User manual

Automation Protocol Easytext Commands
Miranda Technologies Ltd Page 215
Easytext Commands
Introduction
The Oxtel Series automation protocol supports control of the Easytext
character generation software when the Easytext licence is present.
Commands have been added to the Imagestore software to allow
specification and formatting of on-screen text.
Summary
Easytext templates are built using the Textbuilder software application from
the Media Conversion Software (MCS) suite. Templates consist of a number
of ‘boxes’ each of which can either contain a piece of text in a single style, or
a particular graphic.
The number, positions, parameters and styles of these boxes are defined in
the template, along with some optional ‘static text’ – the text shown when the
template is first loaded.
For most simple automated CG (Character Generation) applications, the
automation must perform three separate tasks: It must load the template, and
then subsequently download new text to be displayed in certain boxes. On
completion of this, it can take the template to air using the keyer controls.
Various problems may be found as this is attempted:
• The loading of a template happens as a ‘background’ operation: The
‘ACK’ from Imagestore simply means the load request has been
received correctly, not that it has completed.
• Because of this, new text should not be sent until the template has
been loaded. It’s possible to determine this by using the ‘disk busy’
bit returned as part of the “Enquire loaded image status” (O)
command - Alternatively, a simple delay of a couple of seconds will
normally suffice.
• Once the template is loaded, new text can then be sent. The box
numbers specified when the template was created must be known, to
ensure that the new text is inserted in the correct places. Again, the
rendering of the text into the template is comparatively slow, and it
may be important to wait for the text to be rendered before taking
the template to air. This must currently be handled with a delay,
which will depend on the complexity of the template and the
number of characters to be drawn.