BrightAuthor 3.x

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Last updated: Dec 18, 2023 by BrightSign TechDocs
17 min read

3.8.0.41

New Features

  • Support for native portrait-mode HD video (1080x1920)

Bug Fixes

  • Creating a Media RSS Feed state using a Dynamic Playlist no longer breaks Live Text states that are using Live Data Feeds. Note that this bug only occurred when the Media RSS Feed and Live Text states were placed in different zones.

  • If a media state is deleted, any Interactive Menu items that point to that state are now also deleted.

3.8.0.40

Bug Fixes

  • Transitioning to an MRSS state from another state no longer causes a runtime error.

3.8.0.39

Bug Fixes

  • Players that are running a scheduled presentation and are prompted to undergo recovery via the BrightSign Network will now complete the recovery process successfully.

  • Video List states no longer have a chance of getting stuck endlessly looping a single video. This issue occurred when a video file has the same characteristics as a seamless looping video file.

  • Adding multiple Live Video states to an interactive playlist no longer prevents you from publishing and opening the presentation.

3.8.0.38

New Features

  • Support for videos with the .m2ts file extension

Bug Fixes

  • BrightAuthor no longer encounters a communication error when publishing via Local File Networking to a player that was set up with a 3.7.0.x. version of BrightAuthor.

  • Players that were recently configured for Simple File Networking no longer take a long time to download and play MRSS feeds.

  • Timeout events assigned to Local Playlist states now work again.

  • If the Import States function is used to import one or more attached events containing Conditional Targets, the User Variable(s) associated with those Conditional Targets will now be correctly imported into the presentation.

  • Media List states (Image List, Video List, Audio List) created in BrightAuthor versions prior to 3.8.0.x now work with presentations using the 3.8.0.x version of autorun. This fix applies primarily to the BrightSign Network: A group of players encounter this problem if their schedule includes an older presentation with a Media List, as well as a newer presentation created in BrightAuthor 3.8.0.x (BSN will always use the newest version of autorun among scheduled presentations).

  • BrightAuthor no longer crashes if you select an empty SD drive while attempting to publish a BrightWall presentation locally.

Improvements

  • The URLs for Video Stream or MJPEG Stream states can now be specified dynamically with User Variables. A User Variable can specify the entire URL or replace part of the URL (for example, "http://www.example.com/streams/$$my_URLvariable$$").

  • RSS Feed states (used in Ticker zones) can now be opened and edited after they are created.

  • Media RSS (MRSS) feeds can now be displayed in multiple zones simultaneously.

  • Media RSS feeds can now be displayed when the player does not have an Internet connection. This is only the case if the local storage has enough space to cache all of the MRSS feed content.

  • The Media RSS state is now used to display both MRSS feeds and Dynamic Playlists (the type of dynamic content is specified in File > Presentation Properties > Data Feeds). The Dynamic Playlist state is no longer available in the Media Library > other menu, though it can still appear in presentations that were created in earlier versions of BrightAuthor.

  • BrightAuthor no longer allows you to create Local Playlist states that do not specify a Default Playlist for players. This corrects several playback problems that can occur when a Local Playlist state does not have a Default Playlist.

  • Event logs that record USB/Keyboard events no longer contain unprintable characters in the event data ("D") field.

3.8.0.30

New Features

  • New publishing feature: The USB Update (FW only) option under Publish > Local Storage allows you to update the player firmware without overwriting the presentation.

  • Support for the 1920x1200 video mode (requires an XD player running firmware 4.8.88 or later)

Bug Fixes

  • Zone Message commands that are sent from a Super State now correctly trigger Zone Message events contained within another Super State.

  • When displaying Live Video, Video Stream, or RF In states using a BrightWall, slave screens will now catch up to the master screen if they are powered on after the presentation begins.

  • Using the Edit > Import States option to import an Interactive Menu state no longer causes BrightAuthor to crash.

  • JPEG images now display correctly when they are used as Selected Image items in an Interactive Menu state.

  • BrightAuthor no longer crashes if you attempt to add a Fixed text item after adding an Image item to a Live Text state.

  • Adding two Data Feeds that use the same plugin script no longer causes a crash when you attempt to add a third Data Feed.

