Modules and Connectors Management

Modules and Connectors Management

All content displayed in Xibo is served by a Media Module managed from the Modules page under the Administration section of the main CMS menu:

  • Use the row menu and click Configure to control if it should be accessible for Users to use.

At times it may be necessary to add or remove the allowed extensions on a particular Library file based Module (Image, Video, Flash etc.) A typical use case would be if a Player is being used which does not support that particular type of file.

Screenshot/Image

Generic File

The Generic File Module is used to send additional files to the Player that can then be used for other purposes.

This could be useful for providing supplementary files to be used as relative paths (e.g. An up and down arrow that is dynamically shown in the embedded HTML based on the results of stock data) as an example.
Screenshot/Image

Fonts

Fonts to be used with Widgets can be added and managed from the Fonts page under the Administration section of the main CMS menu.

IMPORTANT: it is possible to set a custom font on many Widgets, either via a property called Font Family or via the visual editor Font select list. If a font is not chosen the Player will show its own default “sans-serif” font, referred to as the system font. E.g. on Android this is usually Roboto.

We recommend always choosing a font where available to avoid Players showing differing fonts.

Caching and external access

The core Modules are designed to have their data cached and served from the CMS so that they can be played back without an active connection and/or without direct access to external resources that might be required. The CMS also uses this mechanism to be a good citizen when requesting 3rd party data.

For example, a Ticker Widget with the address http://anexternal.com/feed would only be accessed by the CMS and only once per updateInterval. The Players showing the Layout would not need to access that address directly.
Screenshot/Image

All of the core Modules adopt this approach, exceptions noted below:

  • The Web Page Module does not cache from the CMS and will always attempt to open the specified web page address using the browser on the Player. This means that the Player must have network access to the web address at all times.
  • The Embedded Module can be cached using library references, however, the User that creates the Module is free to specify external resources should they require them.
  • The Local Video Module is rendered by the video decoder on the Player and can reference an external stream.
  • Flash Files have the capability to reference an external file and will be run on the Player.

Connectors

Modules that rely on a third party service for data, Stocks for example, need further configuration with API keys etc.

Once the Module has been enabled and you have the required API key, go to the Applications page under the Administration section of the main CMS menu and scroll down to the Connectors section of the page.

Here you can see all third party services which can be configured:

  • Click the Configure button of the Connector to configure:

  • Provide the API key you have been given and ensure that you tick the Enabled box to tell the Connector to start providing the service to the relevant Modules.

Player Support table for Modules - v4 CMS

  • Common Alert Protocol
  • Adobe Flash
  • Agenda
  • Attach Audio
  • Audio
  • Calendar
  • Calendar View
  • Chart
  • Clock
  • Countdown
  • Currencies
  • Dashboards
  • DataSet
  • DataSet Ticker
  • DataSet View
  • Dynamic Data
  • Embedded HTML
  • Google Traffic Maps
  • HLS Stream
  • HTML Package
  • Image
  • Image "Fit" Scaling
  • Menu Boards
  • Menu Board: Category
  • Menu Board: Products
  • Mastodon
  • Notification
  • PDF
  • Playlists
  • PowerPoint
  • Power Point Conversion Service
  • Shell Command
  • Spacer
  • Stocks
  • Sub-Playlist
  • Text
  • Ticker
  • Twitter
  • Twitter Metro
  • Video
  • Video - full screen switch
  • Video In
  • Local Video
  • H.265 HVAC
  • Weather
  • Weather Tiles (On Request)
  • Webpage
  • Webpage - Page load error trigger
  • World Clock
  • Widget Expiry Dates
  • Widgets and Modules
  • Adobe Flash
  • Attach Audio
  • Audio
  • Calendar
  • Clock
  • Countdown
  • Currencies
  • Dashboards
  • DataSet
  • Embedded HTML
  • Google Traffic Maps
  • HLS Stream
  • HTML Package
  • R200
  • R200
  • R200
  • R203
  • Image
  • Image "Fit" Scaling
  • R304
  • R303
  • R303
  • R303
  • Menu Board: Category
  • Menu Board: Products
  • Mastodon
  • Notification
  • PDF
  • Playlists
  • PowerPoint
  • Shell Command
  • R303
  • R303
  • Spacer
  • Stocks
  • Text
  • Ticker
  • Video
  • Video - full screen switch
  • R200
  • R253
  • Video In
  • R303
  • Local Video
  • H.265 HVAC
  • 5.0+
  • 8.1+
  • Weather
  • Webpage
  • Webpage - Page load error trigger
  • R303
  • R303
  • R302
  • R302
  • World Clock
  • Widget Expiry Dates
  • R200