Graphics

I'm trying to get election result pages to do the on animation whenever we push new data to it. Currently it only animates the first time it is taken online, and when we change to a different race using the same template, it just updates the text. We're using Newsroom Solutions and CII gateway to call pages to air. I believe there is a way to script each page to accomplish this but don't know how to do it. Thanks for any help you have!

Hi Aaron,

Do you have any scripting going on in your existing template? I ask because what it should do is animate from the beginning every time you take a new template. I suspect there is scripting in there to change that behavior.

Chris

#XPression

If you just push new data using CII it won't call the animation again. I think what many customers in this situation do is write each page to XPression using a different take item number and then flip-flop back and forth between two numbers like 9000 then 9001 then 9000 then 9001 etc.. This way each page is like a completely template and will re-animate.

I think someone may have even posted an example of this a long time ago.

#XPression

DataLinq may also be an option for you. We use Newsroom Solutions, as well, and had them create an xml feed of the election results on the NewsTicker box locally. We just hit that address for the data.

We then duplicate our template scenes and update the DataLinq Key scene-by-scene to match it. Works great. Hopefully moving to version 5.15 soon, where DataLinq Keys are published through the MOS Gateway workflow. Then we don't even need to pre-build the scenes. Just pull up the template, edit the DataLinq Key, and any race in your database can be pulled up.

#XPression

I love it when the competition helps each other. :)

Couple of notes, Dan. Datalinq Keys works great, but you need to make sure that the race number is listed as an attribute and not an element in the XML structure. Also, how often is Newsroom Solutions updating your XML file? Once a minute? Or is it on-demand?

#XPression

We get it once a minute.

We also don't sort it by RACE_ID. The export is a mirror of our web export, which is sorted alphabetically. So I spit that into Excel, add a column for "DataLinq Key," then generate a number for each of those. Then while building, I know I need the results for the race titled "US President," which is number 89 down the list alphabetically. My DataLinq Key becomes 89, and the tag for the data looks similar to:

RACE(%DLINQ_ID%)/CANDIDATE_INFO/CANDIDATE(1)/LAST_NAME

(greater-than/less-than replaced with parenthesis, back slash replaced with forward slash for forum formatting)

In the future, we'll add the number in the MOS Gateway plug-in, but for now, just building it in the scene works.

And Aaron - no more freebies for you up the street. If you want help, give me a call. This town's only big enough for one XPression user. :)

#XPression

Dan, just an FYI...

If you want to go completely nuts with this, you can build a custom application in Dashboard Panel Builder and adjust the datalinq keys from anywhere Dashboard is connected. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.

#XPression

We don't use Dashboard here, though that does sound like fun. We're pretty bare bones. Manual operators and everything. No Overdrive for us.

#XPression

This would be ideal for Manual operation, not so much for Overdrive. It would just be a simple UI that you could build specifically for elections. It could be a simple button panel with all of the races named, and you just find the button and go.

#XPression

We don't use DataLinq because we use Newsroom Solutions' tPrompt software for anchors, and need to control the Xpression using their interface. Due to the way that NS is set up, you can only have one scene ID per template, so if you've already called up that scene, it only changes the text. I was able to work around this in the logic file for NS templates and added a command to call for a scene that only has the background on it, then wait a second and call for the template, and that works. A sister station is testing some Xpression scripting to cause the animation controller to play from the beginning on data refresh, so that might be an option within Xpression itself. Good luck tomorrow night, Dan...just not TOO much luck lol!

#XPression