Displaydata 120-0084 Bounce Ethernet Communicator User Manual Manual 2

ZBD Displays Ltd Bounce Ethernet Communicator Manual 2

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Manual 2

Bounce Software Quick Start Guide Document Number: 550-0004-05
The information disclosed herein is the exclusive property of ZBD Displays Ltd. and is not to be disclosed without the written consent of ZBD Displays Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic storage, reproduction, execution or transmission without the prior written consent of ZBD Displays Ltd. This document is intended for limited circulation. The information contained in this document is subject to change without written notice and should not be construed as a commitment by ZBD Displays Ltd. unless such commitment is expressly given in a covering document. © Copyright ZBD Displays Ltd. (2009) Document Number: 550-0004-05 Date: 7th October 2009 Minimum system requirements Processor: 1.2Ghz Memory: 512 RAM Free Disk Space: 4GB Microsoft Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2 Software Requirements Windows Installer 3.1 Visual C++ runtime library SQL Server Express .NET Framework 2.0 Please note if you do not have these installed, Bounce Architect setup will install them for you.
Introduction The bounce software suite is designed to provide a number of software modules and tools for defining the integration points between the your data and the EPOP. The software enables the development of image templates for simplifying the design of ticketing information and provides tools for defining rules that must be applied to the data feeds in order to ensure that the correct information is displayed on the EPOPs at the right time. The software also provides a network management layer for controlling the update of the EPOPs and recording auditing information that can be retrieved using the reporting module. The software consists of four core elements: Product Description Architect This product consists of a Microsoft .Net application that provides the means to define the data sources for product information, set up what to do with the data and create a schedule of when the data should be examined for changes. Architect also provides tools for defining EPOP product image templates and for creating Collections of templates that will be used with the defined data set. The Policies and Collections that are created within Architect will then be used by Processor to generate images for the EPOP displays. Processor This product consists of a Microsoft .Net application that runs continuously on a server and uses the Policies and Collections defined within Architect to acquire the data when scheduled, perform the required transformations, determine what data has changed and render product images for those products whose data has changed. Communicate The product consists of a Microsoft .Net application that runs continuously on a server and is responsible for transmitting the appropriate product images to any EPOPs that have been assigned to the defined products. Communicate is responsible for providing the underlying communications structure for deploying a large number of EPOP display devices. Previous releases of Bounce Software consisted of only the Bounce Communicate element. Manager This product consists of a set of web pages, written for the Microsoft ASP.Net web application framework, residing on an ASP.Net compatible web server. It provides the tools required to manage a Bounce software installation via a Web interface. It provides a configuration manager, a report manager and an EPOP assignment manager.
Overview Diagram Bounce Architect Component Description Policy Architect The Policy component consists of a Microsoft.Net application for defining the sources of data that will be used in acquiring the product information for the image generation process. Data transformations are also created and edited within Policy Architect. Transformations can be used when the format of the data in the acquired data sources needs to be changed or reformatted to represent what will be rendered in the product image. Schedules can also be defined within Policy Architect. A schedule defines when data should be acquired to determine if any changes have occurred in the data set. Any data changes result in new images being generated. A schedule can be as simple as a trigger based on when a data file changes, or a more complex predefined set of times when the data should be acquired from a remote database. Policy Architect provides a means to preview both the acquired data and the EPOP images that will be created from the data. Any policies that are defined within the Policy Architect application can be saved and imported into Bounce Processor as a configuration file. Template Architect The Template component consists of a Microsoft.Net application for defining EPOP image templates. A template defines the information that should be displayed on an EPOP. It consists of a set of instructions detailing where and how data fields are rendered within the EPOP image. Processor Acquire, Transform, Render Manager Configure, Assign, Report API Communicate Transmit, Log Template Collection Policy Config Retail Databases Architect Create policies & templates
