PhotoLobby
From CinemarWiki
Contents |
About
This Plugin allows the user to browser and preview their stored collections of photos.
Installation
Downloading the Plugin
- From MLServer, select Help
- Select Cinemar Installation Assistant
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- From the Installation Assistant window, check the box next to MLPhotoLobby located in the Optional Applications section
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]
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- Press Download File(s)
- Press OK when the file has completely downloaded
- Close MLServer by selecting from the main menu SERVER then EXIT
- From the Cinemar Installation Assistant Click on the Download Selected button to download the installer to your local PC.
- Once downloaded click on the Install Selected button to begin the installation process.
Installing the Plugin
- From the Initial Welcome Screen
- Press Next >
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- Select the radio button next to I accept the agreement
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- Press Next > again to install to the default location: C:\Program Files\MLServer or change the folder if required
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- Press Finish to exit the Installation Wizard and load the required MLServer Command Maps
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- Now startup MLServer
Configuration
Events Tab
The Events Tab is composed of a single main windows necessary for troubleshooting and to verify successful command execution
- Event Log
The Event Log is critical for debugging. From this window, you'll see all communication to the plugin from MLServer. You will also be notified of any errors should they occur. You have the option to view the log by selecting Start Logging. In addition, you can also store your Log to a file, which in some cases may be helpful for Cinemar if we need to assist you in debugging. The Log file is stored in your MLServer Logs folder.
Settings Tab
The settings tab is made up of two sub-tabs called Folders and Client.
- Folders
From this window, you will define the various storage locations for you photo collections. The initial installion will create a folder called My Pictures and its location will be the path to your My Pictures folder on the MLServer PC. If your photos are stored in a different location, or if you have multiple locations where your photos are stored then you should create a unique folder entry for each of your photo folders
In the example shown below two photo folders have been defined. One for photos on Dave's PC and another for the photos on Margaret's PC. Please note that the path to these photos uses UNC naming conventions (\\ServerName\ShareName) and not typical DOS (C:\Folder) naming. This is because you want you photos to be available to any PC on the network and not restricted to only those PCs where the physical drive letter resides. You should set up shares for each of your photo folders and use the share name when defining the path to the photos in the plugin.
- Client
From this window, you will define the default client settings for you MainLobby scenes. If you do not want to have to create server varaibles for your clients you can set the values in the Default Client Settings frame to match the geometry of your MainLobby client scenes. When your Mainlobby client loads the PhotoLobby scenes the server variables will automatically be created based on the values you have defined here. The values are
- Thumbnails Per Page - defines how many photo thumbnails are shown on a page
- Thumbnails Width - defines the width of the thumbnail in pixels
- Thumbnails Height - defines the heigth of the thumbnails in pixels
- Preview Image Width - defines the width of the previewed photo in pixels
- Preview Image Height - defines the height of the previewed photo in pixels
- Slideshow Display Seconds - sets the number of seconds a previewed image is displayed when a slideshow is active.
- Create Server Variables for embedded image tags - When this item is checked off MLServer variables will be created for all the embedded image tags found in the photo. Only turn this option on if you are interested in seeing and using these tags. Photos can have hundreds of tags embedded in them and if you do not use them then it will save MLServer from creating excess server variables.
If you have the optional MLClientSvc Plugin installed you can take advantage of the ability to preview images on remote monitors. For example if you wanted to browse your photos on your handheld touchscreen but preview then on the main monitor in the home theater then you can use these options.
- Send Images To This ClientSvc Alias - select the alias name from the ones defined in the ClientSvc plugin. This will be the location to where you image will be displayed.
- Show Remote Images on Monitor # - If the remote PC has multiple monitors connected to it you can define which monitor the image is displayed on. Monitor #1 is always the primary monitor.
