Interactive Menu

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Last updated: Jun 07, 2023
5 min read

Interactive Menus are DVD-style menus that users can navigate with interactive events. By linking media to items to the Interactive Menu, you can allow users to interactively transition to a new state of their choice. Because Interactive Menus can serve as a bridge to many media items and outline all selections available to the user, they make great Home Screens.

To create an Interactive Menu, add a Video or Images zone to your presentation. Set the zone to Interactive and drag the Interactive Menu icon from the Other tab to the playlist area. 

General

This tab allows you to select an image for your Interactive Menu and define how a user navigates it.

  • State name: Create a unique name for your Interactive Menu state.

  • Background Image: Click Browse to select an image to use as the menu display. 

Important

The background image is not simply a background for menu items; it must contain all images and text you want displayed in the menu.

  • Set as initial state: Check this box to set the Interactive Menu as the Home Screen.


The Navigation section is where you define how a user navigates among items in the menu. Click the dropdown menu for each option (Up, Down, Left, Right, Enter, Back, Next clip, Previous clip) and select the interactive input that will trigger this action (GPIO Event, Serial input, etc.). A second dropdown menu or text field will appear. Specify the button or input you want to correspond to the action.

Let’s say you want to define how to move Up in the menu, and you want to use the "U" key on the connected keyboard. In the Up dropdown list, select Keyboard Input. A text field will appear below where you can specify a button. Type “U” in the text field. Now, when a user presses “U” on a keyboard, the cursor will move up along the menu items. If you don't wish to define an action, you can simply leave the dropdown list on the default None.

 The following actions can be defined in the Navigation section:

  • Up, Down, Left, Right: These are the primary actions a user will perform to navigate from one menu item to the next.

  • Enter: When a user enters the defined input on a menu item, a media file you have chosen in the Menu Items tab will play.

  • Back: The user can enter the defined input to return to the menu at any point.

  • Next clip: If a user is viewing a media file associated with a menu item, using the defined input will play the media file that corresponds to the next menu item.

  • Previous clip: If a user is viewing a media file associated with a menu item, using the defined input will play the media file that corresponds to the previous menu item.

This tab allows you to create menu items and specify how a user navigates around the menu.

  • Menu Item Number: Every menu item has a unique menu item number: The first item you create is 1, the second is 2, and so on. Here you can navigate among the menu items you have created by clicking the Previous and Next buttons. All other options below correspond to the menu item you have selected.

  • Add Menu Item: Click to create a new menu item. The Add Menu Item window will open.

    • Active Image: This image serves as a cursor to visually inform the user what menu item is currently selected.

    • Inactive Image: This image appears beside the menu item when the user has another menu item selected.

  • Position: Adjust the position of your menu item by inputting specific numbers. Alternatively, you can click the active image in the preview image and drag it to the desired position. The inactive image will appear in the same spot when the menu item is not selected.

    • X: The position of the menu item on the horizontal axis.

    • Y: The position of the menu item on the vertical axis.

  • Offset next: Check this box to specify an initial position for new menu items in relation to the most recent menu item.

    • X: The amount of offset on the horizontal axis.

    • Y: The amount of offset on the vertical axis.

  • Selected Image: Click Browse to change the active image.

  • Unselected Image: Click Browse to change the inactive image.

  • Store image in cache: Check this box to store the corresponding image in the player cache. This ensures that the image will load quickly when switching between active/inactive states. Note that the player cache is limited—see this FAQ for more details.

The Navigation section is where you determine how a user moves from one menu item to the next. Although the actions were previously defined in the General tab, this is where you specify how actions navigate among the specific menu items. The possible actions are Up, Down, Left, and Right. Each action has a dropdown list that displays the menu item number for each created menu item. By default, None is selected for each.

Selecting a number in the dropdown list will allow the user to navigate from the current menu item to the specified menu item by performing the corresponding action. Let’s say you are editing menu item number 1. If you click the dropdown list for the Down action and select 2, the user can now navigate from Menu item 1 to Menu item 2 by pressing the Down button. Remember, the buttons correspond to whatever you previously defined in the Navigation section of the General tab.

Enter

The Enter section is where you determine what happens when a user presses the Enter button on a particular Menu item. Select one of the following:

  • Play clip: Plays the specified media item when the user presses the Enter button. Use the Browse button to select a media item. If you select an image, the following options will be available:

    • Image timeout (seconds): Specify how long the image should be displayed before returning to the interactive menu.

    • Store image in cache: Check this box to store the image in the player cache. This will ensure that the image loads quickly. Note that the player cache is limited—see this FAQ for more details.

  • Transition to new state: Transitions out of the Interactive Menu state and into a new state when the user presses the Enter button. Use the dropdown list to select a state from the presentation playlist.

  • Return to prior state: Returns to the previous state (i.e. the state that transitioned to the Interactive Playlist) when the user presses the Enter button.

  • Remain on current state: Does not change states when a user presses the Enter button. However, you can add commands to specify changes that occur while remaining on the Interactive Menu. Click the Advanced tab to reveal the Commands menu.