Barco XVS-2 User guide

XVS Operate

Reference manual

Action manager

R9852227

R5976954/02

14/0

3/2007

Product revision

Software version: 2.3

Barco nv Media

Noordlaan 5, B-8520 Kuurne

Phone: +

32 56.36.89.70

Fax: +32 56.36.83.86

E-mail: sale[email protected]m

Visit us at

the web: www.barco.com

Printed in Belgium

XVS-2 update

The following features are no longer supported by XVS-2. Any and all references to these features, related

setup, and hardware information should be disregarded.

- Standby operate including support for a separate Data Server.

- Content storage installation (for Operate systems only Operate, XML Blaster, Live Data, and Data Ser-

vices installs are needed and supported).

- Live video capture for both Operate and Playback systems.

- Digital Audio - support to play audio files or audio embedded in video files is still supported though as

analog audio.

May 2010

be recorded, transmitted or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of Barco.

Changes

Barco provides this manual ’as is’ without w arranty of any kind, e ither expressed or implied, including but not

limited to the implied warranties or merchantability an d fitness for a p articu la r p urp ose. Barc o m ay mak e im -

provements and/or changes to the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time

without notice.

This publication could contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made

to the information in this publication; these changes are incorporated in new editions of this publication.

Trademarks

Brand and product names mentioned in this manual may be trademarks, registered trademarks or copyrights

of their respective holders. All brand and product names mentioned in this manual serve as comments or

examples and are not to be understood as advertising for the products or their manufactures.

Table of contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction .........................................................................................3

1.1 General.......................................................................................................... 3

1.2 Start up the Action Manager .................................................................................. 3

1.3 The Action Manager window.................................................................................. 5

1.4 Basic principles of the Action Manager ...................................................................... 7

1.5 About the use of a redundant playback system............................................................. 8

2. Categories ...........................................................................................9

2.1 About categories ............................................................................................... 9

2.2 Create new category........................................................................................... 9

2.3 Rename a category...........................................................................................10

2.4 Remove a category ........................................................................................... 11

2.5 Reorganize the category bank...............................................................................12

3. Display specific actions ........................................................................ 15

3.1 Create an action...............................................................................................15

3.1.1 Create an action via the wizard ........................................................................15

3.1.2 Create an action via the short way ....................................................................17

3.1.3 Action representation (button) .........................................................................19

3.1.4 Create a Content action ................................................................................19

3.1.5 Create a Queue control action .........................................................................21

3.1.6 Create a Display control action ........................................................................23

3.1.7 Create a Compound action.............................................................................26

3.1.7.1 Creation methods..................................................................................26

3.1.7.2 Add existing action ................................................................................27

3.1.7.3 Create new action .................................................................................31

3.1.7.4 Reorganize the action list .........................................................................32

3.1.7.5 Remove an action from the action list ...........................................................33

3.1.7.6 Representation of the action......................................................................34

3.1.7.7 Edit an action in the action list....................................................................36

3.1.7.8 Finalizing a compound action ....................................................................37

3.2 Load an action.................................................................................................38

3.3 Remove an action.............................................................................................40

3.4 Edit a single action............................................................................................41

3.5 Edit a compound action ......................................................................................45

3.5.1 Start editing ..............................................................................................46

3.5.2 Edit name, description, thumbnail and priority .......................................................48

3.5.3 Edit the action list........................................................................................49

3.5.4 Edit the representation thumbnail......................................................................49

3.5.5 Edit an action in the action list .........................................................................49

3.6 Action icon background ......................................................................................51

3.6.1 Start up background.....................................................................................52

3.6.2 Color selection...........................................................................................53

3.7 Set action priority..............................................................................................55

3.8 Action hot keys ................................................................................................56

3.8.1 Assign a hot key to an action...........................................................................56

3.8.2 Remove hot key from an action........................................................................59

3.8.3 Edit hot key...............................................................................................60

3.8.4 View used hot keys......................................................................................62

3.9 Reorganize the actions.......................................................................................63

3.10 Activate display specific actions.............................................................................64

3.10.1 Activate actions with default priority ...................................................................64

3.10.2 Activate actions with specific priority ..................................................................65

3.11 Action Send Dialog ...........................................................................................66

4. Fixed actions ...................................................................................... 69

4.1 About fixed actions............................................................................................69

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Table of contents

5. Queue Control .................................................................................... 71

5.1 About queues..................................................................................................71

5.2 View the different queues ....................................................................................71

5.3 Make a queue of actions .....................................................................................71

5.4 Queue manipulations for a specific display ................................................................72

5.5 Queue manipulations for System............................................................................73

5.6 Queue behavior when receiving an action .................................................................74

6. Actions content tree ............................................................................. 77

6.1 Creating folders ...............................................................................................77

6.2 Delete an action...............................................................................................77

6.3 Rename actions...............................................................................................78

Glossary................................................................................................ 79

Index .................................................................................................... 81

2 R5976954 XVS OPERATE 14/03/2007

1. Introduction

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 General

Overview

The Action Man ag e r allows setting up messages, live a ction s and playlists to run th em individu ally or as

part of a group. An action is always created for a single display and even for a c hannel within that single

display.

