The Monitor Sync Section
Monitor Sync is a feature that allows the player to periodically synchronize local copies of files with their remote sources over HTTP or FTP. Typically, this feature is used to fetch small data files containing time-sensitive information such as weather or stock quote information.
The Monitor Sync section contains two tabs:
- URLs – Allows you to configure which files to synchronize. For an in-depth tutorial, see Synchronization Monitor.
- Core – Controls the global monitor sync behavior.
Note: This section is one of several under Configuration Profile Properties for players. For general information, see Configuration Profiles - Players. For edge server profiles, see Configuration Profiles - Edge Servers.
The URLs tab contains all the information about the files that are synchronized by Monitor Sync. When adding a new URL, you can specify an http or ftp source.
For an in-depth tutorial, see Synchronization Monitor.
In the URLs tab, you can toggle between basic or advanced mode:
- Basic mode – Presents a graphical user interface.
- Advanced mode – Can be useful if you want to copy and paste a complicated configuration into another without having to recreate it through the interface. See Advanced Mode.
To open the Synchronization URL dialogue box, click Add.
The following settings are available:
- Remote URL
- Destination Path
- FTP Options
- Scripting Options
- Append Player ID to Remote URL
- Append Location Code to Remote URL
- Use URL Variables
- Refresh Period
- Timeout Period
- Remove Ad Copy from loop if unchanged in:
Remote URL
This is the URL of the remote server from which to fetch the information. It must start with either http://, https://, or ftp://.
You can encode usernames and passwords directly into the URL. For example: http://username:passwd@test.com/test.xml.
Destination Path
This is the location on the local player system where the synchronized content will be stored. This path can be relative or absolute.
If the path is absolute (that is, c:\something), ensure that the permissions on this folder allow the Broadsign Control Player user to read and write to it.
If the path is relative, the content will be synced into the player’s application data path, which is in one of the following locations:
- Windows XP dedicated player – C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
- Windows XP non-dedicated – C:\Documents and Settings\[USER_NAME]\Application Data\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
- Windows Vista and 7 dedicated player – C:\ProgramData\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
- Windows Vista and 7 non-dedicated – C:\Users\[USER_NAME]\AppData\Roaming\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
- Windows 10 dedicated player – C:\ProgramData\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
- Windows 10 non-dedicated – C:\Users\[USER_NAME]\AppData\Roaming\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
- Linux – /opt/broadsign/suite/bsp/share/bsp/sync
Note: If using the SmartFeed feature, this path is mandatory. If no specific path is required, put the current directory (".").
Append Player ID to Remote URL
You can configure the URL to dynamically change the remote URL based on the player’s ID. You can thus target specific players by including the player's unique ID# in the URL.
- FTP Example:
- Original FTP URL – ftp://test.com/files
- New URL – ftp://test.com/files/12345
where 12345 is the ID of the player fetching the URL
- HTTP Example:
- Original HTTP URL – http://test.com/test.xml
- New URL – http://test.com/test.xml?player_id=12345678
where 12345678 is the ID of the player fetching the URL
Append Location Code to Remote URL
You can configure the URL to dynamically change the remote URL based on the location code. You can thus target specific screens by appending it's location code to the URL.
- FTP Example (with location code):
- Original FTP URL – ftp://test@test:wether.example.com/test
- New FTP URL – ftp://test@test:wether.example.com/test/YUL
Note: If you have enabled both Player ID and Location Code appending, Broadsign Control Player will append the location code first and then the player ID. For example: ftp://test@test:weather.example.com/test/YUL/123456/
Use URL Variables
You can use content variables to dynamically transform the URL that is requested by Broadsign Control Player.
- Find a description of the list of variables in Content Variables.
- Variables are identified with {{variable_name}}.
- All automatic variables, as well as player and/or display unit variables, can be used and follow the same rules for inheritance.
- Variables related to the content playing are excluded (frame_id, frame_resolution, ad_copy_id, campaign_id).
- The variable replacement can happen anywhere in the URL, EXCEPT the protocol.
