Workflow Summary for External Content Integration
Note This workflow assumes that you have completed the required backend network installation and integration at your venue for the external data sources that you plan to support, such as with the NFL GSIS network and Stats-in-a-Box (SIAB) server, or scoreboard device.
The following steps summarize the overall workflow to integrate data into Cisco StadiumVision Director and display that content on a TV:
Control Panel Setup Interface—Data Integration Tab (Figure 6)
1. From the Control Panel, access the Data Integration interface.
2. Add the predefined data source type that you want to configure.
3. Complete the network settings configuration.
4. Modify any data configuration options (for example, throttling), as applicable.
5. Modify the image display width and height, as applicable.
6. Save the configuration.
7. Enable the data source (click
Deploy
).
Note Whenever you modify and save or deploy/undeploy the External Content configuration, you must restart the application in the Management Dashboard. Cisco StadiumVision Director prompts you to do this, and it can be done at this step or after you finish mapping and formatting your statistics.
Figure 6 Data Integration Configuration Workflow
Control Panel Setup Interface—Field Mapping Tab (Figure 7)
8. Complete the field mapping for the selected data source by selecting the available statistics that you want to display in Cisco StadiumVision Director.
Note For generic data sources, you must first provide sample XML data before you can complete the field mapping.
9. Format each statistic to set the output field name and any other output criteria as desired. Click
Ok
. Save the mapping.
Figure 7 Field Mapping Workflow
Management Dashboard—External Content Integration (Figure 8)
10. Restart the External Content Integration application from the Management Dashboard.
Figure 8 External Content Integration Application in Management Dashboard
Control Panel Widgets Interface
11. Use the Widgets tool from the Control Panel to design a layout of the statistics that you configured to add graphics and bind/position data fields, and save the widget (Figure 9). See the
“Designing the Layout of External Content Using the Widgets Tool”
module for more information.
Figure 9 Widgets Tool
12. Create a playlist from the Control Panel for the widget that you created. Widgets are categorized in the “By Type” folder under the “widget” type (Figure 10).
Tip Click the Refresh icon in Content screen to see the widget in content library.
Figure 10 Widget Types in Content Screen
13. Create an event script to run the playlist.
14. Schedule the script to display the content on a TV just like other pieces of content in Cisco StadiumVision Director.
How to Configure External Content Integration
This section includes the following tasks:
Accessing the External Content Integration Interface
To access the external content integration interface, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Log into Cisco StadiumVision Director as an administrator.
Step 2 From the main menu, click
Control Panel
.
Step 3 From the Setup screen, select
Data Integration
.
The Data Integration screen is displayed in the Data Sources panel view.
Adding a New Data Source
To add a new data source, complete the following steps:
Step 1 From the Data Sources tab view on the Data Integration screen, click the plus (
+
) icon.
The Create new data source connection dialog box is displayed.
Step 2 In the Data source name box, type a name for the data source that you want to add.
Tip Specify a name using upper or lowercase alphabetical characters, digits 0–9, hyphen (-), or underscore (_). Spaces are not supported.
Step 3 Under the Type column, select the data source type that you want to add.
Step 4 (Generic Data Source only) For a Generic Data Source, select the message type from the drop-down box.
Step 5 Click
Create
.
The new data source is displayed in Data Sources panel view, and the Configuration panel is displayed.
Configuring the Network Connection to the External Content Source
Complete one or more of the following tasks according to the external content sources that your site is going to use:
Configuring the Connection to an Atom or RSS Feed
To configure the connection to an Atom or RSS feed, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected Atom Feed or RSS Feed data source.
Step 2 In the Network settings section, specify the URL in the Data source URL address box (Figure 11):
Figure 11 RSS Network Configuration
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Connection to a Generic Data Source
The connection settings for a generic data source type depend on the message type that is configured when creating the data source. The generic data source can be configured to support one of the following message types:
-
Database
-
FTP
-
HTTP (or HTTPS)
-
TCP
-
UDP
In addition, each generic data source connection type allows you to specify either JSON or XML data format.
To configure the connection to the generic data source, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected Generic Data Source name.
Step 2 Do one of the following to specify the generic data source location:
To configure the connection using FTP, specify the following information (Figure 12):
Figure 12 Generic Data Source Configuration: FTP
-
Server (IP address)—IP address of the FTP server.
