Play The Web 2010SE. Copyright , Philippe Vaugouin, Last update 03/04/2010. Play The Web documentation 1 / 158

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1 Play The Web 2010SE Digital signage solution. Display content on a digital signage system PowerPoint slideshows Video files Flash animations Web pages and RSS feeds Update the content through the network All features included in Play The Web 2010SE Copyright , Philippe Vaugouin, Last update 03/04/2010 Play The Web documentation 1 / 158

2 Table of Contents Table of Contents...2 Play The Web tutorials...7 Deployment on a corporate network...7 Remove the splash window...7 Setting page list...7 Grab pages...7 Use a PowerPoint slide show on a digital signage system...7 Use a Adobe Flash file on a digital signage system...7 Display a RSS feed on a digital signage system...7 Display a video on a digital signage system...7 Easy configuration of a news source with the Page Wizard...7 Customize tool bars...7 Hide buttons on tool bars...8 Play The Web documentation...9 New features in Play The Web 2010SE...9 Play The Web 2010SE...9 Software installation...9 Screen saver tool bar...9 Navigation tool bar...9 Configuration dialog box...9 File menu...9 Edit menu...9 Favorites menu...9 Channels menu...9 Tab menu...9 Help menu...10 General options...10 Layout options...10 Page list...10 Properties dialog box...10 Include list...10 Include properties...10 Exclude list...10 Exclude properties...10 Default options...10 Screen saver tool bar dialog...11 Screen saver tool bar properties...11 Navigation tool bar dialog...11 Navigation tool bar properties...11 Reboot dialog...11 Update options...11 Network options...11 Help options...11 About Play The Web...11 Custom automated installation...11 Deployment on a corporate network...12 Store settings on a server for remote updates...12 Play The Web documentation 2 / 158

3 Use a custom configuration...12 Software deployment to every desktop...12 Deploying configuration...13 Using a centralized configuration...14 Updating a centralized configuration...14 Mime type for a.wss configuration file...14 Remove the splash window...16 Why is there a splash window?...16 Register software...16 Enter registration information...16 Choose your home page...17 Setting page list...19 Grab pages...22 Display a PowerPoint slide show on a digital signage system...24 Prepare a.pps file with PowerPoint...24 Use a.pps file in Play The Web...25 Update the.pps file through the network...26 Try it!...26 Display.PPS files from a given directory...27 Display.PPS files downloaded from a web folder...28 PowerPoint or PowerPoint viewer?...31 Hide main window...32 Display an Adobe Flash file on a digital signage system...33 Use a.swf file in Play The Web...33 Security issue...34 Try it!...35 Display.SWF files from a given directory...35 Display Flash animations downloaded from a web folder...36 Display a RSS feed on a digital signage system...40 Configure a RSS feed in Play The Web...41 Try it!...41 Display a video on a digital signage system...42 Install a video player...42 Use a video file in Play The Web...43 Update the video file through the network...44 Try it!...44 Display video files from a given directory...44 Display movie files downloaded from a web folder...45 Easy configuration of a news source with the Page Wizard...49 Customize tool bars...51 A new skin for Play The Web...51 Download a sample skin...51 How does it works?...51 Valid icon types...52 Another skin for Play The Web...52 Download that skin...53 Other skins...53 Hide buttons on tool bars...54 Hide buttons...54 Hide tool bars...56 Play The Web documentation 3 / 158

4 Summon Configuration dialog box from Windows...56 Closing Play The Web...56 New features in Play The Web Fixed issues...58 Enhanced configuration...58 New features in Play The Web 2008SE...59 Auto Scroll feature now included for web pages...59 Enhanced reboot feature...59 Location of.wss Configuration files...59 Configuration dialog updated...59 Fixed issues...59 New features in Play The Web Better support for Microsoft Office and Windows Vista...60 Properties dialog...60 Tool bars...60 Enhancements...60 Fixed issues...61 New features in Play The Web Properties dialog...62 Enhancements...62 Fixed issues...62 New features in Play The Web Enhancements...63 Fixed issues...63 New features in Play The Web Fixed issues...64 New features in Play The Web Fixed issues...65 New features in Play The Web PowerPoint...66 Miscellaneous...66 New features in Play The Web Miscellaneous...67 Fixed issues...67 New features in Play The Web Display RSS feed on a digital signage system...68 Page properties dialog enhanced...68 New include/exclude rules...68 Improved tool bars...68 Miscellaneous...69 Fixed issues...69 Play The Web 2010SE...70 Display content on a digital signage system...70 How does it works?...71 Screen saver...71 Full screen web browser...71 Play The Web Configuration...72 System Requirements...72 Software installation...74 Screen saver tool bar...75 Play The Web documentation 4 / 158

5 Navigation tool bar...76 Configuration dialog box...77 Configuration password...77 Configuration tabs...78 Configuration menus...78 File menu...82 Edit menu...86 Favorites menu...88 Channels menu...89 Tab menu...90 Help menu...91 General options...92 Home page...92 Screen saver...93 Web pages auto scroll...94 Layout options...96 Main window properties...96 Multiple monitor support...97 Manage new windows...98 Other settings...99 Page list Properties dialog box Display a HTML page Display a PowerPoint file Display a video file Set a display time Advanced page types List of pages in a range (value range) List of pages (value list) List of pages from a start URL (Value file) List of files from a start URL (Value file) List of pages in a RSS feed Internet Explorer favorites (standard) Main window invisible Update delay Include list Allowed addresses in navigation mode Include properties Exclude list Restricted addresses in navigation mode Restricted addresses in screensaver mode Exclude properties Default options Launch options for Play The Web Parameters scope Screen saver tool bar dialog Screen saver tool bar properties Navigation tool bar dialog Navigation tool bar properties Reboot dialog Play The Web documentation 5 / 158

6 Reboot options Auto login options Update options Network options Help options About Play The Web Register Play The Web Configuration password Custom automated installation Create directory Copy files Update Windows registry Playweb.wss parameters Create shorcuts Upgrade Play The Web Play The Web documentation 6 / 158

7 Play The Web tutorials Deployment on a corporate network Play The Web can use a centralized configuration file for a more efficient deployment. With such a file, every digital signage system will be remotely updated in your organization. Remove the splash window This page explains how to remove the splash window displayed when evaluating Play The Web. Setting page list This tutorial page shows how to type the web pages addresses you decide to display on a digital signage system. Grab pages In this tutorial page, we will select pages of a web site to display on our digital signage system, simply by navigating to these pages in navigation mode. Use a PowerPoint slide show on a digital signage system This page explains how you can retrieve a PowerPoint slide show from the web and use it on a digital signage system. Use a Adobe Flash file on a digital signage system Display Adobe Flash files on a digital signage system and remote update.swf files through the web. Display a RSS feed on a digital signage system Automatically display content referred by a RSS feed in screen save mode. Display a video on a digital signage system Retrieve videos from the network and display them on a digital signage system. Easy configuration of a news source with the Page Wizard Provide the URL of a news source and use the Page Wizard for an automatic configuration of the Page properties. Customize tool bars Play The Web documentation 7 / 158

8 Define and use a new skin for Play The Web. Hide buttons on tool bars Read this page to configure tool bars and set which buttons are available to users. Play The Web documentation 8 / 158

9 Play The Web documentation New features in Play The Web 2010SE This section lists new features added in Play The Web 2010SE. Play The Web 2010SE Play The Web product description. Software installation Follow operations listed in this page to install Play The Web. Screen saver tool bar The screensaver floating tool bar allows you to control the automated presentation that is shown in screensaver mode. Navigation tool bar The navigation floating tool bar contains standard functions for web browsing. This tool bar is available in full screen web browser mode. Configuration dialog box This dialog box displays every option you can set in Play The Web. File menu File menu contains items allowing you to create a new presentation for Play The Web, to open an existing presentation or to save the current one. Edit menu Edit menu contains options to edit and display the page list of the current presentation. Favorites menu Favorites menu contains options to add and edit internet favorites. Channels menu Channels menu contains several samples using famous internet web sites. Tab menu Play The Web documentation 9 / 158

10 Tab menu contains shortcuts to every tab in the Configuration dialog box. Help menu Help menu contains links to the documentation you are reading and to Play The Web web site. General options The General tab in the Play The Web Configuration dialog box is used to define global parameters used in screensaver and full screen mode. Layout options The layout tab is useful to define global properties of the main window or global behavior of the screensaver. Page list This part of the dialog box allows definition of the page list to display in screensaver mode. Properties dialog box Define properties of a page included in the page list with this dialog box. Include list The Include tab in the Configuration dialog box is used to restrict navigation in full screen web browser mode. The include list holds allowed URL. Include properties Define properties of an allowed address with this dialog box. Exclude list The Exclude tab in the Configuration dialog box is used to restrict navigation in full screen web browser mode. The exclude list holds restricted URL. Exclude properties Define properties of a restricted address with this dialog box. Default options Define default file for Web Screen Saver or current parameters scope: current user or all users (local machine). Play The Web documentation 10 / 158

11 Screen saver tool bar dialog This tab is useful if you want to edit buttons on screensaver tool bar. Screen saver tool bar properties Define properties of a button on screensaver tool bar. Navigation tool bar dialog Use this tab to edit buttons on navigation tool bar. Navigation tool bar properties Define properties of a button on navigation tool bar. Reboot dialog Use this tab if you need to reboot the computer on which Play The Web is running. Update options If you manage a large quantity of computers, you would want to prevent all computers always requesting pages from HTTP server. Doing this, you will minimize the network traffic. Network options Define network and proxy settings. Help options Define a help page for navigation. About Play The Web Use this tab to know the exact version of Play The Web and the registration status of the current copy. Custom automated installation This page explains how to produce a custom automated installation for a quick and easy deployment on several computers. Play The Web documentation 11 / 158