Besides the normal way of scheduling, System Manager, a queue of actions can be built on each channel

in a layout. T his queue can be controlled in the Action Manager. The queue can be held, paused, blanked

or looped.

Next to queuing actions, one of the most important functions for the Action Manager is interrupt

ing a queue

and executing a triggered action immediately or as next playing item. This functionally is very handy when

e.g. during a game, when a goal is scored a typical message can be sent to one or all displays.

Actions can be created as categorized actions for a display and they become available only when that

specific queue is selected, or actions can be created as fixed actions that are available throughout the

whole system. These fixed actions can trigger other channels than the actual selected channel.

The System tab allows creating actions for any display. An action can trigger its associated channel on a

display in the complete system without selecting that display and channel.

1.2 Start up the Action Manager

How to start up?

1. Double click on the XVS Operate icon on the desktop

Or,

click on Start → All Programs → Barco → XVS → XVS Operate

The XVS Operate framework starts up. A splash screen appears. (image 1-1)

When the complete setup is finished, the red XVS Operate icon will be added to the system tray.

2. Shortly after that, the XVS Operate icon appears in the system tray.

Right click on the XVS Operate icon (a) to display th e menu s

election. (image 1-2)

A pop-up menu appears.

3. Select Action Manager (b).

The Action Manager w indow starts up.

Or,

Click on the Action Manager icon on the XVS toolbar. (image 1-3)

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3

1. Introduction

Image 1-1

Start up window

Image 1-2

Start up Action manager

Image 1-3

General toolbar

The Actio

n Manager window starts up with the same look and feel as it was closed be-

fore.

4 R5976954 XVS OPERATE 14/03/2007

1. Introduction

1.3 The Action Manager window

Overview when System is selected

Image 1-4

Action window for System

A Menu bar

B

Display selection tabs. One system tab plus one or more d isplay tabs controlled by XVS-2.

C Queue control functions for all displays at the same time.

D

Content tree with all created actions for the complete system

E

Actions organized by category for any channel or any display. The content of the gray area

changes when another category is selected.

F

Fixed actions for any channel or any display. The content of the gray area changes when

another category is selected.

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5

1. Introduction

Overview for a typical channel selected

Image 1-5

Action window

A Menu bar

B Display selection tabs. Each c reated display has one tab, plus a system tab.

C Queue control functions for the selected display.

D

Play timers. The actual item timer and the total queue timer for selected channel.

E

Current playing item on selected channel/cluster of the selected display.

F

Queue for the selected channel/cluster on the selected display.

G

Layout s tructure on selected display

H

Actions for selected display o rganized by category and per channel or channel cluster. The

content of the gray area changes when another category (tab) is selected.

I

Fixed actions, org anized by category at a nytime accessible. Th e content of the gray area

changes when another category is selected.

6

R5976954 XVS OPERATE 14/03/2007

1. Introduction

1.4 Basic principles of the Action Manager

Action

An interactive command to the system which changes the state of the display, e.g. show a

media file, turn the display on/off, start a playlist, etc.

Type of actions

Actions can be organized in display related actions and fixed actions.

A display specific action is associated with a display. Each channel and/or channel cluster within the

active layout on that display 3 category banks represented by a, b and c. Each category bank contains

15 categories, 56 actions can be created.

A fixed action can be associated with any display and any channel, and is always accessible even if the

associated display is not selected. Fixed actions are also grouped in categories. 5 different categories

are a vailable and each category can hold 16 actions.

E.g. Take a display with 3 channels.

The following actions can be created or are visible when that display is selected.

Channel 1 → 45 categories each with 56 actions

Channel 2 → 45 categories each with 56 actions

Channel 3 → 45 categories each with 56 actions

+ the fixed actions, 5 categories each with 16 actions

How to use these categories and actions practically?

There are many different ways to organize all actions so that it is easy to find them back again.

The examples given below are only to show what is possible. Use your own creativity to create your own

system.

Fist example:

Organizing by type of action, e.g. by advertisements, by different sports, score board types etc.

Second example:

E.g. you have a small system w ith only 2 displays. It is possible to create all your actions in the System

tab instead or in one of the display tabs.

Use the category buttons to m ake a difference of the displays, e.g. as follows:

Category 1 Advertisement 1

Category 2 Advertisement 2

Category 3 Messages 1

Category 4 Messages 2

Use the fixed actions to create hot red actions for any display and categorize them as:

Category A Red hot 1

Category B Red hot 2

Now, it is easy to activate any ac tio ns without switching to other disp lay tab.

About actions

As the name indicates, actions will do something. When an action is activated, triggered, it can have

different priorities. The priority determines the immediate effect of the action.

