Specifications

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iCOMPEL Digital Signage - User Guide (V8.1.1)

4.2.1 Designing interactive layouts

You can design Layouts that respond to user input in various ways.

send an Advance To command to play a specific item or start a Playlist

change the current Layout

change the size and position of a Zone

display hidden Zones

send a signal to another device using the RS-232 port

The following sections offer some general guidance on developing interactive Layouts.

Developing a storyboard

Advance planning is particularly important when designing a Layout that offers choices and options to users. A storyboard

is the name given in the film industry for a plan based on a series of sketches of individual scenes. Many customers have

reported that creating a storyboard for an interaction sequence can be very useful. The storyboard may be a series of

sketches of screen Layouts, or more simply may be in the form of a flowchart. The important factor is to have a detailed

plan of all the possible outcomes of different interactive events.

Providing material for optional actions

You must make sure that you have collected and uploaded all the media files you require for any possible scenarios

controlled by interaction events. You need to create Playlists for Zones, and create Advance To commands and

Rendezvous points in those Playlists, before you start creating your interaction events.

Trade-offs between options for changing the display

You can change the display in response to an interaction either by changing the size and show/hide properties of a Zone or

by using a Change Layout command. Each method has advantages and disadvantages.

Method

Advantages

Disadvantages

Change Zone Size and Show/Hide properties

Very fast transition

Continues using existing media players

Use Change Layout command

Resets all media players

Slower, visible transition

4.2.2 General purpose input/output (GPIO)

The iCOMPEL can respond to changes in voltages generated by a general purpose input/output device such as a motion

sensor or a pressure mat. These inputs are received through the RS-232 port. It can also send output signals.

For more details see the RS-232 reference page

Control line outputs

The iCOMPEL has the ability to control the output state of the RS-232 DTR and RTS lines. The lines are controlled by RS-

232 Output Items that must be created and may appear in Playlists. The RS-232 Output Items can assign the state of one

or both RS-232 output lines and optionally a string of characters to be output. The RS-232 Output Items are given names in

order to make the intended usage clearer in the iCOMPEL configuration.

Each RS-232 Input Item may then be included in a Playlist and used to generate an iCOMPEL Advance To or Change

Layout command on a user defined transition of the line. The Advance To or Change Layout commands can be

configured to change the media being played by the iCOMPEL.

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