Template Architect provides a template Design view alongside a Preview view. This allows the User to be able to see exactly how a product image (or set of product images) will be rendered from the product data set. Template Architect also allows the user to create a Collection of templates. This feature ensures that different templates can be used when rendering the data to handle products that may be on offer, or in a different product category that requires its own style. A Template Collection also includes templates for each of the different EPOP types e.g. EPOP 500 and EPOP 300. Once a User has completed the design of their Template Collection it can then be saved and imported into Bounce Processor as a configuration file. Saved files can also be used by Policy Architect to preview the acquired data. Processor Component Description Processor Acquire/Transform/Render This component runs as a Service on any Windows XP machine and performs the function of acquiring the data against a schedule of operation as defined in Architect. It then performs any required transformations and uses the acquired and transformed data to render a product image. For each product in the acquired data set a unique image will be generated using the specific template style defined within the data. Product images are created for each EPOP type included in the Template Collection e.g. EPOP 500, EPOP 300. Once an image has been rendered it is then passed to the Communicate component for transmission to the EPOPs. An audit trail is kept of when the data is acquired and when any product images are created and sent to the Communicate component. Communicate Component Description Processor Communicate This component also runs as a service on any Windows XP machine and is responsible for managing the transmission of any product images delivered via Acquire/Transform/Render to the appropriate EPOP units assigned to the product. When Communicate receives a product image update it will check to see if any EPOPs have been assigned to the product and then select the appropriate image for the specific EPOP type and queue it for transmission e.g. if a product has both an EPOP 500 and an EPOP 300 assigned, then Communicate
selects the EPOP 500 image for transmission to the EPOP 500 and the EPOP 300 image for transmission to the EPOP 300. Communicate manages the RF communications layer and will ensure transmissions are re-tried if failures occur due to RF noise etc. An audit trail is kept of all EPOP communications, retries and failures. Manager Component Description Configuration Manager The Configuration component consists of a web application that enables Users to remotely configure and control the Bounce Processor product. Users are able to update the Policy rules and Template Collections. Assignment Manager The Assignment component consists of a Windows .Net application for assigning EPOP units to products defined within Bounce. This application supports the use of barcode readers to simplify the EPOP assignment process. A User can simply scan the barcode of a product and the EPOP serial number label and then Assignment Manager will send a request to Bounce Communicate to set up an assignment between the product and the EPOP. This will result in the EPOP being updated with the latest product image for the selected product. Other variants of this component can be created for Windows Mobile PC or other handheld applications. Report Manager The Report component provides a web based application that enables the User to generate reports detailing when products, EPOPs etc. have been updated. Reports can also be generated of failed transmissions.
Workflow The following diagram shows an overview of the workflow required to integrate a bounce system into a retail environment. There are 7 steps to complete a full integration. These are: 1. Use Policy Architect to set the data sources and define the Template Fields that will be used in creating the product images. Template Fields are derived either directly from the Product Data Fields in the imported data sources or from transformations on the Product Data Fields. 2. Use Template Architect to create a Collection of image templates for each EPOP type and for each offer type using the Template Fields defined in step 1 Steps 1 & 2 often become an iterative process as the templates are developed. 3. Use Policy Architect to define the scheduling policies that determine when the data will be acquired from the defined data sources and when the images will be transmitted to the EPOP devices. 4. Acquire the Data Values according to the transformation and policy rules defined in steps 1 & 3. 5. Render the product images using the Data Values acquired in step 4 and the Template Collection defined in step 2. 6. Update the EPOP devices according to the scheduling rules defined in step 3. 7. Use Reporter to view the update statistics. The following guide details how to install the Bounce Architect, Processor and Manager elements of the Bounce software suite (see Bounce Communicate Installation Guide for how to install and use Bounce Communicate element). It also details how to create an Architect Policy and Template configuration files and how to load these onto a PC running Processor, Communicate and Manager
Bounce Architect Installation Guide Insert the Bounce Architect software CD into your CD-ROM drive. The install setup.exe should auto start. If it doesn’t, Click on Start> Run and type D:SETUP.EXE. Replace the D: with the appropriate drive letter for your CD-ROM if it is not D. Once the installer starts you will get the following screen. Click Yes to accept Click Accept to install .NET Framework 2.0, you will only receive this message if .NET Framework 2.0 has not been previously installed on your machine. Click Accept to install Windows Installer 3.1, if not already installed. You will also be prompted for a system reboot. After the reboot the installation will continue. Click Install, this will install Visual C++ Runtime Libraries and SQLProcessor Instance
The following Bounce Architect Setup Wizard will start. Click Next It is recommended you use the default location, leave as is and click Next Click Next to confirm your installation To complete the installation click Close This now successfully completes the installation of Bounce Architect. The following section demonstrates, how to create a policy and a template collection for use with Communicate and Processor.
