offline Players) Note: — The name in the network column indicates the network to which the Player belongs, which is useful when you have selected a network or group that contains sub-networks or subgroups. — Players that are currently offline will be shown as dimmed, i.e., the text of their table row will be a light gray color, and you will not be able to perform most operations on them.
Network Pane Using the Remote Manager — Time stamp (in Player local time) of the last screenshot sent to PDS Server — The full Windows file path of the currently running playlist Please note that: — Players that are currently offline will be shown as dimmed, i.e., the text of their table row will be a light gray color, and you will not be able to perform most operations on them. — You can sort the table entries by clicking any of the column headings.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Network Pane You can select the monitor whose image is used for the screenshots by selecting from the pop-up menu immediately below the screenshot viewing area. You can select PDS Output Screen (this is the default option), System Primary Screen, or System Secondary Screen. (Note that if you select System Secondary Screen, Remote Manager will show a blank blue screen for all Players that have a single-monitor configuration.
Network Pane Using the Remote Manager — Players that are currently offline will be shown as dimmed, i.e., the text of their table row will be a light gray color, and you will not be able to perform most operations on them. — You can sort the table entries by clicking any of the column headings. The PDS Remote Manager will initially sort the table by Player name. Network Packages Network packages can be observed from the Network Packages tab.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Remote Player Management Console Remote Player Management Console Double-clicking a Player in the Network pane (double-clicking the Player row in a tabular view, or double-clicking the Player's thumbnail image in an image view) will bring up the PDS Remote Player Management Console window. This window presents more detailed status information on the Player and provides tools for managing and controlling the Player.
Remote Player Management Console Using the Remote Manager Tools Menu The Tools menu contains the following options: — File Browser: Select this option to bring up a File Manager view, browsing the Player's file system, in a separate window. The File Manager is described in detail below. — Close: Select this option to close the Remote Player Management Console window.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Remote Player Management Console — In the Arguments field, enter the command-line parameters, if any. — In the Working Directory field, enter the full path of the directory (on the Player) that will be the working directory for the new process. — To cancel and return to the Remote Player Management Console, click Cancel. — To schedule the process on multiple Players, click Start On… You will be brought to a new dialog with a tree view of the Player network.
Remote Player Management Console Using the Remote Manager Monitoring Settings The Monitoring Settings dialog box allows you to configure different settings for the Player Agent: • Enable Self-Healing allows the agent to take corrective action should a Player experience a problem playing out content. • Load last played playlist… to have the PDS Player automatically load the previously running playlist any time it is started.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Remote Player Management Console — Missing audio: This alarm condition occurs when the agent is not able to obtain any audio output from the Player. This usually indicates a problem with the Player. (Note that Enable Audio Monitoring must be checked for this condition to trigger an alarm.) — Missing heartbeat: The Player regularly updates a timestamp file (the "heartbeat") that is checked by the Agent.
Remote Player Management Console Using the Remote Manager Status Detail Panel The Status Detail panel of the Remote Player Management Console provides granular and up-to-the-moment status information regarding the Player. The Status Detail panel also provides remote process management for the Player appliance. The Status Detail panel consists of four tabs: Player Status, Running Processes, Windows Services, and File Manager.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Remote Player Management Console Running Processes The Running Processes tab functions as a process manager for the remote Player. • 56 To stop a process running on the PDS Player, right-click on the process and click Kill Process. Polycom, Inc.
Remote Player Management Console Using the Remote Manager Windows Services The Windows Services tab displays the Windows services on the selected PDS Player. As with the Running Processes tab, users can remotely start and stop these services when necessary. Polycom, Inc. • To stop a running Windows service, right-click on the service and click Stop. • To start a Windows service, right-click on the service and click Start.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Remote Player Management Console File Manager The File Manager allows direct management of the files on the PDS Player. Using the File Manager, administrators can navigate through the files stored on the PDS Player. • If you wish to alter or edit a folder, right-click on the folder. A pop-up appears: — Copy Path to Clipboard: Copies the path of the folder as text. — Rename/Move To: Allows users to rename or move the folder. — Delete: Deletes the file.
Remote Player Management Console Using the Remote Manager • Right-clicking on a file will launch the following pop-up: — View Tail: Launches a text editor which displays the last 50 KB to 5 MB of data contained in a file. — Edit File: Launches a text editor with which users can edit files. — Copy Path to Clipboard: Copies the path of the folder as text. — Compare...: Allows users to compare files across multiple Players. This tool is useful for ensuring that packages have published correctly.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Remote Player Management Console — Execute...: Executes a specific file. Please note that this function allows users to browse for files to run, rather than using the Start Process item in the Remote Player Management Console Tool Bar. — Load...: Directly loads PDS Playlists and Templates in the PDS Player. 60 Polycom, Inc.
4 Using the Web Controller This chapter outlines the use of the Polycom Web Controller in content managment procedures.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Installing the Web Controller Installing the Web Controller Web Controller is supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista (32 bit), and Windows 7 (32 bit). Windows Vista and Windows 7 require the additional pre-installation steps outlined below. Pre-Installation Procedures on Windows Vista and Windows 7 1 Open the Start menu. Type MSconfig in the Search field and click enter. The System Configuration window will open. 2 Go to the Tools tab.
Installing the Web Controller Polycom, Inc. Using the Web Controller 4 Designate a destination for the file. The default directory, C:\Program Files\Polycom\PDS Web Controller, is recommended. Click Next. 5 Choose a folder to appear in the Start Menu. Click Next.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Opening the Web Controller 6 A review screen will appear. Click Install. 7 Double click on the PDS Web Controller desktop icon to begin. Opening the Web Controller When you first open the Polycom Digital Signage Web Controller application, you will be prompted to enter your login credentials: The default server name is PDSSERVER. The default credentials for Content Managers are ContentAdmin/Polycom123. 64 Polycom, Inc.
