Schedule

The Schedule tab allows you to schedule presentations according to time, date, and day of the week and then publish those presentations to your BrightSign players.

This section has an accompanying tutorial video:

Select a Publishing Type and Destination

Use the Type dropdown list to select one of the following publishing options: BSN.cloud, Standalone, Local Network, or Web Folder. Your players must be configured for the specified publishing type during Device Setup before you publish to them.

By default the destination is set to Local System Storage or whichever location was used last. The BSN.cloud option is only available if the Storage Selector is set to BSN.cloud, while the other publishing options require the desktop version of BrightAuthor:connected set to Local.

BSN.cloud

Distribute your schedule to any number of players over the Internet using BSN.cloud. Select the target BSN.cloud Group for the schedule.

Standalone

Publish your schedule to a microSD card or USB flash drive. You can also publish to a folder on your computer and copy the files to a storage device later on.

Local Network

Local Network is called Local File Networking in version 1.13.0 and older of BrightAuthor:connected.

Publish your schedule to a player over the local network.

  1. Add Player: Click the plus icon to add a player to the Local Network list. The player must be on your local network and set up for Local File Networking first. You will be prompted to enter the IP address of the device.

  2. Refresh: Click the refresh icon to refresh the list of networked players (e.g. if a networked player has just booted up and you don't see it in the list yet).

  3. Player List: Use the checkboxes to select which player(s) on the local network you want to publish to.

  4. Device Credentials: Click the settings icon (the cog wheel) to enter the Local Web Server credentials for the player. If you have set up the player using the same instance of BrightAuthor:connected, you should not have to enter the password. If the password changes, or you are using a new BrightAuthor:connected instance, you'll need to enter the Local Web Server credentials again.

  5. Delete Player: Click the delete icon (trash can) to remove the player from the Local Network list. This action will delete the player record from the BrightAuthor:connected instance, but the Local Web Server on the player remains active. You can add the player to the list again using the plus icon.

Web Folder

Web Folder is called Simple File Networking in version 1.13.0 and older of BrightAuthor:connected.

Publish your schedule to a web-server directory. Players that are set up for Web Folder can then retrieve the scheduled presentations from the server URL.

Add Presentations to the Schedule

Drag one or more presentations from the Source pane to the schedule area in the center. The Recent Presentations tab provides a list of recently edited presentations.

If you are publishing using BSN.cloud, the BSN.cloud tab lists all presentations saved on your BSN.cloud network. If you are publishing using another method, click the Open button to locate a folder containing presentation files on your local machine.

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Edit the Schedule

Once you've added your presentation(s) to the schedule, select a presentation in the schedule area or the Presentation pane on the right to open the Schedule pane. The schedule pane allows you to specify the date and time that a presentation plays:

  • Active all day, every day: The presentation plays at all times (i.e. without day parting).

  • Event time: The presentation plays once at the specified date and time:

    • Event Date: Specify the date that the presentation plays. 

    • Event Time: Specify the time interval during which the presentation plays. You can also drag the top and bottom of the presentation block in the schedule area 

  • Recurring Event: The presentation recurs during the specified days. If you don't check this box, the Event time will only apply to the single day selected in the schedule.

    • All Days: The presentation plays every day between the specified Start Date and End Date. 

    • Weekends: The presentation plays only on weekends between the specified Start Date and End Date. 

    • Weekdays: The presentation plays only on weekdays between the specified Start Date and End Date. 

    • All Days: The presentation plays only on certain days of the week between the specified Start Date and End Date. Use the checkboxes to select which days of the week the presentation will play

    • Start Date: Specify the start date of the scheduled recurrence. This date defaults to the currently selected date in the schedule.

    • End Date: Specify the end date of the scheduled recurrence.

    • Event Time: Specify the time interval during which the presentation plays.

  • Interrupt Other Presentations: Designate the presentation as the Schedule Interrupt presentation (see below).

Schedule Interrupts

If you add one presentation to the same time slot as another presentation, the added presentation will function as a Schedule Interrupt presentation. A Schedule Interrupt presentation can occupy the same time slot as other presentations and will play instead of those presentations. Schedule Interrupt presentations are useful when you need to add a new presentation to a regular, recurring schedule that you don't wish to alter permanently.

A Schedule Interrupt presentation is indicated with the  icon. You can switch the Schedule Interrupt designation from one presentation to another using the Interrupt Other Presentations checkbox.

Publishing Options

Use the Options pane to specify additional publishing options.

Device Setup

Click the Create Setup box to go to the Device Setup screen. This feature allows the user to publish new device settings to players including BrightSignOS updates.

Debugging

Enable or disable the following debugging options.

  • Enable serial debugging: The autorun script will output debugging information related to the presentation to the serial port (as well as over Telnet and SSH if these features are enabled).

  • Enable system log debugging: The autorun script will output debugging information related to the presentation to the Log tab in the Diagnostic Web Server.

BrightSignOS Update

This section allows you to select either Latest released OS, Beta OS, or MInimum OS that is compatible with your player. When you select Publish, the OS will be sent to the player and it will reboot.

Do Not Update is the default setting.