Media List State

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Last updated: Aug 10, 2023
4 min read

The Media List state is a convenient tool for defining interactive events with many files in a single feed. By default, each time the playlist transitions to a Media List state, the next file in the list will play and exit the list after a timeout (images) or when the file finishes playing (video and audio). Alternatively, you can set the list to shuffle files or cycle through every file in the list before exiting and transitioning to the next state.

When the Media List state is double-clicked, the Media List canvas will appear. The Media List canvas gives you the option to add content from Assets to the Media List. To exit this canvas, click the Zone description located in the top left corner of the canvas. This will take you back to the Zone Content canvas. 

List Content

Use this section to specify how the Media List is populated.

  • Populate From Feed: Populate the Media List using a feed.

    • URL: Specify the URL of an RSS feed (this feature does not support MRSS feeds). In the example below, <title> is the item title, <description> is the media download URL and <medium> is the medium. Upon playing the presentation, the player will retrieve media from the download URLs specified <description> field of each item in the feed. Note that:

      • Each media piece must have their type specified under <medium> 

      • Supported mediums include image, video, and audio

        <rss xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>The Feed</title> <link>https://site.com/</link> <description>The videos</description> <generator>Server RSS Generator</generator> <item> <title>myvideo.mp4</title> <pubDate>2022-08-24T17:29:30.74Z</pubDate> <link>https://site.com/myvideo.mp4</link> <description>https:/site.com/myvideo.mp4</description> <medium>video</medium> <media:content url="https://site.com/myvideo.mp4" fileSize="25863908" type="video/mp4" medium="video"></media:content> </item> </channel> </rss>



    • Dynamic Playlist: Populate the Media List using a Dynamic Playlist from your BSN Content Cloud library.

    • Live Media Feed: Populate the Media List using a Live Media Feed from your BSN Content Cloud library.

  • Update Interval: Specify how often the player should refresh the contents of the feed.

  • Parser Plugin: Select a feed parser to parse the feed data before it is passed to the Media List.

  • Optimize Feed Updates (use HEAD calls): Check this box to have the player make an HTTP HEAD request before retrieving the contents of a feed. See this page for more details.

  • Automatically generate User Variables from Data Feed: Use the feed to populate a set of User Variables for HTML pages. See this page for more details.

Playback

Use this section to customize the Media List playback.

  • Play from start index on entry to state: Check this box to have the Media List begin playing from the specified Start Index each time it is entered. If you leave this box unchecked, subsequent transitions to the Media List will play the next file in the list.

    • Start Index : Specify which item in the list should count as the beginning of the list.  When non-shuffled playback reaches the end of the list, it will loop back to the top of the list (i.e. start index 0), rather than the specified Start Index .

  • Transition: Specify the transition effect for image files:

    • Effect: Select an effect that occurs when there is a transition to an image.

    • Duration: Specify the duration of the transition effect.

  • Shuffle Playback: Check this box to randomize the order of media items in the Media List each time it is entered.

  • Send Zone Message (using file name as parameter) prior to showing each item: Check this box to send a Zone Message command every time there is a file transition in the Media List. The Zone Message string will consist of the filename (without the file extension) of the target item in the Media List.

  • Return to start after inactivity: Returns to the start of the Media state after a specified inactivity time.

BrightAuthor:connected inactivity timeout is counted on a per state basis. Classic BrightAuthor used global inactivity timeout values, and as a result imported .bpf files will lose their previous inactivity timeout value.

Events / Commands

Use this section to define events that will cause a transition to a new item in the Media List. You can also define commands that will be triggered when transitions occur.

  • Play Next Events: Select interactive event(s) that allow the user to transition to the next file in the Media List. 

  • Play Previous Events: Select interactive event(s) that allow the user to transition to the previous file in the Media List.

  • Play Next Commands: Select command(s) that will trigger when the Media List transitions to the next file.

  • Play Previous Commands: Select command(s) that will trigger when the Media List transitions to the previous file.