Policy Architect Template fields are created using Policy Architect. Definition of the template fields begins by determining all the different data sources that will be used to create them and registering these with the Policy Architect application. A data source can take any form of data, it may consist of a simple comma separated value file, an Excel spreadsheet, an Access database or more complex transactional databases such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. To start the application Policy Architect, double click the icon on your desktop or go to Start > All Programs > ZBD Displays > Bounce Architect > Policy Architect and the following Main Screen is displayed as below. Template Architect Export Configuration Validate Configuration Import Configuration Policy Configuration Add DataSource Open Template Collection Clear Policy Configuration Data Preview Page 2 Image Preview Transformations Template Collection Scheduling Page 1 Image Preview
The first step in creating a policy is to create a connection to your data source, in the example below you will use the sample .csv data file which is provided on the CD – D:\Sample Data Adding a Data Source Right click DataSources and select Add DataSource In the following screen below, you will add the name of your Data Source and select the connection method to your data. In our example we have used a .csv file, select file and click Next. The .csv file is available on the CD-ROM – D:\Sample Data You may also have downloaded it from the FTP site, the example data can be found in the folder Sampledata.zip
To test the data source connection, click the Test and the following connected successfully screen below appears, click OK, this validates the file location is valid and readable. Click OK again, and now you have successfully added your data source connection. Once the data sources have been registered you will need to define the data tables and the Product data fields that contain the relevant product information to be used in creating the product image. In a situation where there are multiple sources, each of the data tables registered to Policy Architect need to be linked to at least one other table to enable Policy Architect to determine how to retrieve the correct data values to make a consistent data set. Normally each of the data source tables would be linked via the product ID as this is a unique identifier that would be consistent across multiple data sets. In our example, for illustration purposes, we have used a .csv file, so there is only one table. Adding a Table The next step in the process is to link the table within your data source by right clicking on the Data source name and select add table, as below Now, you will select the Name and Keyfield, as show below, the Keyfield is the unique identifier, and the Name is the table name. In our example it’s the file name, because you are importing from a .csv file.
You can preview your data source data by clicking Preview, the data will be previewed as shown below, then click OK. Once you have registered all the data sources and linked the tables you can concentrate on determining what fields should be retrieved from the tables in order to define the Template Collection fields. Template Collection fields are a selection of any fields you wish to make available from your data source for use in generating your images using Template Architect. Adding Template Collection Fields Next you need to add your template collection field. Right click on the selected field name from the imported table you wish to add to Template and Click Add
In our example we have chosen to add the following field names. EAN Code Long Description Manufacturer Model Price Product ProductID PromoPrice Short Description It is recommended you use the above field names. The added field names will also move to the Template Collection Field, as shown below. Now within the template collection fields you need to set the ProductID field, in our example we are using the ProductID. Right click, go to Assign To and select ProductID, as shown below. This allows Bounce Communicate to Identify the ProductID Click the import button, to preview your selected template collection fields in Policy Architect.
