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play all images in a folder?

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Bryn Forbes Gallery
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I am working on a interactive project for an offline installation that will have different slideshows playing based on user input. It needs to be easily maintained for many years, and as part of that I'd like it to be easy for non technical people to update the images in the slideshow by putting more images in to a folder on the sd card.  

My goal is for the maintainers to never open brightauthor, to be able to have a variable number of images in a folder, and to not have to have fixed names for the files.

 

I don't see a way in BrightAuthor to specify an entire folder of images. Image List seems to require specifying each image file. I found on the forums a script that does a play all, but It's not clear to me how to merge the script in to the existing 892kb autogenerated autorun script http://support.brightsign.biz/entries/21151082-Script-Examples-incl-Simple-Showcontrol-Script

It seems like a pretty common thing to be want to do (I've seen posts about doing it with networking and generating a list, or an rss feed and working around this issue) so I'd like to submit for consideration for the next  version of bright author to support having a check box in the image list (and video and music) to play all in folder. 

 

In the meantime is there a simple way to specify a script to launch in bright author in place of an image list or use a script like is mentioned here http://support.brightsign.biz/entries/21156943-Simple-Still-image-slideshow

I thought image play file was promising but unless I'm misunderstanding, after a user edits the .csv file, you have to rerun brightauthor and export the project again. I could teach the maintainers how to edit a .csv file with the new image names, but I'd really like to avoid having to teach them how to run and republish in brightauthor. 

 

Thanks,

Bryn

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9 comments

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    Alex

    Take a look at this FAQ:

    http://support.brightsign.biz/entries/21233702-Custom-Substituting-files-in-the-root-for-files-in-the-BrightAuthor-pool-folder

    The ability to add a folder to a Media List will be implemented in BrightAuthor 3.8.

  • 0
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    Bryn

    Thanks!!! 

    the substitution will be useful and I'll look forward to 3.8!

    Also, with images lists it seems that when you reach the end of the list the default behavior is to return, but when button events are assigned to forward/next it doesn't seem to return at end of list, it loops. I can set a time out event to get it to go back, but I can't use media end (seems only for video and audio) but logically it seems like a when displaying the last image, then that's a media end.

  • 0
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    Alex

    Media End events can't be applied to images.

    How many states are in your project? Which state the image list should return to? Please send your presentation file (.bpf) and describe what does not work and how do you think it should work.

  • 0
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    Bryn Forbes

    Following up to this it seems BrightAuthor 3.8 added the ability to "Add all content from media library" which is a handy way to add a bunch of images to the list, but what I was asking for previously is the ability to specify a folder on the sd card, and have the brightsign unit dynamically play all the images in that folder, so that I can have non technical people add images to the sd card without having to do anything with Bright Author.

    Thanks,

    Bryn

  • 0
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    Alex

    You can copy images to the root directory of SD card and BrightSign unit will play them in loop, in alphabetical order.

  • 2
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    Bryn Forbes

    Thanks I didn't realize that. However, I'm trying to buid interactive kiosks, where museums can have a button panel to choose which of 8 slideshows the viewer wants (and pause forward back). Ideally I'd have 8 folders on the sd card and I'd tell BrightAuthor on xyz event play images in folder "slideshow8"

  • 0
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    Tom Brockenbrough

    Amazing they are still dancing around this issue....  amazing....  why is it so hard to implement a feature that has been requested for over a decade!!???!!!   I walked away from Brightsign years ago for this reason and recently forced back into the mix. Meanwhile there have been NO improvements to the workflow and things have only gotten more complicated.  The Bright APPLICATIONS are IMPOSSIBLE to leave with everyday end users....  

    Shame on you Brightsign for ignoring your market!! SHAME ON YOU!!

     

  • 0
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    Lyndon

     

    We have over 50 different software partners catering to a variety of different user feature and workflow needs. So, you can use our free software, but you have a lot of choices when it comes to how you interact with the brightsign. As far as the functionality you're talking about, Gilderfluke created scripts years ago that do what you're asking  (autoplay folders, folders tied to specific buttons so put content in folder 0 for button 0, etc) and that script can be loaded into memory so it's always present at boot.  I haven't seen this specific request much, but we do get a lot of feature requests. 

  • 0
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    Bright Scripters

    I can sympathize with the frustration expressed here while not fully agreeing with the statement:

    "The Bright APPLICATIONS are IMPOSSIBLE to leave with everyday end users.... "

    It can take a significant amount of research effort to find a simple solution that fits one's use-case, especially when it comes to those one-off kiosks or gallery exhibitions, where the budget is limited and there is a need to enable simple use.

    It may be challenging for a hardware manufacturer to satisfy the diverse needs and preferences of all its clients, given the variety of industries and environments in which their products are used. For example, BrightSign players are utilized in a range of settings, including standalone art installations, numerous retail locations, public transportation systems, and fast food restaurants' digital menus. Apple make Pages and Numbers but should we expect such tools to be as comprehensive as MS Word and Excel?

    Developing powerful yet easy-to-use solutions for artists has been very rewarding throughout over a decade of involvement with BrightSign.

    linkedin.com/in/bright-scripters-7b685813b

     

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