Flickr widgets

Applies to Elementi 2016 and later.

Introduction

The Flickr widgets can be used to display images from the well-known online photo management and sharing application offered by Yahoo, called Flickr.

Get started

1. Create a new Elementi project or open an existing one.
2. Click the "Widgets" tab in the Browse panel.
3. Open the "Flickr" folder.
4. Pick a widget (see the list below) that best fits how you want to present the data.
5. Drag & drop that widget from the Browse panel into the Preview panel or Edit panel. The widget is automatically copied within your opened project.
6. Configure the widget to display your data.

Flickr widgets

Flickr widgets in Elementi 2016 / 2017

Under the "Flickr" folder of Elementi 2016 Widgets, you can find six ready-to-use widgets that automatically display images from a Flickr data source:

• Media Playlist

  Displays a playlist of images from Flickr.

• Media Crawler

  Displays the images from Flickr using a continuous scrolling effect.

• Slideshow

  Displays slides composed of text & media layers, which are automatically filled out with the data from Flickr. The slides are displayed one after another, with or without a transition effect in between, similarly to a playlist.

• Horizontal Table, Vertical Table, and Table

  Displays slides composed of multiple cells of text & media layers, which are automatically filled out with the data retrieved from Flickr. The slides are displayed one after another, with or without a transition effect in between, similarly to a playlist.

Note:

These widgets can only be used on a single screen when creating a multiscreen project; for multiple screens, a data feed widget must be used instead.

Configuration

Each of the widgets above can be customized using the options provided under "Properties" tab - for more details go to the dedicated page of each widget type, linked above.

Data source setup

Data Properties

To edit the properties related to the data source, click on the button. This opens the "Data Properties" dialog, which allows changing the following:

• Account

  Select one of the connected Flickr accounts or click "Connect account..." if none was previously connected.

• Selection

  Select the source of the data to be displayed between "Camera Roll", "Photstream", "Favorites", "Album", "Gallery", and "Follow".

• Title

  If "Album" or "Gallery" is chosen, this options let you select the title of the Album/Gallery to be displayed.

• Username

  If "Follow" is chosen, this options let you select the name of the user's data to be displayed.

• Size

  Resolution of the images to be downloaded

• Max count

  Max number of images to be retrieved.

• Refresh

  Enter a number, optionally followed by s (implicit), m or h, to specify the period after which the widget should refresh the feed data (this is useful especially when the widget is running in a loop); the minimum accepted value is 60 seconds. Using "When document opens" will refresh the data only when the document is re-opened.

Note:

At any point, the data source configuration can be tested by clicking on the "Test..." button.

Flickr channel connection

Security is a fundamental element to consider when giving access to your personal data and we've created our data-driven widgets with that in mind. To ensure secure access and permission control, without exposing any user credentials, Cockpit must authorize any request for third-party data. For that, you need to do the following:

1. Create a Cockpit account, if you don't have one.
2. Register your Elementi license into your Cockpit account.
3. Add your players into your Cockpit account.
4. Connect your Flickr account to your Cockpit account.

See more about secure data access.

When selecting this channel in the "Data Properties" dialog, your existing Flickr accounts are automatically retrieved from Cockpit and displayed in the "Account" drop-down box. If you need to connect a new account, follow these steps:

1. Select "Connect account..." option .
2. Click the link displayed within the "Connect account..." dialog to open it in a browser.
3. If you are not signed into your Cockpit account, you are asked to do that.
4. Cockpit then checks that your Elementi license is registered into your Cockpit account; if not, you are asked to do that.
5. You are then redirected to the Flickr website. Log into your account there, if you are not already.
6. Then, you need to authorize the SpinetiX app to access the specified information of your Flickr account.
7. Once done, you are redirected back to Cockpit channels page and you can find your account listed under "Connected Accounts".
8. Then, return to Elementi and click the "OK" button within the "Connect Account..." dialog.
9. The list of accounts is refreshed and you can select the new one from the "Account" drop-down box.

Note:

The Flickr account can be disconnected at any time from Cockpit from the "Channels" page.

Troubleshooting

Publish error

• You get this message: Problem detected with target device. Widgets using channels will not work properly. Are you sure you want to continue?

  This happens when trying to publish a project containing Flickr widgets and one or more of the target HMPs have not been added to Cockpit.

  To solve the issue, open the HMP Control Center and add the player to Cockpit using the same account as the one used to registered the Elementi license into Cockpit

• Multiscreen usage.

  These widgets can only be used on a single screen when creating a multiscreen project; for multiple screens, a data feed widget must be used instead.

See also

• Elementi 2018 Widgets, Elementi 2017 Widgets, Elementi 2016 Widgets
• Data-driven widgets
• Data feeds
• Widgets