12 Deployment on a corporate network Play The Web can use a centralized configuration file for a more efficient deployment. With such a file, every digital signage system will be updated in your organization. Store settings on a server for remote updates Most of the Play The Web settings are stored in a.wss file. You can store this.wss file on a HTTP server, the same web server that is hosting web pages from your intranet or corporate web site. Doing that, your configuration file is centralized and therefore can be retrieved and updated using the network. This is an update mechanism that will push the current.wss file to every digital signage system. This update is very light because a common.wss configuration file weighs only a few kilo-bytes (KB). Use a custom configuration Create a custom configuration file using Play The Web. Just set any option you need and save them in a.wss file. Here is the list of the settings most commonly set by a.wss configuration file: List of pages from your intranet or corporate web site, List of PowerPoint slideshows, movie files or Flash presentations to display, Home page address, Display time for each page, Tool bars content. Store this.wss file on your web server, in a directory that can be retrieved using HTTP. For instance, if you are using Internet Information Server: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\path\file.wss If you use Apache web server, you should rather store the.wss file at this path: C:\Program Files\apache\htdocs\path\file.wss Software deployment to every desktop Play The Web documentation 12 / 158

13 Once the.wss file is stored on the server, you need to deploy files and Windows registry settings to each client. Here are the files that should be copied to every digital signage system to deploy Play The Web software: File playweb.exe msvbvm50.dll comdlg32.ocx Destination Program directory System or System32 directory System or System32 directory Use your corporate deployment tool to deliver files and Registry settings to every digital signage system. Click here to know more about installation automation. Deploying configuration Here are the main settings that should be loaded into the Windows registry on each client computer: "DefaultFile" with HTTP address of the.wss file, for instance: "Password" with encrypted value if you want to restrict access to the Configuration dialog box. Click here to know more. "UserName", "CompanyName" and "SerialNumber" for registration information. Click here to know more. Click here to get more information about Windows registry settings. You can also deploy manually on every digital signage system by using the "File Open from the web..." command. Type the.wss URL and click OK. For instance: Play The Web documentation 13 / 158

14 Using this command in Play The Web, you will need more time to deploy on every digital signage system. Using a centralized configuration This section describes how Play The Web uses a centralized configuration file. When Play The Web is launched, the address of the.wss file is read from the "DefaultFile" registry value. This.WSS file is downloaded through the network and stored in the Play The Web cache directory ("CachePath" registry setting). Then, the.wss configuration file is opened and executed. At the end of the page loop, the.wss file is refreshed if a newer version is found on the server. If your configuration file points to.pps or.swf files, these files are downloaded and stored in the cache path the same way the.wss is cached. So, a remote update mechanism is also at work for these file types. Click to know more about PowerPoint or Flash digital signage systems. Updating a centralized configuration To update the.wss configuration file, copy it locally to a computer and open it using Play The Web. You can therefore update the configuration file and save these updates locally. When the new configuration file satisfies you, you can publish it by copying it again to your web server. This new file will replace the old configuration file. This updated file will now been automatically retrieved by every client and used instead of the old file. Mime type for a.wss configuration file When storing a.wss configuration file on a web server, you should add a new mime type for.wss files on the HTTP server. Doing this will ensure that a user who clicks on a.wss file in a web page will get that file opened by Play The Web. Mime type for.wss configuration file is: application/webss4 Play The Web documentation 14 / 158

15 If you are using Apache web server, you can add this mime type with the following command line included in the httpd.conf file or in the.htaccess file in the directory storing the.wss file on the server: AddType application/webss4.wss On a Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), you can edit properties of the web server and add a new mime type for.wss files. Play The Web documentation 15 / 158

16 Remove the splash window Why is there a splash window? When evaluating Play The Web, a splash window advertising for this software is displayed in these circumstances: When the software is launched, At the end of the page loop. Also, after 30 days, a reminder about registration is displayed on the top of each page. These features are the only differences between the evaluation and the registered version. So every Play The Web feature is included for evaluation. Register software To remove the splash window, you need to register Play The Web. Register Play The Web online for $19.95 USD only. When the Play The Web registration process is completed, you will receive the registration information by . Enter registration information Here is the procedure to type registration information into Play The Web: Launch Play The Web, Open the Configuration dialog box, Switch to the About tab, Click on the Register button, In the Register dialog box, type registration info EXACTLY as you received it by . The best way to ensure that the info is correct is to copy/paste from your into the dialog box, Play The Web documentation 16 / 158

17 The label "Full version" should be displayed below registration info. Click OK. Play The Web is now registered. Choose your home page Now you need to define your own home page. This page can be one of these file types: A PowerPoint.PPS file, A movie file, A Flash.SWF file, Any web page that can be displayed by Internet Explorer. You need to perform the following operations to set your home page: Launch Play The Web, Open the Configuration dialog box, Switch to the General tab, Type the address of your home page, Play The Web documentation 17 / 158

18 Now, you just need to check the "Use home page as splash window" option. This check box is only available in the registered version of Play The Web. Once it is checked, the advertising splash screen is replaced by your home page. Play The Web documentation 18 / 158

19 Setting page list This tutorial page shows how to type the web pages addresses you decide to display on our digital signage system. First, run Play The Web. Open the Configuration dialog box using this button on the tool bar: Click on the Pages tab, so that the Page list will be displayed in the Configuration dialog: Then, you can either edit this list by inserting an URL with the Insert button: Or you can include as many addresses as you want in a single operation by calling the Page list option of the Edit menu: Play The Web documentation 19 / 158

20 The Edit page list dialog box is then displayed: Delete existing addresses and insert pages URL you want to display on the digital signage system. For instance, to display the main pages of the BBC News web site ( include these lines: Then, click the OK button to close the dialog box. Play The Web documentation 20 / 158

21 If you want to set this presentation as the default file for Play The Web, switch to the Default tab and click the "Set this presentation as default file" check box: If this check box is grayed, it means that the actual presentation is already the default Play The Web file. Close the Configuration dialog box by clicking on the OK button: Now, Windows will display the web pages you listed while in screensaver mode. Play The Web documentation 21 / 158

22 Grab pages In this tutorial page, we will select the main pages of the BBC News web site ( to display on our digital signage solution, simply by navigating to these pages in navigation mode. First, launch Play The Web and switch to the navigation mode: The navigation tool bar is then displayed: Type the address of the first page to be shown in the digital signage system: When the page is displayed, you can then capture its address by hitting the "Grab page" button: The page is included in the page list. You can then navigate in the BBC News web site and hit the "Grab page" button for every page you want to include on the digital signage system. To verify your selection, open the Configuration dialog box to view the page list. Hit the Configuration button on the tool bar: Switch to the Pages tab: Play The Web documentation 22 / 158

23 If the page list contains any page you don't want, just click the Delete button and close the Configuration dialog box using the OK button. Play The Web documentation 23 / 158

24 Display a PowerPoint slide show on a digital signage system The PowerPoint slide show format is useful because you can set timing for each individual slide. Doing this, the slide show will run by itself with automatic timings. Also, PowerPoint is a powerful tool that can be used by any person in your organization. So, with PowerPoint, information is easy to update and publish. With Play The Web, you can retrieve a PowerPoint slide show from a file or web server and use it on a digital signage system. When this file is updated on the server, Play The Web automatically retrieves the newer version and displays it. To display a PowerPoint presentation, you need either to install Microsoft PowerPoint or Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer on the computer. Prepare a.pps file with PowerPoint Take a PowerPoint file and prepare the file by recording display time for every slide. Select "Rehearse Timings" from the "Slide show" menu in PowerPoint and select a delay for each slide. Set slide show options in "Slide show" menu, "Set up show" item: Do not check the "Browsed at a kiosk (full screen)" check box. Uncheck the "Loop continuously until 'Esc'" option. Click OK to validate. Also, to make PowerPoint 2003 automatically quit when the last slide has been displayed, select the "Options" item in the "Tools" menu. In the "View" tab, "Slide Show" pane, uncheck the "End with black slide" option to quit PowerPoint after the last slide of each slide show. Click OK. With PowerPoint 2007, you should perform the following operations to ensure that the software automatically quit when the last slide has been displayed: Click on the "Office button" and on the "PowerPoint Options at the bottom of the Play The Web documentation 24 / 158

25 dialog box. Then, click on the "Advanced" option in the left pane. Scroll the right pane and uncheck the "End with black slide" option. Click OK. Save the slide show as a.pps file and store it on a web server that can be reached by every user. Use a.pps file in Play The Web Then, update your Play The Web settings:in the Configuration dialog box, switch to the Pages tab. Open the Properties dialog box and point to the PowerPoint file you just stored on a web server. For instance: Check the "Create a local copy of this page or file" option. The path and file name of the copy are then displayed in the dialog box. Make sure the "Run as a separate process" option is checked. With this option, Play The Web will launch PowerPoint in a slide show mode on the retrieved file. Play The Web documentation 25 / 158

26 Because the file to display is a PowerPoint file (.PPS), Play The Web suggests the following command line to display it in show mode (/s parameter): "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\POWERPNT.EXE" /s "%1" You can use this default command line, or use another one. For instance, if the PowerPoint Viewer in installed in the same folder than PowerPoint, type the following command line: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\PPTVIEW.EXE" "%1" Check the "Display until separate process ends" check box. With this option checked, the software will wait for the end of the separate process before displaying the next page or file in the page loop. Set a maximal display time for the PowerPoint slide show. What you type here should be greater or equal than the sum of all slides timings. The PowerPoint slide show will be displayed until its end or for the maximum delay specified. When the slide show ends, Play The Web will move to the next page or file in the page list. If this is the single.pps file in the presentation, Play The Web will request a newer version of the.pps file on the web server, if there is any. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box, and OK again to close the Configuration dialog box. When Play The Web will be launched, the page will be downloaded and stored locally in the Windows temporary path. Update the.pps file through the network When the.pps file is updated on the server, the software automatically retrieves the newer version and always displays up-to-date information. This feature is available even if you create a local copy of the.pps file. Therefore, you get a digital signage system with automatic content update from a central repository. Try it! Click here to run a sample. Enter the address of a PowerPoint slideshow (.pps file) located on the web or on a file server: Play The Web documentation 26 / 158

