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Announcing Carousel 5.2.0
The TRMS development team is proud to announce the release of Carousel 5.2.0! This release contains an abundance of new features, usability improvements and our top secret feature. It’s so exciting...do you want to know what it is? OK, introducing Carousel Interactive Touch! Carousel Interactive Touch is an optional plug-in for Carousel that allows you to make interactive bulletins within a Carousel zone. Interactivity is provided via an external web site, or web site uploaded into Carousel, in conjunction with a touch screen panel (available separately). Imagine your Carousel audience navigating their way through the web site of your choice by simply touching the screen. So cool! Interactivity is not the only awesome feature we packed into this release, so upgrade and check it out for yourself!
Carousel 5.2.0 feature recap:
To request this update, please email our support team at support@trms.com. (Note that you must have a current System Assurance contract to receive this update.) In your email, please include the following items:
Your name and organization
Your current version of Carousel
If you haven't yet filled out a customer registration form, please head over to http://www.trms.com/registration and fill one out.
Release Notes for Carousel 5.2.0
New 2904: EDS supports subscribing to iCal feeds for event data
EDS (Event Display) can now subscribe to iCal calendars. This allows EDS to link in with more scheduling systems.
New 2915: Carousel reports when a player is running an incompatible version of the DisplayEngine
The player status screen will show what version of software the players are running and display a red 'x' if the version does not match the server's version.
New 2926: Carousel can capture web pages and display them in a Web Picture block
Carousel can now capture portions of a web page and display it. When the user creates a bulletin with a WebPicture block on it, they have the option of supplying a URL or selecting a web page. This web page can be cropped in so only the relevant portion is displayed.
Bug 3212: When copying then modifying a template, the preview does not update
Forced the preview images to never cache, because IE caches them when it shouldn't, making it appear as if the template changes are not saved.
New 3223: Clock bulletins have digital and countdown options
When creating a clock bulletin, you can choose to display an analog clock, digital clock, or a countdown to a specific date or time.
New 2916: Carousel reports and emails when a display engine has not 'checked in' to the server for a period of time
Carousel will display in the player status screen the last time a player has checked in, and will show a red 'x' if it has not checked in after a user settable period. Additionally, it will email administrators when the players have gone offline, or have come back online.
New 2960: Advanced communication check in config screen
In the DisplayEngine configuration screen, there is a new suite of tests that can be run to diagnose connection problems between the players and server.
Bug 3389: Background audio doesn't exclude non-audio files from zip uploads
The background audio uploaded will now ignore files that are not audio files when they're included in a .zip file that is uploaded.
New 3235: Make dynamic bulletin templates zone specific
You can now set a default dynamic template for each zone.
New 3202: Email notification of waiting bulletins submitted to any zone
You can now define a set of email accounts who are notified whenever a bulletin is waiting for approval on any zone in the system.
New 3280: Background audio can be uploaded in a bulk zip file
The background audio list will now extract and add all audio files within a .zip file that is uploaded.
New 2950: Player registration screen reports the channel each DisplayEngine is displaying
When looking at the list of connected DisplayEngines, you can now see which channel each DisplayEngine is tuned to.
New 2961: Overhauled Screensaver clients
Screensavers now display an entire channel, rather than a single zone. Also updated Mac OS X screensaver to be Leopard compatible.
New 3049: New default bumper graphic
Updated our bumper graphic to be a bit more "with the times" (no more giant eyeball). :-)
Bug 3292: DisplayEngine can get into a state where it can't download things
The DisplayEngine no longer gets confused by a state where if the clock was set ahead and then changed to be correct, bulletins that were created when the clock was ahead would not be able to be downloaded.
New 3281: Playlist of background audio can be randomized
Added support for playing the background audio tracks in a random order.
Bug 3184: Crawls should not let you set sounds or transitions
While making crawl bulletins, you were able to set sound clips or transitions; these do not apply to crawls so they have been removed.
New 3029: Slideshow now uses Web Display technology
The slideshow in Manage Bulletins now uses the newer WebDisplay technology to display the slideshow.
New 2996: Channel output can be previewed in the web interface
Want to see what your channel looks like, but don't have access to a DisplayEngine? You can now preview the entire channel right in your web browser.
New 3052: Clock bulletins are generated directly within the DisplayEngine
We no longer use Flash to display the analog clock, which means that transitions to and from clock bulletins will work.