-
Port—FTP port used in Cisco StadiumVision Director for the FTP server connection. The default is 21.
-
Data path—Folder path for the data. The default is “/”.
-
User—Username for the FTP server connection.
-
Password—Password for the user account on the FTP server.
-
Polling frequency—Number (in seconds) that specifies how often to poll data from the source. The default is 60.
-
File name filter—Fully-qualified file name or file name with an asterisk (*) wildcard.
To configure the connection using HTTP, specify the following information (Figure 13):
Figure 13 Generic Data Source Configuration: HTTP
-
HTTP URL—Fully qualified HTTP or HTTPS URL to the data source.
-
Polling frequency—Number (in seconds) that specifies how often to poll data from the source. The default is 60.
To configure the connection using TCP or UDP, specify the following information (Figure 14):
Figure 14 Generic Data Source Configuration: TCP and UDP
-
StadiumVision Director (IP Address)
-
StadiumVision Director port
To configure the connection for a Database, specify the following information (Figure 15):
Figure 15 Generic Data Source Configuration: Database
-
Database—Name of the database. Supported values are: MySQL (default), PostgreSQL, or SQLServer.
Note Underscore characters are not supported in the database name.
-
Host—IP address of the server where the database is hosted.
-
Port—Server port where the database is hosted. Default is 3306.
-
Schema—Name of the database schema or instance.
-
Username—Name of the user for authentication to access the database.
-
Password—Password for the specified Username for authentication to access the database.
-
Table Name—Name of the table in the database to retrieve data from.
-
Number of Rows to Retrieve (-1 for all)—Number of data rows to be retrieved from the table.
Step 3 (For all message types except Database) In the Data Format drop-down box, select JSON or XML to correspond to the data format of the source you are configuring.
Step 4 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 5 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Connection to a Generic POS Data Source
Use the Generic POS data source under the following conditions:
-
You need to support POS data from a vendor other than Quest or Micros.
-
You only want to use Data Integration and the Widgets tool for your menu creation.
To configure the connection to the generic POS data source, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected generic POS data source name.
Step 2 Specify the Database Settings (Figure 16):
Figure 16 Generic POS—Database Settings
-
Vendor Name (required)—Name of the vendor for the POS data source.
-
Store Name (required).
Step 3 Specify the Network Settings (Figure 17):
Figure 17 Generic POS—Network Settings
-
Data source URL address (required)—HTTP or HTTPS URL of the POS vendor API.
If an HTTPS URL is specified, the User Name and Password must be specified for authentication.
Step 4 Specify the Polling Interval (required)—Number (in seconds) for the frequency to poll data from the source feed. Default is 60. (Figure 18):
Figure 18 Generic POS—Polling Interval
Step 5 Specify the dimensions to which menu item images are resized (Figure 19):
Figure 19 Generic POS—Image Display Settings
-
Width—Number of horizontal pixels. Default is 600.
-
Height—Number of vertical pixels. Default is 400.
Step 6 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 7 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Connection to an Internal Database POS Data Source
Use the internal database POS data source under the following conditions:
-
You have very simple menu data.
-
You only need your menu data to appear in a single list.
-
You already use Quest or Micros POS but want to build Menu Boards using Widgets instead of the DMB application.
To configure the connection to an internal database POS data source, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected internal database POS data source name.
Step 2 Specify the Database Settings (Figure 20):
Figure 20 Internal Database POS—Database Settings
-
Vendor Name (required)—Name of the existing DMB vendor already integrated with Cisco StadiumVision Director to be the POS data source. Possible values are Micros or Quest.
-
Store Name (required)—Name of the store configured in the DMB application for the vendor.
Step 3 Specify the Polling Interval (required)—Number (in seconds) for the frequency to poll data from the source feed. Default is 60. (Figure 21):
Figure 21 Internal Database POS—Polling Interval
Step 4 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 5 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Connection to a Menu Theme POS Data Source
Use the Menu Theme POS data source under the following conditions:
-
You already support menus in DMB using Cisco or POS stores.
-
You have created menus for the stores using DMB themes.
-
You want to support groups on your menu and use the Widgets tool to design the layout of your menu.
To configure the connection to a menu theme POS data source, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected menu theme POS data source name.