27 Display this file on our digital signage solution Try Play The Web.pps demo file ( Display.PPS files from a given directory You can use Play The Web to display all.pps files from a given directory: in the Configuration dialog box, select the Pages tab. Click on the "Insert" button to open the "Properties" dialog box. In the "Properties" dialog box, type the path of the directory containing PowerPoint files followed by a "*.pps" file mask. For instance: c:\pps\*.pps Make sure the "Run as a separate process" option is checked. Doing this, Play The Web will launch Microsoft PowerPoint instead of displaying the slide show embedded in Internet Explorer which is not working very well. Also, check the "Display until separate process ends" option to ensure Microsoft PowerPoint automatically quits at the end of each slide show. Play The Web documentation 27 / 158

28 If you want to display files stored in sub-directories, check the "Include subdirectories" check box. Display.PPS files downloaded from a web folder Play The Web is able to download PowerPoint.pps files from a web site and display these files using Microsoft PowerPoint or PowerPoint viewer. For instance, if you have an undefined count of.pps files located on a web server, like the following folder: You can include the following properties in the page loop of Play The Web: Play The Web documentation 28 / 158

29 With these settings, Play The Web will automatically retrieve the list of files stored in the given folder of the web server. Each file will be downloaded and displayed using the default application based on file extension. Because the web folder contains links to.pps files but also links to sort the file list on different fields, it is necessary to exclude these links through the "Exclude" tab: Play The Web documentation 29 / 158

30 Also, because the content of the web folder may change and some files can appear or disappear, you need to set a minimum size for a file to be downloaded through the Update tab: Play The Web documentation 30 / 158

31 For instance, set a minimum size of characters minimum to avoid handling of a not found (error 404) error page as a valid.pps file. The value set here should be greater than the actual size of an error page. Click here to run this sample. PowerPoint or PowerPoint viewer? If you are using Microsoft Office 2000, you should know about a referenced bug in the Microsoft knowledge base: PPT2000: Screen saver is reset to None after you run.pps or Use /s switch (Q264926) Solutions: Install Microsoft Office 2000 Service Pack 2 or a newer version of Microsoft Office. Or use Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer (PPView97.exe) instead of Microsoft PowerPoint to display.pps files. This program is able to display PowerPoint 97, 2000, XP or 2003 files. Play The Web documentation 31 / 158

32 Hide main window If you get a black empty screen instead of the PowerPoint presentation, you should check the "Hide main window when a separate process is launched" option in the "Layout" tab. With this option enabled, the Play The Web main window becomes invisible when PowerPoint is launched. So, the PowerPoint window cannot be hidden by the software black main window. Play The Web documentation 32 / 158

33 Display an Adobe Flash file on a digital signage system With Play The Web, you can retrieve an Adobe Flash file from the web and use it on a digital signage system. When this file is updated on the server, Play The Web automatically retrieves the newer version and displays it. To display a Flash file, the Adobe Flash Player must be installed on the computer and enabled in Internet Explorer. To ensure that the Adobe Flash Player can be used in Internet Explorer and therefore in Play The Web, browse the following page with Internet Explorer: If necessary, go through the installation process so the Flash ActiveX component will be enabled in Internet Explorer. Use a.swf file in Play The Web In Play The Web, open the Configuration dialog and switch to the Pages tab. Open the Properties dialog box and type the address of a Adobe Flash file stored on a web server or a file server. For instance: Play The Web documentation 33 / 158

34 Set a display time for the Flash file. You should type here a delay in seconds long enough to play the whole presentation. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box, and OK again to close the Configuration dialog box. When Play The Web will be launched, the file will be retrieved and displayed. When the.swf file is updated on the server, the software automatically retrieves the newer version and always displays up-to-date information. Security issue Because of the Internet Explorer 7 default security settings, you need also to check the "Create a local copy of this page or file" in the Properties dialog if you are using this web browser. With IE7, you can also display a.swf file if it is included on an ordinary HTML page. With Internet Explorer 6, a.swf file can be directly displayed inside the web browser with no security restriction. Play The Web documentation 34 / 158

35 Try it! Click here to run a sample. Enter the address of a Adobe Flash file (.swf file) located on the web or on a file server: Display this file on our digital signage solution Try Play The Web.swf demo file ( Display.SWF files from a given directory You can use Play The Web to display all.swf files from a given directory: in the Configuration dialog box, select the Pages tab. Click on the "Insert" button to open the "Properties" dialog box. In the "Properties" dialog box, type the path of the directory containing Adobe Flash files followed by a "*.swf" file mask. For instance: c:\swf\*.swf Play The Web documentation 35 / 158

36 If you want to display files stored in sub-directories, check the "Include subdirectories" check box. Display Flash animations downloaded from a web folder Play The Web is able to download Flash animations from a web site and display these files. For instance, if you have an undefined count of.swf files located on a web server, like the following folder: You can include the following properties in the page loop of Play The Web: Play The Web documentation 36 / 158

37 With these settings, Play The Web will automatically retrieve the list of files stored in the given folder of the web server. Each file will be downloaded and displayed in the main window of Play The Web. Because the web folder contains links to.swf files but also links to sort the file list on different fields, it is necessary to exclude these links through the "Exclude" tab: Play The Web documentation 37 / 158

38 Also, because the content of the web folder may change and some files can appear or disappear, you need to set a minimum size for a file to be downloaded through the Update tab: Play The Web documentation 38 / 158

39 For instance, set a minimum size of characters minimum to avoid handling of a not found (error 404) error page as a valid.swf file. The value set here should be greater than the actual size of an error page. Click here to run this sample. Play The Web documentation 39 / 158

40 Display a RSS feed on a digital signage system Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing web content. With the new version of Play The Web, you can display pages referred by a RSS feed in the page loop of the digital signage solution. With such a source, you get a news digital signage system that always displays upto-date information. Play The Web documentation 40 / 158

41 Configure a RSS feed in Play The Web In Play The Web, open the Configuration dialog and switch to the Pages tab. Open the Properties dialog box and type the address of a RSS feed source. This can be any address of a.rss feed located on a web server or a file server. Depending on the news source, a RSS feed can either be a.rss,.rdf or.xml file. For instance: Select also the "List of pages in a RSS feed" value in the Type listbox. Set a display time for each page retrieved from the RSS feed. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box, and OK again to close the Configuration dialog box. When Play The Web will be launched, the RSS feed will be retrieved and displayed. Every time the RSS feed is updated on the server, the software automatically retrieves the newer version and always displays up-to-date information. However, there is a default minimum update delay of two hours for each RSS feed to avoid sending too many queries to a news source. This update delay can be updated in the Properties dialog box. Try it! Enter the address of a RSS feed (.rss,.rdf or.xml file) located on the web or on a file server: Display this file on our digital signage system Try Yahoo! news top stories ( Wired News RSS feed ( ZDNet RSS news feed ( Play The Web documentation 41 / 158

42 Display a video on a digital signage system We will now see how easy it is to display video files on a digital signage system using Play The Web. In fact, a video file can be displayed as any other file if a player software can be managed using a command line. Install a video player To display video files, use a video player like the Zoom Player, included in the Combined Community Codec Pack that you can download and use for free from the web. This player can read a lot of video file formats, including AVI, MPEG or WMV. A command line option is available to run this player full screen. Also, there is an option allowing to close the player when the video ends. For all these reasons, Zoom Player is a very convenient software to display video files on a digital signage system. Download and install Zoom Player, using the default path for this application. Open the "Options" dialog, switch to the Playback settings. In the "On Play Complete" option, select the "Close Player" value: Play The Web documentation 42 / 158

43 Click the "Apply" button and close the Options dialog. Quit Zoom Player. Use a video file in Play The Web Then, update your Play The Web settings:in the Configuration dialog box, switch to the Pages tab. Open the Properties dialog box and point to a video file that is stored on a web server or on a file server. For instance: Check the "Create a local copy of this page or file" option. The path and file name of the copy are then displayed in the dialog box. Make sure the "Run as a separate process" option is checked. With this option checked, Play The Web will launch a command line starting Zoom Player full screen with the given video file as a parameter: "C:\Program Files\Combined Community Codec Pack\Zoom Player\zplayer.exe" "%1" /F Play The Web documentation 43 / 158

44 Check the "Display until separate process ends" check box, so Play The Web will switch to the next file or page in the page loop as soon as the video player finished. Set also a maximal display time for the video. If the video does not end by itself, it will be killed by Play The Web after the delay typed here. You can also set a delay when the video finishes before starting the next video. Use the "Delay after separate process ends" entry box for that purpose. In the mean time, the transition HTML page is displayed. With the registered version of Play The Web, you can change the look of this transition page and use your home page. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box, and OK again to close the Configuration dialog box. When Play The Web will be launched, the video file will be downloaded and cached locally so it can be displayed with the video player. Update the video file through the network When the video file is updated on the server, the software automatically retrieves the newer version and always displays the latest available file. This feature is useful for an automatic update of several computers running Play The Web from with content files stored in a central repository. Try it! Enter the address of a video file (.avi, for instance) located on the web or on a file server: Display this file on our digital signage solution Try Play The Web.avi demo file ( Display several AVI files from a web server Display video files from a given directory You can use Play The Web to display all video files from a given directory: in the Configuration dialog box, select the Pages tab. Click on the "Insert" button to open the "Properties" dialog box. In the "Properties" dialog box, type the path of the directory containing video files followed by a "*.avi" file mask. For instance: c:\videos\*.avi Play The Web documentation 44 / 158

