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Viz Multichannel User Guide

Version 4.2 | Published July 31, 2023 ©

Promo Server

Promo Server is a Windows service process that enables efficient handling of page-filling and playlist data transfers, particularly for cross-promotional purposes. Once installed and configured, there is no direct user interaction with Promo Server since it does not have a user interface. Use the Multichannel Client Configuration settings to configure the server address of the Promo Server and to direct Multichannel to use Promo Server.

Cross-promotion is typically used in scenarios where one or more channels in Viz Multichannel need to access information about events in other channels in order to fetch data for page-filling. For example, the channel MUSIC might need to know what events are scheduled on channel MOVIES in order to answer such queries as “The Next event on channel MUSIC is program Foo while channel MOVIES now shows the film Bar”. Promo Server is a utility for handling such cross-channel queries.

To use Promo Server you must:

  1. Install Promo Server on a server. Although a separate server is recommended for security and efficiency, a shared server can also be used.

  2. Configure Promo Server by editing the PromoServer.config configuration file. This step tells Promo Server the channel names and the network addresses of the Media Sequencer servers handling these channels.

  3. Tell Viz Multichannel to use the Promo Server you are using by configuring and selecting it in Viz Multichannel’s configuration settings (see Settings > General Settings > Page Content Filling).

This process is described in the following sections:

Promo Server Installation and Configuration

Installing the Promo Server

  1. Locate the current Promo Server installer from your Vizrt representative or from the ftp server download.vizrt.com. The Promo Server is a separate installer image named VizMultichannel_PromoServer-VERSION.exe where VERSION are numbers indicating the release/version of the software. Double-click on the installer to start the installation.

  2. Press Next and on the next page click Next again to install Promo Server to the default installation directory.

  3. Press the Install button and wait until the software is installed. You can now exit the installer by pressing Finish.

    IMPORTANT! The Promo Server runs as a Windows Service process. It is recommended that the Promo Server service process is enabled to start automatically and that the Promo Server is run as an Administrator service level process. See the next chapter for details.

Configuring the Promo Server

Promo Server must be told which target channels to serve and on which server (network address) these channel(s) reside. This is done by editing the XML textfile PromoServer.config

IMPORTANT! The PromoServer.config is an XML-formatted textfile. Make sure that you save the file in text format (not Word, RTF or any other special format) after editing. You can use Notepad to do the editing, for instance.

To configure Promo Server:

  1. Use Windows Explorer to locate the directory %ProgramData%\Vizrt\Multichannel\PromoServer and locate the config-file. Normally: c:\ProgramData\Vizrt\Multichannel\PromoServer.config.

  2. Open PromoServer.config in a text editor.

  3. For key ChannelsMapping change the attribute name value to be the target channelname and either IP-address or hostname of the server. If you have several channels, each channel is separated by a “,” (comma) character. Example format: value=”MUSIC=192.168.0.10, MOVIE=192.168.0.11" , see the image below for an example.

  4. Save the PromoServer.config file as a normal textfile.

    images/download/attachments/72090761/promoserver_promoserver-config-file-example.png



    After you have configured (or changed) the PromoServer.config file you must restart the Promo Server service process.
    To restart the Promo Server and to configure the service-level:

Start the Windows Services administrator utility. On Windows 7-like systems: Select the Windows Start menu, type services.msc in the search bar and press ENTER to start the program.

images/download/attachments/72090761/promoserver_promoserver-start-win-services.png.png

  1. In the Services window, scroll down in the list to locate the Vizrt Viz Multichannel Promo Server service.

  2. Right-click on the Vizrt Viz Multichannel Promo Server item and in the context menu select Restart.

  3. Wait until the Service Window confirmation window disappears.

  4. Check that Promo Server is running and that the option to have it start automatically at server startup is selected.

Checking That Promo Server Service has Administrator Privileges

Complete the steps below to ensure that the Promo Server runs with administrator privileges:

Note: This procedure normally only needs to be performed once.

  1. Start Windows services.msc utility as described in the last procedure.

  2. Locate the Vizrt Viz Multichannel Promo Server item, right-click and in the context menu select Properties.

  3. In the properties window, set the Administrator username and password or a user account with Administrator privileges and press OK.

