In this example, we will be provisioning a player to use an App URL.
Player Preparation
To better reflect the most likely experience of a real-world user, we will proceed as if the player is brand new.
If you had previously used the player to follow along with the Manual Setup Example, simply erase/reformat the storage device and reinsert into the player.
If you had previously activated the player for use with BSN.cloud, refer to the directions here on how to delete the player’s provisioning record and then return here.
In this example, we will be provisioning the player prior to booting up the player for the first time. If a new player does not already have a provisioning record, powering up the player will take the user to the Player Activation screen. Once the player is activated, the BrightSign Default Setup will automatically be applied to the player upon activation of the player with BSN.cloud. Reprovisioning the player would then be required to apply a different Setup. Provisioning the player prior to activating the player thus saves the step of having to reprovision the player.
Provision Player
Do not power up the player.
Write down the player’s Serial Number. The Serial Number can be found on the label on the bottom of the player itself or on a label on the box that the player was packaged in.
Go to Admin > Provision > Add Player. Enter the Serial Number you wrote down. If desired, you can also enter an optional Player Name and Player Description.
Select Add Player.
The player should now appear in the list of provisioned players.
Next:
Select the player you wish to provision. This should be the player with the serial number you just added above.
Select Apply App URL from the drop-down menu.
In the pop-up window, select App URL and enter the URL where the desired autorun.zip file resides. If you like, you can use the example URL here: https://www.brightsign.biz/examples/autorun.zip
Select Apply.
The player is now provisioned with the designated App URL.
Activate Player
Power on the player. Once the player has booted up, it will search for a provisioning record on BSN.cloud. If a record is found, the player will apply the settings in its provisioning record and in the process, automatically activate itself with BSN.cloud. Since we created a provisioning record for this player in the previous steps, the player will apply those settings. In this case, the provisioning record instructs the player to go to the designated URL, download the autorun.zip file there, unzip that file, and then reboot to run the autorun.brs and presentation contained within the autorun.zip file.
The same presentation as was previously displayed with the manual setup example should now be shown on the screen. Whereas with the previous example, the autorun.zip file was manually copied to the player’s storage device, the player now has been remotely provisioned to retrieve the autorun.zip file from a URL.
Alternative Provisioning Methods
Another common way of provisioning is to create a Setup. The Setup contains information such as the intended publishing mode as well as various player settings. Once created, the Setup can be applied to one or many players. The Setup can also be easily modified if required (for example, to change the URL for an App URL configured Setup). More details about Setups can be found here.
A custom “Default Setup” can also be created. By using a Default Setup, players do not have to be explicitly provisioned. Any player not previously provisioned will automatically apply the Default Setup upon activation. More details about provisioning can be found here.
API Integration
The Control Cloud offers, free of charge, a wealth of functionality along with a UI to access that functionality. Partners can also utilize the Control Cloud’s APIs to enable their users to use an alternative UI to access the functionality of the Control Cloud. These APIs will be covered in the Resources section of this guide.
Next, we will go over the many Developer Tools that BrightSign offers partners.