When the application starts the main dialog is the 1DroidController, as seen here in Figure 1




Figure 1. 1Droid Controller Main Window explained.



The Controller comprises of two button panels, left and right and a list of displays.


In the list of displays one or more can be selected at a time. The selected display(s) will be the target of actions started by other components of the 1Droid Controller. Therefore any Action has to be preceded by a selection of display(f) in this list.


The Display List - Is the core of the Controller. It display information about one display on every line. The information displayed comprises.

  • Name - the name of the display. A value configurable using the Configurator.
  • IPAddress value that the display gets from whatever DHCP server exists in the nearby network. and is read only.
  • Availability shows an icon that represents the Availability of the display for actions.

Available

Not Available

 

 

  • Upload status shows an icon stating if the display is in the process of being uploaded to or not

Idle

Uploading - or other communication

 

  • Status displays real life status coming from the display - related to its status.
  • Message displays messages coming from the display in real time - related to an Action.



Right panel buttons - Actions


Will refresh the information in the list of display by sending a message to all display to re-send their info.

Will remove from the list the displays that don't register as available. If a display later becomes available it will automatically be added back to the list.  However - displays are never automatically removed, not even at an end of a session. The Controller saves their info and will display it at the next start.

Will Send a time synchronization to each display. The message contains the current time of the sender PC, Displays will react by adjusting their internal time.



Left panel buttons - Plugins


Will start and insert the Configurator plug-in.
Will start and insert the Monitor plug-in.
Will start and insert  the Scheduler (OPTIONAL) plug-in.
Will start and insert  the BBCaster (OPTIONAL) plug-in.
Will start the and insert  Installer (OPTIONAL) plug-in.
Designer specific plugin and upload the current design

The Designer button is special as it starts and plugs in the Designer but before doing that the user needs to select the mode the designer starts in.

Will start uploading the design file listed on the text box on its right.



The modes that the Designer can start in are:



New - will display the new file selection dialog before starting the Designer. Designer will start a new design with the parameters selected by the user using the new Design dialog box:


 

Figure 3. 1Droid New Design selection dialog.


Using this dialog on can preselect the precise size of their canvas (the pixel size of the target display), by using a common size or just enter the precise size of your display.  The designer will create a canvas of that size, and the design that you create will look just like the one that will run on the target display.

The user can select the revision the design will use. One can select ANY revision to create associated designs but be aware that your android box will not load nor run designs that are of a revision higher that its own. It will however load and run ANY design of revision lower or equal to its own.

The dialog will remember the last choices and will automatically present them next time it is used.


Open - will display the 1Droid Open windows file open. This is a special kind of dialog that automatically opens in the default directory of the 1Droid designs (or the last used Directory). Selecting a design file will automatically show a preview on the right side so as to make your life easier. You don't need to open the file to see the design, just have a sneak peek and decide. Information about the size, revision and the design version is also presented.

   Check the revision number to make sure it is lower or equal to the one your android box is licensed for.



Figure 4. 1Droid Open existing design custom dialog box.



Import - will open the normal windows dialog box allowing the user to import a design which was packaged as a zip file. Another dialog will pop-up and ask for a place where the zip file will broken into its components. Then the design file will be automatically unzipped and the design presented to the user in designer.  All references to the files in the design will be changed to reflect the new location of file components.


Recent - keeps a list of latest opened files in the order latest to first.  Use it as a shortcut to the latest used files. When there are too many files in the list just clear it and it will be rebuilt.