Opening the Web Controller Using the Web Controller Please note that you should not need to edit the TCP Port when using the default PDS Server configuration. Licensing the Web Controller The Web Controller must be licensed prior to use. To license the Web Controller: Polycom, Inc. 1 Navigate to File > License. 2 The License dialog will appear. a In the dialog, click the Request a License Key button. b Enter the PDS Serial Number.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Web Controller Interface Guide Web Controller Interface Guide After login and licensing, the Web Controller landing page appears. 66 Polycom, Inc.
Web Controller Interface Guide Using the Web Controller Main Panel All content management and Player configuration tools reside in the Main Panel of the Web Control. Each tab is documented individually throughout the rest of the chapter. Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Web Controller Interface Guide Player Monitor Panel The Player Monitor Panel of the Web Controller user interface displays screenshots of all connected Players on the given network of the Polycom Digital Signage Server. Use the Zoom tool to change the level of resolution of the display. To change monitor settings: 1 68 Right-click on the chosen PDS Player. Click Full Screen Monitor.... Polycom, Inc.
Web Controller Interface Guide Using the Web Controller 2 The Full Screen Monitor pop-up will appear. 3 To change the Monitor view, open the Screen drop-down on the far left. Choose whether to view the PDS Output Screen, System Primary Screen, or System Secondary Screen. For more information about using multiple screens with the PDS Player, please consult Configuring PDS Player Video Settings on page 6.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Web Controller Interface Guide Changing the Layout To change the layout of the above panels, navigate to View and choose Horizontal Layout or Vertical Layout. The Vertical Layout, selected by default, places the Monitor Panel to the right of the Main Panel; the Horizontal Layout places it below the Main Panel. A user can also freely change the look and feel by dragging and resizing the panes within the Web Controller.
Control Panel Using the Web Controller Control Panel The Control Panel provides a set of direct controls over the Players in the associated network. The Control Panel is the starting point for content management on Players. Greater detail is provided on the subsequent tabs in the PDS Web Controller, but the Control Panel gives immediate access to overarching controls. Player Controls Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Control Panel The Player Controls section allows immediate changes to be made to the Player. Unlike text edits or playlist changes elsewhere in the Web Controller, one click on each of these options will update Players targeted in the selection wizard: • Clear Screen: resets the Player and clears the Player screen. • Next Event: Advances to the next event in the playlist. • Previous Event: Returns to the previous event in the playlist.
Control Panel Using the Web Controller Selection Wizard After selecting one of the above options, the Player selection window will appear. Offline Players will display a darkened screen; online Players will show a blue screen. Click OK. Note: In order for the changes made in the PDS Web Controller to take effect, all affected Players must be online and running the PDS Player application. Updates made offline will not take effect automatically. Editing the Announcement and Emergency Crawls Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Control Panel The Announcement and Emergency Crawls can be edited, started, and stopped from the Control Panel. These crawls will not change or stop the playlist in progress but will instead run at the top of the screen. To publish a crawl to a PDS Player: 74 1 To change an announcement, edit the crawl text field. 2 Click Start Crawl. The Player selection window will appear. Choose the target Player or Players for your announcement. Click OK.
Control Panel Using the Web Controller Please note that the Emergency Crawl will appear in red: 4 Polycom, Inc. To stop the crawl, click Stop Crawl in the Web Controller. The Player Selection screen will appear again; indicate which Player you wish to target and click OK.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Playlist Editor Playlist Editor The Playlist Editor tab in the Web Controller provides controls over playlists displayed in the PDS Player. To create, edit, or play Playlists via the Playlist Editor: 1 76 Select a Playlist from the Available Playlists drop-down range. Polycom, Inc.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller a To retrieve a specific Playlist from a player for editing, click Retrieve from Player. The Player Selection window will appear; choose a player and a playlist and click OK. b To create a new playlist, click New. The Save As dialog appears. Enter a name and click OK. Alternatively, click Save As at the bottom of the Editor. Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 78 Playlist Editor 2 The Playlist will then appear. 3 To add a template to the playlist: a Choose a template from the Available Templates drop-down menu. b Choose the duration in seconds for which the template will run. c Choose whether the item will run in the foreground (appropriate only for crawling tickers) or in the background. d Click Add Template.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller 7 To remove a single template, click the Remove link beside the template inside the Playlist. To remove all templates from the Playlist, click Clear All. To delete the Playlist altogether, click Delete Current Playlist. 8 When all configuration changes have been made, click Save to save the Playlist within the Web Controller. 9 Click Distribute to send the Playlist to the selected target Players.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Playlist Editor Default Playlist The PDS Player and PDS Web Controller ship with a preconfigured default playlist: The following templates constitute the default playlist: 80 • Lower Crawl: the crawl that plays throughout the playlist. Can be edited in the Crawling Ticker tab in the Web Controller. To remove the crawl from the PDS Player output, delete this template from the playlist.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller • Sports Headlines: a default data feed that displays sports news from a pre-defined feed. This feed updates regularly and populates the template with headlines, stories (usually one or two sentences), and images if possible. • Video 16x9: Displays a user-designated widescreen video. This template is editable in the Video Slide Content tab of the Web Controller. • Product Catalog PowerPoint: Displays a user-designated PowerPoint presentation.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 2 The Template Parameters screen will appear. 3 To add a live video stream or website display, enter the URL in the text field under VideoStreamSource. 4 To add a static message: 5 6 82 Playlist Editor a Click the browse (...) button under Message_Title. b In the dialog that appears, choose the text file with the message title. c Click Open. d Next, click the browse (...) button under Message_Body.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller AddOn PowerPoint Schedule: Displays a PowerPoint slide of your choosing; this template is intended to display a calendar or schedule created in PowerPoint. To add your own schedule template: 1 Click on the Params link beside "AddOn PPT Schedule." 2 The Template Parameters screen will appear. 3 Click on ‘...,’ the browse button. This will bring up your list of available PowerPoint templates for selection. Click on the PP_Ticker_Schedule.ppt file.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 4 Playlist Editor PowerPoint will launch. You will then have the below PowerPoint slide available for changes and population of your required data. 5 From here you can adjust the default information, including location names, time intervals, meeting names, etc., using the PowerPoint application. To change the style of this PowerPoint schedule: a 84 Click Select in the PowerPoint Editing panel in the Home tab.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller b Scroll to the bottom of the Selection Pane. Toggle layer visibility to match styles. The options outlined in dashed red dictate table style; the options outlined in solid blue dictate background style. 6 Once you have made your changes, save the PowerPoint slide and click Open in the selection dialog. 7 Click OK to complete template editing.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 1 Click Params. The Template Parameters screen will appear. 2 To add a video: 3 4 5 86 Playlist Editor a Click the browse (...) button under ClipFilename. b Choose a video file in the dialog that appears. c Click Open. To add a PowerPoint ticker: a Click the browse (...) button under PPT_Ticker. b Choose a PowerPoint file in the dialog that appears. c Click Open. d You will be prompted to create a PowerPoint archive. Click Yes.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller AddOn Video Fullscreen Displays a full-screen video. To add a video: 1 Click on the Params link. The template dialog window will appear. 2 Click the browse (...) button. Choose a video file from your content directory and click Open. 3 Click OK. AddOn VideoStream Displays a live video stream; if a non-video URL is designated, the template will display that URL. To add a video stream: Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 1 Playlist Editor Click on the Params link. The template dialog window will appear. 2 Enter in the source URL for the website you would like to reference. Click OK. Once changes are made, save and distribute to the players. Alert Fullscreen Displays an alert screen. See Alerts below. Data Ticker Fullscreen Displays a data-driven news feed. To add: 88 Polycom, Inc.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller 1 Click on the Params link. The template dialog window will appear. a Click the Add File or ... button beside the Datasource field. Locate the .xdsrc file on your computer and click Open. NOTE: Please consult the “Using the Data Parser” on page 147 for more information on configuring .xdsrc files. b Remove all pathway and file type information from the chosen file. The Datasource field should contain only the file name of the .