A special Template Collection field called [Template] must be defined. This field contains the name of a Template Architect template that will be used when creating the product image. Using Policy Architect we are able to create new template fields by applying transformations to the Product data fields e.g. we can create a new template collection field called [UnitPrice] that is calculated from the data source by taking the [Price] and dividing it by the [UnitWeight]. In our example we are going to create two [Template] fields which are populated with ‘Standard’ & ‘Promo’, using transformations. Transformations Transformations allow you to manipulate existing fields or create new constant fields. This consist of standard SQL statements and can include any of the Template Collection Fields previously added. The SQL statement can be made up of anything that is valid in the Select Clause. Creating a Transformation To create a transformation right click transformation and select New Transformation, the follow screen below appears. Enter an appropriate name for the transformation field, in your example you have chosen Standard.
You are going to create a constant, with the value of Standard. As shown below. Click the Preview button to see the results of your created transformation. Click Ok to finish creating the transformation. Now you are going to create a second template field for the promotional data. Repeat the above steps, creating a transformation using the transformation name as Promo, and creating a constant value of Promo, as shown below.
The created transformations will also be added to your template collection field set, as shown below You also need to assign the transformation template fields created. This is so that Policy Architect can determine which template name to use. Right click on field name Standard in the template collection fields and go to Assign To and select Page 1 Template, as below.
Repeat the above assign task for the second template field name Promo to Page 2 Template, as shown below. You have now successfully created two transformations, one allowing you to create a standard image template and the other a promotional template. Now you are ready to design your Template images using Template Architect.
Template Architect Template Architect provides a graphical user interface with a template design view alongside a preview view. This allows you to be able to see exactly how a product image (or a set of product images) will be rendered from the product data set. Using the GUI you can select a Template field and define the area on the EPOP display that the values contained in the template field should be rendered. A selection of field attributes is also available so that you can apply different fonts, font styles, font sizes etc. The template field object can be inverted to displays white on black or the object can be set to auto fit within a bounding rectangle defined by the user. Template Architect also allows you to create a collection of templates. This feature ensures that different templates can be used when rendering the data to handle products that may be on offer, or in a different product category that requires its own style. A template collection also includes templates for each of the different EPOP types e.g. EPOP 50, EPOP 300 and EPOP 500. To define your template collection you will need to start Template Architect, this can be started within Policy Architect, by clicking the Template Architect icon , the following screen below will appear, click OK to start a new template collection design. Save the file with a unique name, for our example we have chosen Sample
Template Architect main screen and icons To create a new template, click the new template icon . Add new Template You are going to create an image Template for EPOP 500 in landscape layout, with template name Standard, this is the name you used previously when creating your transformation, click OK. Add Text Box Add Price Object New Template Send Image to EPOP Delayed Rendering Change Background Image Add Graphic Add Barcode Design Window Preview Window Imported Data Fields Icon Library Object Properties
The screen below shows your data imported top left corner, from Policy Architect. Now you are ready to start to design your image template. Select the appropriate fields from the imported data, drag and drop onto the Design window, by holding down your mouse and moving the pointer to the design window and then releasing the mouse button. The data will be shown on the preview window, as shown below. It is recommended you add the objects in the design view as above.
To create our second template, for our promotional data, go to the following drop down as shown below and select New. Enter the details as below, making sure you select Clone Template Standard. This allows you to create a clone image of the first template created ‘Standard’. This simplifies the task of creating another template if only minimum set of modifications are required. Reposition an object box Select the text object using left mouse and holding down move the text object to the desired position in the Design window or by selecting the object and using the arrow cursor keys to move the object. Resize an Object box To resize move the mouse cursor to the object border until mouse cursor changes , now you can resize by moving the border line.
