Using the BrightSign App with BrightAuthor Classic

9 min

This page / section pertains to BrightAuthor Classic, our legacy app. BrightSign Author is our latest app for managing content and players.

Development of BrightAuthor Classic has largely ceased and the app will eventually be deprecated and replaced with BrightSign Author.

This page details how to create BrightAuthor Classic presentations that work with the BrightSign App. The following sections are quick setup instructions.

Player Setup

In order to use the Diagnostic Web Server, User Variables, and Remote Snapshots pages in the BrightSign App, you will need to make sure they are enabled during the player setup process.

Create new setup files for a BrightSign player by navigating to Tools > Setup BrightSign Unit.
Check the Enable diagnostic web server box.
(Optional) Enter a Password for the Diagnostic Web Server
Check the Enable local web server box. By default, this enables the User Variables webpage. If you would like to disable the User Variables webpage or use a custom webpage, navigate to File > Presentation Properties > Variables.
(Optional) Enter a User name and Password for the Local Web Server.
(Optional) Check Enable Update Notifications to have the player automatically refresh the User Variables webpage when variable values change on the player.
(Optional) Check the Enable remote snapshot box to enable the Remote Snapshot feature, which allows you to remotely monitor the contents of the presentation display via the BrightSign App.
Specify other settings for the BrightSign player as needed.
Click Create Setup Files to publish the setup files to an SD card.

Using UDP Events

You can use Commands on the BrightSign App to trigger UDP Events on a player. This allows you to program a wide range of interactivity into your presentations. Here we’ll demonstrate how to create a simple media transition event using UDP input:

Make your presentation interactive by clicking the Edit > Playlist tab and then selecting the Interactive option under Playlist type.
Drag two media items (images, videos, or audio) into the playlist area from the Media Library.
Click the Events tab under the Media Library. Drag and drop the UDP Input Event onto the first media item.
Specify a desired command parameter in the Specify UDP input field. This is the same as the parameter in the Data field in the BrightSign App: Sending this data from the BrightSign App (using a command button) will activate the UDP Input Event.
Select Transition to new state. Make sure the second media file is chosen.
Press OK.

You have now created an interactive presentation that will transition from one media item to another with the press of a button in the BrightSign App. When you use the app to connect to the player, the app will automatically retrieve and display the UDP Input Event as a Command.

UDP Commands with Multiple Players

The BrightSign App can only connect to (and send UDP Commands to) one player at a time. However, you can use UDP commands and UDP events to broadcast a BrightSign App command from one player to multiple players. This is useful if , for example, you want to change the content of an entire sales floor with a single command from the BrightSign App.

Double-click an existing UDP Input Event (like the event created in the previous example).
Navigate to the Advanced tab and click the Add Command button.
Under Commands, choose the Send category.
Under Command Parameters, select UDP and enter a command parameter. Commands entered here use the same format as commands from the BrightSign App. This means that a player will respond to a UDP command with a certain parameter regardless of whether it is sent from the BrightSign App or from another player.
Navigate to File > Presentation Properties and click the Interactive tab. In the UDP section, choose one of the following:
1. Select Specific IP address if you want UDP commands to be sent to only one player on your local network. Enter the IP address of the player.
2. Select All devices on the local subnet if you want UDP commands to be sent to all players on your local network.
3. Change the default UDP Destination Port if desired. If you change the destination port for this presentation, you will need to change the receiver ports for all presentations that are linked to the command.
Create a new presentation for the player(s) that will be linked to the first player.
Add two media items of your choosing to an interactive presentation (similar to the previous example).
Click the Events tab under Media Library. Drag and drop the UDP Input event onto the first media item.
In the Specify UDP Input field, enter the same command parameter that you used in Step 4.

Now, when you send a command to the first player using the BrightSign App, it will send a similar command to the other player(s) on the local network.

Creating User Variables

To modify User Variables in the BrightSign App, you must first create them in a presentation:

Go to File > Presentation Properties.
Navigate to the Variables tab and click the Add Variable button.
Specify a Name for the variable. This will be displayed above the value field in the BrightSign App.
Select a Default Value for the User Variable.
Repeat the above process to add as many User Variables as needed.

You can display User Variables in Live Text states to create price tags, menus, and schedules that are dynamic and updatable from the BrightSign App. You can also utilize User Variables to change the volume of media files on the fly.

Using Conditional Targets

If you have User Variables in your interactive presentation, you can also use conditional targets. Though they can be somewhat complex and difficult to master, conditional targets, used in conjunction with the User Variables page on the BrightSign App, allow for nearly limitless interactivity and customization within a presentation.

Conditional targets allow you to manipulate how a presentation will behave depending on the value of one or more User Variables. You can change what media is displayed and what media is transitioned to, along with display properties like connector volume and video playback, by changing the values of variables.

As a simple example, we will take the UDP Input event created for the BrightSign App in the Using UDP Events section and add a conditional target to make the media transition dynamic. In this example, we will create a presentation that transitions to a certain media item when the User Variable has a value of 1, but will transition to another media item if the User Variable has any value greater than 1.

Add a User Variable to the presentation using the instructions in the previous section.
Name the variable “Transition 1” and give it a value of 1.
Click OK to save the variable.
Add another media file to the interactive playlist. This will be the file that the UDP Input event will transition to conditionally.
Open the UDP Input event and navigate to the Advanced tab.
Click the Set Conditional Targets button near the bottom of the window.
Click the Add Conditional Target button. The conditional target equation has three parts: the variable, the operator, and the value.
1. Set the variable to Transition 1.
2. Set the operator to Greater than.
3. Enter “1” in the value field.
Select the Transition to new state option and specify the media file that you added to the interactive playlist in Step 4.
Click OK when you are finished.

Now there are two media items you can transition to using the command from the BrightSign App. If you leave the “Transition 1” variable set to 1, the command will continue to transition to the original media item. If you go to the User Variables page and change the “Transition 1” variable to any number greater than 1, the command will transition to the new media item instead.