Interactivity via IP network

Applies to all players, except HMP300 and DiVA. For DSOS players, a SYSTEMS Feature Set is required.

Introduction

Interactivity via IP network refers to the player quality of reacting in a user-defined manner following the input received from external devices via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. This means that a player can be "controlled" over the network from:

another player through an interactive widget, such as Click to Action or Key to Action;
a web application or PC application (e.g., Postman, Insomnia, HTTPie, etc.) making HTTP POST calls to the Web Storage REST API or RPC API;
a control system (e.g., Crestron, AMX, Q-SYS, etc.);
an ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics NAV;
an evacuation / alarm / mass notification software (e.g., Layered Solutions, Bosch Praesideo);
a Queue Management Systems like ESII, Qmatic, Mem-o-Matic, cleverQ, etc.
a smartphone application like:
- iCurlHTTP, SimpleHTTP, HTTPBot for iPhone,
- Http Request, HTTP Request Sender, HTTP Request Shortcuts for Android,
- Rester for Window 10 Mobile.
a dry contact to IP converter, such as Moxa ioLogik E2214,
a Telnet client (e.g., PuTTY),

... and so on.

Configuration

The Shared Variables's mechanism is typically used for this type of interactivity, since it includes a reactive component that triggers on-update events whenever the value of the Shared Variable is changed, and dedicated interactive widgets are provided within Elementi. The Web Storage mechanism could also be used, though it requires writing the JavaScript code.

There are different ways to update a Shared Variable – you'll need to configure in Control Center at least one of the following:

Web Storage REST API → see how to configure the Web Storage REST API.
RPC API → some configurations might be needed depending on how the RPC commands are sent.
Shared Variables Network API → see how to enable SV Network API on the player.

Note:

See how to reduce the rendering latency section for information on how to get the player to react faster, possibly at the cost of video output quality. See also when not to reduce the rendering latency.

How to create interactive content

You can easily create interactive content with Elementi built-in interactive widgets:

Action to Switch widget switches to displaying a different content when a designed Shared Variable is updated.
Click to Action & Key to Action widgets update a Shared Variable on another player following a click or key press event.
Media Playback widget changes the playing mode of a media when a designed Shared Variable is updated.

Data feed widgets can also be used to display the content of a Shared Variable, as demonstrated within the Instant messaging project.

Advanced

For advanced users / developers, some good resources for creating complex interactive content can be found on these pages: