Skipping HTML-Based Spots

Whenever a browser is loading HTML content, a validation mechanism ensures that the content is loaded on time before the spot starts. This allows media creators to enforce certain rules and quality of content to avoid showing content that is not properly loaded or out of date.

In general, an HTML page has two seconds to load properly, otherwise the entire spot is skipped and the next spot in the playlist is queued. The same behavior applies to zipped HTML packages.

Once the HTML page is loaded, Splash Player performs a check after one second to read the content of the HTML document’s <title> tag and assess its readiness by setting the page's <title> attribute to a value. Depending on the value, the behavior is different:

Value	Description
ready	If the title attribute is ready, the Player waits for the current spot to finish, and then transitions and starts playing this HTML content.
skip	If the title attribute is skip, the Player skips the spot and logs an event internally. It is possible to provide a reason to describe why the spot had to be skipped. To do so, add a colon after skip and provide your reason. For example: skip:because the data is too old It is possible to disable reporting these events as they may flood the Player event log records. It is recommended to disable the Log Html Skipped files option of the Player Configuration Basic Info tab when using many programmatic container files as it is expected that many executions will be skipped. See Configuring the Splash Player for more details.
wait	If the title attribute is wait, the Player waits for another second and checks again. If the value is still set to wait, the spot is automatically skipped and the next spot is then de-queued. If there are other files in the bundle of the spot, they are also disregarded. The loop is thus shortened by the number of seconds for which this spot was supposed to play.
Other values	If the title attribute shows other values, it is considered as ready and the spot plays.

The Player starts queuing designs when there are up to 10 seconds left to the current spot. Especially for programmatic spots, this ensures a certain level of immediacy in the playback of such spots. This is more important when dealing with content that is longer than one minute.

At this time, the next spot is de-queued and if the file is an HTML or a zipped package, the check mechanism runs. The Player then has six seconds to find some content to play.

When there is less than 4.5 seconds, this is deemed that there is not enough time to queue the next spot. The following logic applies:

1. The Player attempts to requeue the current spot, and the next spot is to be requeued afterward.
2. If the current spot is an HTML file, the validation will be run again as per the steps above.
3. If the validation succeeds, the spot replays and there is more time to queue the next HTML spot.
4. If the spot is a programmatic ad or if the HTML validation fails, the Player queues one file from the Fallback bundle.
5. If no Fallback bundle is set, the Player shows a black screen.

If the current spot is less than five seconds long, the next spot is automatically attempted once. The following logic applies:

1. If the next spot is not an HTML file, it plays.
2. If the next spot is an HTML file, the validation runs.
3. If the validation is successful, the HTML spot plays.
4. If the validation fails, the current spot is requeued.
5. If the current spot is not an HTML file or a programmatic ad, the current spot is repeated.
6. If the current spot is an HTML file, the validation runs.
7. If the validation fails, or if the spot is a programmatic ad, one file from the Fallback bundle is queued.
8. If no Fallback bundle is set, the Player shows a black screen.

Note: It is strongly recommended to set non-HTML files in the fallback content bundle for the players. They can be set either on a per-player basis, or on a per-player-configuration-model basis. See Configuring the Splash Player for more details.

Note: The Splash Player cannot replay programmatic spots as they are allowed to play only once, and the Splash Player cannot confirm a play twice.