Xibo accomplishments!

[stiggy77]

Hi all

 

I've managed to do the following and it's all working very well! If anyone wants advice please PM me.

 

1. Linked MS Word to Xibo allowing users to 'post' pictures and text.

 

2. Linked MS Excel to Xibo via embedded links so that allows Xibo pulls cell data, displays it and updates it automatically every time the spreadsheet is saved.

 

3. Placed Sky Player onto our reception display (I also figured out how to get rid of all borders and how to get the player to stretch to the region)

 

4. I have found and used a flash player creator called powerbullet; http://www.powerbullet.com/Powerbullet.html

 

If there is anything you've managed to accomplish with this excellent software that you're proud of please let me know! I'm always looking for ways to improve our displays.

 

Cheers!

 

Lawro

[featured_spectre]

Or....you could always post up a how-to guide and it gets stickied

[nadeem]

Or....you could always post up a how-to guide and it gets stickied

 

+1 (please)

[ChrisH]

I would definitely be interested in 1 and 2. Where are you at if you don't mind me asking as we are local!

[AlexB]

+1 for 1 and 2!

[glennda]

an easy way I have do number one is setup a share on the xibo webserver which staff can drop pictures into and then have a PHP file which cycles through the images.

 

not sure what kind of data you are after but I have a similar system for a Sims export for birthdays which is imported into MySQL and then displayed via a PHP page.

[RobFuller]

I just wished Xibo would download the template and images on my Win7 clients, ahh! The file downloads them instantly disappears! Might have to go back to XP at this rate!

[glennda]

I just wished Xibo would download the template and images on my Win7 clients, ahh! The file downloads them instantly disappears! Might have to go back to XP at this rate!

I'm going to be trialling both the Perl client and the client on windows 7 this week. Will post back results?

[3s-gtech]

I have a Windows 7 Xibo client - it's good, but stopping Office 2010 from saving discarded presentations in Powerpoint is rather tricky, even with autosave turned off. If you don't use Powerpoint it shouldn't matter though (this is on the newest stable).

[stiggy77]

Or....you could always post up a how-to guide and it gets stickied

 

Hi all, I've put something together for Excel, I'll get the word one up as soon as I can! I'm a bit nooby with forums so I hope this comes out clearly enough for you all to understand! I also better point out that i'm not a programmer like Glennda, I've just done the best I can with what I had available. If you can suggest improvements please let me know.

 

Trick to setting up Digital Signage from Excel 2003 with auto updating

 

 

Excel 2003 can create html pages or images which in turn Xibo can pick up, so the trick to making this work is the creation of these file types.

 

I found that image creation was a more accurate way to display and manipulate cell data on Xibo.

 

To create the required image from cell data within excel you need to use WordArt. Simply create a separate sheet for the digital display images, link the cell data to that sheet (example below shows data linked to cells A1, A2 and A3) then link the WordArt to the linked cell(s).

 

 

To link WordArt to a cell simply select it and use a function (example=$A$1)

 

Once you’ve set this up youre ready to link it to Xibo. To do this you will first need to ‘publish’ the images to a destination folder (preferably on a server so that it can be accessed by all the machines you’re using to display)

 

To publish within Excel you will need to ‘save as webpage’ (make sure you use web page and not single file web page or the folder you need will not be created).

You will then see the following screen, choose ‘selection:sheet’ and change your file name then click on the ‘publish’ icon.

 

 

On the next screen use ‘range of cells’ in the first drop down box and choose your range then check your file name and tick the ‘auto republish every time this workbook is saved’ option. Finally click on the ‘publish’ icon.

 

 

Once you’ve done this go to the area where you saved this file, you should see the file and a folder with a similar name. In that folder you will find some .gif files, these .gif files will auto update everytime the workbook is saved.

 

 

All we need to do now is link this image to Xibo and we can do this via HTML script. Open up Xibo, place a region in the window and add the embedded HTML option. Once you’ve done this use the img src function to point at the .gif. You can display several of the .gifs on screen and postion them using the

, align, hspace and vspace commands. (please see example HTML)

 

 

 

s:\digital signage\health and safety_files\KPI Master Sheet_19632_image001.gif

 

 

S:\Digital Signage\Riddor Accident title_files\KPI Master Sheet_28752_image001.gif

 

I hope this helps!

 

Lawro

[stiggy77]

Hi again!

 

I've finally managed to put together the word 2003 setup, again if anything is unclear or I need to elaborate please let me know!

 

Using MS Word 2003 to show pictures and images on Xibo

 

Word can be used to place images and text onto Xibo. You can do this by converting the .doc file into a .html one.