  • BrightAuthor no longer crashes if you add a new scannedchannels.xml file to an RF In state in a non-interactive playlist and attempt to change the Channel Name.

  • Edits to an Interactive Menu state are now carried over to the published presentation even if the presentation wasn't originally saved using the File menu.

3.8.0.27

New Features

  • Presentation preview

  • BrightWall (enhanced video-wall synchronization)

  • Copy/Paste, Export/Import states

  • Superstates: The ability to transition into and out of a state that contains its own interactive playlist.

  • Exit commands: You can now specify Advanced Commands to occur when a state or media file is entered or exited.

  • Ability to interrupt scheduled presentations

  • Custom fonts for HTML5 states

  • HTML manifest caching

  • Presentation autosave/backup feature

  • Option to resize images that are too large

  • Notes section for each state

  • Support for wildcards within serial events

  • Dynamic Playlists for audio files

  • Ability to limit the number of Tweets displayed in a Twitter feed

  • Ability to populate Media Lists or Play Files from Data Feeds

  • New Resize Zone command

  • New Tuner scan percent complete system variable

  • Support for the 1600x1200 screen resolution

Bug Fixes

  • Text fields in Live Text states are no longer unrecoverable if the screen resolution of the presentation or the size of the zone is changed.

  • A BrightSign Network user who doesn’t have permissions to delete a Dynamic Playlist or Live Data Feed in the Manage tab will now receive an informative error message when he or she attempts to do so.

  • Transitioning out of an HTML5 page containing video now also silences any audio track that was part of the video.

  • Time/Clock events that are set to trigger at intervals that are “Periodic throughout the day” now work correctly with Media List states.

  • There is no longer a possibility of HLS streams restarting before the end of playback.

  • Frequently switching between a Video or Images zone and an Audio Only or Video Only zone no longer has a chance of causing BrightAuthor to crash. Note that this fix only applies to new presentations.

  • On/Off icons in the preview window of the Interactive Menu state are now displayed at an accurate size.

  • Advanced commands will no longer disappear if you attempt to add approximately 40 or more of them to an event or state at one time.

  • Including an apostrophe in a User Variable (either as a default or assigned value) no longer causes the player to crash.

  • You are no longer allowed to upload a Data Feed to the BrightSign Network if it contains Titles with duplicate names.

  • Adding an extremely long URL to a Video Stream or Mjpeg Stream state no longer causes the OK button to be pushed off the screen.

  • Edit > Undo now correctly reverts changes to a Live Text state (when the Live Text state window is not open).

  • BrightAuthor no longer crashes if you cancel a BSN upload of a presentation containing one or more HTML pages.

  • An HTML site upload to BSN will no longer fail if the upload contains one or more zero-length files.

  • The Local File Network publishing process will no longer fail if an included HTML site contains an autorun file (.brs) or firmware update file.

  • When creating a new presentation, clicking the Cancel button while viewing User Defined Templates will select the default Full Screen template rather than a custom template.

Improvements

  • Setting the Monitor Orientation of a presentation to “Portrait” now rotates all HTML pages in the presentation to portrait mode.

  • You can no longer add media files with extensions that are not supported by the target BrightSign model.

  • Players can now display MRSS feeds from Google Picasa.

  • User Variables can now have empty default values.

  • BrightAuthor will now prompt you to create a resized copy of an image if you attempt to add an image that is too large for the target screen.

  • The BrightSign Network is now disabled by default in the Edit > Preferences window for fresh installs of BrightAuthor. Conversely, Local Networking is now enabled by default.

  • Adding an RF channel scan file to a presentation (using the RF In > Specify RF channel scan file option) now works for all remote publishing methods: Local File Networking, Simple File Networking, and the BrightSign Network.

  • All BrightSign Network user permissions groups are now allowed to perform the unit setup process.

  • To improve network security, the following characters are no longer allowed when specifying the Name of a player during the unit setup process: “! @ $ % ^ * + = ~ ‘ { } [ ] | \ : ; ? < >”

  • To improve network security, the following characters are no longer allowed when specifying the Description of a player during the unit setup process: “! $ %  ^ * + = ~ ‘ { } [ ] | \ : ; < >”

  • Standalone publishing is now the default configuration in the Unit Setup window for fresh installs of BrightAuthor.

