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updating text file tickers

Mike Katz

February 09, 2010 22:35

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the update workflow on text file tickers seems pretty awkward. if one updates the text file, closes it, opens BrightAuthor and opens the playlist file, then publishes the playlist file, the text ticker (which i check in the xml file) does not update.

it seems like you have to delete the text ticker in the playlist file and re-add it for it to update. very very awkward.

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4 comments

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  RokuLyndon February 10, 2010 00:45

  
  
  BrightAuthor doesn't auto refresh the folder where your files are currently. So, yes, you are correct. You would need to reselect the folder where the text file is, and then drag the text file back into the zone to use the new file.
  
  
  
  Do you have a suggestion for how you think this should work?
  
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  tangopeter February 10, 2010 05:57

  
  
  A couple of suggestions:
  
  
  
  1: Enable the edit feature on the text file to have the option to reload the file, either manually or on opening the project file.
  
  
  
  2: Provide the option for the current-sync.xml file to check the timestamp on a .txt file on the server and update as required. This might require the option to use separate a text file instead of it being built into the xml file.
  
  
  
  Peter
  
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  Mike Katz February 10, 2010 11:41

  
  
  Doing routine update is really a chore because of these issues.  I see two alternative ways to deal with this:
  
  
  
  1) update the files referenced under the text and files tabs in the edit area when the application opens and/or have an update files option under the file menu
  
  
  
  2) when a project is published, use publish folder as the master copy of the content.  then, once a user brings the content in, it is always available there and could be edited there.  i think this is the easiest to implement and simplifies things for the user who is bringing content in from different locations.   When the application loads the project, it should refresh all the content from that publish folder, including any text files, jpgs/mpegs, etc
  
  
  
  The other missing link here is that the app should really be able to publish directly to a web folder to avoid the extra step of having to FTP.  This would eliminate issues with users not setting the right transfer mode parameters and allow simple one step publishing
  
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  Mike Katz February 16, 2010 07:21

  
  
  I had a thought about updating text file tickers..  Perhaps a more straightforward way to make this easier would be as follows:
  
  
  
  When adding a new RSS feed, dragging the icon from the rss tab on the left nav to the playlist opens a dialog box asking for the feed's URL.
  
  
  
  Currently, updating the text ticker requires trashing the icon in the text ticker zone playlist.  The user then needs to drag the text file icon from the text tab on the left nav to the zone playlist.  One need to navigate to the text file to get it to show on the left nav.   And, if one changes the text file while BA is open and the text tab is open, not clear if the content is refreshed.
  
  
  
  Al alternative would be to make it work like RSS... i.e., put a generic Text Ticker object in the tab on the left nav.  When the user drags the object to the zone playlist, pop up a dialog into which the user can paste the text content for the ticker.  In my opinion, this would be much simpler and less error prone for the user to make sure they've got the right content in the ticker.
  
  
  
  Another general comment on the RSS and text tickers.  It would be nice if one could click on the objects in the zone playlist window to change the content (e.g. RSS URL or text ticker content) rather than having to trash and re-add the icons.