How do I reboot a player located on the same local network via UDP command in BrightAuthor?

Last updated: June 5, 2018

For development purposes, you can easily reboot one or more players on the same local network by adding an Event Handler that responds to a UDP message in the presentation(s) scheduled on the player.

Not on the same local network or can't use UDP?  See other ways to remotely reboot the player in How do I remotely reboot or restart my player?

This will allow the BrightSign iOS app or any app capable of sending UDP messages to reboot the player with the appropriate message string.

This method can be adapted for other trigger mechanisms like Serial Input and GPIO Input, but we will focus on UDP as it's network-based communication that does not require additional wiring or cables.

Step by Step

1. Open your BrightAuthor presentation.
   
2. Click the Edit tab.
   
3. Go to the Layout view.
   
4. Click the Add Zone button.
   
5. Add an Images zone with a suitable name.  We're going to use this to house the Event Handler that will listen for our reboot requests.
   
6. Click back to the Playlist view.
   
7. Select the zone you just added from the drop-down or by clicking on its thumbnail.
   
8. Click interactive to make the playlist Interactive
   
9. Click the other tab in Media Library.
   
10. Drag the Event Handler into the empty playlist storyboard.
    
11. Click the events tab under Media Library.
    
12. Scroll down to find the UDP Input event, then drag and drop it onto the Event Handler that we just added.
    
13. The UDP Input Event settings appear.
    Enter the message you want to use to trigger the reboot in the Specify UDP input box.  Be sure this is unique enough that it won't be triggered by random UDP traffic on your network, if there is any, otherwise your player will be randomly rebooting.
    For this example we'll use the message Reboot_Me
    The Label will be used in the BrightSign App to identify the command, and by other apps that query the player for available events.
    If you want the reboot to appear as a button in the BrightSign iOS App, tick the box.
    
14. Click the Advanced tab.
    
15. Click (+) Add Command which adds a command in the list.
    
16. Change the Command drop-down to Other, then change the Command Parameters drop-down to Reboot.
    
17. Click OK and you should have something that looks like this.
    
18. Save, Upload (if necessary), and Publish your presentation.

Now when you send the UDP message Reboot_Me (ensure there are no leading or trailing characters, or line breaks) to the player, it will reboot.

If you have multiple players on the same network subnet and they are all listening on the same UDP port, you can send a UDP message to the subnet's broadcast address (ie, 192.168.1.255 for everything on 192.168.1.x) and all the players that are listening for that command will respond.

Note: Since this command lives in the presentation, if you want it same command to apply to other presentations, you will need to perform the same steps to add the Event Handler and UDP Input event to those other presentations as well.