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Playlist Editor Message Board Displays the Message Board. For more information, consult Message Board/Webcast below. Trivia Displays a Trivia sequence. To edit the Trivia questions and answers: 1 Click on the Params link. The Template Parameters window will appear. 2 The NumQuestions field allows users to define the number of questions displayed on this template from the source Excel spreadsheet.
Playlist Editor Using the Web Controller 4 This will launch Excel and open the spreadsheet: 5 Type in your desired question under the Question row, four responses in the Options columns, and the correct response in the Answer column. 6 Save your changes in Excel. 7 Launch the Remote Manager application. 8 Click on Publish Content. The Publish Content wizard will appear. Please consult “Publish New Content” on page 33 for more information on using the wizard. 9 Add the lib_Trivia.xls file.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Crawling Ticker Crawling Ticker The Crawling Ticker is an animated item that runs at the bottom of the Player screen. The ticker can be populated with user-designated text or with an automatically-generated feed of news stories, entertainment news, or sports news. To change the crawling ticker: 1 92 Select a crawl data source from the drop-down menu. Click Apply. Polycom, Inc.
Crawling Ticker Using the Web Controller 2 If you have chosen a manual crawl, enter your message in the Manual Crawl Text field. If you wish to fill the field with the crawl text currently running on a Player, click Retrieve From Player. The Player Retrieval screen will appear. Select a Player and click OK. 3 Click Save. 4 Click Update on Screen. Note: It is always necessary to click Update on Screen in order to effect a configuration change on the target Player.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Slide Show Tickers Slide Show Tickers The Slide Show Tickers tab allows administrators to directly edit and replace frequently-updated elements of the playlist, the Event Calendar, Product Catalog, and About Company Text. To update the Event Calendar and Product Catalog: 1 Click Edit File under the element you wish to change. PowerPoint will launch if it is not yet open. 2 The Event Calendar or Product Catalog .ppt will appear.
Slide Show Tickers Using the Web Controller Save the file and select the target Player. Do not alter the default save location. 3 If you wish to retrieve a Calendar running on a particular Player and redistribute to another Player, click Retrieve from Player. 4 Alternatively, if you wish to replace rather than edit the existing PowerPoint ticker, select Import PowerPoint File. A warning will appear; select Yes, choose the file, and click Open. You will then be prompted to provide a target Player.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Video Slide Content Video Slide Content The Video Slide Content tab allows changes to be made to the video template in the playlist. From this tab, users can edit the Sidebar Message, the Standard Format Video Clip List, and the Widescreen Video Clip List. To edit the Sidebar Message: 1 Edit the Title and Text fields as necessary. 2 Click Save. Then click Update Screen. The new Sidebar Message should appear.
Message Board/Webcast Using the Web Controller 2 To change the order of appearance of the clips in the list, use the upward and downward-facing arrows to rearrange the clips. 3 To remove a selected clip, click Remove. To remove all clips from a list, click Clear All. 4 Click Save Changes to save changes to the clip list. Click Load to update the template and display your changes.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Message Board/Webcast To edit the Message Board: 1 Edit the Text field as necessary. To remove all text from the field, click Clear. 2 Click Save to save the text in the field. To interrupt the playlist and show the updated Message Board, click Load Message Screen. To reload the playlist with the updated Message Board, click Restart Playlist. To load a webcast: 98 1 Indicate the URL of the webcast stream.
Alerts Using the Web Controller Alerts The Alert tab allows content managers to stop the playlist to display an alert screen. To broadcast an alert: Polycom, Inc. 1 Edit the Alert Title and Alert Message text fields as necessary. 2 Choose whether to play one of the default Audio Alerts as well.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 100 Alerts 3 Click Load Alert Screen and choose a target Player. The alert will display. 4 When the alert is no longer necessary, click Restart Playlist. Polycom, Inc.
Settings Using the Web Controller Settings The Settings tab allows you to simply apply overarching customizations to your playlist. Style Sheet A set of default style sheets come pre-configured with Polycom Digital Signage solution. These stylesheets apply to all templates within a playlist. To apply a new style sheet from among these default options, select an item from the drop-down menu and click Apply. Customization Administrators can replace the default logo with a custom logo.