45 Make sure the "Run as a separate process" option is checked. Also, check the "Display until separate process ends" option to ensure Play The Web switches to the next file as soon as a given video file ends. If you want to display files stored in sub-directories, check the "Include subdirectories" check box. Display movie files downloaded from a web folder Play The Web is able to download movie files from a web site and display these files using a separate application like Zoom Player or another video player. For instance, if you have an undefined count of.avi files located on a web server, like the following folder: You can include the following properties in the page loop of Play The Web: Play The Web documentation 45 / 158

46 With these settings, Play The Web will automatically retrieve the list of files stored in the given folder of the web server. Each file will be downloaded and displayed using the default application based on file extension. Because the web folder contains links to.avi files but also links to sort the file list on different fields, it is necessary to exclude these links through the "Exclude" tab: Play The Web documentation 46 / 158

47 Also, because the content of the web folder may change and some files can appear or disappear, you need to set a minimum size for a file to be downloaded through the Update tab: Play The Web documentation 47 / 158

48 For instance, set a minimum size of characters minimum to avoid handling of a not found (error 404) error page as a valid.avi file. The value set here should be greater than the actual size of an error page. Click here to run this sample. Play The Web documentation 48 / 158

49 Easy configuration of a news source with the Page Wizard Play The Web now includes a easier way to display all linked pages from a start URL. This is especially interesting if this start URL is a news source. This new feature called the "Page Wizard" just need this start URL. From the content of this start URL, this wizard will set any parameters in the Page properties dialog box. From this time, you will get a constantly updated screensaver from the news source provided. Follow this procedure to use the "Page Wizard": Open the Configuration dialog box and switch to the "Pages" tab. Insert a new page with the "Insert" button. The Page properties is displayed. Select the "List of pages or files from a start URL (Value file)" page type in the drop-down listbox. Play The Web documentation 49 / 158

50 Type the address of the start URL. This web page, usually a site home page, will be read to find the page list. Click on the "Page Wizard" button to make Play The Web computes all other settings: For validation of these settings, you can click on the "Display page list" button to get the page list found at the given URL: Click OK to save settings for the current page. Click OK in the Configuration dialog box to save settings. The screensaver mode is launched. Relevant pages found in the start URL will be displayed in the screensaver page loop. When new content is published on the home page, Play The Web automatically retrieves its address and includes this new page in the automatic page loop. This page wizard works with many news providers through regular HTML pages or RSS feeds. Click here to know more about Page properties. Play The Web documentation 50 / 158

51 Customize tool bars A new skin for Play The Web Play The Web allows customization of tool bars. Customization means that you can define which icons you want to use for buttons of these tool bars. You can also set visibility of buttons and display help tips on mouse roll over. Download a sample skin Give a new look to Play The Web: Download a sample skin and save it to disk. Then, extract Gif files from skin.zip to c:\temp directory on your hard drive. You can use WinZip to extract files from a Zip archive. Here are the picture files for the standard button display: Here are the picture files for each button when the mouse rolls over it: Finally, here are the picture files when a button is depressed: Click here to view Play The Web with a new skin. How does it works? Open Configuration dialog box in Play The Web and go to Tool Run tab. Select "Play pages" and click the "Edit" button. The following Properties dialog box is displayed: Play The Web documentation 51 / 158

52 For each button, you can edit four values: Visible Checkbox value telling if button is visible or not. You can hide any button on a tool bar using this property. Picture file Path of icon file to use for the button. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif Roll over picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the mouse is over it. For instance: c:\temp\play-rollover.gif Down picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the button is pressed. For instance: c:\temp\play_.gif Help Tip Text displayed as help tip when the mouse rolls over the button. Valid icon types Valid file types that can be used are.gif,.jpg,.bmp and.ico files. Size of tool bars is handled by Play The Web depending on the size of every icon. We recommend to use icons with the same height for a better look. You can use icons with the same width, but it is not necessary. If an icon file is an invalid file or this file does not exist, the default icon will be displayed by Play The Web. Another skin for Play The Web Here is the new look for both tool bars: Play The Web documentation 52 / 158

53 Download that skin Download this sample skin and save it to disk. Then, extract Gif files from outline-orange.zip to c:\temp directory on your hard drive. You can use WinZip to extract files from a Zip archive. Click here to view Play The Web with a new skin. Other skins Download other skins from this folder. Play The Web documentation 53 / 158

54 Hide buttons on tool bars Hide buttons Once Play The Web is properly configured, you would not want users to modify the configuration. You can prevent users from invoking the Configuration dialog box by hiding the configuration button. To hide a button, open the Configuration dialog box, and select "Tool Run" tab. In the list, select the "Config" line and click on the "Edit" button. Play The Web documentation 54 / 158

55 In the Properties dialog box, uncheck the "Visible" check box and click OK. The "Config" button will be hidden in the Screen saver tool bar. Then, select the "Tool Nav" tab. Play The Web documentation 55 / 158

56 Again, select the "Config" line and click on the "Edit" button. Remove the "Visible" check box and click the "OK" button. Doing so, the "Config" button will be hidden in the Navigation tool bar. Validate the Configuration dialog box using the "OK" button. Once the "Config" button is hidden, you can't open the Configuration dialog box anymore from Play The Web. See below how to invoke the Configuration dialog box from Windows. Hide tool bars Using the technique described above, you can hide any other button in tool bars. You can even hide tool bars if each button is hidden. You can also easily hide Screen Saver tool bar using the "What to do if the mouse moves" option in the General tab. Set this value to "Enter navigation mode" or "Quit Play The Web" and the tool bar will be useless, so it will be always invisible. To hide the Navigation tool bar, you need to hide every button included on this tool bar. The following sample uses techniques described in previous paragraphs to hide any button. So, in screensaver mode, when you move the mouse, Play The Web switches to navigation mode waiting for navigation. Then you can go from pages to pages in a full screen web browser. If you don't use the mouse anymore, automatic presentation starts again when the screensaver delay has expired. Click here to view the demo. Of course, it is also easy to show again any button, unless you don't have access anymore to Configuration dialog box (see below). Summon Configuration dialog box from Windows When every button is hidden, you cannot display the Configuration dialog box using Play The Web.However, you can always display this Configuration dialog box using Windows Start menu. In Start menu, select "Programs" folder, "Play The Web" folder and "Play The Web Configuration" shortcut. The Configuration dialog box is then visible. Closing Play The Web When a button is hidden, the corresponding feature is also disabled. For instance, if you hide "Quit" button in both tool bars, you will not be allowed to quit Play The Web anymore using "Esc" key. Play The Web documentation 56 / 158

57 So, if you need to allow closing Play The Web with no button displayed, you have to hide the Screen Saver tool bar using the "What to do if the mouse moves" option in the General tab. Set this value to "Enter navigation mode" or "Quit Play The Web" and the tool bar will be invisible. Then, hide every button on the Navigation tool bar. With these settings, you will have no tool bar, but you will be able to quit Play The Web using "Esc" key. Play The Web documentation 57 / 158

58 New features in Play The Web 2009 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Fixed issues The maximum length for all.wss Configuration file settings is now characters vs (bug fix). The Update file from a downloaded file with "Replace" option was debugged. An Auto restart feature is now included in the Reboot tab. Enhanced configuration The Configuration dialog allows now longer time for the Default time setting in the General tab. Longer time is also available in the Display time setting, in the Properties dialog box. Also in the Properties dialog, you can set a longer Delay after separate process ends. The Maximum update time for each page located in the Update tab can have a longer value. Finally, the Maximum update delay for all pages also in the Update tab can have a longer value. Play The Web documentation 58 / 158

59 New features in Play The Web 2008SE This section lists new features added in Play The Web 2008SE. Auto Scroll feature now included for web pages Auto scroll can now be configured if you display web pages on your digital signage system. Delay can be defined before the auto scroll starts. Auto scroll can begin when the web page download is started or completed. Scroll speed can be set vertically and horizontally. Finally, you can define if the program should wait for the auto scroll to complete to the end of the page before moving to the next page or file. Enhanced reboot feature Reboot is now implemented with a new method that is also working when no Windows session in opened or when the current Windows session is locked. A new reboot scheme was included so the computer will reboot every 24 hours at a random time in a time interval. Another new reboot scheme was also included so the software will automatically close every 24 hours at a given time. Location of.wss Configuration files The location of.wss Configuration files can now be defined where this location was set to the "My Documents" folder before. A new option in the File Menu to select location of.wss Configuration files is created. The path that is defined in this dialob box applies to all.wss files, whether they are downloaded or created locally. Two new registry settings were added to implement this feature: WSSPathIsMyDocuments and WSSPath. Configuration dialog updated In the General tab, the following option buttons were replaced by drop-down listboxes: "What to do on mouse move?", "What to do on mouse click?" and "What to do on keyboard event?". In the Update Tab, the following values are now entered in seconds vs minutes: "Maximum update time for each page" and "Maximum update delay for all pages". Fixed issues Better handling of separate processes with some issues fixed. Play The Web documentation 59 / 158

60 New features in Play The Web 2008 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Better support for Microsoft Office and Windows Vista The Cache folder (CachePath registry value) that hosts downloaded pages or files is now hosted in the user profile (under "C:\Documents and Settings" or "C:\Users"). So write access is always granted for the current user. The CachePath registry value can include any environment variable (%USERPROFILE% for instance). The tool bar was hidden after some time when displaying a PowerPoint presentation under Windows Vista. This issue is solved. Large Explorer icons are now provided in the software for a better display under Windows Vista. Properties dialog The Properties dialog box is larger to display more information. Some Page Properties type were enhanced to allow retrieval of files from web servers to display them as separate processes: List of pages or files in a range (Value range), List of pages or files (Value list) and List of pages or files from a start URL (Value file). Tool bars New tool bar icons are provided with the software. Tool bar buttons can be displayed in different sizes (small or medium). A roll over picture can be configured for every button in the tool bars. This picture is used for the button when the mouse is over it. Pictures used in previous versions for the buttons are still available in a skin that can be downloaded from the web site. Enhancements Multiple monitors are now supported. You can display any web page or separate file (PowerPoint presentation) on the main or the second display. The Configuration dialog box can be resized to display more information. The SetupPath registry value is now displayed in the About tab of the Configuration dialog. A new update scheme is available: Update hourly. The following registry settings can be updated in the Configuration dialog box: CachePath and CachePathIsWindowsTemp. Buttons are also added to manage the cache folder. All registry settings are now created by the setup procedure even if they are empty. Also, when a setting is empty, it remains in the registry when it was deleted in previous versions. Play The Web documentation 60 / 158

61 A new setting CachedFileMinSize was added in the.wss Configuration file to avoid downloading incomplete files. This new setting is similar to the existing CachedFileMinSize registry setting. Options in the Layout tab were changed from radio buttons to drop-down list boxes. New options were added in the tool bars tab and in the.wss Configuration file: MouseRunAutoHide and MouseNavAutoHide. These options allow the mouse cursor to automatically hide when the mouse is not moved. The AutoReboot setting is now replaced by the RebootScheme option in the.wss Configuration file. This new setting allows more options, like a reboot after some idle time. The SmartFindSeparateProcess new setting was added in the Layout tab and the.wss Configuration file. This option allows identification of a separate process when the original process was closed but the file is still running. Click here to know more. The ForceReloadWhenInBrowserHistory setting was also added in the Layout tab and the.wss Configuration file, to ensure an HTML page already displayed by the software will be reloaded so its content is refreshed. Fixed issues Update of a local.wss file downloaded from a server now checks if the newer.wss file is valid. Bug solved when a.pps local file was used as a back window. Samples download was not working in Firefox. This issue related to the handling of the "application/webss4" content type is fixed in the new setup procedure. The tool bar buttons position was sometimes incorrect when saved to the.wss Configuration file. This issue is fixed now. Play The Web documentation 61 / 158

62 New features in Play The Web 1.50 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Properties dialog A new check box was added in the Page Properties dialog to wait the end of a separate process. Before this setting, it was only possible to display a separate process for a given time. This is the SeparateProcWaitEnd parameter located in the.wss Configuration file. A new text box was also added to set a delay when the separate process ends. This delay is useful to display a transition HTML page between files displayed through separate processes. The SeparateProcTimeAfter setting is also located in the.wss Configuration file. A browse button was added to select the separate process software using a standard Open dialog box. Finally, when a text box does contain a local path, the Open dialog displayed by a Browse button selects the correct folder and file. Then, a local path is easier to update. Click here to know more about these features that were specifically added for files displayed in a separate process like a PowerPoint presentation. Enhancements The RandomMode setting is now deprecated. It is now replaced by the PageOrder parameter. In the Configuration dialog box, the corresponding check box was replaced by a drop-down list box in the Layout tab. Click here to know more. The HomeAsBack setting was added. This parameter can be updated through a new check box located in the General tab of the Configuration dialog box. This feature is only available in the registered version of Play The Web. The BackOnSeparateProc setting was added in the [WebSS] section of the.wss Configuration file. This new parameter was added to send the main window to the back or not when a separate process is launched. The following registry settings were added: UserTempFolder, UserTempMask, BrowserLeft, BrowserTop, BrowserWidth, BrowserHeight, MainBackColor and TimerInterval. Click here to know more. Fixed issues Setup now works with Windows Vista. Play The Web documentation 62 / 158

63 New features in Play The Web 1.49 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Enhancements Temporary files are now deleted also in the Windows\Temp folder even if it is not the regular temp folder for the current user. Keyboard events are now catched in any window and not only in the Play The Web main window. This is useful to catch any key pressed when a PowerPoint presentation is displayed. The Network tab was updated with a new listbox replacing the old "Use home page" check box. With this listbox, it is now possible to select a location for the test URL (home page, Windows registry or.wss Configuration file). Fixed issues The Channels menu was restored in the Configuration dialog box. The following update schemes were not working properly: "Update every day" and "Update once when screensaver is launched". This problem is now solved. Play The Web documentation 63 / 158

64 New features in Play The Web 1.48 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Fixed issues The management of separate processes (like Microsoft PowerPoint) was improved, because memory leaks occurred after a lot of separate processes executions due to incomplete management of Windows handlers. Play The Web documentation 64 / 158

65 New features in Play The Web 1.47 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Fixed issues A.WSS configuration file updated through the network was growing with an empty line at each update. This problem is now solved. Any browsed web page is never read from the local Internet Explorer cache now. Play The Web documentation 65 / 158

66 New features in Play The Web 1.46 This section lists new features added in Play The Web PowerPoint Management of the PowerPoint Viewer was improved to display.pps and.ppt files through separate process. Download of PowerPoint files was invalid on Windows Unicode systems (Japanese, for instance). Download is correct now. Click here to know more. Miscellaneous In the "Update" tab of the Configuration dialog box, the "Update Scheme" setting has now a different default value: Always online (never check the connection to the network). This is to avoid Play The Web to switch to off-line mode and never refresh HTML pages or PowerPoint files due to false assertions about the network availability. Printing of the current page is now automatic to the default printer. The printer selection dialog box was therefore removed. Printing of the current page can also be triggered through the F10 key. An URL address included in the page list cannot be restricted in either the include or exclude page list. This is to avoid contradictory settings that were preventing the display of web pages included in the page loop. Cached files are not stored anymore in the Windows TEMP directory. These files are now stored in the "Cache" sub-directory located under the Play The Web installation directory. Play The Web documentation 66 / 158

67 New features in Play The Web 1.45 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Miscellaneous The "What to do on a mouse click" option allows now quit and End the Windows session. The "What to do on a mouse click" event is now managed on any content (HTML, Flash or PowerPoint). Fixed issues The password protecting the Configuration dialog was not saved anymore to the Windows registry. This problem is now solved. Display of error pages when a target page is restricted was improved, even for framed pages. Play The Web documentation 67 / 158

68 New features in Play The Web 1.44 This section lists new features added in Play The Web Display RSS feed on a digital signage system Display a RSS feed on a digital signage system: you just have to enter the address of the.rss feed and pages listed in the feed will be displayed in the automatic page loop. Because RSS feed queries can overwhelm a web site, you can also define a delay between two retrievals. You can also include several feeds in a single page loop to get updated news from several web sites. Click here to know more. Page properties dialog enhanced The look and feel of the Page properties dialog box have been improved. Added UpdateDays, UpdateHours and UpdateMinutes in each page properties to minimize download requests on a RSS feed. A wizard is now available in the Page Properties dialog box. This wizard allows easy configuration for a value file and a RSS feed. The Display page list feature was added in the Properties dialog box. This dialog displays URL that will be displayed under current settings. In the Configuration dialog box, a better page list display is now available, especially for generated pages. Click here to know more. New include/exclude rules New include/exclude possibilities based on masks including the star (*) character are now available. For instance, you can exclude Acrobat documents from the screensaver mode by setting a "*.pdf" exclude rule. Default exclude rules have been added for a new.wss file. Click here to know more. Improved tool bars New tool bar icons have been included for screen save and navigation mode: Play The Web documentation 68 / 158

69 Default display order of these buttons was also changed. Keyboard function keys can now be used for easier navigation. Function keys can also be displayed in help tips above buttons. Use of the keyboard can be disabled for compatibility with older versions. Click here to know more. Miscellaneous "What to do on a mouse click" option added in the "General" tab. With this new feature, Play The Web automatically switches to navigation mode when a click occurs in the screensaver mode. More help information inside the software: help tips for all GUI elements, links to HTML documentation pages in every dialog box, help messages popping up for settings that need specific rights in the Windows registry. New feature added: "Launch the software when Windows starts". A dedicated computer running Play The Web would launch it automatically when a Windows session is opened. The "Display page list" and "Edit page list" dialogs now keep their previous size when displayed. Fixed issues In older versions, the main window could be shrunken due to JavaScript code. Now, the browsing window is always the full size. Software now shuts down when Windows terminates. Esc key always closes Play The Web. "Value file" page type was not working correctly with a local file. This problem has been fixed. Switching from full screen to windowed mode was not working well, because the window was off-screen. This problem is now solved. Password encryption has been improved because in some cases, the actual password could not be decrypted. Play The Web documentation 69 / 158

70 Play The Web 2010SE Display content on a digital signage system Display web sites, RSS feeds, PowerPoint, video or Adobe Flash files on a digital signage system. Enhance your communication: display HTML pages from your internet or intranet site on a digital signage system and show it inside your company or in a trade show. You can also display all pages referred from any RSS news feed. These pages automatically populate the Play The Web page list. When the feed is updated, new pages will be automatically displayed through this page loop. Play The Web is also able to retrieve PowerPoint slide shows (.pps files), video or Flash files (.swf) from the web and display them as a digital signage system.when the files are updated on the server, the software retrieves the new version and always display up-to-date information on the digital signage system. Many features included: Screensaver mode with HTML pages, PowerPoint or Flash files, display pages from any RSS feed, fullscreen navigation mode, easy update of the page list, Page Wizard for easy configuration, filtering of URL for allowed/restricted URL, easy navigation through keyboard function keys, pop-ups removal, random display of the page list, display files from a given directory, customizable tool bars (hide any button and use alternate pictures for remaining buttons), configuration protected by password, offline mode supported, options to minimize network traffic, proxy settings, auto reboot and auto login options for use on a dedicated computer, full documentation in a PDF file and many more. Download Play The Web now for free evaluation. Follow installation instructions. Then, visit our samples section to discover true web sites presentations. Or type the URL of your favorite web site: Build your own presentation with your web pages. If you need more information about Play The Web, read the documentation section. Play The Web documentation 70 / 158

