Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

Section


Column
width70%

The BL Elector Player is a utility an output tool for Ross Video’s XPression graphic graphics platform that outputs graphics using Elector database elements and the XPression API. The Elector Player is installed locally on the same system running XPression Studio as it uses an instance of the Ross XPression engine to run.

The Elector player outputs all broadcast graphics, reads election data and playlists from the Elector database, and outputs individual scenes or playlists of ordered scenes that have been designed Using an agent called Gears, the Elector Player synchronizes graphics package data from XPression with available election data and playlist information in the Elector database. The Elector Player can output individual scenes or entire playlists of ordered, scheduled scenes created in Flow.

Access Elector Player

To access the Elector Player, run it from its desktop icon on the XPression system.

Note

Note: The version of the Elector Player installed must match the version of XPression Studio installed. If your XPression installation is upgraded to a new version, you will need to upgrade your Elector Player as well. Contact Bannister Lake Support for assistance.

Database Connection

You need to connect the Elector Player to your Elector database. Connection and user authentication values would have been correctly configured during the initial installation. Use caution when modifying these values. Contact Bannister Lake Support for assistance.
  1. To modify the database connection values, select File > Preferences.

  2. Modify the database connection values and settings as needed.

  3. Click OK to save your changes.

Image Removed

Additional Player Preferences

On the Preferences dialog, you can also configure the following global output settings. Configure these settings as needed and press OK to save your changes.

  • Enable or disable the player to group non-main parties as OTHER

  • Enable the player to fade or animate on hiding output

  • Enable the player or fade or animate off

Image Removed

Configure the Elector Player

Tab Setup

most of what the UI can offer is configured in one spot

pl tabs can be custom-named

Multiple Playlist Tabs

You can configure the Elector Player with up to four (4) playlist tabs using the File > Tabs Setup option.

Image Removed

Multiple playlist tabs allow you to set up a number of ready-to-use playlists and individual scenes for broadcast. For example, you may want one playlist tab to include only overview graphs, one for a specific region's playlist of ridings, and one playlist tab for a specific riding, where the forth playlist tab could be a catch-all where the operator will choose a playlist on the fly during broadcast.

In addition to being able to custom-name your playlist tabs, you can switch between those playlist tabs quickly using the mouse or keyboard. Each tab is assigned a shortcut key for easy access. Hover over each tab to see its assigned shortcut key.

Image Removed

On each playlist tab, you can configure the following independent options:

Option

Details

Auto-refresh Playlists every x seconds

Specifies how often the playlist automatically refreshes, in seconds.

Image Removed

Hide Thumbnail/Info Tabs

Select this option to hide the Thumbnail and Info tabs.

Clear this option to display the Thumbnail and Info tabs.

Image Removed

Expand
titleClick here to see an example of the screen.

Image Removed

Image Removed

Play every x seconds

Specifies how often the playlist displays each scene in seconds.

Image Removed

Loop to first item at end

Select this option to configure the player to loop the output the scenes in the playlist.

Clear this option to configure the player to stop output when it reaches the last scene in the playlist.

Image Removed

Name Keys Tab

optional tab if shown

Tickers Tab

optional tab if shown

groups optional as well

Fullframe Scenes Tab

optional tab if shown

boxes group optional as well

Election Results Dates

Hardware Setup

 

Display Graphics With Elector Player

Output Basics

Take

Clear

Show Preview

Refresh Scene Data

Clear All Output

The Elector Player provides three (3) ways to display graphics:

  1. Show an individual Scene

  2. Show a Playlist

  3. Show a Party Totals Scene

Show an Individual Scene

All available scenes in the XPression project file are available when you want to show an individual scene.

Select scenes to show by clicking on individual scenes in the list or by using the Top, Back, Next, and Bottom buttons.

Select a scene to show and click Take (or press the CTRL + keys)

To clear the output, click Clear (or press the CTRL - keys)

Show a Playlist

select a playlist tab

select a playlist ID

For playlists and individual scenes, only one scene can be shown at a time.

update playlists (data?)

Show a Party Totals Scene

the Party Totals can be shown independent of any scene currently displaying.

 To easily and quickly hide all graphics from the Player, a Clear Output button is provided. This clears individual Scenes/Playlists and the Party Totals scene simultaneously.

 

While displaying a scene from a Playlist, if the operator shows an individual Scene, it will hide the current Playlist scene. If an individual Scene is displaying and a Playlist is shown, the individual scene will be hidden.

 

To display an individual Scene, use the ‘Scenes’ tab.

To display a Playlist, use the ‘Playlists’ tab.

Only Party scenes are available when showing Party Totals. To display the Party Totals, use the Party Totals tab.

To show Breaking News or Name Keys, use the ‘Breaking News & Name Keys’ tab.

Show XPression GUI

Headshots Cache

Logs

Image Added

Access XPression

When you access the Elector Player, an XPression instance is launched, but the XPression Studio interface is hidden by default. You can make XPression available by selecting XPression > Show Expression GUI. Not applicable to XPression BlueBoxes.

Elector Player Logs

The Elector Player system log is available for troubleshooting purposes. Select Help > Show Current Logs. You can also clear the log file by selecting Help > Clear Current Logs.

Info

Note: If you contact Bannister Lake Support for assistance, you may be asked to send along the log file contents for review; therefore, do not clear those log files until Support has had a chance to review them.



Column
width30%


Panel
borderColor#0070b1
bgColor#FFFFFF
borderWidth1

In this section:

Table of Contents
indent15px

Include Page
DASXA:Promos TopDAS
XA:Promos Top




Include Page
DASXA:Promos BottomDAS
XA:Promos Bottom