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5 Using Template Maker This chapter explains the interface and use of the Polycom Template Maker.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Licensing Template Maker 3 Double click on the PDS Template Maker setup .exe file. The PDS Template Maker setup screen appears. Click Next. 4 Designate a destination for the file. The default directory, C:\Program Files\Polycom\PDS Template Maker, is recommended. Click Next. 5 Choose a folder to appear in the Start Menu. Click Next. 6 A review screen will appear. Click Install. 7 Double click on the PDS Template Maker desktop icon to begin.
Navigating the Template Maker Interface Using Template Maker Navigating the Template Maker Interface The Polycom Template Maker interface consists of two main sections: the Polycom Template Maker tool and the Microsoft PowerPoint interface that launches beside the Template Maker companion window.. This document assumes familiarity with the Microsoft PowerPoint interface. Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Navigating the Template Maker Interface The Template Maker Companion Window The diagram below depicts the Template Maker companion window as it will appear upon first launching Template Maker. Save Slide as Template Toolbar Insert Flipbook Launches a dialog for viewing and controlling flipbook animations. Insert Image Launches a dialog for importing an image to the current slide.
Navigating the Template Maker Interface Using Template Maker Style Browser To launch the Style Browser, navigate to Tools > Style Browser. Select a Type from the drop-down menu: • Polycom, Inc. Text: Displays available text styles. In the Category box, choose from the list of categories.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Template Maker Output Settings • Objects: Displays available graphic objects for each category. Some objects include links to live data. In the Category box, choose from the list of categories. • Templates: Displays completed templates. In the Category box, choose from the list of categories. • Images: Displays available image files, for example .jpg, .tga, .bmp. The Type box displays folders you can browse for selecting images.
Template Maker Output Settings Using Template Maker • Standard: Specifies the dimensions of the video output window. Choose from a list of standard resolutions: 640x480, 720x480 (DV-NTSC), 720x486 (NTSC SMPTE), 720x576 (PAL), 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x720, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, and 1920x1080. • Custom: Specifies the dimensions of the video output window according to the specified Width (W) and Height (H).
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Template Maker Output Settings Advanced Settings Renderer Settings The Renderer Settings options of Advanced Settings are described as follows: • Renderer IP Address: Displays the IP address of the rendering engine. • Renderer Executable Filename: Displays the executable filename that corresponds to the PDS rendering engine.
Template Maker Output Settings Using Template Maker Playout Settings The Playout Settings of the Advanced Settings are as follows: • Player Mode box: — Standard: Configures the PDS Player to function as an authoring station. — Interactive: Configures the PDS Player to function as an interactive/kiosk station. NOTE: Interactive mode is not supported in most implementations. Please do not select this option without input from Polycom support.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 6 Adding and Working with Slides The Messages dialog will appear. Review the information and correct your configuration as necessary. Adding and Working with Slides Slides comprise all the assets, scripts, and data used to create a complete PDS template. While individual assets may have their own properties, slides may themselves include functions that modify content as it appears on-screen. All properties added to a slide are slide-specific.
Adding and Working with Slides Using Template Maker • Auto Clear Slide — If set to True, the slide will be cleared from the rendered output after a specified interval. • Auto Clear Interval — The time, in seconds, after which a slide will be automatically cleared from the rendered output (if Auto Clear Slide is set to True). • Auto Stop Crawl — If set to True, crawls will be cleared along with the slide during an Auto Clear Slide operation.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Working with Slides • Show Clip Proxy — If set to True, displays a thumbnail from a selected video clip as the background of the slide (when Background is set to Video Clip). If False, color bars are shown instead. • Auto Advance — If set to True, automatically advance to the next event in the playlist when the background video clip ends (when Background is set to Video Clip). Also overrides specified slide duration settings.
Adding and Working with Slides Using Template Maker 4 Position — Position and size of background. Options available are Default, Custom. Modifying Actions on a Slide Slide actions let you automatically perform certain scripted functions when a slide loads. A series of actions can be created to form an action playlist. The actions associated with a slide are defined as follows: • Enable Playlist — If set to True, enables a slide’s action playlist.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Working with Slides 8 Choose OK to close the Command Builder dialog box. The action appears in the Playlist Editor. 9 To delete a command, select a command in the Playlist Editor and choose Delete. 10 To edit a command, select a command in the Playlist Editor and choose Edit, or double-click on the command. 11 Choose OK to close the Playlist Editor. The list of commands appear in the Playlist area. 12 To edit the playlist, choose Edit Playlist….
Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media Using Template Maker 2 To browse to an audio clip on disk, click the browse button. A standard file explorer dialog box appears. 3 Select an audio file and choose Open. The audio file appears in the Audio Playlist. 4 To preview the audio file, select the file from the Audio Playlist and choose Preview. 5 To remove the audio file, select the file from the Audio Playlist and choose Remove File.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media • Display Name — Name used to reference the object within the digital signage solution. • Full Name — Full name of object used internally by Microsoft PowerPoint. • Type — PowerPoint object type. • Visible — Specifies whether the object is visible in PowerPoint and on the PDS output. • Opacity — Specifies the transparency level of the object when viewed on the PDS output.
Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media Using Template Maker Applying a Text Style With the Text Style Browser, you can apply text styles to text in text objects, and create a text object from an existing text style. To apply a text style to a PowerPoint object: 1 Create a text box in your PowerPoint presentation. 2 Enter any text. (This text will be replaced upon applying the style.) 3 In the Style Browser, choose Text from the Type box. 4 Choose a category from the drop-down menu.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media 1 In the Style Browser, be sure Text is selected as the Type and right-click. 2 From the menu that appears, choose Edit. The Style Browser PowerPoint file named StylesText_Default.ppt opens. Notice the Slides tab contains each Text Style as an individual slide. You will copy your slide with the text object and paste it here. 3 Return to the text object slide in your file.
Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media Using Template Maker a In the Text Properties tab of the selected text box, click the Text field. The entire string of text is highlighted. b Enter the text you wish to place into the text box. c Press Enter. • Enable Antialiasing — When set to true, edges of text are smoothed. • Use CG Text — If set to True, use the PDS CG rendering engine to render text. This option must be set to true for dynamic text objects such as tickers.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 2 Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media On the Template Maker toolbar, click the Insert Image button. The Select File dialog box appears. 3 To import an image from the preconfigured Content Library, select the Content Library icon and browse to select an image and click OK. The selected image appears on the slide. 4 To import an image from another location on your system, select the All Files icon and browse to select an image and click OK.
Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media Using Template Maker Modifying Image Properties The Image Properties tab reveals options associated specifically with an image, and are defined as follows: Polycom, Inc. • Use Key — If set to true, uses an external key as an alpha mask, defining which areas of the image are transparent, and which areas are not. • Run Script on Change — If set to True, execute script functions whenever the image is dynamically updated.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media Working with Media Inserting Media Polycom Template Maker provides the ability to import various forms of media as assets to be used in your digital signage application including video clips, live video feeds, live internet video streams, and even complete web pages. To import media directly onto a slide, do the following: 1 Select the slide in PowerPoint.
Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media Using Template Maker — Script Module — Name of VBScript module containing the script function. — Script Function — Name of VBScript function to execute when Run Script on Change is set to True. — Run Action on Change — If set to True, execute action whenever the clip is dynamically updated. • Video In: — Capture Source Index — Select the index of the video/audio capture device from the drop-down menu. — Audio Volume — Select a volume from 1-100.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media The Video Properties dialog box appears. Features available in the Video Properties dialog box are defined as follows: • Clip List — Lists video clip or clips associated with the media asset placeholder. Template Maker lets you create video clip playback lists by adding more than one asset in the Clip List.
Adding and Editing Text, Images, and Media Using Template Maker • Remove Clip(s) button — Removes selected video clip(s) from the Clip List. • Loop — When enabled, loops the playback of all video clips listed in the Clip List. • Randomize list — When enabled, randomizes the playback of video clips list in the Clip List. • Log clip events — When enabled, creates a log file related to the playback of video clips in the Clip List. By default, logs are stored on the system.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Editing a Crawl Modifying Flipbook Properties The Flipbook Properties tab reveals options associated specifically with a flipbook, and are defined as follows: • Filename — The file path and first filename of the flipbook sequence. The source of the flipbook can be modified by clicking on the filename path, selecting the browse (…) button, and choosing a new source filename. • Preview — Shows a thumbnail preview of the flipbook.
Adding and Editing a Crawl Using Template Maker 3 In the Selected Object area, select the Crawl tab. The slide crawl properties appear. Select a crawl action from the drop-down menu. 4 » Do Nothing — Does not affect the state of the crawl. If a crawl is currently playing, it continues to play when the current slide is loaded. » Stop crawl — Stops the current crawl immediately when the current slide is loaded. » Start with default settings — Starts the crawl with default parameter settings.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding and Editing a Crawl 5 Set the crawl Type to Manual. 6 Enter text into the Crawl Data text area, entering a line break in between each line of crawl data. 7 Click Apply to instantly preview the crawl on the screen. Creating a Data-Driven Crawl To modify the properties of a crawl, do the following: 130 1 Select a slide in PowerPoint. 2 In the Selected Object area, select the Crawl tab. 3 Set the Crawl Action to Start with custom settings.
Adding and Editing a Crawl Using Template Maker 6 Set the crawl Type to Data Driven. 7 In the Data Filename field, click Browse to select an Access database or text file. 8 Click Apply to instantly preview the crawl on the screen. Crawl Properties Crawl properties apply equally for data-driven and manual crawls. The crawl properties associated with a slide are defined as follows: • Type — Specifies the type of crawling ticker. Options available are either Manual or Data Driven.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide d 132 Adding and Editing a Crawl Set the width and height in the Image Width and Image Height fields and click Apply. • Opacity — Specifies the degree of transparency to the background crawl bar. • Speed — Specifies the speed at which the crawl moves in the direction specified by Direction. • Back Color — Specifies the color to the background crawl bar. • Fore Color — Specifies the color of the crawl text.
Adding and Editing a Crawl Using Template Maker Setting the Position of a Crawl Open the Layout tab of the Crawl Settings dialog to set the crawl position within the template. Polycom, Inc. • XPos — Specifies the horizontal begin point of the crawl (in pixels). • YPos — Specifies the vertical position of the crawl (in pixels). • Width — Specifies the horizontal extent of the crawl across the screen (in pixels). • Height — Specifies the vertical extent of the crawl across the screen (in pixels).
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding Clocks and Tickers Adding Clocks and Tickers Adding a Clock Using Template Maker, text boxes can be configured to receive dynamic text, such as a running clock or date field, as opposed to simple text that is entered at design time into the text box itself. You can display a clock on a slide and keep it on for the entire production. The clock’s time is updated as its content is replaced on a continuous basis.
Adding Clocks and Tickers Using Template Maker 7 In the Type drop-down list, select Clock. 8 Enable the Render output on change field, which automatically updates the ticker on the output when the object changes values. 9 In the Clock Settings area of the Ticker Properties dialog box, select a clock type from Type drop-down list. Available clock types are: Standard, Time Countdown, Second Countdown. 10 Choose a time display configuration from the Format drop-down list.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Adding Clocks and Tickers 20 To delete a ticker, select the ticker in the Clocks and Tickers tab and choose Remove. 21 To copy a ticker from one slide to another, select the ticker in the Clocks and Tickers tab and choose Copy. 22 To paste a ticker that’s been previously copied, from the Clocks and Tickers tab choose Paste. 23 To make changes to a ticker, select the ticker in the Clocks and Tickers tab and choose Edit.
Adding Clocks and Tickers Using Template Maker 7 In the Type drop-down list, select Ticker. 8 Enable the Render output on change field, which automatically updates the ticker on the output when the object changes values. In the Data Source area of the Ticker Properties dialog box, click the Browse… button to link to a database filename. 9 To begin retrieving data from the first row of the database, enter 1 in the Starting Row field.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide • Adding Clocks and Tickers Sort Field box — Select a field in which to sort the contents of the table when Sort results is enabled. The SQL options are described as follows: • SQL String field — Specify an SQL query to extract data from the database file. For details on creating SQL queries, see www.microsoft.com. • View Data button — Lets you see the data retrieved from the entered SQL query.