71 Register Play The Web online through a secure server. Play The Web costs only $19.95 USD. Ordering service is provided by Register Now!, a Digital River service. How does it works? Play The Web software displays web pages following two modes: Screen saver: Enter any number of web pages in a screensaver. All these pages get displayed automatically. Full screen web browser: You get all the power of Microsoft Internet Explorer without the waste of screen space (caption bar, menu, navigation buttons, status bar). Full screen display allows a surface increase of nearly 30% in a 800x600 resolution. Screen saver In that mode, Play The Web handles navigation between pages. Web pages are displayed in a presentation without any user intervention. Here is a more detailed description of Play The Web functionality: It is possible to display any page which is bookmarkable. It is possible to insert several dozens of pages in an automatic screensaver sequence. Auto loop at the end of the sequence so that the display goes on with the first page. You can specify a different display delay for each page. Optimized display of web pages with pre-loaded pictures for a better visual comfort. You can switch to full screen web browser at any moment to browse pages manually, and not on a scheduled basis. Floating tool bar is available so that you get access to all functionality to control screensaver: Full screen web browser In that mode, the user browses from page to page in a similar way as with any web browser. However, these new features are available: It is possible to restrict the user navigation with the use of filters. These filters can be used to limit access to predefined web sites. Also, these filters can be used to exclude some parts of web sites from navigation. Web page display depends on Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 or 6. So, Play The Web can display any extension handled by this web browser. Play The Web documentation 71 / 158

72 Buttons displayed on the navigation floating tool bar can be fully customized. So, you can disable any function that you don't need by switching the button to invisible. Also, you can change the picture displayed on buttons in order to really get the look that you want. You can switch to screensaver mode with just a mouse click. Of course, this screensaver can be launched automatically by Windows after a certain amount of time. Floating tool bar that contains essential functions of a web browser. These functions are similar to Microsoft Internet Explorer basic functions: Play The Web Configuration The Configuration dialog box allows you to define all the parameters for Play The Web, especially the list of URL to display: System Requirements Play The Web documentation 72 / 158

73 Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 98, Windows ME or Windows NT 4.0 Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 or 6 Pentium 2, Pentium 3, Pentium 4 or compatible systems 2 MB available hard drive space for program files LAN or modem connection to the internet is highly recommended Play The Web documentation 73 / 158

74 Software installation When the ptw2010se.exe installation program is downloaded, follow these instructions to install Play The Web: Under Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows NT, run the installation with an administrator account, so that the installation program can update the Windows registry and the system32 directory. Double click on the ptw2010se.exe file and follow installation instructions. When Play The Web is installed, visit the samples section for applications. Also, display the tutorial page. With this page, you will quickly configure Play The Web to display pages you choose. Display your favorite web site on a digital signage system. Type a web site URL here or the URL of a.pps,.swf or.rss file: Don't forget to Register Play The Web online through a secure server with a credit card. The registration costs $19.95 USD. With the registered version, the advertising page will not be shown anymore. Play The Web documentation 74 / 158

75 Screen saver tool bar The screensaver floating tool bar allows you to control the automated presentation that is shown in screensaver mode. It looks like a VCR key pad, so the understanding of every function is intuitive. Play pages That button restarts the automated presentation when it is stopped. If keyboard function keys are allowed, you can also use the F2 key. Pause Stops presentation. The current page remains on screen until you restarts the presentation with the play button, or after the screensaver delay. The F4 function key gives the same result. Previous page Displays the previous page in the presentation. The F6 can also be used. Next page Displays the next page in the presentation. The F7 can also be used. Configuration Displays the Play The Web Configuration dialog box. The F8 key also opens the Configuration dialog box. Browse Switch to navigation mode. You can also switch to the navigation mode using the F9 key. Help Displays Play The Web or a user defined help page. The F1 key also displays the help page. Stop Quits Play The Web. If password protection is enabled, you have to enter screensaver password to be able to quit. The Esc keyboard key also terminates the software. Play The Web documentation 75 / 158

76 Navigation tool bar The navigation floating tool bar contains standard functions for web browsing. This tool bar is available in full screen web browser mode. Back This function navigates to the previous page displayed in full screen web browser. Forward Reverse of back function. It is available when the back button has been used. Stop Stops loading the current page in the browser window. Reload Reloads the current page and update display in the browser window. You can also use the F5 key. Home Displays the presentation home page. That page is defined in the Configuration dialog box. Play pages Starts Play The Web in automated display mode. If keyboard function keys are allowed, you can also use the F2 key. Configuration Displays the Play The Web Configuration dialog box. The F8 key also opens the Configuration dialog box. Grab page Appends the address of the current page in the page list. Print page Prints the current page. If keyboard function keys are allowed, you can also use the F10 key. Help Displays Play The Web or user defined help page. The F1 key also displays the help page. Quit Quits Play The Web. If password protection is enabled, you have to enter the screensaver password to be able to quit. The Esc keyboard key also terminates the software. Below the navigation tool bar buttons is the URL entry box. You can type any valid URL here. Use the drop-down listbox to select a value in the recently typed addresses. Play The Web documentation 76 / 158

77 Configuration dialog box This dialog box displays every option you can set in Play The Web. Note that you can resize this dialog box to make it larger and therefore display more information. Drag any window border to change its size. Configuration password If a Configuration password has been set, the password entry dialog is displayed. It is then necessary to input the right password to gain access to the Configuration dialog box: Play The Web documentation 77 / 158

78 Be careful when you type the password because the password is case sensitive. The configuration password can be set in the "About" tab. Configuration tabs The Configuration dialog contains thirteen tabs: General Layout Pages Include Exclude Default Tool Run Tool Nav Reboot Update Network Help About Set home page, screensaver delay or action when the mouse moves. Defines main window layout, manages pop-up windows, hide scroll bar or set page list order. Sets Pages to display in screensaver mode. Defines allowed addresses for navigation. Defines restricted addresses for navigation. Defines default options. Edits buttons on the screensaver tool bar. Edits buttons on the navigation tool bar. Allows reboot of the computer at a given time. Defines page update policy, especially to save bandwidth. Defines network and proxy settings. Defines a help page for navigation. Registers the software or put a password to open the Configuration dialog box. Configuration menus The Configuration dialog box contains also a menu bar with six menus: File, Edit, Favorites, Channels, Tab and Help. File menu contains items allowing you to create a new presentation for Web Screen Saver, to open an existing presentation or to save the current one. Also, you can quit Web Screen Saver with that menu. Play The Web documentation 78 / 158

79 Edit menu contains options to edit and display the page list of the current presentation. Favorites menu contains options to add and edit internet favorites. Channels menu contains links to samples using popular web sites. Play The Web documentation 79 / 158

80 Tab menu contains shortcuts to each tab in the Configuration dialog box. Help menu contains links to the documentation you are reading and to the Web Screen Saver web site. Play The Web documentation 80 / 158

81 The main part of the dialog box contains thirteen tabs with options you can change. Below the tabs, you see two buttons commonly found on any dialog box: A click on this button saves all parameters to current.wss file (if it is not readonly) and to Windows registry (windows layout, reboot options or registration information). A click on this button cancels any update that you have done in this dialog box since it is displayed. Play The Web documentation 81 / 158

82 File menu File menu contains items allowing you to create a new presentation for Play The Web, to open an existing presentation or to save the current one. Also, you can quit Play The Web with that menu. Here are the available commands: New Creates a new Play The Web file. Open file... Opens an existing Play The Web file located on a local or network hard drive. Open from the Web... Opens an existing Play The Web file using HTTP. Save Saves to an existing Play The Web file on a local or network drive. Save As... Saves to a new Play The Web file on a local or network drive. Location of.wss Configuration files... Defines location for.wss Configuration files, whether they are created locally or downloaded. Recent files Contains up to ten files recently opened by the current user. Quit Quits Play The Web. A file created with the "File New" command is named "noname.wss" and is located in the "My Documents" directory. When you use the "File Open" command, the common Windows dialog box is displayed. You can then select the right directory and the file you want to open: Play The Web documentation 82 / 158

83 This dialog box is also used with the "File Save As..." command. In this case, you can select a different directory and/or a different file name for the file in use by Play The Web. The current file will be saved to a directory/file name given in this dialog box. The "File Save" command stores all properties included in the Configuration dialog box to the current WSS file.most of the properties are stored in the current WSS file. However, some of them are stored in Windows registry (windows layout, reboot options or registration information). When you click the "OK" button, the current file is saved using the "File Save" command. When a file is read from the web, it is read-only, so the "File Save" command is grayed. In this case, the "OK" button and the "File Save" command are quite different because all the parameters located in Windows registry are updated, but the current file is not saved. If you want to save your changes on a read-only file, you should use the "File Save As..." command. The "File Open from the Web..." command opens a dialog box in which you can type the location of the file. This location should be typed as a basic URL. For instance: Play The Web documentation 83 / 158

84 Storing a.wss file on a web server is useful to share the same.wss configuration file with several users.when the file is updated on the web server, it is automatically retrieved and used. A file open using HTTP is read-only, so it is possible to edit its properties but the file should be saved to a local drive using the "File Save As..." command. The "File Location of.wss Configuration files..." command is useful to define the local path where the.wss Configuration files should be stored whether they are created locally or downloaded from a server. The default path for these files is the "My Documents" folder in the current user's profile. If you select the "Path" option, you can enter any local path in the entry box displayed next to this option. However, take care when you set a path here. The path entried should be always readable when Play The Web is launched. Therefore you should avoid to use a network path either by a network drive (x:) or a UNC path (\\server\path). If you set here a network path that cannot be reached when Play The Web is launched, the software will instead use the default.wss Configuration file displaying Play The Web pages. You can roll back to the default path by clicking on the "Use default" button. If you update the WSS path, you should also use the "Test path" button to be sure that the current user has a write access to the given path. Play The Web documentation 84 / 158

85 The "File Quit" command quits Play The Web. Be careful with this command, because the software terminates without saving anything to the current file and without warning. This command is the equivalent to the "Quit" button located on Play The Web tool bars. Play The Web documentation 85 / 158