Edit an Object box Right click on selected object and go to properties Advance Object properties, are available on selected object Properties screen. Types of Objects Text Box Insert a text box 1. In the toolbar, click the text icon 2. Create a text frame, drag the pointer diagonally to the size you want on the design window. 3. The following text properties box will appear Static Text To create static text on your template, enter the text into the text box. Data Text To create data text from your data source file, select the field name from the drop down list and click Add
AutoSize When autosize is enabled the font size of the text will be adjusted to ensure all of the text can be displayed within the bounding rectangle of the text object. By default the Autosize function is enabled, note that the defaulted minimum font size is set to a value that ensures the text will be rendered legibly on an EPOP. Turn off Autosize 1. Right click on your selected object and go to properties, uncheck the Auto Size check box, by default auto size is the on Price Object Indicates which field determines the price of the product, right click on the Price Object and go to properties, the following box will appear. This allows you to change the Major and Minor Symbols, it also allows you to change the font size of both symbols.
List Object A List object consists of multiple Text objects and Price objects into one bounded rectangle group. This simplifies manipulating them. A list object can be selected, moved, resized and edited as one object or individually. List objects can be bounded horizontally or vertically. Below the properties box of list objects allows you to set various settings, by right clicking the list object and selecting properties. Once you have completed you template design, you need to save it. From the Menu bar select File > Save Collection. Now you need to go back to Policy Architect and click Import to view the template changes you have made. Now you have successfully added a data source and selected Template collection fields to create a template design standard and promo for you EPOP’s. To view your data with the template design imported in to Policy Architect. Scroll through your records using the up and down arrow in the data preview window. The new image with the selected product will be displayed within the Image preview window, this allows you to validate the image.
Scheduling The final step is to define the schedule in which the data source should be read and processed. In our example, we are going to create a schedule that will run our standard template image with a our promotional Image displayed between the hours of 4pm and 6pm of each day. To set the schedule, click the schedule icon in Policy Architect , and the following screen below will appear. A new policy configuration is created with a default schedule. In our example we want to use a more complex schedule. Delete the default schedule by selecting it and clicking on the “Remove” button Click Add, to open the schedule creation window, as shown below. Schedule 1 Setting
Schedule > Select All This determines we wish the schedule to run daily, on all the selected days. Action> DownloadAndUpdate This downloads and updates the EPOP with new image, and also monitors for any change to the data source and will update the EPOP with the new image Page > 1 This will only update page 1 with the new image, any changes to the page 2 image will also be downloaded to the EPOP, but not displayed. Schedule Type > Recurring > Period Start 00:00 Finish15:59 This is the time the schedule will run between Interval > 00:00:30 This will run every 30 seconds to check datasource for any changes Schedule 2 Setting Schedule > Select All This determines we wish the schedule to run daily, on all the selected days. Action> Update This will update the EPOP with new image Page > 2 This will update only page 2 with the new image, (if you can remember we set our template field in policy architect Promo > Page 2 template) Schedule Type > One Off> 16:00 This will run at 16:00
Schedule 3 Setting Schedule > Select All This determines we wish the schedule to run daily, on all the selected days. Action> DownloadAndUpdate This downloads and updates the EPOP with new image, and also monitors for any change to the data source and will update the EPOP with the new image Page > 2 This will only update page 2 with the new image, any changes to the page 1 image will also be downloaded to the EPOP, but not displayed. Schedule Type > Recurring > Period Start 16:01 Finish17:59 This is the time the schedule will run between Interval > 00:00:30 This will run every 30 seconds to check datasource for any changes Schedule 4 Setting Schedule > Select All This determines we wish the schedule to run daily, on all the selected days. Action> Update This will update the EPOP with new image Page > 1 This will update only page 1 with the new image, (if you can remember we set our template field in policy architect Promo > Page 2 template
Schedule Type > One Off> 18:00 This will run at 18:00 Schedule 5 Setting Schedule > Select All This determines we wish the schedule to run daily, on all the selected days. Action> DownloadAndUpdate This downloads and updates the EPOP with new image, and also monitors for any change to the data source and will update the EPOP with the new image Page > 1 This will only update page 1 with the new image Schedule Type > Recurring > Period Start 18:01 Finish 23:59 This is the time the schedule will run between Interval > 00:00:30 This will run every 30 seconds to check datasource for any changes It is recommended to use the above settings. Your completed schedule should look as shown below. Now click OK to save the schedule.