Working with Objects Using Template Maker • Auto start on load — Begins displaying items in the database immediately after the slide is rendered to the screen. • Advance to next slide after last record — Proceed to the next slide in the playlist after all records from the database have been displayed. • Copy data file to prevent locking — Some database files, such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, may produce errors when simultaneously reading and/or writing to them from external applications.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Working with Animations Working with Object Groups Individual slide elements can be grouped together and treated as a single object. When you use the Group command to group objects, you combine them so you can work with them as though they were a single object. You can flip, rotate, and resize or scale all objects in a group as a single unit. You can ungroup a group of objects at any time and then regroup them later.
Working with Animations Using Template Maker — Animation Type — Select from a list of predefined animation effects. See “About Template Maker Animations” for a description of each animation. — Preview button —Previews the selected animation effect in the CG Renderer. — Offset box — Specifies the offset or delay at which at which to execute the animation.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Saving a Template • Scale Y: the object will appear compressed, and will stretch out along the vertical axis of the slide, as though it is “growing” up from the bottom of the slide. • Scale Y + Fade: the object will fade into view appearing compressed, and will stretch out along the vertical axis of the slide, as though it is “growing” up from the bottom of the slide.
Saving a Template Polycom, Inc. Using Template Maker 5 To assign the template to one or more specific categories, in the Categories area, in the Existing Categories list box, browse to an available category and choose Add Selected. 6 To assign the template to a new category, in the Selected Categories area, choose Add New Category. 7 In the Add Category dialog box, enter the name of a new category and choose OK. 8 The new category name appears in the Selected Categories list.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Saving a Template 10 In the Template Parameters area, to add a variable parameter to the object that can be modified when the template is added to a playlist in the Web Controller, choose Add. 11 The Template Parameter Properties dialog box appears. The options available in the Template Parameter Properties dialog box are described as follows: — Name — Specifies the name of the variable parameter.
Saving a Template Using Template Maker — Target Property — Depending on the Target Type, specifies what property of the parameter is targeted. For example, when Target Type is Object, and Target is a text box, Target Property fields available are Text, Font, Color. When Target Type is Object, and Target is an image, Target Property field available is Filename. — Parameter Type — Specifies the parameter type.
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6 Using the Data Parser This chapter explains the interface and use of the Polycom Digital Signage Data Parser. This chapter contains the following sections: • About the PDS Data Parser • Creating a Data Source • Using a Data Source About the PDS Data Parser The Polycom Digital Signage Data Parser allows administrators to acquire, manage, and use live RSS feeds as a data source for the Polycom Digital Signage Player output.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 148 Creating a Data Source 3 The RSS Wizard will appear. Click Next. 4 You will be prompted to designate a Data Feed Name and Database File, which should be changed from the default. These values must contain no spaces. You will also be prompted to enter the URL for your data source: a Enter the URL of the feed. If you wish to browse for a feed, click Search RSS Feeds. b Your internet browser will launch.
Creating a Data Source Using the Data Parser 5 After designating a Data Feed name, URL, and Database File, enter the Refresh Interval. This value determines the time, in seconds, between live updates of the RSS feed. Click Next. 6 The Title Format window will appear. a Choose a Case Conversion method, if necessary, to modify the capitalization of all text contained in the Title/Headline section of the feed.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 7 Creating a Data Source The Story Format window will appear. a Choose a Case Conversion method, if necessary, to modify the capitalization of all text contained in the Story section of the feed. b If necessary, enter Search and Replace formatting as described above. c If you wish to exclude items with certain words or phrases in the body, indicate those words and phrases.
Creating a Data Source Using the Data Parser 8 Verify the formatting and content of the incoming data feed by examining the text in the Data Preview panel. Click Next. NOTE: Not all RSS feeds can be parsed and displayed correctly. Please confirm that titles and stories appear, and appear legibly, in the Data Preview panel. 9 Polycom, Inc. The completion screen will appear. Click Finish.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Licensing Data Parser 10 The feed created in the RSS Wizard will now appear as a Data Source in the Data Parser main menu. This means that a Data Definition .xml file and a .mdb Database File will now appear in the PDS Data Parser directory. For all subsequent steps, however, you will need to use the .xdsrc file located in C:\PolycomContent\Data. Licensing Data Parser 152 Polycom, Inc.
Using a Data Source Using the Data Parser Using a Data Source After a Data Source is created, it can then be used to replace the sources in the Entertainment, Breaking, and Sports News default playlist templates or to create a new FSData template. With the Remote Manager and Web Controller tools, administrators can distribute a data source created in any one Data Parser to all PDS Players in a network. NOTE: All PDS Players must have Data Parser installed and running.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 154 Using a Data Source 4 Add the .xdsrc file to the Content Update. Right-click on the file and select Change Target Path. Enter the target path C:\PolycomContent\Data. 5 Click Next. Designate the Content Update Properties and all Target Players that will need to display the content and click OK. 6 The Events area of the Remote Manager should show that the Content Update has been downloaded and processed. 7 Open the Web Controller. Polycom, Inc.
Using a Data Source Using the Data Parser 8 Navigate to the Playlist Editor tab. 9 To edit an existing template, click Params next to that template. Please note that only the Entertainment News, Breaking News, and Sports Headlines default templates are appropriate for RSS feeds imported To create a new template, choose the Data Ticker Fullscreen template from the Available Templates drop-down and click Add Template. Polycom, Inc.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Using a Data Source 10 The Template Parameters Window appears. a Click the Add File or ... button beside the Datasource Field. Locate the .xdsrc file on your computer and click Open. b Remove all pathway and file type information from the chosen file. The Datasource field should contain only the file name of the .xdsrc file, without the file extension. In our example, C:\PolycomContent\Data\PolycomFeed_PolycomFeed.
Using a Data Source Using the Data Parser 12 The new Template should appear in the PDS Player output. The Data Parser will update the Template as new material appears. Polycom, Inc.