86 Edit menu Edit menu contains options to edit and display the page list of the current presentation. Here are the available commands: Page list... Display page list... Edits the list of addresses included in the current presentation. Displays the list of addresses included in the current presentation. When an address contains a variable, all addresses are created using the base address and the value list. The result list in displayed here. When you use the "Page list" command, this dialog box is displayed: Using the text entry box in this dialog box, you can type a list of pages that Play The Web will display. Input each address on a separate line. To edit properties for a given address, display the Pages tab of the Configuration dialog box. The "Display page list" command is useful to preview all addresses created using a base address and a value list. If you use the sample file displaying the top news pages of the BBC News web site, this dialog is displayed: Play The Web documentation 86 / 158

87 This is a read-only dialog box. If you need to update the parameters that the software use to build addresses, display the "Properties" dialog box. Play The Web documentation 87 / 158

88 Favorites menu Favorites menu contains options to add and edit internet favorites. Here are the available commands: Add to favorites... This option adds a link to the current web page in your internet favorites. This link is associated with a title that you can edit. It works like the "Add to favorites..." option included in Internet Explorer. Organize favorites... With this option, you can create folders in your internet favorites and move shortcuts from a folder to another. You can also rename or delete shortcuts. It works like the "Organize favorites..." option included in Internet Explorer. Play The Web documentation 88 / 158

89 Channels menu Channels menu contains several samples files. These files are based on popular web sites that you can display on a digital signage system. Select a sample in that menu and it will be loaded and set as your default file. You can also browse these channels in the samples section of the web site. Play The Web documentation 89 / 158

90 Tab menu Tab menu contains shortcuts to every tab in the Configuration dialog box. Play The Web documentation 90 / 158

91 Help menu Help menu contains links to the documentation you are reading and to Play The Web web site. Here are the available commands: The "Content" command displays the help page that is set in the Help tab. This command is equivalent to the "Help" button located on both tool bars. The "Display your favorite web site in a few clicks" command displays the Create sample page. This page contains a " like text entry box where you can type the address of an internet web page. This page is read and its hypertext links are used to create a sample presentation. The "Play The Web documentation" command displays the index of Play The Web documentation. The document you are reading now is displayed in the Play The Web browser. The "Play The Web main samples" command navigates to the main samples page. The "Dozens of samples for Play The Web" command displays a long list of samples based on popular web sites. The "Play The Web on the internet" command navigates to the Play The Web web site. The "Play The Web download page" command navigates to the download section of the Play The Web web site. The "Register Play The Web" command navigates to the Play The Web order form. Play The Web documentation 91 / 158

92 General options The General tab in the Play The Web Configuration dialog box is used to define global parameters used in screensaver and navigation modes. Home page The first part of this tab in used to define Play The Web home page. The home page is displayed in three cases: The first page displayed in screensaver mode is the home page. If you click on the Navigation button and "Go to home page when entering navigation mode" is enabled in Configuration dialog box. When you click on the Home button in the navigation tool bar, Play The Web displays the home page. You can set your home page in three different ways: First, you can type the full address of the page you want to set as your home page. That address must be written as any web page address. For instance: Play The Web documentation 92 / 158

93 Second, you can set the page currently displayed in Play The Web as your home page. In order to do this, you have to click on the "Current page" button when the right page is displayed. Third, you can set the Play The Web default home page as your home page. The address of this page is: The next check box can only be used in the registered version of Play The Web. It is labeled "Use home page as splash window". When this box is checked, the current home page is shown when the software is launched, replacing the embedded ad screen. Click here to Register Play The Web. Finally, the "Use home page as back window" option can also be used in the registered version. With this box checked, the home page is browsed in the main windows when a file is displayed through a separate process. This option is useful if you want to use a single HTML transition page between PowerPoint presentations displayed through Microsoft PowerPoint. Then, you should use this HTML page as the home page and check this option. Screen saver The second part of the Configuration dialog box general tab is useful to define how pages must be displayed in screensaver mode. This frame contains five parameters that you can define: Screen save active Check this box to enable screensaver mode. Screen save delay Delay before Play The Web starts screen save mode. Screen save mode displays pages defined in the page list. This delay is defined in minutes. Begin with last page displayed Check that box in order to let Play The Web continue the previous presentation at launch time. In other words, Play The Web will display the last page that was displayed the last time the screensaver was run. The default value for this option is checked. Loop after last page This check box is used to tell Web Screen Saver to restart the cycle with the first page at the end of the presentation. The default value for this option is checked. Default display time The value in that text box tells Play The Web the display time for each page in an automated presentation. That value is given in seconds. The default value for the display time is ten seconds. This value is used for a page only if you did not define a different display duration for this page in page properties. The next part of the Configuration dialog box general tab allows you to define what Play The Web must do on mouse actions or when the keyboard is used in Play The Web documentation 93 / 158

94 screensaver mode. The options are "What to do if the mouse moves?" and "What to do on keyboard event?". Four values are available: Nothing This is the default value. This is the only way to use the screensaver tool bar. In every other mode, that tool bar is always hidden. Enter navigation mode In this mode, the screensaver tool bar is always hidden because it is useless. When the mouse moves or the keyboard is used, the program switches to navigation mode and displays the navigation tool bar. If you select this option with "Go to home page when entering navigation mode", mouse movements bring the home page to screen. Quit Play The Web In this mode, the screensaver tool bar is also hidden because the program behavior is very similar to a classical screensaver. The program closes when a mouse movement is detected. End Windows session In this mode, the screensaver tool bar is also hidden. Play The Web is closed when the mouse moves and the Windows session is ended. For the "What to do on a mouse click?" option, two values are available: Nothing Mouse clicks have no action in screensaver mode. Enter navigation mode When a mouse click occurs, the program switches to navigation mode and displays the navigation tool bar. Web pages auto scroll The default behaviour when a web page is displayed is that there is no auto scroll on this page. However, it is possible to enable an anto scroll feature so the user will be able to see the full content of the web page. The "Auto scroll mode" listbox is included for that purpose. Three options are available: No auto scroll This is the default value. The auto scroll feature is not enabled. Auto scroll when page download is started In this mode, the auto scroll feature is enabled as soon as the web page is displayed, even if all included resources like pictures are not fully loaded. Auto scroll when page download is completed In this mode, the auto scroll feature starts only when the page is fully loaded, including all resources shown on this page. Play The Web documentation 94 / 158

95 The following options found in the General tab allow configuration of the auto scroll feature when it is enabled. The "Delay before auto scroll starts" entry box can be used to set a value in seconds before the auto scroll actually begin on a page when the triggering event (page started or completed) occurs. The "Auto scroll speed" entry boxes defines speed in pixels for both vertical and horizontal scroll. Finally, the "Complete auto scroll before navigation to the next page" check box can be used to make sure that the page was fully scrolled and displayed before the navigation to the next page or file could occur. Play The Web documentation 95 / 158

96 Layout options The layout tab is useful to define global properties of the main window and how additional windows should be managed. Main window properties Use the "Main window always on top" check box to set the main window as the top most window. This option can be used to prevent other windows to pop-up in front of the Play The Web main window. When this box is checked, the tool bars will also be hidden by the main window. You should then select the "Enter navigation mode" option on mouse move event in the General tab. Use the "Full screen" check box to define full screen status for the main window. This option is checked by default. When the main window is not full screen, you can resize it and change its position. When you save the properties in the Configuration dialog box, you also save the main window position. Play The Web documentation 96 / 158

97 For instance, if you use multiple monitors on a single computer, you could run Play The Web in a window on one monitor while working on the other one. Multiple monitor support When a single monitor is connected to the computer, the monitor part of this dialog box is disabled. However, when two monitors are connected to the computer, this part of the dialog box is enabled: You can then select the second monitor used by Play The Web to display the content through the Monitor list box. You can also click on the "Choose Monitor" button:. This button opens the "Choose Monitor" dialog box when you can select the monitor used for display. Play The Web documentation 97 / 158

98 Select the monitor where the content should be displayed by Play The Web and click "OK". Update that is performed using the Choose monitor dialog box only applies to the current.wss Configuration file. You can also configure Play The Web to send content for all.wss Configuration files to an alternate monitor by using the "DefaultMonitor" registry setting. For instance, if you want to display all content managed by Play The Web on the second monitor, enter "2" in the "DefaultMonitor" Windows registry setting. Manage new windows The "What to do on New Window event in Run mode?" option is useful to set the behavior of Play The Web when a page attempts to create a pop-up window. Three options are available: Open Internet Explorer Every pop-up window is created in an Internet Explorer window. Navigate in the same window In this mode, every pop-up window is displayed in the Play The Web main window, even if the target specifies a different window. No pop-up This is the default value. When this option is checked, every pop-up window is blocked. The "What to do on New Window event in Nav mode?" option is useful to set the behavior of Play The Web when the user clicks on a hyperlink with a target window different from the current window. Three options are available: Open Internet Explorer This is the default value. A common Internet Explorer window is opened when the user clicks on a hyperlink that specifies a target window other than thecurrent window. Navigate in the same window In this mode, every page is displayed in the Play The Web main window, even if the target specifies a different window. Play The Web documentation 98 / 158

