4.4-Simple File Network

Simple File Networking allows you to distribute presentations to your BrightSign players using a web server. To use this publishing method, players must be set up for Simple File Networking with the correct URL for web folder.

1. In BrightAuthor, save the presentation(s) you want to publish by clicking File > Save… As
2. Click the Publish tab.
3. Select the Simple File Network option(above the Calendar).
4. Choose whether you want to publish Presentations or BrightWall Presentations.
5. Under Presentations, click Browse to navigate to and select the folder where your presentations are stored.

Adding Presentations to Your Schedule

Follow these steps to add presentations to the player schedule:

1. Select a presentation from the list in the Presentations section.
2. Drag the presentation to a time slot during which you want it to play.
3. Click and drag the selection handles to adjust playing time within one day.

If you want the presentation to be a recurring event, double-click the presentation timeframe in the calendar. In the Schedule Presentation window, set the following parameters:

• Presentation: Specify which presentation you want to use in this schedule block.
• Active all day, every day: Check this box if you want the presentation to play at all times (i.e. without day parting).
• Event time: Specify a timeframe during the day when you want the presentation to play:
  • Start: Use the dropdown list to select a time when the presentation should begin
  • End: Use the dropdown list to select a time when the presentation should end.
• Recurring Event: Check this box to have the presentation recur during specified days. If you don't check this box, the Event time will only apply to the single day selected in the schedule.
  • Recurring pattern: Specify the frequency of the recurrence.
    • Daily: Specify Every day, Every weekday, or Every weekend for playback.
    • Weekly: Check the boxes corresponding to the individual days of the week when you want the presentation to play.

• • Range of recurrence: Use this option to limit the recurrence of the scheduled presentation.
  • Start: Specify the start date of the scheduled recurrence. This date defaults to the currently selected date in the schedule.
  • End: Select No end to have the presentation recur indefinitely, or select End by and specify the end date of the scheduled recurrence.

Schedule Interrupts

You can create a day-parted schedule by scheduling presentations in separate time slots of a single day (or a set of recurring days). Later on, you may need to schedule a new presentation in an occupied time slot. This is where schedule interrupts are useful.

f you would like to interrupt a scheduled presentation with another presentation, drag and drop the new presentation into an occupied time slot (you can also schedule an overlap in the Schedule Presentation window). A Schedule Conflict window will appear, providing the following options:

• Keep existing events, cancel new event: Cancels the new schedule presentation action.
• Keep existing events, adjust new event: Opens the Schedule Presentation window, allowing you to schedule the new presentation in an empty time slot. If you schedule the presentation in an occupied time slot, the Schedule Conflict window will appear again.
• Remove existing events, use new event: Completely removes the presentation currently occupying the time slot.
• Interrupt existing events with new event: Schedules an interrupt in the presentation currently occupying the time slot. The date field will be split into two columns: The left column shows the primary scheduled presentation in blue; the right column shows the interrupting presentation in green. Primary scheduled presentations can be interrupted with multiple presentations, but interrupting presentations cannot overlap with each other.

Debugging

Under Debugging, you may optionally enable the following:

• Enable serial debugging: The autorun script will output debugging information related to the presentation to the RS-232 serial port (as well as over Telnet and SSH if these features are enabled).
• Enable system log debugging: The autorun script will output debugging information related to the presentation to the Log tab in the Diagnostic Web Server.

Simple File Networking Parameters

If you wish to reconfigure some of the device parameters, click the Set Parameters button. These changes will only affect players that receive the presentation schedule.

• URL for the web folder: Specify a new location from which the player will download content updates. Do not use trailing slashes in your URL; some web servers do not support trailing slashes.

  Tip

  See this FAQ if you're having trouble getting players to communicate with your web server.

• Content Check Frequency: Set how often you want the player to check your server for updates.
• Simple File Networking Authentication:(Optional) Enter a User name and password to enable digest authentication between the BrightSign player and the web server.

  • Enable basic authentication: Check this box to have the player pass credentials to the web server in unsecured packets. Use this option only if it is absolutely required by the configuration of your web server. 

• Logging: Check the boxes to enable any of the following:
  • Enable playback logging: Records playback start and end times, zone names, media types, and file names.
  • Enable event logging: Records timestamps, state names, zone names, event types, and event data.
  • Enable state logging: Records current and last state names, timestamps, and media types.
  • Enable diagnostic logging: Records timestamps, firmware and script versions, and the current presentation.
  • Enable Variable logging: Records the current and default values of all User Variables in the presentation. This log is only generated when logs are uploaded to custom log handler URL.
  • Upload logs: Check either of the following:
    • On startup: Uploads log files each time the player is powered on.
    • At specific time each day: Uploads log files daily at the specified time. Use the dropdown lists to pick a time.

• Enable remote snapshot: Check this box to enable the Remote Snapshot feature, which allows you to remotely monitor the contents of the presentation display.

• Remote snapshot every [ ] minutes: Specify how often the player should take a snapshot of the presentation display.
• Save up to [ ] images (1 - 100) on local storage: Specify how many JPEG snapshot images can be stored on the local storage of the player.
• JPEG quality level [ ] (0 - 100): Specify the quality level (and thus the file size) of each image file.
• Display snapshots in portrait mode: Check this box to have the player rotate the snapshots to portrait mode before saving and uploading them.

Firmware Updates

Click Specify Firmware Update to include a firmware update file with the published schedule. In the Firmware Update window, locate the section corresponding to your BrightSign model and select one of the following:

• Production Release: The current official release of BrightSign firmware
• Beta Release: The current beta release of BrightSign firmware
• Minimum Compatible Release: The minimum firmware version that supports presentations created by your version of BrightAuthor. The minimum compatible firmware will likely not support all features provided by a contemporary version of BrightAuthor.
• Select specific file: Use the Browse button to select a .bsfw firmware update file from your hard drive. The other options will download the update file from BrightSign when the presentation schedule is published.

You can use the Update type dropdown menu to determine the behavior of the firmware update:

• Standard: The firmware update is applied, the player reboots, and the .bsfw update file deletes itself from the local storage.
• Different: The update will only be applied if the version of the .bsfw update file does not match the current firmware version of the player. The file is not deleted after the update process is completed.
• Newer: The update will only be applied if the version of the .bsfw update file is newer than the current firmware version of the player. The file is not deleted after the update process is completed.
• Save: The firmware update is applied, but the .bsfw update file is not deleted. The device will only reboot once the storage device containing the update file is removed.

Publishing the Scheduled Presentation(s)

Under Publish to, click Browse to navigate to and select the location where you want to store the files.

• If you have a mapped drive or shortcut that points to your web folder, publish to that location.
• If you use FTP to transfer files to your web folder, publish to a folder on your computer and then use FTP software to copy the files to your web folder.

Click Publish. When the Publish Complete window opens, click OK.