Congratulations, you have completed the configuration phase of the Bounce Software. To use the configuration files with Bounce Processor and Bounce Communicate, you will need to export and save your Policy and Template Architect configuration files, which will be uploaded via Bounce Manager To export your configuration file, click on the export icon in Policy Architect and save file. The Template Architect configuration file you have already saved, when creating the New template collection, but you will need to re-save any changes made, by selecting File > Save Collection in Template Architect, as show below.
The following sections detail how to install Bounce Processor and Bounce Manager on a PC running the Bounce Communicate software (see Bounce Communicate Installation Guide). In each location that has EPOPs deployed a PC must be set up to manage the network of EPOPs and perform the communication functions. This PC will also be required to run Bounce Processor to monitor the data fields specified in Policy Architect and render the images specified in Template Architect. Bounce Manager is also required to Manage the PC Configuration The following section assumes that the user has already installed and set up Bounce Communicate on a PC as documented in the Bounce Communicate installation guide. Bounce Processor Installation Guide To start the installation of Bounce Processor, run BounceProcessorSetup, click Yes on the following screen below to continue installation process. The following setup wizard will start, click Next It is recommended you use the default location, leave as is and click Next Click Next to confirm your installation
To complete the installation of Bounce Processor click Close Your installation of Bounce Processor is now completed. A new windows service has now been installed. Before Bounce Processor will process any of your data sources you will need to upload your Policy configuration and Template collection files. To do this, you will need to install Bounce Manager. Bounce Manager Installation Guide To start the installation of Bounce Manager, run BounceManagerSetup. The following Bounce Manager Setup wizard will start, Click Next to continue the installation. It is recommended you use the default web site, leave as is and click Next. Click Next to confirm your installation
To complete the installation click Close Your installation of Bounce Manager is complete. The Bounce Manager web pages have now been installed and can be accessed via the following URL http://localhost To load the Policy and Template Architect configuration files, you will need to run Bounce Manager, and select configuration update, as shown below Click the browse button under Policy Config and locate your saved Policy Architect configuration file with extension .zpa, you need to do the same for the Template Architect collection file with extension .zta. Finally click the Load Configuration button. You will receive the following status message as shown below. Congratulations you have successfully loaded your Policy and Template Architect files which will be used with Bounce Processor and Bounce Communicate. Bounce Processor will now perform the function of acquiring the data against the schedule of operations as defined in Policy Architect, then performs any required transformations and uses the acquired and transformed data to render a product image. For each product in the acquired data set a unique image will be generated using the specified template style designed in Template Architect.
Custom Images Custom images are a set of system images, which are updated to the EPOP when specific operations are performed. The following system images Configured - Image used to when the EPOP is initially added to the system No Image Available – Image used when the EPOP has no other image Unassigned – Image used when the EPOP is unassigned Bounce Manager allows you to change the system images, this is useful if you require to add you own personalised images. Assignment Manager Assignment Manager, allows you to add/assign and delete your EPOPs to products To add/assign EPOPs enter your EPOP serial number and click the Enter button, then follow by entering you Product ID and click Enter. To delete EPOP from the system, enter your EPOP number and click Enter and type ‘DELETE’ (must be entered in uppercase) and click Enter, this will now delete the EPOP from you system
Alerts The Alerts page shows you useful system information, such as database size, communicator attached, and any system errors. Alerts are classified as informational, warning and critical. Report manager Report manager gives you a system summary overview and also has a set for generated reports detailing when Products and EPOPs have been updated, it also includes failed transmission reports. Failure Report The shows you the EPOPs which failed last product update
Product Information A report generated giving you details of products currently on your system Product History A detailed history report of products activity on your system EPOP History A detailed history report of EPOP activity on your system
Weekly Updates A weekly report generated for number of updates, sorted by product. Processor Audit Processor report which shows you the activity preformed by Bounce Processor of the schedule created in Policy Architect Update Queue Shows what is currently queued in Bounce Communicate

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