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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.

Database Connection

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.

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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

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Configure the Elector Player

Tab Setup

The Elector Player is customizable and you can determine what tabs are visible in the interface.

1. Select File > Tabs Setup.
2. On the Tab Controls Setup dialog, you can:
   
   • configure and show up to four (4) playlists
   • show or hide the Fullscreen Scenes Tab and the Show Boxes Group on that tab
   • show or hide the Name Keys Tab
   • Show or hide the Show Tickers Tab as well as define which groups appear on that tab.
3. Configure the Elector Player as needed and click OK to save your changes. Configuration changes are applied immediately.

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Multiple Playlist Tabs

You can configure the Elector Player with up to four (4) playlist tabs.

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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.

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

Name Keys Tab

When the Elector Player is configured to show the Name Keys Tab, you can use this tab to ....

Tickers Tab

When the Elector Player is configured to show the Tickers Tab, you can use this tab to ...

The Tickers Tab consists of a number of sections, each of which can be shown or hidden depending on how the Elector Player is configured.

Fullframe Scenes Tab

When the Elector Player is configured to show the Fullframe Scenes Tab, you can use this tab to...

boxes group optional as well

Election Results Dates

Elector is designed to preserve your election data from election to election and can display previous election data in various graphs. Legacy election data is manually added to Elector to help provide the context needed for Flow to display the graphs. The Elector Player can support and access existing legacy election results data available in the database. You can configure the player to discover election dates directly from the database.

1. Select File > Election Dates.
2. Select the Discover Dates From Database option.
3. Manually enter Previous Election Dates, if known.
4. Select OK.

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Hardware Setup

The Elector Player offers a wide variety of hardware configuration settings.

1. Select File > Hardware Setup.
2. Configure hardware settings as needed for your environment.
3. Click OK.

Display Graphics With Elector Player

Output Basics

Basic output options are universally available throughout the Elector Player interface, as follows:

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

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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.