 

First create a blank document (I resized the page to match the size of the region within Xibo) and save into your chosen location. (server location is best so that all displays can access the document)

 

Now choose the ‘save as’ option then ‘tools’ and ‘security’ to set the document to read only recommended and add a password (this stops the template word document from being changed permanently by the user)

 

Once you’ve created the template and secured the document you’re ready to create a macro, the macro is required to change the .doc to a .html file. Use the following code to create the macro:

 

Sub Macro1()

'

' Macro1 Macro

' Macro created 20/10/2011 by Stephen Lawrence

'

ActiveDocument.SaveAs FileName:="S:\Digital Signage\LW shop floor.htm", FileFormat:=wdFormatHTML, _

LockComments:=False, Password:="", AddToRecentFiles:=True, WritePassword _

:="", ReadOnlyRecommended:=False, EmbedTrueTypeFonts:=False, _

SaveNativePictureFormat:=False, SaveFormsData:=False, SaveAsAOCELetter:= _

False

End Sub

 

Save the Macro and close the VB screen, you will now need to create an icon on the toolbar to allow the user to run the macro. To do this right click on the toolbar, select ‘customise’, enter the ‘commands’ tab then scroll down and select ‘macros’ in the menu. On the right you will see an icon with your chosen macro name against it, simply drag this icon to the toolbar.

 

 

Once the icon is on the toolbar you can amend it to say and look the way you want.

 

Now that you’ve completed this and saved the document, you’re ready to set up Xibo.

 

Create an embedded html region within Xibo and place the following code into it (change to spec):

 

 

Cheers!

[cromertech]

I've been working on getting a photo gallery into xibo and have finally cracked it.

 

My setup is below.

 

Xibo server has wordpress installed. RSS feeds are categorised in wordpress and each department has a user that can only post into their category. A small modification was needed to the rss feed php file to display the whole feed all the time not an except. This mean teacher can send messages direct to the screen and their department has a few minutes of scheduled time every hour for this. These messages expire after 1 week but can be extended if necessary.

 

The wordpress front end is designed with custom menus to link into the different systems to make it as easy as possible for staff to add the content they want without actually accessing the xibo interface that they found a little complex.

 

Gallery 3 also installed on the xibo server with minislideshow add-on. This allows any slideshows to generate embed code to put directly into xibo. This is not currently automatic so each gallery has to be embedded as required.

 

The newsletters are sent to issuu.com which generates a flip-book style flash page that can also be embed into a xibo template.

 

This setup took quite a while to complete but it make the running of the screens much less taxing for me.

 

Would be happy to write a full how to with plugins used etc if anyone is interested.

 

@ mods is this something that could go on the wiki?

[stiggy77]

I would definitely be interested in 1 and 2. Where are you at if you don't mind me asking as we are local!

 

I work in Clitheroe, Lancashire

[stiggy77]

I've been working on getting a photo gallery into xibo and have finally cracked it.

 

My setup is below.

 

Xibo server has wordpress installed. RSS feeds are categorised in wordpress and each department has a user that can only post into their category. A small modification was needed to the rss feed php file to display the whole feed all the time not an except. This mean teacher can send messages direct to the screen and their department has a few minutes of scheduled time every hour for this. These messages expire after 1 week but can be extended if necessary.

 

The wordpress front end is designed with custom menus to link into the different systems to make it as easy as possible for staff to add the content they want without actually accessing the xibo interface that they found a little complex.

 

Gallery 3 also installed on the xibo server with minislideshow add-on. This allows any slideshows to generate embed code to put directly into xibo. This is not currently automatic so each gallery has to be embedded as required.

 

The newsletters are sent to issuu.com which generates a flip-book style flash page that can also be embed into a xibo template.

 

This setup took quite a while to complete but it make the running of the screens much less taxing for me.

 

Would be happy to write a full how to with plugins used etc if anyone is interested.

 

@ mods is this something that could go on the wiki?

 

I would be really interested in seeing some screenshots of your work Matt, a full how to would be awesome!

[featured_spectre]

Many thanks!

[cromertech]

I would be really interested in seeing some screenshots of your work Matt, a full how to would be awesome!

