Tagging

The BrightAuthor:connected tagging feature lets you create tags to organize your media and playlists and play different content on different players. This page describes the different types of tags, provides an example of how to create and apply them, and explores some advanced tagging options unique to BrightAuthor:connected.

Tag Types

User Tags

To add tags to media and players, you must assign the following values in the User Tags menu (note that tags can simply be a name, or can be more complex and contain a name, type, and value):

• Tag Name: Enter any name to describe the tag

• Tag Type: Select either String, Numeric, Boolean, Date, String Array, or Numeric Array. The value of the tag will match the tag type. For example, if you select Numeric, your tag Value must be numeric. 

• Value: Boolean and Date tags will automatically provide valid value formats.

Player Tags

Player Tags are applied to registered players on a network instead of to media content. To access Player Tags, select a player in the Network tab and then open the Tags menu in the right pane. This will let you assign the same tag fields to that player as you can assign to content with User Tags (see User Tags, above, for more details about these fields).

System Tags

System Tags are built into BrightAuthor:connected. System Tags are innate properties like media type (video, image, audio), file location, and file name, and are automatically generated for all tagged media in BrightAuthor:connected. System Tags are treated the same as User Tags and can be used in media rules on tagged playlists.

Tagging Content

To create a content tag:

1. Create a folder and make sure that the content you want to tag is in that folder.

2. Select the content (FluffyCat.jpg in Image 1)

3. Select the Tags section on the right.

4. Expand the User Tag drop down, and select Add Tag.

5. Expand the new tag and enter the Tag Name and Value (Value is not mandatory). See User Tags, above, for an explanation of the different fields.

6. Select the save icon in the top right.

7. A tag symbol will appear in the top left corner of the content thumbnail (see the arrow in Image 1), and a success notification will appear at the top of the screen.

For all non-array tag types, each tag may only have one unique value per piece of media. For more information about how array tag types work, see Advanced Tagging, below.

Currently, tags cannot be assigned to more than one media item at a time.

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Image 1: Tagging content

Tagging Players

To create a player tag:

1. You should have already created a tag name and value pair for your content (see Tagging Content, above)

2. Select a registered player under the Network tab

3. Add the tag name and value in the Tag menu at right. As you type, a drop down menu will appear with tag names that have already been entered on media assets to ensure that you enter the correct name/value. 

4. Select the save icon in the top right.

Creating Tagged Playlists

Once content has been tagged, you can create tagged playlists which contain all relevant tagged media and which will automatically track tag additions or removals. Tagged playlists use media rules, which can use system and user tags, to determine their contents. Create and apply your tags to your media before creating a tagged playlist, so you can view contents in real time as media rules are applied.

Creating a Tagged Playlist (Example)

For example, if you want to create a playlist containing all media tagged as "Animal: Cat" to play in a section of a store, create a tagged playlist to display all content that matches the Animal tag with a value of "Cat". To do this (assuming you tagged content as shown in the User Tags section above):

1. Select Tagged Playlist under Content > New Component > Tagged Playlist.

2. Enter a name and select Create. Note that Tagged Playlist names that only contain numbers are not valid and cannot be saved.

3. Select the directory that contains your content and select Add Media Rule (see Image 2)

4. Enter the correct Tag Name, Condition, and Value to create the rule. Note that Value can contain multiple comma separated values when used with the Contains, Contains All, or Contains Any conditions. Once the rule is created, all the media with the tag should appear in the Results section.

5. You can optionally change the TTL (time to live) value in the Properties pane (under Tagged Playlist) from the default value of 5 minutes and/or change the default Match Rules and Order content by settings.

6. Select the save icon (next to Add Media Rule).

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Image 2: Media Rules

Adding a Tagged Playlist to a Presentation

Once you have created your tagged playlist, you can add it to a presentation. To do this:

1. Create a presentation (under Presentations) or select an existing presentation.

2. Add a tagged playlist widget from the Widgets tab into the presentation (see Image 3)

3. Player tag matching acts as a secondary filter, allowing you to exclude items from the playlist based on the tags assigned to the player. Decide how you want to match your tag names (not values). Select one of:

   • Match all Media Tags to Player Tags: The player will only play content from the playlist that has the same set of tags as the player.

   • Match Any: The player will play content from the playlist that has least one media tag that matches a player tag.

   • Match All Media Tags: Tag names on content must exist on the player to be played.

   • Match All Player Tags: Tag names on the player must also exist on the content to be played.

   • Match Player Tags Disabled: All content from the tagged playlist will play without regard to assigned player tags.

4. Save the presentation.

5. Publish the presentation to the desired group

6. Go to the Network tab

7. Add the correct device tag to the player if you have not done so already (see Tagging Players). Now the player should play the content associated with the tags.

Setting Media Order and Duration

You can change the media order and media duration in any tagged playlist. To do this:

1. Select the desired media in the Results panel.

2. Under Properties, you can change the order and duration of the media (by default this is six seconds). The order can also be modified by clicking and dragging media in the Results panel. See Image 4.

Updating Tagged Playlists

Adding and Approving New Content

To add new content to an existing tagged playlist:

1. Upload your new content into the folder that contains the original tagged playlist content.

2. Add the media tags that you have assigned to the other content in the folder to the new content. 

3. Save the media tags.

4. Go to the tagged playlist and select the "thumbs up" icon to approve the new content (see Image 5, below). The presentation will update with the new content based on the interval setting (TTL) that you assigned to the playlist. This TTL interval setting is the frequency with which player checks BSN.cloud servers for new media.

Deleting Content

To delete content from a tagged playlist, simply delete the content from the original folder, or remove the tags from that content.

Advanced Tagging Features

Array Tags 

Two versions of array tagging are supported: string arrays and numeric arrays. Array tags allow users to assign multiple values to the piece of media on a single tag name.

For example, in Images 6 and 7, a string array tag named Landscape has been applied to three pictures. Each picture has one or more tag values: Snow, Forest, Lake. When the media rule contains Snow, all three pictures appear under Results. When the rule contains Forest, only two pictures are displayed under Results. 

Validity Dates

You can assign validity dates to selected content. When a validity date has been assigned, that content will only be displayed on screen during the assigned date range. For example, this can be used to display seasonal content or sales. 

To assign validity dates to content:

1. If you have not already done so, define the media rules in the tagged playlist.

2. Select the content thumbnail.

3. Select the Enable Validity Date checkbox in the Properties panel (see Image 8).

4. Enter a Start Time/Date and End Time/Date. The time should be entered in UTC timezone (not your local time).