Interactivity via IP network

Applies to HMP400,HMP400W, HMP350, and legacy players.

Introduction

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

another player (e.g., using interactive widgets),
a web application (e.g., using the Web Storage bridge),
a control system (e.g., Crestron, AMX etc.),
an ERP system (e.g., 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, HTTPea etc. for iPhone,
- HTTP Requester, HTTP request, HTTP Tester etc. 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 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.

There are different ways to update a Shared Variable - you'll need to configure in HMP 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:

If you need faster reactivity from the HMP (but possibly at the expense of output quality), then see how to reduce the rendering latency (which has a direct influence over the player reactivity). 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 HMP following a click / 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: