'Cross Device Go-To-Sign' Power Tool

This power tool can be used in interactive signs, where it allows a user interaction at one screen to trigger a sign-change at one or more other screens on the same local network.


Please note:


The SignStix Player version on your SignStix device must be 3.3.2 or above to work with this power tool.
This power tool works best on M12S SignStix devices over Ethernet. It will work over WiFi, but the increased lag and reduced reliability of WiFi networks can affect the performance of this feature.
The power tool does not work on Philips 4050D system-on-chip panels.

Power Tool Example:

As an example, suppose there are 3 screens (driven by SignStix devices) in an entrance hall:


A touchscreen running an interactive sign.
Two secondary screens on either side playing animated content.

The idea is that whenever a 'Birthday' layer is touched on the touchscreen, the secondary screens will both start playing a Cake sign. This would be set up as follows:


In the interactive sign, add a text box and set the text to be 'Birthday'.
In the Layers panel, click the little square in the interactivity column (which is marked with a downward arrow) for that layer.
In the resulting dialog, click 'Add new event'.
For the 'Action', choose 'Other Device - Go To Sign in Sequence'.
Then choose the Sign that the other devices should jump to when the layer is touched i.e. the 'Cake' sign in this example.
The 'Other device location' field is a location filter that allows you to specify which other devices should be affected.
Let's assume that the two secondary devices are in the location '/Cardiff/LeftWall'.
If you type 'Cardiff' as the filter, then the two secondary devices will successfully match the filter, but other devices in Cardiff might also be affected. For example there could be some devices in the 'RightWall' location that we don't want to interfere with.
To avoid this, you could enter 'Cardiff/LeftWall' as the location filter.
7. Deploy the interactive sign to the touchscreen device.

For the secondary devices:


1. Prepare a sequence that includes the default animated content as the first sign, and 'Cake' as the second sign.
For the first sign, set the 'Repeat' condition to 'Indefinitely', so that it keeps repeating without moving onto the Cake sign.
For the Cake sign, set the 'Repeat' condition to 'Don't Loop', so that after the Cake has been triggered by the touchscreen device, the sequence will loop round to the default content again.
2. In the device settings in Director, ensure that both of the secondary devices have the '3rd-party updates' option enabled.
Without this, the secondary devices ignore any messages from the touchscreen device.
3. Deploy the sequence to both the secondary devices.
4. Once all the content has appeared, allow up to 60 seconds for the touchscreen device to discover the other devices on the local network.
5. Now try pressing the 'Birthday' layer on the touchscreen.
The secondary screens should both change automatically to show the Cake sign.

Reliance on Network:


Note that this power tool depends on the local network being up and having a low latency. Otherwise, messages sent between devices may be received late, causing content on secondary devices to change later than expected (or not at all).


Remembering IP Addresses:


When a SignStix device A discovers another device B on the same local network, device A will remember device B's IP addresses for as long as A's current content is playing.

So in the relatively unusual event that device B's IP address changes (e.g. because B is being reconfigured from WiFi to Ethernet), device A will no longer be able to access it, and this power tool will cease to work properly. This is because the messages sent by device A will be going to the wrong (old) IP address.

To rectify this, you can force device A to search the network again e.g. by visiting device A's page in Director and remotely rebooting the device.