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7 Non-Standard Installations This chapter outlines potential changes to the standard Polycom Digital Signage Server. This chapter includes the following sections: • The PDS Server Configuration Utility • Downloading and Installing the Agent The PDS Server Configuration Utility The Polycom Digital Signage Server includes a Configuration Utility to facilitate changes from the default Server settings. The Configuration Utility allows port, database, and setting changes.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide • The PDS Server Configuration Utility From the Server tab, administrators can designate a server address, the ports used by the server, the file transfer directory, and whether it is functioning as a primary or secondary server. Port configuration information is detailed in the following section. • From the Database tab, adminstrators can view database address and, if necessary, database authentication credentials.
The PDS Server Configuration Utility Non-Standard Installations • From the Service tab, users can start, stop, and monitor the status of the PDS Server service. Renaming the Server The PDS Server Configuration Utility allows you to rename the PDS Server. To rename the PDS Server: 1 Open the PDS Server Configuration Utility. 2 Open the Server tab. Indicate a new name or IP address for your PDS Server. a Click Use Machine Name to use the name of the PDS Server appliance for the Server name.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Downloading and Installing the Agent To change ports: 1 Open the PDS Server Configuration Utility. 2 In the Server tab, provide a new Primary Port and Secondary Port. NOTE: Please be sure that the ports you choose are open and available for use. 3 Click Save in the PDS Server Configuration Utility toolbar. 4 In the Service tab, click Stop to stop the Polycom Digital Signage Server. 5 Start the service.
Downloading and Installing the Agent Polycom, Inc. Non-Standard Installations 3 Copy the Agent installer executable file from the download location to the PDS Player. 4 Directly or remotely access the Player appliance. double-click on the Agent installer. The setup wizard will appear. Click Next. 5 A license agreement will appear. Select I agree and click Next. A summary screen will appear; click Install. 6 No post-install actions are necessary.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Downloading and Installing the Agent Changing Agent Settings on a Player Polycom recommends downloading and distributing a new Player Agent when configuration changes have been made. The Agent configuration can be directly changed on each Player, however, to reflect PDS Server setting changes. 164 1 Right-click on the Agent (red cross on red field) icon in the Windows Taskbar on the Player Appliance. 2 Select Status from the context menu that appears.
Downloading and Installing the Agent 4 Non-Standard Installations In the Connection Settings tab, enter your new Server Name and/or Server Port. Click Test Connection to confirm that the changes have been made correctly. Click OK to complete. Polycom, Inc.
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A Appendix A: Player Commands This appendix contains a list of the commands available for use in Polycom Digital Signage applications and required parameters: • Standard Commands • Player-Specific Commands Standard Commands APPENDTOFILE|Filename|
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Standard Commands MUTEAUDIOCHANNEL|| PLAYANIMATION|
Player-Specific Commands Appendix A: Player Commands SIMPLECRAWL||||||||<';' delimited text> SIMPLECRAWLUNICODE||||||||<';' delimited text> SNAPSHOT||| STARTCRAWL| STARTSLIDETICKER|| STOPCRAWL| STOPSLIDETICKER|| SYN
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Player-Specific Commands SETLICENSEKEY| STARTPLAYLIST| STOPPLAYLIST| 170 Polycom, Inc.
B Appendix B: Data Parser This appendix contains a tutorial, examples and a reference guide for creating custom data source definition files. Creating a data source definition is an advanced topic that requires in-depth knowledge of pattern matching, Internet protocols and formats such as HTTP, HTML and particularly XML.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Definition File Overview NOTE: As data source definition files are XML code, care must be taken when using certain characters in parameter values. The characters in the table at the right must be replaced by their corresponding XML entity codes, or Data Parser will fail to load the data source definition file.
Data Source Definition File Overview Appendix B: Data Parser the table, and will create an index for this column. The default for KeyField is False. Regardless of the table structure schema, Data Parser always inserts two additional columns into the table: — An ID column that contains a serial number for each row. Serial numbers start at 1 for the first row and are incremented by one for each additional row in the table.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide • Data Source Definition File Overview Result specifies the name of the container that should receive the output of the pasring rule. Ultimately, parsing rule results need to be placed into the data table fields defined in the element, and so the names of the data table fields are valid values for the Result attribute. Other containers can also be created simply by naming them in a Result attribute.
Data Source Definition File Overview Appendix B: Data Parser Football Baseball The following parsing rule sets the value of the City container to "New York, NY". New York, NY The following parsing rule replaces all occurrences of "Vanilla" with "Chocolate" in the original text of the data feed.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Definition File Overview • URL can be used to specify a new source that is only used for the parsing rules contained in the element. The URL is resolved and its contents are placed into the "Source" container before any of the DataItem's parsing rules are applied. • NumRecords specifies how many times to apply the DataItem's parsing rules.
Data Source Tutorial Appendix B: Data Parser = = A element should contain one or more index-aware parsing rules. All of a DataItem's parsing rules are applied on each iteration.
Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Tutorial General Settings The general settings for the weather data source are straightforward. We tell Data Parser to refresh the feed every hour (i.e. 3600 seconds), to allow duplicate rows in the table, to fetch the feed from http://www.srh.noaa.gov/zipcity.php?inputstring=10005, and to store the parsed data in a table named Weather in the DataFeeds.