Supported Commands
SetPageSize
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Set the number of thumbnails displayed per page on the client
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetPageSize~number
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetPageSize~12
SetThumbnails
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Set the height and width of thumbnails displayed on the client
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetThumbnails~width~height
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetThumbnails~125~125
SetPhotoSize
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Set the height and width of previewed photos displayed on the client
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetPhotoSize~width~height
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetPhotoSize~900~600
SetPhotoTime
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Set the time a photo is displated in slide show mode
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetPhototime~seconds
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetPhotoTime~6
SetFolder
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Initializes the photo browser to the specified folder
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetFolder~folder name or number
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetFolder~Dave's PC
NextFolder
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Move to the next primary folder
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|NextFolder
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|NextFolder
PrevFolder
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Move to the previous primary folder
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|PrevFolder
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|PrevFolder
Move
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Browse to the specified folder
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|Move~direction - (Up or Home)
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|Move~Up
NextItem
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Advance to the next item in a folder
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|NextItem
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|NextItem
PrevItem
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Advance to the previous item in a folder
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|PrevItem
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|PrevItem
SelectItem
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Select the specified item and either browse to the new folder or preview the image
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SelectItem~item path
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SelectItem~Dave's PC
HidePreview
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Remove a previewed image from the display
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|HidePreview
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|HidePreview
RotateImage
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Rotate an image the specified number of degrees
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|RotateImage~itemnumber~degrees (Degrees = 90 or 180 or 270)
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|RotateImage~1~270
SetRemoteImageName
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Turns on or off the showing on image names on remote monitors
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetRemoteImageName~state (On, Off, or Toggle)
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetRemoteImageName~Toggle
Browse
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Browse to the specified location
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|Browse~where (First, Last, Next, Prev, ToItem, Page, Percent)
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|Browse~Next
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|Browse~Page~3
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|Browse~Percent~75
SlideShow
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Turns on or off the slideshow
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SlideShow~state (On, Off, or Toggle)
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SlideShow~On
SetViewer
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Set the location of previewed images
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetViewer~location (Local, Remote, or Toggle)
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetViewer~Remote
SetImageTags
{MLServeCmd}Script Usage
Turns on or off the showing of embedded image tags
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetImageTags~state (On, Off, or Toggle)
(Literal)
MLServeCmd.MLPhotoLobby|SetImageTags~Off
MLServer Variables
The following variables are created by the MLPhotolobby Plugin
- Photos_Active_Folder_Path_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Active_Folder_Name_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Active_Folder_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ThumbsPerPage_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Thumbnails_Width_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Thumbnails_Height_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ThumbsOnPage_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ThumbnailNNN_IsFolder_{{clientname}}
- Photos_SlideShow_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ViewLocation_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ViewLocal_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Status_{{clientname}}
- Photos_StatusFlag_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ShowRemoteImageNames_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ShowImageTags_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ShowImageTags_State_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Photo_Width_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Photo_Height_{{clientname}}
- Photos_PhotoTime_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Preview_ItemNum_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Preview_ImageName_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Image_Width_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Image_Height_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Preview_Image_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Preview_ImageFlag_{{clientname}}
- Photos_PageNum_{{clientname}}
- Photos_Pages_{{clientname}}
- Photos_TotalItems_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ImageTag1_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ImageTag2_{{clientname}}
- Photos_ImageTag3_{{clientname}}
...
- Photos_ImageTagNNN_{{clientname}}
MLServer Command Macros
The following command macros are required by the MLPhotolobby Plugin
- Select.PhotoItem
MLConditional|IsEqual##{{photos_viewlocal_{{clientname}}}}-{{photos_thumbnail{{photos_selecteditem_{{clientname}}}}_isfolder_{{clientname}}}}##true-false##Macro|MLPhotoLobby|SelectItem~{{photos_image{{photos_selecteditem_{{clientname}}}}_{{clientname}}}}!MLcmd|{{Clientname}}~loadOverlayAdvanced|0019_media.photos.preview.mls~4##MLPhotoLobby|SelectItem~{{photos_image{{photos_selecteditem_{{clientname}}}}_{{clientname}}}}
- Media.Photos.Init
MLConditional|isEqual##{{photos_active_folder_{{clientname}}}}####Macro|MLPhotoLobby|SetFolder~1!MLPhotoLobby|Browse~First!ChangeScene.Media.Photos.Overlay##
- ChangeScene.Media.Photos.Overlay
MLCmd|{{clientname}}~loadOverlayAdvanced|0019_nav_media.photos.{{photos_viewlocation_{{clientname}}}}.mls~3
Installation Notes
- If you are running older Windows operating systems like Windows 2000 or early versions of Windows 2003 then you will have to upgrade to the latest version of the Microsoft GDI+ distribution. See msdn.microcoft.com for information about your particular operating system.
- In order to rotate images the client must have the ability to write to the folders where the photos are located.
Release Notes
Release Notes for 01/23/09 - Version 3.0.65
New
- Added server variable to track current folder name called Photos_Active_Folder_Name_{{clientname}}
- New algorithm for filtering out non-image files
Release Notes for 01/22/09 - Version 3.0.58
New
- Added Browse~Page~# and Browse~Percent~# browsing options.
Release Notes for 01/19/09 - Version 3.0.53
Updated
- Reduced time to scan folders for photos. Folders with large numbers of photos in them will now load faster.
Release Notes for 01/19/09 - Version 3.0.52
Updated
- Now creates ItemNum server variable while running a slideshow.
