New Features

Ability to Skip Slides

If you want your slide show to respect skipped slides, just add that key to your App Config

Schedule by Days of the Week 

As an alternative to our time-of-day scheduling feature, we now have the ability to make a weekly schedule. Simple make a google sheet with a day column and a urls column. Then indicate which days and which slide shows should appear on those days. Here is an example:

Date and Time Update on Active Slide

You might have noticed that our date and time feature was static on any given slide. Now they are active and will continue to update while the slide is displayed. 

Recent Updates

Time/Date Feature

Simple Signage now has a time/date feature available where you can display the current date, time, or both over whatever static content (not videos) you are displaying.

With the time/date feature, we wanted to put control in your hands as much as possible. You can control the size, position, format, and colors.

To setup you time/date feature you will need to add a number of tags to your app config. It should be noted that currently, this feature is only available to customers using a MDM.

 <key>showDateTime</key>

 <string>true</string>

 <key>dateTimeFormat</key>

 <string>H:mm</string>

 <key>dateTimeLocation</key>

 <string>bottomRight</string>

 <key>dateTimeSize</key>

 <string>400</string>

 <key>dateTimeColor</key>

 <string>white</string>

 <key>dateTimeBackgroundColor</key>

 <string>black</string>

 <key>dateTimeBackgroundOpacity</key>

 <string>0.7</string>

Note here that each key is already provided with a working value, but we will go through key by key and list the possible values or range of values.

For `<key>showDateTime</key>`  there are only two values `true` and `false`. If this is not set or set with some other value, Simple Signage will default to false and not display a time/date.

For `<key>dateTimeFormat</key>` there is a range of values.  The drop down chart below lists all the options.

Format Options

| Formula | Description                        | Example

| ------- | ---------------------------------- | -------

| yyyy    | 4-digit year                       | 2022    

| yy      | 2-digit year                       | 22      

| MM      | 2-digit month                      | 01      

| M       | 1 or 2 digit month                 | 1       

| dd      | 2-digit day of the month        | 02      

| d       | 1 or 2 digit day of the month | 2 

| HH      | 2-digit hour (24-hour format) | 13

| H       | 1 or 2 digit hour (24-hour format) | 13

| hh      | 2-digit hour (12-hour format)      | 01 

| h       | 1 or 2 digit hour (12-hour format) | 1       

| mm      | 2-digit minute                     | 02   

| m       | 1 or 2 digit minute                | 2  

| ss      | 2-digit second                     | 02  

| s       | 1 or 2 digit second                | 2    

| a       | AM/PM for 12-hour format           | PM

Examples

| Format                 | Result                   

| ---------------------- | ------------------------ |

| dd.MM.yy               | 16.01.23                 

| MM/dd/yyyy             | 01/16/2023               

| MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm   | 01-16-2023 00:10         

| MMM d, h:mm a          | Jan 16, 0:10 AM          

| EEEE, MMM d, yyyy      | Monday, Jan 16, 2023     

| yyyy-MM-dd’T’HH:mm:ssZ | 2023-01-16T00:10:00-0600 

For `<key>dateTimeLocation</key>` we have a few options that can be combined. You can choose either the top or bottom of the screen and then you can select from the left, center, or right. Top or bottom are always first and should be lowercase and left, center, or right come second and should always be capitalized. There should be no space between the two words. Options are: topLeft, topCenter, topRight, bottomLeft, bottomCenter, or bottomRight

For `<key>dateTimeSize</key>` the range is within reason for your display. This will also be the width of the box for the whole time/date. The height will adjust automatically. If you only display a time at 800 pixels, it will be very large. On the other hand, if you display a date with a full month name and a time at 200, the whole thing will be tiny. We recommend figuring out first your format and then iterating the size until it is to your liking.

For `<key>dateTimeColor</key>` and `<key>dateTimeBackgroundColor</key>` the options are the same, but they are different things. The first value is the color of the text and the second is the background. Currently the color options are: red, black, green, blue, darkGray, magenta, brown, gray, orange, cyan, lightGray, purple, white, yellow

For `<key>dateTimeBackgroundOpacity</key>` you can select any value from 0 (all the way transparent) to 1 (all the way opaque) for the background of the time/date. You can think of these as percentages.

Scheduling

Setting Up a Schedule

1. Make a new Google Sheet file. Make sure it is shared with anyone with the link.

2. The Google Sheet is in very simple format. The first column should be the times at which you want the shows to switch. They should be formatted in 12 HR format with AM or PM as shown.

3. The second column should be the show(s) you want Simple Signage to load at that time.

The most recent time that has already past will be the loaded slideshow. If you start the Simple Signage at 6:00 AM and have a slideshow schedule for 5:00 AM, it will load that slideshow until another slideshow is schedule and then it will switch.

4. Make sure to add the url for you schedule to your app config using the scheduleURL key.\

<key>scheduleURL</key>

<string>*The URL to your Google Sheet schedule*</string>

Remember that the app config must be complete with all desired elements before the Simple Signage is installed.