Bug 3195: DisplayEngine diagnostics screen should not auto-close.
The DisplayEngine diagnostics screen now remains open when all of the tests pass, so you can read the results.
Bug 3216: EDS fails on certain iCal feeds
Some servers do not conform completely to the HTTP spec, which caused our iCal parsing to fail. We have relaxed the restrictions on the parsing so that we can successfully read iCal feeds from troublesome servers.
Bug 3218: Windows Screensaver does not scale to the screen
A rounding error occasionally made the screensaver resize incorrectly, which could make it appear "too big" for the computer monitor.
Bug 3197: Web snapshots that include fine details are too compressed
We now use a better compression technique when saving web snapshots so text is easier to read.
New 3317: Create tool for importing and exporting channels, zones and media
New "Clone" tool allows archiving and restoring a channel and all associated zones, media and bulletins to/from a single file.
New 2900: RSS bulletins can read ATOM feeds
We added the ability for the RSS reader to read in ATOM feeds. We now support Atom 1.0, 0.3; RSS 2.0, 0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 1.0 feeds.
New 2944: Updated the Carousel Framework installer to prompt for the database installation
The installer for the Carousel Framework will prompt to run the database install/update scripts. This is useful for customers who run a separate database server.
New 3044: Channel list in configuration screen has a link to the web-based channel preview
When looking at the list of channels in the configuration screen, you can now preview each channel right in your browser.
New 3220: Display Engine now pre-caches all bulletins in the active bulletins list (active and waiting)
All "green dot" and "yellow dot" bulletins in the active bulletins list will be downloaded and cached by the DisplayEngine. This should make larger bulletins (videos, etc.) be displayed on time.
Bug 3187: Outline and Backdrop do not work for Web Pictures
Fixed a small bug where Web Pictures wouldn't draw the block's outline or backdrop in the template.
New 3109: EDS pages now turn on and off if they are alert bulletins
You can now create an EDS-based alert bulletin to appear when an event occurs, and the bulletin will be removed when the events have completed.
Bug 3307: RSS output gets blocked you IIS7/Win2k3 because .rss is not a mime type
Added the .rss and .dat mimetype to IIS automatically upon installation.
New 2901: RSS bulletins can display images referenced in the feed
RSS bulletins can now display images that are referenced in the feed. This is done by adding a WebPicture block to your RSS bulletin and setting the URL field to the "ItemImageURL" token.
New 2967: Player registration screen moved to main configure page
the player registration screen was moved to the main configuration menu and renamed to 'Player Status'. It now does more than just registration tracking.
Bug 3210: Re-enable the second hand on the clock to make it the same as the old clock
Analog clock bulletins can now have a second hand to be consistent with earlier releases.
New 3331: Add custom format for Digital Clock
The user can now specify the format for the digital clock with the same techniques as the custom date/time overlay.
New 2902: RSS bulletins can now have spacing set between items
The user can set how much space (in pixels) there is between RSS items. This allows for better visual layout of RSS bulletins.
New 2924: The update frequency for dynamic bulletins can be adjusted
The user can now adjust how often dynamic bulletins are updated. The default is, and has been, every 15 minutes. This can now be adjusted for users that need more frequent updates.
New 3123: RSS and EDS are now standard features
As of this release, each system ships with RSS and EDS built in.
New 2991: The .config files are not longer overwritten by the installers
The web.config and TRMS.Services.Carousel.exe.config files are no longer overwritten by the installers.
Bug 3211: Analog clock hands are difficult to see
Analog clock bulletins have an option of three different hand types.
Bug 3420: Media Tags aren't copied when copying media.
Copying media will now add the tags of the selected media to the destination zone and copy of the media.
New 3365: Added interactivity to Carousel
The Carousel Interactive Touch plug-in gives you the ability to create interactive bulletins in a Carousel zone. Interactivity is provided via an external web site, or web site uploaded into Carousel, in conjunction with a touch screen panel (available separately).
New 2903: RSS bulletins show available field names from the feed
When creating RSS bulletins, the filed names are read from the actual feed instead of using the generic fields. This allows Carousel to read more formats of RSS and ATOM feeds.
New 2914: Impression counting for bulletins
You can now enable tracking of bulletin impressions. Tracked bulletins will keep a record of how many times they were shown on-screen, and an estimate of the total on-screen time.
