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New to Brightsign, need some help displaying images

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James King
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So, I just got a Brightsign LS423 as we are evaluating it as a replacement for a Rise Vision implementation we currently have. So, basically right now, I am trying to duplicate my Rise Vision presentation in Bright Author.

What I do is publish several image files to a dropbox folder. These images update every 5-10 minutes (they are graphs we are pulling from Excel to show live sales data, etc.).

In rise vision, I just add an image widget and put in my dropbox url to the image and it automatically downloads the image even when they update.

How can I accomplish this in Bright Author? I've seen some talk of using MRSS, which seems a little cumbersome as now I have to maintain an XML file? And also will it download the new image once it changes?

If anyone can point me in the right direction how to accomplish this, I would be really appreciative. Thanks!

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9 comments

  • 0
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    ^UD\_$

    The BrightSign Network cloud service, offers a user friendly media feed features. It auto generates an MRSS xml to be consumed by the player.

    Email support@brightsign.biz, and ask for an account. You can take it for a spin without any cost. Each player will get a one month grace period for you to try.

  • 0
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    James King

    So, I have an account now, but I'm still not seeing where I could put these images so they will be updated automatically?

  • 0
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    ^UD\_$

    Under the Create tab, you would create a dynamic playlist or a media feed, and connect to it from BrightAuthor.

    You can find video tutorials here

    https://www.brightsign.biz/support/training/tutorial-videos

  • 0
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    James King

    So, I did find that, but I'm not sure that solves my problem. My images are auto-generated every 5 minutes. They have the same name and same Dropbox link so that does not change. Will the Brightsign unit download the new image every time? My initial read of the documentation was that I would have to update the media feed in the Brightsign Network web UI manually and then the Brightsign unit will pull the new files. Obviously this is not practical for what I am trying to accomplish. If I am misunderstanding or missing something, please let me know. 

  • 0
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    ^UD\_$

    With the additional info you just provided, I think there may be an easier way.

    Since the Dropbox link is the same every time, you could try an HTML5 url, and simply refresh it every 5 minutes.

    You would need to first define an HTML Site in BrightAuthor presentation properties, and then use an HTML5 state to show the image.

    There is a way to auto refresh at a predefined interval.

  • 0
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    James King

    I will attempt that and report back.

    Am I correct about the live data feed in the Brightsign Network though? I'd have to manually update the feed in the web UI for the Brightsign unit to pick it up?

  • 0
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    ^UD\_$

    Have not used the data feed for what you are trying to do, but it may work.

    I could better assist you if I could see the bigger picture of what you are trying to do.

     

  • 0
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    James King

    Big picture: display key performance metrics for our company during the day.

    I have an Excel spreadsheet that pulls data from our database, say for example, how many units have been sold today (this is just one metric, we have many). I use Excel to graph this in a bar chart so we can watch the bar grow throughout the day as we sell more units. I use Excel to save the graph as an image file, let's call it "unitssold.png." Excel pulls the data and updates the png file every 5 minutes (I've automated this whole process). I need a way to display this image and show the latest image after Excel updates it.

    I've come up with the following solution, though I find this a bit convoluted so if you have a better suggestion please share!

    So what I've done is setup an html file that displays the image. I then added an HTML5 state to my presentation (pointed it to the URL of the page that displays the png file) and used a timeout event to have it change the state (back to itself) to have it refresh the page so if the image has been updated, it will show the new image. 

  • 0
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    ^UD\_$

    Well done!
    It is a solution. It does have many moving parts.
    If you have the resources for some custom programming, I'd look into implementing the graph in JavaScript in order to remove dependancy on a Windows machine and excell.
    Can google sheets handle the task?
    What about Plot.ly?
    Choosing the right solution depends on:
    The time you have, budget, frequency of requests for changes, confidentiality, etc...
    Will that be a single screen? Will there be more locations?

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