  • All touch regions, even those that are not selected, are now clearly visible when editing a Rectangular Touch event.

  • When resizing a zone using the W and H fields in the Layout tab, the user will no longer be prompted with an error message if there is not enough room on the screen below or to the right of the zone. Instead, BrightAuthor will dynamically fit the zone to the screen canvas if there is room.

  • When publishing a presentation containing a locally stored HTML file, BrightAuthor will now only publish files associated with the HTML file rather than all files and folders in the directory containing the HTML file.

  • Transitioning out of, and then back into, an HTML5 state now completely reloads the HTML page.

  • You now have the option to set the Update Interval of a Data Feed to Once only.

  • Each Data Feed now has an Advanced button, which gives you access to all the options available when you create a Data Feed.

  • You can no longer set the Time to Display Each Line parameter of a Ticker zone to greater than 60 minutes (3600 seconds). This restriction reflects the system software limitations of the player.

  • Remote Input events can now be used to navigate RF In states.

  • Zone Message events can now be used to navigate Interactive Menu and RF In states. They can also trigger “next” and “previous” transitions within Media List states.

  • Serial Input events can now trigger “next” and “previous” transitions within Media List states.

  • To improve transition times to the Publish > Local Network screen, the list of players on the local network is no longer refreshed every time the user accesses this screen. The list will be populated upon first accessing this screen and upon clicking the Refresh button.

  • The Local Web Server can now be enabled during the Unit Setup process even if Local File Networking is disabled.

  • The Device Web Page now has a lighter background color to better match the color scheme of the BrightSign App.

  • Attempting to access the Local Web Server at port 8080 of the player’s IP address now returns an informative webpage rather than a 404 error code. The page states that the port number of the Local Web Server is now located at port 8008.

  • Twitter user names containing the “@” symbol are now supported.

  • BrightAuthor now checks the file system of a target SD card to ensure it is using a compatible format.

  • The Create tab is no longer hidden if the BrightSign Network is disabled. This allows access to the new BrightWall feature for all users.

  • If a presentation is published to an incompatible player model, the player will now reboot two minutes after a warning message appears. This allows you to recover the player remotely via the BrightSign Network.

  • The player will now make an entry in the playback log when it skips an incompatible media file.

3.7.0.39

New Features

  • Up-to-date localization support for the following languages: Chinese (simplified), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish

Bug Fixes

  • Attempting to disable the Diagnostic Web Server during the unit setup process will now work in all cases. Previously, the Diagnostic Web Server would not be disabled if the player was previously set up with it enabled.

  • Re-uploading an edited HTML file via Simple File Networking will no longer cause a 404 error when a player attempts to download the new version of the file.

  • Timeout events no longer break Time Code events that are assigned to the same state.

  • Creating an empty Video Time Code event and reopening the presentation will no longer cause interactive playlist graphics to disappear.

  • Adding a Plugin script to a new presentation that has no initialized User Variables will no longer cause a player to crash when it attempts to play the presentation.

Improvements

  • BrightAuthor can now call off Reboot Unit actions sent to players on the BrightSign Network before those actions are carried out.

3.7.0.37

New Features

  • New Alphabetize variable names option. This allows you to determine whether User Variables will be organized alphabetically or by order of creation when displayed on the BrightSign App and the Local Web Server. 

Bug Fixes

  • If there are 100MB or less of free space on the SD card, the player will now successfully delete old MRSS and Dynamic Playlist content to prevent space from running out on the card.

  • Dragging and dropping a file to a Background Image zone no longer causes a presentation to crash while it is playing.

  • Changing the script plugin of a presentation that is uploaded to the BrightSign Network and then re-uploading that presentation will no longer cause the player to stop.

  • You can now assign the same Parser Function Name to multiple Data Feed parsers.

  • A player with a disabled Local Web Server will no longer crash if you publish to it a presentation that contains a Custom Device Webpage.

  • The HTML5 Site dropdown list in an HTML5 state now stays up to date with added/removed pages after the presentation is exported.