Carousel 5.2.0 feature recap:
- RSS Images
- Bulletin Impressions Tracking
- Web-Based Channel Preview
- Player Status Monitoring
- DisplayEngine Network Diagnostics
- Webpage Snapshots
- EDS on/off when created as Alert bulletins
- Global waiting-bulletin email notification
- RSS enhancements (atom, item spacing, feed fields)
- iCal support in EDS (use Exchange calendars!)
- Revamped zone slideshow
- Adjustable dynamic update frequency
- Background audio randomization, bulk uploading
- New Clock Features: digital, countdown timer
- New Screensavers (supports channels!)
- Carousel Interactive Touch
To request this update, please email our support team at support@trms.com. (Note that you must have a current System Assurance contract to receive this update.) In your email, please include the following items:
Your name and organization
Your current version of Carousel
If you haven't yet filled out a customer registration form, please head over to http://www.trms.com/registration and fill one out.
Release Notes for Carousel 5.2.0
New 2904: EDS supports subscribing to iCal feeds for event data
EDS (Event Display) can now subscribe to iCal calendars. This allows EDS to link in with more scheduling systems.
New 2915: Carousel reports when a player is running an incompatible version of the DisplayEngine
The player status screen will show what version of software the players are running and display a red 'x' if the version does not match the server's version.
New 2926: Carousel can capture web pages and display them in a Web Picture block
Carousel can now capture portions of a web page and display it. When the user creates a bulletin with a WebPicture block on it, they have the option of supplying a URL or selecting a web page. This web page can be cropped in so only the relevant portion is displayed.
Bug 3212: When copying then modifying a template, the preview does not update
Forced the preview images to never cache, because IE caches them when it shouldn't, making it appear as if the template changes are not saved.
New 3223: Clock bulletins have digital and countdown options
When creating a clock bulletin, you can choose to display an analog clock, digital clock, or a countdown to a specific date or time.
New 2916: Carousel reports and emails when a display engine has not 'checked in' to the server for a period of time
Carousel will display in the player status screen the last time a player has checked in, and will show a red 'x' if it has not checked in after a user settable period. Additionally, it will email administrators when the players have gone offline, or have come back online.
New 2960: Advanced communication check in config screen
In the DisplayEngine configuration screen, there is a new suite of tests that can be run to diagnose connection problems between the players and server.
Bug 3389: Background audio doesn't exclude non-audio files from zip uploads
The background audio uploaded will now ignore files that are not audio files when they're included in a .zip file that is uploaded.
New 3235: Make dynamic bulletin templates zone specific
You can now set a default dynamic template for each zone.
New 3202: Email notification of waiting bulletins submitted to any zone
You can now define a set of email accounts who are notified whenever a bulletin is waiting for approval on any zone in the system.
New 3280: Background audio can be uploaded in a bulk zip file
The background audio list will now extract and add all audio files within a .zip file that is uploaded.
New 2950: Player registration screen reports the channel each DisplayEngine is displaying
When looking at the list of connected DisplayEngines, you can now see which channel each DisplayEngine is tuned to.
New 2961: Overhauled Screensaver clients
Screensavers now display an entire channel, rather than a single zone. Also updated Mac OS X screensaver to be Leopard compatible.
New 3049: New default bumper graphic
Updated our bumper graphic to be a bit more "with the times" (no more giant eyeball). :-)
Bug 3292: DisplayEngine can get into a state where it can't download things
The DisplayEngine no longer gets confused by a state where if the clock was set ahead and then changed to be correct, bulletins that were created when the clock was ahead would not be able to be downloaded.
New 3281: Playlist of background audio can be randomized
Added support for playing the background audio tracks in a random order.
Bug 3184: Crawls should not let you set sounds or transitions
While making crawl bulletins, you were able to set sound clips or transitions; these do not apply to crawls so they have been removed.
New 3029: Slideshow now uses Web Display technology
The slideshow in Manage Bulletins now uses the newer WebDisplay technology to display the slideshow.
New 2996: Channel output can be previewed in the web interface
Want to see what your channel looks like, but don't have access to a DisplayEngine? You can now preview the entire channel right in your web browser.
New 3052: Clock bulletins are generated directly within the DisplayEngine
We no longer use Flash to display the analog clock, which means that transitions to and from clock bulletins will work.