Step 2 Under Database Settings, specify the Theme Name (required) (Figure 22):
Note This Theme Name must match the name configured in the DMB application.
Figure 22 Menu Theme POS—Database Settings
Step 3 Specify the Polling Interval (required)—Number (in seconds) for the frequency to poll data from the DMB application. Default is 60. (Figure 23):
Figure 23 Internal Database POS—Polling Interval
Step 4 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 5 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Connection to the NFL GSIS SIAB Server
This section includes the following topics:
Configuring the Network Settings for NFL Cumulative Statistics
Note Before you configure the FTP connection, be sure that you have the IP address and account credentials for the SIAB server from your NFL GSIS representative.
Cisco StadiumVision Director uses FTP port 21 to communicate with the NFL GSIS SIAB server to obtain the GSIS statistics.
To configure the network connection to the NFL GSIS SIAB server, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected GSIS: NFL,Cumulative Statistics data source.
Step 2 In the Network settings section, configure the following options (Figure 24):
a. In the Server (IP Address) box, type the IP address of the SIAB server.
b. In the Port box, type
21
. The default is 21.
c. In the Data path box, type “
/
”. The default is /.
d. In the User box, type the username for the SIAB server account. The default is
nfl
.
e. In the Password box, type the password for the SIAB server account. The default is
nfl
.
Figure 24 NFL Cumulative Statistics Network Configuration
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
What To Do Next
Configure the data options for the NFL Cumulative Statistics data source. For more information, see the “Configuring Data Options for NFL Cumulative Statistics” section.
Configuring the UDP Connection for the NFL Game Clock
Note Be sure that you know the UDP port number to communicate with the NFL GSIS SIAB server to obtain the GSIS game clock.
To configure the UDP connection for the NFL game clock, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected GSIS: NFL,Clock data source.
Step 2 In the Network settings section, configure the following options (Figure 25):
a. In the StadiumVision Director (IP Address) box, type the IP address of the Cisco StadiumVision server.
Tip The actual IP address of the Cisco StadiumVision server that you are logged into is provided in shadow, but you must type the address in the box to configure it.
b. In the StadiumVision Director port box, type the port number being used by the GSIS server. The default is 0.
Figure 25 NFL Game Clock Network Configuration
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
What To Do Next
Configure the data options for the NFL Clock data source. For more information, see the “Configuring the Incoming Data Filter Rate for Data Sources” section.
Configuring the Connection to the Scoreboard Controllers
Cisco StadiumVision Director uses a UDP port to communicate to the controllers to obtain the scoreboard statistics.
Note Be sure that you know the UDP port being used for your scoreboard controller.
To configure the UDP connection to the scoreboard controllers, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected scoreboard data source.
Step 2 In the Network settings section, configure the following option (Figure 26):
In the StadiumVision Director port box, type the UDP port number used to connect to the scoreboard controller.
Figure 26 Daktronics Scoreboard Controller Network Configuration
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Data Options
The data configuration options vary by the data source type:
Configuring Data Options for Atom and RSS Feeds
To configure data options for Atom and RSS feeds, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected Atom Feed or RSS Feed data source.
Step 2 In the Data configuration section, set one or more of the following options (Figure 27):
Figure 27 Data Configuration Options for Atom and RSS Feeds
a. Number of messages keep—Number of messages to keep from the feed. The default is 5.
Tip If planning to use images from the feed for the PicToScreen component in the Widgets tool, then a maximum of 5 images can be displayed. It is recommended that the number of messages to keep is 5 for images.
b. Data polling interval—Number (in seconds) for the frequency to poll data from the source feed. The default is 60.
Tip 60 seconds is the recommended polling interval for images. Consider a longer interval for text feeds.
c. Cache period—Amount of time (in minutes) to retain polled data. The default is 30.
Configuring Data Options for Generic Database Sources
To configure data options for generic database sources, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected generic database data source.
Step 2 In the Data polling, filtering, and throttling section, set one or more of the following options (Figure 28):
Figure 28 Data Configuration Options for Generic Database Sources
a. Polling interval—Number (in seconds) for the frequency to poll data from the source feed. The default is 60.
b. Incoming data filter rate—Number (in seconds) that specifies the amount of time to ignore duplicate data and process only new data. The default is 20.