- It is possible to have multiple variables in the same URL.
- For example, if the remote url is http://cdn.test.com/audience/{{display_unit_id}}.csv and the player's display unit ID is 33333, the URL requested by the player will be: http://cdn.test.com/audience/33333.csv.
FTP Options
The following options only apply when the URL scheme in the remote URL is set to ftp://.
Sync Folder / Sync Sub-Folders
Warning: Exercise caution when using the Sync Folder option. Files and folders that exist in the destination path that do not exist on the remote FTP server will be deleted. For this reason, a destination path of "c:\" will effectively destroy your OS. Please be careful.
Sync Folder will copy the entire contents of the remote folder to the local machine, but will not recurse into sub-directories. Sync Sub-Folders will recurse into subdirectories, as well.
Sync Folder also verifies file timestamps to ensure that the player avoids redownloading content.
When using the Sync Folder option, the source URL must actually contain a real folder. For example, ftp://user:pass@ftp.example.com/folder/ would work, whereas ftp://user:pass@ftp.example.com/ will not.
Warning: Exercise caution when using the Sync behavior options. Files and folders that exist in the destination path that do not exist on the remote FTP server will be deleted. For this reason, a destination path of "c:\" will effectively destroy your OS. Please be careful.
- Sync file – Copies a specific remote file to the local machine.
- Sync remote folder – Copies the entire remote folder to the local machine, but will not recurse into sub-directories. It also verifies file timestamps to ensure that the player avoids redownloading content.
- Sync remote folder and subfolders – Recursively syncs all child folders, as well.
- Sync using manifest – This option is available for the HTTP/HTTPS protocol only. It syncs files according to the information defined in the Manifest file.
- The path to the Manifest file is defined in the Remote URL field.
- The location on the local player system where the synchronized content will be stored is defined in the Destination path field.
Note: If you are using the Sync remote folder or Sync remote folder and subfolders option, be aware that Broadsign Control supports only the Nginx, Apache, and IIS HTTP servers with Directory Listings enabled. Broadsign Control uses native configurations, so if you modify the date format, for example, synchronization may not work properly.
For more information on the format to use for a Manifest file, see The Monitor Sync Section.
Sync Mode
The synchronization method used. You can select one of the following options:
-
Atomic – Downloads all files from the FTP or HTTP/HTTPS remote URL to the player before making any changes to the content.
Note: When syncing files, the player will ensure atomic delivery. This ensures that the player will not get a partial copy of the remote data. All files are synced locally as .part files. When the transaction completes successfully, Broadsign reverts them to their original names.
-
Progressive – Makes changes on the player to each file as soon as it downloads.
Refresh Period
Controls how often the remote URL is synchronized locally, that is, the frequency with which the player will check the remote URL for new files. Expressed in hh:mm:ss.
Timeout Period
Controls how long the player will wait for a server timeout, that is, the length of time the player will wait before terminating hung connections. Default 30 seconds.
Scripting Options
- Enable SmartFeed – You can enable Broadsign's SmartFeed feature. See SmartFeed.
- Edit Script – Opens the Script Editor. For more information, see SmartFeed.
Remove Ad Copy from loop if unchanged in:
When a monitor sync URL is associated directly with an ad copy, this option becomes available in the URLs tab of the ad copy.
The ad copy can be removed from the loop when the associated data feed becomes stale. Typically, this is enabled when the choice is made that it is preferable to display no content instead of stale content. The specified time period can elapse because either the remote server is unavailable or the remote feed contents have not changed.
The Core tab provides a mechanism to periodically update a local file from a remote source. For more details about variables and how to use them, see Content Variables.
Content | Description |
Enabled | Controls whether the Monitor Sync mechanism is enabled on the player. |
Respect network controls | Controls whether the player will honor Network Control time spans with respect to the file synchronization feature. See Network Control. |
Append Resource ID Append Location Code Append Address |
Controls whether to append dynamic variables such as Player Resource ID, Zip code and Address to the fetched HTTP URLs to enable smart server-side logic that customizes the response document for each client. For more details, see Content Variables. |