Improvements

  • Players that are connected to the BrightSign Network can now detect and report disk I/O errors. This is only available on players running firmware versions 4.7.96 or later.

  • It is now possible to use a script plugin to delete User Variables (this action is currently not available through the user interface).

  • If the Network Diagnostics feature is enabled and includes the Test Internet Connection action, passing this test during player setup will allow the setup process to continue (even if the Ethernet test fails).

  • The length of a Custom Device Webpage name is now limited to 30 characters to prevent errors when the presentation is uploaded to a server.

3.7.0.31

New Features

  • New Setup Unit for BrightSign Network option for publishing to Local Storage. This allows you to play a presentation even if a player cannot initially connect to the BrightSign Network.

  • Ability to import/export User Variable sets

  • New Plugin Message event and Send Plugin Message command

  • New Channel Name and Virtual Channel system variables

  • New Preserve State Names option in the File > Replace Media Files window

Bug Fixes

  • The caching behavior of MRSS items has been fixed. This prevents storage devices from filling up completely with MRSS items.

  • Opening presentations that were exported from another PC no longer causes BrightAuthor to crash. This problem is specific to presentations exported from BrightAuthor version 3.7.0.14.

  • Simple File Networking servers now update published presentations completely.

  • User events that contain Remote Input events are now fully compatible with RF In, Image List, Video List, and Audio List events.

  • The Specify Firmware Update button in the Publish > Local Storage > Publish to section now works correctly.

  • The system no longer creates duplicates of media RSS feed items when the feed is played multiple times.

  • Keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Z) now work in Interactive Playlists.

  • The Set Zone Volume command now correctly sets volume values when those values are also modified with Increment Zone Volume or Decrement Zone Volume commands.

  • The file directory in the Publish > Local Storage > Publish to section no longer defaults to My Documents when the storage device is removed and BrightAuthor is restarted.

Improvements

  • Presentations now send UDP notifications whenever User Variables change. This allows the BrightSign App to automatically update the User Variables page whenever a User Variable is modified (requires version 1.0.1 of the BrightSign App).

  • You can now use UDP commands from the BrightSign App to trigger transitions within Image Play File states.

  • A Conditional Target equation can now accept another variable as the argument in the target value field.

  • GPIO events can now distinguish between Press (First Touch) and Press Continuous occurrences (similar to BP200/BP900 events).

  • Editing Data Feed parameters now triggers the save prompt when you attempt to publish a presentation.

  • Checking the Automatically create media counter variables box now triggers the save prompt when you attempt to publish a presentation.

3.7.0.14

New Features

  • Twitter compatibility issues have been resolved.

Note: To fix a Twitter feed in an existing presentation, you will need to open the Twitter state in BrightAuthor, navigate through the new authentication process, and republish the presentation.

  • Switching between RF In and Live Video (HDMI® In) states no longer resets the zone volume.

  • BrightAuthor no longer allows you to publish presentations containing Data Feeds that do not have a Name and/or Feed Specification set in the Presentation Properties > Data Feeds window.

  • Extending the time (hh:mm) of a presentation beyond the currently specified day no longer results in erroneous schedule times.

  • The Time/Clock event now only allows you to enter whole numbers into the Interval between events (minutes) field.

  • The window reached by navigating to File > Presentation Properties > HTML Sites > Add HTML Site is now appropriately titled HTML Site instead of Data Feed.

Bug Fixes

  • Twitter compatibility issues have been resolved.

Note: To fix a Twitter feed in an existing presentation, you will need to open the Twitter state in BrightAuthor, navigate through the new authentication process, and republish the presentation.

  • Switching between RF In and Live Video (HDMI In) states no longer resets the zone volume.

  • BrightAuthor no longer allows you to publish presentations containing Data Feeds that do not have a Name and/or Feed Specification set in the Presentation Properties > Data Feeds window.

  • Extending the time (hh:mm) of a presentation beyond the currently specified day no longer results in erroneous schedule times.

  • The Time/Clock event now only allows you to enter whole numbers into the Interval between events (minutes) field.

  • The window reached by navigating to File > Presentation Properties > HTML Sites > Add HTML Site is now appropriately titled HTML Site instead of Data Feed.