Bug 3195: DisplayEngine diagnostics screen should not auto-close.
The DisplayEngine diagnostics screen now remains open when all of the tests pass, so you can read the results.
Bug 3216: EDS fails on certain iCal feeds
Some servers do not conform completely to the HTTP spec, which caused our iCal parsing to fail. We have relaxed the restrictions on the parsing so that we can successfully read iCal feeds from troublesome servers.
Bug 3218: Windows Screensaver does not scale to the screen
A rounding error occasionally made the screensaver resize incorrectly, which could make it appear "too big" for the computer monitor.
Bug 3197: Web snapshots that include fine details are too compressed
We now use a better compression technique when saving web snapshots so text is easier to read.
New 3317: Create tool for importing and exporting channels, zones and media
New "Clone" tool allows archiving and restoring a channel and all associated zones, media and bulletins to/from a single file.
New 2900: RSS bulletins can read ATOM feeds
We added the ability for the RSS reader to read in ATOM feeds. We now support Atom 1.0, 0.3; RSS 2.0, 0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 1.0 feeds.
New 2944: Updated the Carousel Framework installer to prompt for the database installation
The installer for the Carousel Framework will prompt to run the database install/update scripts. This is useful for customers who run a separate database server.
New 3044: Channel list in configuration screen has a link to the web-based channel preview
When looking at the list of channels in the configuration screen, you can now preview each channel right in your browser.
New 3220: Display Engine now pre-caches all bulletins in the active bulletins list (active and waiting)
All "green dot" and "yellow dot" bulletins in the active bulletins list will be downloaded and cached by the DisplayEngine. This should make larger bulletins (videos, etc.) be displayed on time.
Bug 3187: Outline and Backdrop do not work for Web Pictures
Fixed a small bug where Web Pictures wouldn't draw the block's outline or backdrop in the template.
New 3109: EDS pages now turn on and off if they are alert bulletins
You can now create an EDS-based alert bulletin to appear when an event occurs, and the bulletin will be removed when the events have completed.
Bug 3307: RSS output gets blocked you IIS7/Win2k3 because .rss is not a mime type
Added the .rss and .dat mimetype to IIS automatically upon installation.
New 2901: RSS bulletins can display images referenced in the feed
RSS bulletins can now display images that are referenced in the feed. This is done by adding a WebPicture block to your RSS bulletin and setting the URL field to the "ItemImageURL" token.
New 2967: Player registration screen moved to main configure page
the player registration screen was moved to the main configuration menu and renamed to 'Player Status'. It now does more than just registration tracking.
Bug 3210: Re-enable the second hand on the clock to make it the same as the old clock
Analog clock bulletins can now have a second hand to be consistent with earlier releases.
New 3331: Add custom format for Digital Clock
The user can now specify the format for the digital clock with the same techniques as the custom date/time overlay.
New 2902: RSS bulletins can now have spacing set between items
The user can set how much space (in pixels) there is between RSS items. This allows for better visual layout of RSS bulletins.
New 2924: The update frequency for dynamic bulletins can be adjusted
The user can now adjust how often dynamic bulletins are updated. The default is, and has been, every 15 minutes. This can now be adjusted for users that need more frequent updates.
New 3123: RSS and EDS are now standard features
As of this release, each system ships with RSS and EDS built in.
New 2991: The .config files are not longer overwritten by the installers
The web.config and TRMS.Services.Carousel.exe.config files are no longer overwritten by the installers.
Bug 3211: Analog clock hands are difficult to see
Analog clock bulletins have an option of three different hand types.
Bug 3420: Media Tags aren't copied when copying media.
Copying media will now add the tags of the selected media to the destination zone and copy of the media.
New 3365: Added interactivity to Carousel
The Carousel Interactive Touch plug-in gives you the ability to create interactive bulletins in a Carousel zone. Interactivity is provided via an external web site, or web site uploaded into Carousel, in conjunction with a touch screen panel (available separately).
New 2903: RSS bulletins show available field names from the feed
When creating RSS bulletins, the filed names are read from the actual feed instead of using the generic fields. This allows Carousel to read more formats of RSS and ATOM feeds.
New 2914: Impression counting for bulletins
You can now enable tracking of bulletin impressions. Tracked bulletins will keep a record of how many times they were shown on-screen, and an estimate of the total on-screen time.
I’m pumped!
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