E.g. Normal priority: Add the c ontent of the actions as the last one in the queue, so that it will only be

displayed when all contents before it have finished.

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1. Introduction

Or the sent content must be started immediately after finishing the current playing item. That means that

the current item will continu e play in g till the end and then the actio n will start. So the action m ust b e se nt

with hot priority.

Or the sent content must start immediately to playing. The actual playing content will be stopped and the

action will start playing. The action must be send with a red hot priority.

The following action types are possible:

• Content action

• Queue control action

• Display control action

• Compound action

1.5 About the use of a redundant playback system

Introduction

A redundant playback system is a system with 2 playback computers (active playback and a standby

playback). The complete system acts as one display. And all rules and guidelines explained in this manual

can be used on a redundant playback system as it acts as normal display.

Attention

As long as both systems are up and running in a normal way, there will be no problem. But there can

be a case where the layout shown in the Action Manager is not the layout used by the Active playback

system. This can happen when a layout is scheduled to a redundant system and e.g. the active system is

not working properly, then the new layout is applied on the standby playback system but not on the active

playback system. As a layout is scheduled to displays, the action manager will see the new layout.

Check the scheduler for possible errors.

About actions

When an action is sent to the display, it is automatically sent t o both playback systems, the Active play back

and the standby playback.

Queue control actions and Content actions are bo th p r ocessed and ex ecuted on both playback systems.

Display control actions however are also sent to both playback systems but only the Active playback will

process and send the actions to the digitizer.

8

R5976954 XVS OPERATE 14/03/2007

2. Categories

2. CATEGORIES

Overview

• About categories

• Create new category

• Rename a category

• Remove a category

• Reorganize the c ateg ory bank

2.1 About categories

Category

A ca te g ory is a collection of Ac tio ns that can b e played on a display.

Overview

For display specific actions, a category is associated with a channel or cluster of channels of a display.

Each category can contain maximum 56 actions of any type. For each channel or cluster of c hannels are

45 different categories possible, divided in 3 banks and stored behind tab pages a, b and c.

For fixed actions, a category can contain actions for any display and any channel or cluster of channels.

5 different categories can be c reated and each of them can contain 16 actions of any t

ype.

2.2 Create new category

The creation of a category is the same for display specific action as for

fixed actions.

Via the context menu

1. Right click on a category button in the category bank (a). (image 2

-1)

A pop-up menu appears.

2. Select New category (b).

Tip: ESC key cancels the edit mode.

The button changes to edit mode (c).

3. Enter a name with the keyboard and press ENTER to activate.

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2. Categories

Image 2-1

Create new cate gory via the context menu

Via the menu bar

1. Click on a category button to select (a). (image 2-2)

2. Click Category → New category in the menu bar (b).

Tip: ESC key cancels the edit mode.

The selected category button changes to edit mode (c).

3. Enter a name with the keyboard and press ENTER to activate.

Image 2-2

Create new category with menu bar

2.3 Rename a category

Via the context menu

1. Right click on an existing category (a). (image 2-3)

A pop-up menu appears.

2. Select Rename (b).

Tip: ESC key cancels rename.

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R5976954 XVS OPERATE 14/03/2007

2. Categories

The button changes to edit mode. The current name is highlighted (c).

3. Enter a new name with the keyboard and press ENTER to activate.

Image 2-3

Rename a category

Via the menu bar

1. Click on an existing category (a). (image 2-4)

2. Click Category → Rename (b).

Tip: ESC key cancels rename.

The button changes to edit mode. The current name is highlighted (c).

3. Enter a name with the keyboard and press ENTER to activate.

Image 2-4

Rename a category via the menu bar

2.4 Remove a category

Via the context menu

1. Right click on an existing category (a). (image 2-5)

A pop-up menu appears.

2. Select Remove category (b).

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2. Categories

The selected category and all its actions are removed (c).

Image 2-5

Remove category via the co ntext m en u

Via the menu bar

1. Click on an existing category (a). (image 2-6)

2. Click on Category → Remove category on the menu bar (b).

The selected category and all its actions are removed (c).

Image 2-6

Remove category via menu bar

2.5 R eorganize the category bank

What can be done?

The order in a category bank can be changed by moving categories up or down.

Change the order via the context menu

1. Right click on a category (a). (image 2-7)

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R5976954 XVS OPERATE 14/03/2007

2. Categories

A pop-up menu appears.

2. Select Move up or Move down (b).

The selected category jumps one higher or one lower (c).

3. Repeat the above steps until the selected category is on the desired location in the category bank.

Image 2-7

Move categories via the conte xt menu

Change the order via the menu ba r

1. Click on a category. (image 2-8)

2. Click on Category → Move up to move the selected category one up or click on Category → Move

down to m o ve the selec t ed category one down.

Image 2-8

Move Categories via the menu bar

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2. Categories

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