How do I save a dynamic template?

In Carousel 5.2.1 and higher, you can now edit dynamic bulletins like RSS and weather -- and then save them as a default template so you won't have to re-edit them.

Now, please take note that saving a dynamic template is zone-specific. Meaning, you will have to repeat this process for each zone. The system defaults will remain in tact, as they are restored each time you update the software.

This procedure requires access to both the web UI and the server.

PLEASE READ THROUGH FIRST. IF YOU'RE UNCOMFORTABLE PERFORMING THE PROCEDURES, JUST DON'T DO IT.

The first step is to create a dynamic bulletin. We'll use RSS in the following example. Locate the RSS bulletin in your active bulletins and place cursor over its preview icon. Jot down the bulletin's GUID from the status bar at the bottom of your browser. This is a unique ID and will be composed of letters, numbers, and dashes that follow "Page&ID=" and you usually only need the characters before the first dash. (ie: 0e10d273)



Head back to the main menu and click on "Extras". Jot down the zone ID number.



Now, from the server: navigate to D:\TRMS\Web\Carousel\Media\Pages and locate the bulletin using the GUID. You can open any of the jpgs to make sure you have the correct bulletin. Keep this window open.

Open another window and navigate to D:\TRMS\Web\Carousel\Media\Dynamic and create a folder, naming it with the zone ID. The naming scheme must be: zone-# (ie: zone-297). Copy the folders "CableDisplayTemplates", "Clocks", "EventDisplayTemplates", "RSSTemplates", and "WeatherTemplates" into the zone-# folder. Note: we do this simply to copy the file structure into the new zone-specific folder.



From your new zone-specific folder -- go into "RSSTemplates" and delete "Template.dat" (the system-wide default template). Copy "Page.dat" (from the Pages folder) to the RSSTemplates folder and rename it to "Template.dat".



Head back to the web UI and create a test bulletin from the zone you were working with.

There are more components to most other dynamic templates. For example: you will need to copy all media for weather bulletins into the new WeatherTemplates folder and rename "Page.dat" to "WeatherTemplate.dat". Since the EDS feature can sort by room or by time, you will want to create two different templates, repositioning the text accordingly.

Use the following as a reference for saving and naming your dynamic templates:

Cable Display: Create and edit a bulletin for each Cable Display instance and copy the respective "Page.dat" into the following locations.
CableDisplayTemplates > Interrupt > Page.dat
CableDisplayTemplates > MultiSchedule > Page.dat
CableDisplayTemplates > Next > Page.dat
CableDisplayTemplates > Repeat > Page.dat
CableDisplayTemplates > SingleSchedule > Page.dat

Clock: You only need to copy a jpg of your clock background into the folder.
Clocks > TRMSClock.jpg

Event Display: Create and edit at least two EDS bulletins -- one that is grouped by time, the other grouped by room. Copy into the respective folders and rename to:
EventDisplayTemplates > GroupRoomEDSTemplate.dat
EventDisplayTemplates > GroupTimeEDSTemplate.dat
EventDisplayTemplates > UngroupedEDSTemplate.dat

RSS: Copy the "Page.dat" and rename:
RSSTemplates > Template.dat

Weather: Copy all jpgs and dat files and rename "Page.dat", to:
WeatherTemplates > WeatherTemplate.dat