Improvements

  • The name of the current active presentation can now be used as a System User Variable.

  • File folders for the Media Library can now be uniquely set for each zone.

Note: This may cause instability with presentations exported from one instance of BrightAuthor 3.7.0.14 to another.

  • You can now drag and drop media files from the Windows Explorer to the playlist of a zone. This is supported in the following zones: Video Only, Video or Images, Images, Background Images, Audio.

  • With the exception of Ticker and Clock zones, all zones can now be sized as small as 25 x 25 pixels.

Note: Video will not play properly in 25 x 25 zones on the HD110, HD210, HD410, HD810, and HD1010.

  • When opening a presentation with missing files, BrightAuthor now prompts you for additional file folders if it fails to find all of the missing files in the first specified folder.

  • Pressing the Refresh button in the Media Library now updates the thumbnails of video and image files in both the Media Library and the playlist area.

  • You can now use the Replace Media Files feature to replace additional files added to the presentation in File > Presentation Properties > Files.

  • USB Input events are now available on the AU320.

  • BrightAuthor now remembers file folder locations for all file selection parameters, including Data Feeds, background images, HTML files, custom autoruns, and plug-in scripts.

3.7.0.12

New Features

  • New RF Channel Scanning feature (this includes a rework of RF channel tuning as well)

  • New Audio Stream state

  • Support for using EDID parameters (e.g. monitor name, manufacturer serial number) as User Variables in a presentation

  • New method for adding and publishing HTML5 pages

  • Custom device web page support

  • Support for custom script plug-ins

  • Support for publishing additional files with a presentation

  • New network diagnostic options when setting up a player

  • New commands for incrementing and decrementing User Variables

  • New User Variables based on system parameters such as IP address, firmware version, and script version

  • New IR Out command (for XD players only)

  • Ability to download from password protected folders with Simple File Networking.

Bug Fixes

  • Entering coordinates for a GPS event using decimals now works with Windows regional settings that use commas. This fix affects numerous European regional settings.

  • Opening a presentation file that contains an image in a Live Text state no longer crashes BrightAuthor.

  • Using the “Undo” button will no longer reset event labels in an Interactive Playlist.

  • User variables in Live Text now update correctly.

  • Live Text states that display one or more RSS feeds now transition correctly during a Timeout event.

  • Trying to display the same Twitter feed in two ticker zones no longer causes both to disappear.

  • Live Text states can now display a media RSS image without its attendant title and description.

  • “Switch to Presentation” commands that are added to items in an Interactive Menu now work as expected.

  • Publishing to a write-protected SD card no longer results in an assertion failure.

  • The “Fade to background color” transition effect for images now works in Interactive Playlists.

  • Entering a special character in the Size field on the Layout screen no longer causes BrightAuthor to crash.

  • Opening a User Defined Template with a Background Images zone no longer causes BrightAuthor to crash.

  • Attempting to use Simple File Networking to publish to a networked storage drive that is disconnected no longer causes BrightAuthor to crash.

  • Media RSS feed content is no longer counted as network traffic for presentations on a BrightSign Network account.

  • Attempting to cancel a firmware update that is being published via Local File Networking no longer causes BrightAuthor to crash.

  • Playing a presentation with a Clock zone that is too small will no longer cause a runtime error in the autorun script.

  • The 1920x1080x24p resolution is no longer listed twice in the New Project and Presentation Properties windows.

  • The 1920x1080x25p resolution is no longer available as an option for the HD120, HD220, and HD1020 players.

  • Advanced Commands are no longer copied from one Rectangular Touch region to another.

  • Switching back and forth between the Main and Advanced tabs no longer allows you to create a Serial Input event without serial input data.

  • In the Edit > Layout tab, entering a zone name when all zones have been deleted no longer causes an assertion failure.

  • The Data Feeds window (File > Presentation Properties > Data Feeds > Add Data Feed) no longer has a chance of locking up the Presentation Properties window.

Improvements

  • When creating Conditional Variables, you can now check one User Variable against another with a range of operators.

  • The style of the device webpage (i.e. the Local Web Server) has been modernized.