 

I've tried to get some screens of the setup. This is what I have installed on the Xibo server

• Xibo (kind of obvious really)
  
• Wordpress v3.2.1 with the following plugins
  

• Active Directory Integration (users are placed in a no access group at first log on)
  
• Content Scheduler (enable post expiry)
  
• Issuu PDF Sync (allows easy publishing to Newsletter site and returns embed code)
  
• Quick Post Widget (a really clever plugin that allows WYSIWYG post creation from the front end)
  
• Restrict Categories (allows to add users to only be able to add posts in a single category i.e. English teacher can only post to English)
  
• Theme My Login (login to wordpress from the front end)
  
• User Role Editor (allows to change or add wordpress roles i.e. I've added a Staff role that can post but not delete and the NoAccess role that can only view)
  

Obviously any theme will be fine for this but I used zeeBusiness because it allowed for multiple custom menus.

Xibo layouts are scheduled for each department to have a few minutes of rss feed time per hour. The feeds can be retrieved using

http://xibo-server/wordpress/category/{whatever}/feed/rss2/.

 

• Gallery 3.02 from Gallery | Your photos on your website with the minislideshow plugin downloaded from here Module for MiniSlide Show integration | Gallery
  

This screenshot is the result of all the plugins on the wordpress installation

 

 

The menu options run as follows

• New Message; Self explanatory really but always defaults to the staff members allowed category. The Quick Post Widget is displayed in the page and allows some arbitrary formatting to keep all messages the same style. I have all mine formatted

  but the staff can add colours and italic text to emphasize words if necessary
  

• Screen Manager; A link to the Xibo backend. Kept in for my use only really so may move it to the Admin menu.
  
• Add Team; This is a link to a football team flash animation so that new teams can be added to the displays. I can make this available I think if anyone wants to (need to check license on flash file as it was developed for us.)
  

• Photo Slideshow; Links to the gallery 3 page. Users can add a gallery after which an email is sent to me so that I can schedule it in the appropriate place.
  
• Post Overview; Is just that so that I can edit any typos if necessary (not that we have teachers who can't string a coherent sentence together)
  
• Admin Backend; Some links for me to help with the admin. wp-admin dashboard, MySQL admin, Xibo support etc.
  

Hope some of this info is useful for you.

Edited November 17, 2011 by cromertech

[stiggy77]

I can't open the screenshots

[cromertech]

Strange I can. Browser crashed half way through post so maybe it was the recovery option that corrupted

 

 

Try those ones

[stiggy77]

Hi guys

 

We've tried to get Wordpress running on our server alongside Xibo but it's telling us that PHP isn't installed! What version of PHP are you running on? We're worried that upgrading to 5.5 might stuff up Xibo.

 

Please advise!

 

Cheers

[glennda]

Hi guys

 

We've tried to get Wordpress running on our server alongside Xibo but it's telling us that PHP isn't installed! What version of PHP are you running on? We're worried that upgrading to 5.5 might stuff up Xibo.

 

Please advise!

 

Cheers

 

it shouldn't stuff up xibo - i've got it running here, if its internal only then you could try using an older version of wordpress but i wouldn't use on a publicly accessible site as they release security updates with newer versions

 

T

[stiggy77]

an easy way I have do number one is setup a share on the xibo webserver which staff can drop pictures into and then have a PHP file which cycles through the images.

 

not sure what kind of data you are after but I have a similar system for a Sims export for birthdays which is imported into MySQL and then displayed via a PHP page.

 

 

Could you post how you managed to get this working Glennda? Ive tried and failed!

[glennda]

Could you post how you managed to get this working Glennda? Ive tried and failed!

 

Yes - are you using windows server or linux server for apache?

[garethEds]

My God - I've just started setting up Xibo today on Xampp. A 2003r2 server. This is all over my head but an interesting read.

 

Gareth

[stiggy77]

Yes - are you using windows server or linux server for apache?

 

windows server

[glennda]

windows server

 

Ok this is a stab in the dark as i did it on linux but the processes should be similar.

 

In the folder hosting the xibo web files create a folder such as display and one inside that called pictures pictures. Create a PHP page in that folder called index.php with the following info in php tags (you may need somebody to check this php as i copied it offline without testing as when i set this up it was at another school @webman might be able to help) You can then share the Pictures folder as you would a normal folder on windows with staff having relevant perms and then they can drop stuff into it and it should be displayed. You would just need to point an xibo area to http://Xiboservername/display/index.php (or if you run xibo as a subfolder http://xiboservername/xibo/display/index.php)

 

$handle = opendir('pictures'); 
while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))){ 
 $extension = strtolower(substr(strrchr($filename, '.'), 1)); 
 if($extension == 'jpg' || $extension == 'gif' || $extension == 'png'){ 
   // now use $file as you like 
 } 
}
foreach(glob('userImages/*/HD/{*.jpg,*.gif}', GLOB_BRACE) as $image) 
{ 
echo "' . $image .' "; 
}