The Monitor Sync Section

In the URLs tab, you can toggle between basic or advanced mode:

• Basic mode – Presents a graphical user interface.
• Advanced mode – Can be useful if you want to copy and paste a complicated configuration into another without having to recreate it through the interface. See Advanced Mode.

To open the Synchronization URL dialogue box, click Add.

The following settings are available:

• Remote URL
• Destination Path
• Append Player ID to Remote URL
• Append Location Code to Remote URL
• Use URL Variables
• Synchronization Options
  • Protocol
  • Refresh Period
  • Timeout Period
  • Expiry Period
  • Sync Behavior
  • Sync Mode
• Scripting Options

Remote URL

• Description – The web address of the remote server from which to retrieve information.
• Requirements – Must start with either http://, https://, or ftp://.
• Encoding Credentials – Usernames and passwords can be encoded directly in the URL.

Example: http://username:passwd@test.com/test.xml.

Destination Path

• Description – The local path on the player system where synchronized content is stored. The path can be either relative or absolute.
• Absolute Path – Ensure that the Broadsign Control Player user has read/write permissions on this folder.

Example: c:\something

• Relative Path – The content is synced into the player’s application data path, which is in one of the following locations:
  • Windows 10 dedicated player – C:\ProgramData\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
  • Windows 10 non-dedicated – C:\Users\[USER_NAME]\AppData\Roaming\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
  • Windows 11 dedicated player – C:\ProgramData\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
  • Windows 11 non-dedicated – C:\Users\[USER_NAME]\AppData\Roaming\BroadSign\bsp\share\bsp\sync
  • Linux – /opt/broadsign/suite/bsp/share/bsp/sync

Note: If you are using the SmartFeed feature, this path is mandatory. If no specific path is required, put the current directory (".").

Append Player ID to Remote URL

• Description – Dynamically alters the URL based on the player’s ID. This allows you to target specific players by including the player's unique ID# in the URL.
• FTP Example:
  • Original FTP URL – ftp://test.com/files
  • New URL – ftp://test.com/files/12345

  where 12345 is the ID of the player fetching the URL

• HTTP Example:
  • Original HTTP URL – http://test.com/test.xml
  • New URL – http://test.com/test.xml?player_id=12345678

  where 12345678 is the ID of the player fetching the URL

Append Location Code to Remote URL

• Description – Dynamically alters the URL based on the location code. This allows you to target specific screens by appending their location code to the URL.
• FTP Example (with "YUL" location code):
  • Original FTP URL – ftp://test@test:wether.example.com/test
  • New FTP URL – ftp://test@test:wether.example.com/test/YUL

Note: If you have enabled both Player ID and Location Code appending, Broadsign Control Player will append the location code first and then the player ID. For example: ftp://test@test:weather.example.com/test/YUL/123456/

Use URL Variables

• Description – Dynamically transforms the URL requested by Broadsign Control Player using content variables. Refer to Content Variables for a list and description of the variables available.
• Format – Variables are identified with {{variable_name}}.
  • All automatic variables, as well as player and/or display unit variables, can be used and follow the same rules for inheritance.
  • Variables related to the content playing are excluded (frame_id, frame_resolution, ad_copy_id, campaign_id).
  • The variable replacement can happen anywhere in the URL, except the protocol.
  • It is possible to have multiple variables in the same URL.
  • For example, if the remote URL is http://cdn.test.com/audience/{{display_unit_id}}.csv and the player's display unit ID is 33333, the URL requested by the player will be: http://cdn.test.com/audience/33333.csv.

Synchronization Options

Protocol

In Configuration profiles v13.2+, this setting defines the protocol to use when synchronizing folders. Available protocols are FTP and HTTP/HTTPS.

The Sync behavior options differ according to the protocol selected. FTP is the default protocol value.

Warning: Exercise caution when using the Sync behavior options. Files and folders that exist in the destination path that do not exist on the remote FTP server will be deleted. For this reason, a destination path of "c:\" will effectively destroy your OS. Please be careful.

Sync Behavior

How synchronization is applied. You can select one of the following options:

• Sync file – Copies a specific remote file to the local machine.
• Sync remote folder – Copies the entire remote folder to the local machine, but without sub-directories. It also verifies file timestamps to ensure that the player avoids redownloading content.
• Sync remote folder and subfolders – Recursively syncs all child folders, as well.

Note: If you are using the Sync remote folder or Sync remote folder and subfolders option, be aware that Broadsign Control supports only the Nginx, Apache, and IIS HTTP servers with Directory Listings enabled. Broadsign Control uses native configurations, so if you modify the date format, for example, synchronization may not work properly.

• Sync using manifest – Syncs files according to the information defined in the Manifest file. This option is available for the HTTP/HTTPS protocol only.
  • The path to the Manifest file is defined in the Remote URL field.
  • The location on the local player system where the synchronized content will be stored is defined in the Destination path field.

For more information on the format to use for a Manifest file, see Manifest Synchronization For HTTP/HTTPS.

When using the Sync remote folder and Sync remote folder and subfolders options, the source URL must actually contain a real folder. For example, ftp://user:pass@ftp.example.com/folder/ would work, whereas ftp://user:pass@ftp.example.com/ will not.

Sync Mode

The synchronization method used. You can select one of the following options:

• Atomic – Downloads all files from the FTP or HTTP/HTTPS remote URL to the player before making any changes to the content.

  Note: When syncing files, the player will ensure atomic delivery. This ensures that the player will not get a partial copy of the remote data. All files are synced locally as .part files. When the transaction completes successfully, Broadsign reverts them to their original names.

• Progressive – Makes changes on the player to each file as soon as it downloads.

Refresh Period

Defines how often the remote URL is synchronized locally, that is, the frequency with which the player will check the remote URL for new files. Expressed in hh:mm:ss.

Timeout Period

Controls how long the player will wait for a server timeout, that is, the length of time the player will wait before terminating hung connections. Default 30 seconds.

Scripting Options

• Enable SmartFeed – You can enable Broadsign's SmartFeed feature. See SmartFeed.
• Edit Script – Opens the Script Editor. For more information, see SmartFeed.

Expiry Period

When a monitor sync URL is associated directly with an ad copy, this option becomes available in the URLs tab of the ad copy.

The ad copy can be removed from the loop when the associated data feed becomes stale. Typically, this is enabled when the choice is made that it is preferable to display no content instead of stale content. The specified time period can elapse because either the remote server is unavailable or the remote feed contents have not changed.