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring Data Options for NFL Cumulative Statistics
To configure data options for NFL cumulative statistics, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected GSIS: NFL, Cumulative Statistics data source.
Step 2 In the Data polling, filtering, and throttling section, set one or more of the following options (Figure 29):
Figure 29 NFL Cumulative Statistics Data Configuration Options
-
File name—Name of the cumulative statistics file on the SIAB server. The default is GSISGameStats.xml.
-
Wait to read data from source (FTP polling interval)—Number (in milliseconds) that specifies how often to retrieve data from the SIAB server. The default is 60.
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Incoming Data Filter Rate for Data Sources
Note This data option is available for GSIS NFL clock, Daktronics, OES scoreboard, and Generic database data sources.
To configure the incoming data filter rate for data sources, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected NFL clock or scoreboard controller data source.
Step 2 In the Incoming data filter rate box, specify the number (in seconds) that specifies the amount of time to ignore duplicate data and process only new data (Figure 30). The default is 20.
Figure 30 Incoming Data Filter Rate Option
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Configuring the Image Display Size for Atom and RSS Feeds
Image dimensions are retained from the original source unless you change the image display size options from the default values of width 0 and height 0. If you specify the image width and height, then the source images from that data feed will be resized.
To configure the image display size, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Configuration
screen for the selected data source type.
Step 2 In the Image display section, set one or more of the following options using the spinner control:
a. In the Width box, select the horizontal dimension of the image (in pixels).
b. In the Height box, select the vertical dimension of the image (in pixels).
Step 3 Click
Save
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 4 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Providing Sample XML or JSON Data for Generic Data Sources
Note This task is only required when you are configuring a Generic Data Source.
The sample XML/JSON data is used to “train” the system on the content to be expected from the configured generic data source. You can provide sample XML/JSON data for generic data sources in two ways:
-
Uploading a sample XML or JSON file (Recommended).
-
Pasting a sample of the XML or JSON data.
Note The JSON is internally converted to XML for use by Cisco StadiumVision Director.
Prerequisites
Before you begin this task, be sure that the following requirements are met:
-
You have obtained a sample of your XML or JSON data, or you have a file available to be uploaded to Cisco StadiumVision Director.
-
If you are going to paste sample data in the Field Mapping screen, be sure that you have groomed the sample to remove any repeating elements. This will help streamline the processing and avoid reaching limits on the size of the file that can be used in the Data Integration interface.
Recommended Procedure
Note The following example describes how to do this procedure for an XML file, but the same steps also apply to uploading a JSON sample.
To upload a sample XML file for generic data sources, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Field Mapping
screen for the selected generic data source.
Step 2 To upload a sample XML file, complete the following steps:
a. Click the upload arrow icon (Figure 31).
Figure 31 Upload Sample XML File for Generic Data Source Field Mapping
b. In the Open dialog box, go to the location of your XML sample file and select it.
c. Click
Open
.
The data fields from the XML file are listed in the Input field box (Figure 32). You can click the arrows to verify the available input fields and sample data that were uploaded.
Figure 32 Sample XML File Input Fields
d. Click
Save
.
Alternate Procedure
To provide sample XML data for generic data sources, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Field Mapping
screen for the selected generic data source.
Step 2 To manually provide sample XML data, click the pencil icon (Figure 33).
Figure 33 Update Sample Data for Generic Data Source Field Mapping
Step 3 In the Sample data panel, paste the representative XML code from your sample file and click the Save icon.
Figure 34 shows an excerpt of XML code from a source for BATS Exchange data.
Figure 34 Paste XML into Sample Data Panel
The input fields with sample data from the saved XML source that you pasted are shown in the Field Mapping screen. You can expand the fields to show more data elements (Figure 35).
Figure 35 Paste XML into Sample Data Panel
Selecting Input Statistics and Mapping to Output Fields for Display
To select input statistics and map to output fields for display, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Go to the
Field Mapping
screen for the selected data source.
Step 2 To view the available statistics, click the arrow beside the data file name to expand the list.
The Sample Data column displays a representative value for each statistic.
Step 3 With your mouse, select a statistic and drag-and-drop it to the Output Fields panel on the right.
The Add Output field dialog box is displayed.
Step 4 Modify the Output field name or other mapping options as needed.
For more information, see the “Modifying the Output Format of a Statistic” section.
