Question about scheduling layouts

Xibo will interleave any layouts that are scheduled for the same time, I.e. in the time slots that you have both layouts scheduled Xibo will play layout 1 for its entire duration, then layout 2, then layout 1, etc.

If both your layouts are 20 minutes long all you need to do is schedule your second layout for 1 until 3.

Your current setup doesn't work at all because the repeat until value is in the past.

My issue is, that I don't see a way to assign a Layout a time limit.

When I authorized my client you are forced to assign a layout... I assigned: Test
The test layout has 5 - DIV Elements 1 Jpg, 1 RSS feed 2 - CLocks & the weather.
Most of the DIV's are assigned 300 seconds with the exception of the JPG which is essentially static.

Then I went to the schedule, selected my display and added TEST2 on the schedule as earlier described....

Is there a timer\schedule for the layout itself? What am I missing?

The first layout is a default layout that will be shown when nothing else is playing, you can make this an empty layout if you want, or a layout containing a splashscreen.

There is an option on each display for "interleave default", when this option is off the default will not be shown when there are other layouts scheduled

Your layout 1 sounds like it should be scheduled in the same manner as layout 2, and you should have a splash screen as a default layout.

I will try the layouts change as suggested. However, I still don't see a way to setup a schedule to repeat ever 5,10,20 minutes etc . My choices are Hourly, Daily, Weekly etc.... To set this up initiall it would be nice not needing to wait an hour.

Example Assigned the default layout to the screen... Then I assign a schedule for the TEST LAYOUT which for testing I would like to have it re-occur all day every 5 minutes.... followed by layout TEST2 all day every 5 minutes.

Then once I am ready to deploy the templates for use it would be Layout1 every day for 1 month from 00:00 - 15:00
Then layout2 everyday for 1 month from 15:00 to 15:30 then back to Layout 1 from 15:30 - 16:00 then back to layout 2 from 16:00-17:30 then back to Layout1. So it would seem I need 4 schedules to make this happen and that is fine, but what if I wanted these to re-occur forever?

So you want to make the total duration of TEST LAYOUT and TEST2 to be 5 minutes - so basically make the longest running region run for a total of 300 seconds.

Then schedule TEST LAYOUT and TEST2 to run 24/7 for a long time. Turn interleaving off on the displays.

Then Schedule Layout1 from 00:00-15:00 repeating daily for the month - optionally with priority (if you want TEST LAYOUT and TEST2 to be hidden while it runs).

etc

Xibo doesn't support recurring schedules forever - you have to set and end date. Just set a date some time in the future (say a couple of years off). If you aren't updating your digital signage in 2 years then you really probably ought to be!

Alex

Sorry, the question may be dumb but where is this interleve option you speak of? I see no way of setting time limit on a layout without creating many many schedules. I do not see anything that says Play for 20 minutes. Each element has a time setting but the layout does not. I setup a test schedule and I can get the first slide to change but then it never changes back.

I understand when you schedule a job youm must specify a start stop time... but then under re-occuring section you are again prompted to specify a stop time, that seems redundant. Also is there a way I can have two layout rotate say play every 30 minutes, withoug the need for numerous schedules?

Thanks in advance for your help!

FYI I deleted my old schedule and created new ones that go thru Friday.

The interleave option is in Management -> Displays and is per-display.

Let me give you an example - see if this helps.

If i want a layout to run from 10-11am every day for a week, I'd fill in the following

Start: Monday 24/10/2011 10:00
Finish: Monday 24/10/2011 11:00
Repeat until: Sunday 30/10/2011

That will make that layout available to run from 10-11 every day that week.

How long it stays on the screen for is ENTIRELY dependent on the length of the longest running region on the layout. So say you have 2 regions - one has an image for 10 seconds and the other has a video that lasts 30 seconds, then at 10:00 on Monday 24th, the layout will start up and run for 30 seconds.

At that point, it will EITHER:
1. Play the default layout for it's duration IF interleave is turned on, then play this layout again and continue to cycle like that until 11:00
2. Play another layout that is scheduled to be running at this time (if there is one) for its duration, and then play this layout again and continue to cycle like that until 11:00
3. Run again if nothing else is scheduled and interleave is turned off (and continue to do so untill 11:00).

The scheduler has NOTHING whatsoever to do with how long a layout plays for - that is controlled entirely by the longest running region. All the scheduler does is control which layouts should be considered for playing at any given time.

Alex

Should say:

Start: Monday 24/10/2011 10:00
Finish: Monday 24/10/2011 11:00
Repeat type: Daily
Repeat until: Sunday 30/10/2011

I found the interleve option under the displays like you said. That is already set to NO

I went back again and deleted my schedules and recreated them.

Below is an example fo what I used for my schedule (note I setup 4 occurences for each layout during the day, seprating the 2 schedules by 1 minute):
Sched 1 using layout: TEST
start time from 10/20/2011 @ 00:00
end time 10/21/2011 @ 08:30

Re occur daily Every 1 Hour ending on 10/21/2011 @ 0:8:30

Sched 2 using layout: TEST2
start time from 10/20/2011 @ 08:31
end time 10/21/2011 @ 09:00

Re occur daily Every 1 Hour ending on 10/21/2011 @ 09:00

Again 4 - schedules for each and obviously the time is changing... then when I check the schedules my end times all show up as 00:00:00??? Not sure why.

Sched1 will then create the following:

20/10/2011 00:00 - 21/10/2011 08:30
20/10/2011 01:00 - 21/10/2011 08:30
20/10/2011 02:00 - 21/10/2011 08:30

etc which is almost certainly not what you want.

They all show end time of 00:00 because they go beyond the end of the current day.

What you need is as follows:

Layout 1 - the default (plays all day, except when layout 2 runs on schedule)
Set up as many regions as you want etc with reasonably short durations.

Layout 2 - the layout that plays between 1pm and 3pm
Set up as many regions as you want, BUT make sure one of them lasts a total of 1200 seconds (20 minutes).

Assign Layout 1 as the default for your client and turn on Interleave

Create a schedule as follows:

Layout: Layout 2
Start time: 20/10/2011 13:00
Finish time: 20/10/2011 15:00
Repeat type: Daily
Repeat until: 20/10/2012 15:00

That will then show Layout 1 all day every day, except between 13:00 and 15:00 each day when it will alternate between Layout 1 and Layout 2. Layout 1 will be shown for however long it's longest running region shows for. Layout 2 will run for 20 minutes.

Alex