  • The Local Web Server now displays User Variables for only the current active presentation (rather than all presentations on the local storage).

  • The Local Web Server now displays User Variables in alphabetical order.

  • Transitions into and out of HTML5 states now work more smoothly.

  • You can now choose an “Overwrite All” option when uploading multiple files and/or linked presentations to the BrightSign Network.

  • You can now use Synchronization commands when transitioning to Video Play File and Image Play File states.

  • You now have the option of stopping audio/video playback upon entry to an Event Handler state.

  • BrightAuthor now allows multiple events of the same type to transition to a single Video/Audio Play File state.

  • Renaming a Data Feed in File > Presentation Properties is now reflected in all parts of the presentation (Live Text states, Ticker zones, etc.).

  • The <ttl> element of an RSS feed no longer overrides the Update Frequency setting specified in BrightAuthor. The shortest length of time among the two parameters will be used instead.

  • You can now set the update frequency for Twitter feeds.

  • Twitter feeds are now interpreted with JSON.

  • ACST and ACDT time zone options have been added to BrightAuthor.

  • You can now specify the target of a Switch Presentation command with a User Variable.

  • The formatting characteristics of text fields in a Live Text state will carry over if one field is selected while the other is created.

  • Audio files in an Audio List state are no longer displayed multiple times.

  • Attempting to open a presentation that is not supported by the current version of BrightAuthor will now return a notification rather than crashing the application.

  • New “Show Save Schedule dialog” option in Edit > Preferences > UI.

  • BrightAuthor no longer allows you to update an autorun to an incompatible version.

  • When downloading a presentation from the BrightSign Network that is larger than the available disk space on your computer, BrightAuthor now returns an error immediately rather than exhausting the disk space and then crashing.

  • Advanced Commands now have tooltips listing possible command parameters.

  • The Media Library of the Background Image zone now has a Refresh button like other zones.

3.5.0.36

New Features

  • Up-to-date localization for the following languages: Chinese (simplified), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish

Bug Fixes

  • Using Undo in an Interactive Playlist no longer causes event transition labels to reset to 0.

  • Opening a presentation file that contains an image in a Live Text state no longer crashes BrightAuthor.

  • Switching back and forth between the Main and Advanced tabs no longer allows you to create a Serial Input event without serial input data.

  • Exiting a state window through the Advanced tab no longer allows you to create the following events without input parameters: Serial Input, UDP Input, USB Input, Keyboard Input, Remote Input, Synchronize, Link Zones.

Improvements

  • 1920x1080x25p is now an available video mode for the HD120, HD220, and HD1020.

3.5.0.31

New Features

  • Up-to-date localization for the following languages: Chinese (simplified), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish

  • Optional password protection for USB content updates

Bug Fixes

  • Timeout events that are set to Return to prior state now go back one state rather than two.

  • Using the X to delete a Command in the Advanced tab now removes the correct Command from the list.

  • Switching back and forth between the Advanced and Main tabs of an event no longer causes modified Command parameters to return to default values.

  • Commands in a Rectangular Touch event are no longer copied from existing touch regions to new touch regions. 

Improvements

  • The new Stop Playback option allows you to stop video playback upon entry to an Event Handler state.

3.5.0.24

Bug Fixes

  • Issues with the Advanced Network Setup window have been fixed.

  • HTML5 touch-screen events now work even when the Display Cursor option is disabled in the BrightAuthor HTML5 configuration window.

Improvements

  • There have been numerous localization improvements.

3.5.0.22

New Features

  • HTML5 states (XD series only)

  • Multiple Video Only or Video and Images zones (XD series only)

  • RF In states (XD1230 only)

  • Time/Clock events

  • Two new audio commands: Connector Volume and Zone Volume

Bug Fixes

  • You can now use Media RSS feeds, Dynamic Playlists, and images in Live Text states.

  • Live Text elements now have z-ordering options.

  • You can now specify an image timeout for an Interactive Menu.

  • The user interface for adding commands has been streamlined.

  • The layout of the BrightSign unit setup window has been improved.

  • The user interface for adding and editing Data Feeds has been improved.

  • The options for adding and editing Variables have been changed to work better with Data Feeds.