  4. Check Promo Server logs
    You have now configured Promo Server.

    images/download/attachments/72090761/promoserver_win-services-properties-window.png

Promo Server Logs and Messages

Perform the steps below to check Promo Server logs. Note that this procedure is for Windows 7. Although minor differences may occur depending on your Windows version, the basic procedure will be the same.

  1. Press the Windows Start button and type Event Viewer in the search bar. Press ENTER to start the Event Viewer.

  2. In the resulting Event Viewer application, expand Application and Services in the left pane.

  3. Select and click the service process log you wish to view. In this example, Vizrt Promo Server, as seen in the screenshot below:

    Note: Status message from Promo Server will be stored in 'infoPromoServer' attribute of an event.

    images/download/attachments/72090761/promoserver_win-event-log.png

Configuring Multichannel for Promo Server

  1. Start Multichannel and select the Open Settings icon in the toolbar.

  2. Under the Import/Export heading select General Settings.

  3. In the Page Content Filling header check Use Promo Server and in the parameter field specify either the hostname or the IP-address of the Promo Server.

    images/download/attachments/72090761/promoserver_promoserver-configure-in-settings.png

  4. Press OK to save the changed settings.

    Note: Only the Use Promo Server and the field to specify the Promo Server hostname address in the image above is specific for Promo Server. The Refresh... settings is definitions for when Page Content Filling should be run, for a normal schedule import, be it using the standalone Promo Server service or PlayListImporter.

Promo Server Web Interface

The Multichannel Promo Server has a web-interface. This section details the required format of a typical API call for interfacing towards the Promo server services.

Required Namespace

Namespace of payload is: "http://www.vizrt.com/types".

Required Data Format

The payload must contains a header node which contains the channel, playlist, group and page names. Example payload:

<header>
<channel>1</channel>
<playlist>continuous</playlist>
<group>523d0bb9-2b6c-4278-b5ff-1f594b3d6e17</group>
<page>4923de46-ff7c-452d-b7e5-79bec7d2bfe2</page>
</header>

If the request payload is invalid (incorrect namespace, no content, no header information) the response will be HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request

Example API Call (POST)

POST /PayloadParserService/ResolvePayload HTTP/1.1

<payload xmlns="http://www.vizrt.com/types">
<field name="pop_testing">
<value>Good words need great graphics</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="2">
<value>A bad graphic is worse than no graphic</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
<lookuprules xmlns="http://www.vizrt.com/2014/multichannel">[description]_0_IsString</lookuprules>
</field>
<field name="3">
<value>Size DOES matters! Superb HD graphics from Vizrt</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="4">
<value>Your analogue station just entered a new era - history</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="5">
<value>No Viz. No Fizz</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="6">
<value>It...s TV. You must VIZualize it</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="7">
<value>Mood music for the eyes. Vizrt</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="8">
<value>No story is complete without a Viz graphic</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<header>
<channel>1</channel>
<playlist>continuous</playlist>
<group>523d0bb9-2b6c-4278-b5ff-1f594b3d6e17</group>
<page>4923de46-ff7c-452d-b7e5-79bec7d2bfe2</page>
</header>
<entry name="dblink" xmlns="http://www.vizrt.com/2014/multichannel" />
</payload>

Expected Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
<payload xmlns="http://www.vizrt.com/types">
<field name="pop_testing">
<value>Good words need great graphics</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="2">
<value>Primary Event</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
<lookuprules xmlns="http://www.vizrt.com/2014/multichannel">[description]_0_IsString</lookuprules>
</field>
<field name="3">
<value>Size DOES matters! Superb HD graphics from Vizrt</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="4">
<value>Your analogue station just entered a new era - history</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="5">
<value>No Viz. No Fizz</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="6">
<value>It...s TV. You must VIZualize it</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="7">
<value>Mood music for the eyes. Vizrt</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<field name="8">
<value>No story is complete without a Viz graphic</value>
<field name="kerning">
<value>0</value>
</field>
</field>
<header>
<channel>1</channel>
<playlist>continuous</playlist>
<group>523d0bb9-2b6c-4278-b5ff-1f594b3d6e17</group>
<page>4923de46-ff7c-452d-b7e5-79bec7d2bfe2</page>
</header>
<entry name="dblink" xmlns="http://www.vizrt.com/2014/multichannel" />
<promoserverinfo xmlns="http://www.vizrt.com/2014/multichannel">
<status>ok</status>
</promoserverinfo>
</payload>