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 PAGE 190Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Tutorial pdate">Last Update: 8:38 am EDT Jul 5, 2007
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Friday Night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 67. Northwest wind between 6 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. West wind between 8 and 16 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 69.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Data Source Tutorial Appendix B: Data Parser width="11%">Tonight
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 PAGE 194Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Tutorial All of the remaining parsing rules in this tutorial are contained in this DataItem element. In the HTML we've isolated, each cell of the table row contains the forecast for a day part. For example, the cell contains the forecast for "Today" (we've reformatted the code below to make it easier to see the forecast data): | Today
Data Source Tutorial Appendix B: Data Parser Now that we've isolated the weather data for a single day part, we can extract that data and save it in a row of our table. First we obtain the name of the day part using a GetTag rule to extract the text the lies between the and tags in the DaySource container: <b> </b> There's a subtle problem here. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Tutorial This changes the way Data Parse handles the second rule. Because it is a now child rule, the current DataItem iteration is not passed to it as an Index value. This makes the rule use the default index value (1), and so it now always retrieves the text between the first occurrence of and . Data Source Tutorial Appendix B: Data Parser First we need to extract the value of the title attribute using another GetTag rule (which, again, is inserted as a child of the first rule) that extracts the text between "title="" (including the opening quote character) and the closing quote character: title=" " Then we remove the "Chance for" string, and any text that follows it, u Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Tutorial Finally, let's extract the day part's weather image URL and download the image file so that it's available on the local machine. The image URL is made up of the web site address (http://www.erh.noaa.gov) concatenated with the value of the HTML ![]() element's src attribute. Data Source Tutorial Appendix B: Data Parser /tsra70.jpg Only when GetTag reaches that last string does it assume its found the innermost StartTag, and so then it returns whatever lies between the StartTag and the EndTag. With the (extensionless) image file name in hand we can now construct a local path for the image file, and restore the file's extension, using a couple of StrCat rules. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Data Source Tutorial Forecast at a Glance <table </table> PAGE 201Data Source Tutorial Appendix B: Data Parser </font> <font > img src=" " http://www.erh.noaa. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Parsing Rule Reference Guide Parsing Rule Reference Guide This section describes all the parsing rules you can use with Data Parser. GetImage The GetImage rule downloads a file (not just image files) from a URL to a local file. The Source and Result attributes are required, but ignored. Parameters: • Url (taggable): The URL for the file to download. • LocalFilename (taggable): The path and name to save the file as. Parsing Rule Reference Guide Appendix B: Data Parser The following rule extracts whatever text lies between the fifth occurrence of "here" and "there". here there 5 GetUrl The GetUrl rule downloads a file from a URL into the Result container. The Source attribute is required, but ignored. Parameters: Url (taggable): The URL to download. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Parsing Rule Reference Guide Example: Left The Left rule extracts a specified number of characters from the beginning of the Source container. Parameters: • Length: The number of characters to extract from the beginning of the Source container. Parsing Rule Reference Guide Appendix B: Data Parser Mid The Mid rule extracts a string of a specified length from a specified starting character in the Source container. Parameters: • Length: The number of characters to extract. • Start: The character position in the Source container from which to extract the characters. Example: If the LongString container contains "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" then the following rule will place "efghijklmn" in the ShortStuff container. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Parsing Rule Reference Guide ReadTextFile The ReadTextFile rule loads the contents of a text file into the Result container. The Source attribute is required, but ignored. Parameters: • Filename: The path and name of the file to load. Example: The following rule loads the contents of the C:\Test.txt file into the Tester container. C:\Test. Parsing Rule Reference Guide Appendix B: Data Parser ReplaceCharacterCodes The ReplaceCharacterCodes rule replaces all occurrences of various HTML character codes with their true characters. Parameters: None Example: ReplaceTag The ReplaceTag rule replaces the text that occurs between a pair of strings. Parameters: • StartTag (taggable): The starting delimiter of the text to replace. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Parsing Rule Reference Guide Example: If the LongString container contains "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" then the following rule will place "vwxyz" in the ShortStuff container. 5 RightTrim The RightTrim rule removes a specified number of characters from the end of the Source container. Parsing Rule Reference Guide Appendix B: Data Parser StrCat The StrCat rule concatenates two strings, optionally adding a space between them. The Source attribute is required, but ignored. Parameters: • String1 (taggable): The string that will be the start of the result. • String2 (taggable): The string that will be the end of the result. • AddSpace (optional): If set to TRUE, a space is inserted between the String1 and String2. Examples: The following rule places "eatcake" into the Food container. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide Parsing Rule Reference Guide TrimFromEnd, TrimFromStart, TrimToEnd and TromToStart These four rules all remove some text from the source container. They all take the same parameter, SearchText. The rules differ in whether they trim the beginning or end of a string, and whether or not they include the SearchText value in the result. Parameters: • SearchText: The first occurrence of this string will form the basis of the trimming. C Appendix C: Configuration Files This appendix outlines the procedure to change PDS Player settings via the Remote Manager. Please note that this appendix is intended only for sophisticated users. Contact Polycom Support before changing any configuration files. Changing Output Settings with the XPT.ini Configuration File All Player Configuration Files are managed through the PDS Remote Manager. NOTE: Please contact Polycom Support before making changes to the configuration files. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 3 202 Changing Output Settings with the XPT.ini Configuration File Click Edit Config in the Remote Player Management Console toolbar. A drop-down menu will appear. Polycom, Inc. Changing Output Settings with the XPT.ini Configuration File Appendix C: Configuration Files 4 Choose XPT.ini. The file editor will launch. 5 To change the output resolution of the target player or players: a Scroll to [Output Settings]. b If your Player uses one of the standard resolutions, enter a value for StandardOutputDims. Please note that this value corresponds to the order of appearance in the drop-down menu in the Player Settings. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 6 7 Changing Output Settings with the XPT.ini Configuration File » StandardOutputDims=1: 720x480 resolution. » StandardOutputDims=2: 720x486 resolution. » StandardOutputDims=3: 720x576 resolution. » StandardOutputDims=4: 800x600 resolution. » StandardOutputDims=5: 1024x768 resolution. » StandardOutputDims=6: 1280x720 resolution. » StandardOutputDims=7: 1280x1024 resolution. » StandardOutputDims=8: 1600x1200 resolution. Changing Output Settings with the XPT.ini Configuration File Appendix C: Configuration Files 12 In the Select Target Players dialog that appears, indicate to which Players you wish to save the changed configuration file. Click OK. 13 The Request window will appear. The file will update and the configuration changes should apply. 14 If configuration changes do not apply immediately, enter RESTART in the Command space of the Remote Player Management Console. Polycom Digital Signage Administrator Guide 206 Changing Output Settings with the XPT.ini Configuration File Polycom, Inc. |