Step 5 Continue to select and add statistics to the Output fields panel.
Step 6 Click
Save
.
Enabling the Data Source Configuration
By default, external data collection and configuration is disabled. Once you have completed your configuration, you must both enable the data source and save the configuration to allow collection of the data.
Disabled data sources are indicated by a gray checkmark in the Enabled column of the corresponding data source name. When a data source is enabled, the checkmark turns green.
Note Real-time data collection from the SIAB server will not begin until the External Content Integration application has been both enabled and restarted in Cisco StadiumVision Director. For more information, see the “Activating External Content Integration System-Wide From the Management Dashboard” section and “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
To enable the data source configuration, complete the following steps:
Step 1 In the left pane, select the data source.
Step 2 Click
Deploy
.
A message box appears asking you to restart the application.
Step 3 If you have completed all of the changes that you want to make on the Configuration tab, restart the application.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Note To disable a data source configuration, repeat this task but click Undeploy at Step 2.
Activating External Content Integration System-Wide From the Management Dashboard
By default, External Content Integration is enabled system-wide in Cisco StadiumVision Director. After you have saved and enabled your data source configuration, you must
restart
the application from the Management Dashboard before data collection can begin.
If you have disabled the External Content Integration application, then it must only be activated once to deploy it in the Cisco StadiumVision Director server. Once the External Content Integration application has been activated in the system, then any time the configuration has been changed, the application only must be restarted.
To activate External Content Integration system-wide, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Log into Cisco StadiumVision Director as an administrator.
Step 2 From the Cisco StadiumVision Director main menu, click
Management Dashboard
.
Step 3 Using the Management Dashboard drawers, go to
Tools
>
Settings
>
External Content Integration
.
Step 4 Select
Activate Application
.
Step 5 Click the Play button.
Step 6 When the confirmation message box appears, click
Ok
to run the command.
Step 7 To verify the application activation, look for the success message in the log display area of the screen.
Step 8 After the processing has completed, select
Restart Application
.
For more information, see the “Restarting the External Content Integration Application” section.
Restarting the External Content Integration Application
Any time that you have made a change to the External Content Integration settings on the Configuration tab for external data sources, you must restart the application from the Cisco StadiumVision Director Management Dashboard.
When you save the configuration, a message is displayed as a reminder to restart:
Note Changes to the data source field mapping only need to be saved, but the application does not have to be restarted. However, if for some reason you did not do a restart of the application after making changes in the Configuration tab before going on to save changes in Field mapping, then you also will see this message about the required restart at the time you save the Field mapping.
To restart the External Content Integration Application, complete the following steps:
Step 1 Log into Cisco StadiumVision Director as an administrator.
Step 2 From the Cisco StadiumVision Director main menu, click
Management Dashboard
.
Step 3 Using the Management Dashboard drawers, go to
Tools
>
Settings
>
External Content Integration
.
Step 4 Select
Restart Application
.
Step 5 Click the Play button to run the command.
Step 6 When the confirmation message box appears, click
Ok
to run the command.
Step 7 To verify the application activation, look for the success message in the log display area of the screen.
Verifying the Integration
This section includes the following topics:
Verifying Receipt of Real-Time Data
Assuming that your network connection to the external data source is available and you have enabled the data source, real-time data is collected after you both activate and restart the application in the Management Dashboard.
To verify the receipt of real-time data, complete the following steps:
Step 1 From the Data Integration interface, select the data source that you want to verify.
Step 2 Click
Field mapping
.
Step 3 In the Output field panel, select the link in the
Data preview
column.
Figure 36 shows selection of a Mozes RSS feed with two image items available for data preview from the active feed.
Figure 36 Data Preview Example
After you click the link, a Preview window opens displaying the live data from your feed.
Figure 37 shows an example of the images along with their corresponding URLs that are displayed in the preview window.
Tip Use the scroll bar to see all of the available preview data.
Figure 37 Image Preview of Active RSS Feed
Step 4 Click
x
to close the window.
Verifying the Integration Broker Service Status
To verify the integration broker service status, complete the following steps:
Step 1 From the Management Dashboard, go to the
Service Alerts
pane in the bottom right corner.
Step 2 Navigate to find the
Integration Broker
service name and observe its status icon.
When the icon is green, the External Content Integration service is successfully activated.