99 No pop-up When this option is checked, every click on a hyperlink with a target window different from the current window is canceled. The "Always close pop-up windows that go behind the main window" can also be checked if pop-up windows are allowed. With this option, you ensure that hidden pop-ups are blocked to avoid the creation of too many windows. The last option for Internet Explorer windows is "Close Internet Explorer windows when Web Screen Saver ends". If this option is checked, every Internet Explorer window (pop-up or not) is closed when the software ends. Other settings The "Remove vertical scroll bar in main window?" option manages the behavior of the vertical scroll bar. Three options are available: Never This is the default value. The vertical scroll bar is never hidden. Always The vertical scroll bar is always hidden in the main window. With this option, no matter the height of the HTML file, the vertical scroll bar will always be removed. Auto detect In this mode, Play The Web retrieves the height of the page and the height of the main window. If the page fits completely in the window, the vertical scroll bar is removed. If the page doesn't fit in the screen, the vertical scroll bar is kept. The "Hide main window when a separate process is launched" should be checked if you display PowerPoint files. This option ensures that a separate process will not be hidden by the Play The Web main window because this main window will become invisible. If you do not check this option with a separate process, like the PowerPoint viewer, you may get a black empty screen instead of you PowerPoint file. When displaying a PowerPoint file as a separate process and PowerPoint (POWERPNT.EXE) was open before on the desktop, the separate process is closed immediately and the show request is queued in PowerPoint that displays the slideshow. Therefore, the process seems to have finish (the separate process ID is no longer valid), but the slideshow is displayed anyway. If you want that the actual process displaying the PowerPoint slideshow to be found among processes running on the desktop, check the "Smart find of the separate process when the initial process disappear (POWERPNT.EXE)" option. But, keep in mind that the POWERPNT.EXE process will be closed by the software when the slideshow display time will come to its end. If this option is not checked and PowerPoint was already running on the desktop when Play The Web is launched, the first slideshow display request will be filled by the PowerPoint's existing process. The process newly created by Play The Web will Play The Web documentation 99 / 158

100 stop immediately, so Play The Web will conclude that the current presentation is finished. It will therefore request display of the next PowerPoint presentation and the next one, but all of them will be queued in PowerPoint and they will be displayed only when the initial PowerPoint slideshow will actually end. The consequence is that a lot of PowerPoint presentation display requests will be queued until Play The Web ends. When Play The Web is closed, the user needs to hit the Esc key once for each slide show queued to get back to his desktop. By default, this option is not checked, so an existing separate process will not be searched by Play The Web. The "Force reload of a web page when it is in the web browser history" check box is useful to ensure that every web page displayed is always refreshed so its content is up-to-date, especially if that page was already displayed by Play The Web. By default, this option is not checked, so a page already displayed may not be refreshed if it is displayed another time. The "Page order" list box should be used to define the order for the pages list in the page list tab. Two options are available: Default order (page list order) This is the default value. Pages are displayed according to the page list order from the page list tab. Random order When this option is selected, the pages from the page list are displayed in a random order. The "Hide right click browser context menu for all users (HKLM)" check box can be checked to remove the context menu displayed with a right click in the browser window. If checked, this menu is not displayed anymore for all users of the desktop (local machine). The current user should have write access to the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions] registry key.restart Internet Explorer and Play The Web for the restriction to take effect. The "Hide right click browser context menu for the current user (HKCU)" check box removes the context menu displayed with a right click in the browser window for the current user only. The current user should have write access to the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions] registry key.restart Internet Explorer and Play The Web for the restriction to take effect. Play The Web documentation 100 / 158

101 Page list The Pages tab in the Configuration dialog box is essential because it tells Play The Web which pages or files to display in screensaver mode and what the duration for each page is. The first part of this tab shows the page list that Play The Web actually displays. This list can hold any HTML page, RSS feed, PowerPoint, movie or Flash file. You can select any element in that list in order to define options for this page with the buttons found in the second part of this tab. So, the bottom part of that tab contains seven buttons that you can use to change the page order, edit, insert or delete a page. Use this button to move up the current line in the page list box. In fact, the page selected is swapped with the previous page in the presentation. Use this button to move down the current line in the page list box. The page selected is swapped with the next page in the presentation. Click on this button to insert a blank line before the selected line in the list box. This line scrolls down and Properties dialog box for a new address is displayed. Play The Web documentation 101 / 158

102 Click on this button to duplicate the selected line in the list box. Use this button to delete the page selected in the list box. All the next pages scroll up one row to fill the blank. Click on this button in order to grab the address on the page displayed in the web browser. The page address fills the line selected. Use this button to display the selected page in the Play The Web window. Use this button to open the Properties window in order to edit the address or the display time of the selected page. You can also type page addresses of the presentation in a single text entry box using the Page list dialog box located in the Edit menu. Play The Web documentation 102 / 158

103 Properties dialog box Using the Properties dialog box, you can define which page you want to display and how much time this page should remain on screen. Display a HTML page In the Address text box, type the URL of the page you want to display. Use a basic URL notation for this page. For instance: You can also display a web page stored on a local or network drive. In this case, you can use the "Browse file" button located on the right side of the dialog box to select the page: s:\intranet\quarter-results.html Also, you are able to display a password protected page if this page is protected with a htaccess password. For instance: Play The Web documentation 103 / 158

104 However, if authentication on a web site is not based on htaccess security, check with the web site provider if there is a way to provide login information in the URL. Here is a sample of a login URL including login information handled by a dynamic script: index.php?login=test&password=pass As long as you provide a valid URL in the address field, you should leave the "Variable type" field in the "Single page or file (No variable)" state. However, you can let Play The Web build addresses using a given base address and a variable. This is explained below. Display a PowerPoint file When the address points to a PowerPoint file, check the "Create a local copy of this page or file" check box. Doing this, a copy of the file will be stored locally and will be used to minimize network traffic. When a new version is available on the server, it will be automatically retrieved and used by Play The Web. For a PowerPoint slide show, check also the "Run as a separate process" check box. Click here to know more about PowerPoint file in Play The Web. Display a video file The URL can also link to a video file. In this case, you need to install a video player software. In the Properties dialog, check the "Create a local copy of this page or file" option to create an updated copy of the video file in the local cache. Check also the "Run as a separate process" and "Display until separate process ends" check boxes. Click here to know more about videos in Play The Web. Set a display time For the display time of the page, you can either use the default display time or a specific time. A display time is always given in seconds. If you want to use the default display time, just check the "Use default time" check box. The default value is located on the General tab of the Configuration dialog box. You can also set a specific time for a given page. In this case, don't check the "Use default time" check box and type a value in the "Time" entry box. When a file is displayed using a separate process like PowerPoint or a video player, you can also check the "Display until separate process ends". Play The Web will wait for the end of the file before displaying the next page or file in the page list. In this case, make sure the separate process ends at the end of the file. Play The Web documentation 104 / 158

105 Advanced page types You can let Play The Web build addresses using a given base address and a variable using the "Type" field. Several ways to build addresses are available: List of pages in a range (Value range) Addresses are built with a base address and a counter iterating from a start value to an end value. List of pages (Value list) Addresses are built using a base address and a value taken in a value list given in this dialog box. List of pages or files from a start URL (Value file) Addresses are built using a base address and values taken from a file. This file may be a local file, a network file or a file read though HTTP protocol. Also, the values can be found in the file using different search patterns. List of pages in a RSS feed The list of pages displayed in screensaver mode can be fed by a RSS file. This RSS file can be hosted anywhere on the web or on your own network. Internet Explorer favorites (standard) The address list is taken from Internet Explorer favorites. This is a very easy way to use Play The Web, because your internet favorites are automatically displayed using this option. Main window invisible The browser window becomes invisible, so the Windows screensaver desktop appears. List of pages in a range (value range) Use a "Value range" variable type when the addresses you want to display have a structure like this: Where $$ is a value that is picked in a given range, from a begin value to an end value. In this sample, we will get a range from 1 to 9 for the $$ variable: Play The Web documentation 105 / 158

106 Using these parameters, nine addresses will be created in the result list. We can view the result list by clicking OK in the Properties dialog box, and calling the "Display page list..." option in the Edit menu: Play The Web documentation 106 / 158

107 Click on this link to run this sample. List of pages (value list) Use a "Value list" variable type when the addresses you need in your presentation look like: Where $$ is a value that is picked in a list of values that you type in that dialog box, with a value on each line. For instance, use this feature to query a web site that can display price of stock quotes: Here, the first addresses that will be generated are: Play The Web documentation 107 / 158

108 This dialog box may be displayed by calling the "Display page list..." option of the Edit menu, after validation of the Properties dialog box. Click on this link to run this sample. List of pages from a start URL (Value file) Use a "Value file" variable type if the pages that you want to display are all included as links in a single page. For instance, to display all the BBC News pages that can be reached from the BBC News home page, set these parameters: Play The Web documentation 108 / 158

109 In this sample, the value file will be first downloaded on the BBC News home page: Then, the program will search the values included in this file using the different search patterns: href="/$$" href='/$$' Using these patterns, every string found in the file will be taken as a different value. Each value will create a different address using the base address. To preview the result addresses, click on the "Display page list" button to get the page list found with current settings: Play The Web documentation 109 / 158

110 Click on this link to run this sample. For an easy configuration of Page properties if you want do display all linked pages from a start URL, use the "Page Wizard":. Follow this procedure: Select the "List of pages or files from a start URL (Value file)" page type in the drop-down listbox. Type the address of the web page that should be read to find the page list. Click on the "Page Wizard" button to make Play The Web computes all other settings. Then, you can click on the "Display page list" button to get the page list found at the given URL: List of files from a start URL (Value file) Using the same technique, you can also download all files listed from a start URL and display these files using a separate process. Select the "List of pages or files from a start URL (Value file)" page type in the drop-down listbox. Type the URL of the web folder containing the files to display in the "Value file" entry field and click the "Page wizard" button:. The page properties are computed by Play The Web based on the content of the start URL. For instance, with the following URL: Play The Web documentation 110 / 158

111 Properties will be defined like this: With these settings, Play The Web will automatically retrieve the list of files stored in the given folder of the web server. Each file will be downloaded and displayed using the default application based on file extension. Read this page to know more about handling of PowerPoint files that should be downloaded and displayed as a separate process. List of pages in a RSS feed Configuration of Page properties for a RSS feed news source is easy: Select the "List of pages in a RSS feed" page type in the drop-down listbox. Type the address of the RSS feed file provided by your news provider. Click on the "Page Wizard" button to make Play The Web computes all other settings. Play The Web documentation 111 / 158

112 Then, you can click on the "Display page list" button to get the page list found in the RSS feed: Click here to know more about RSS feeds in Play The Web. Internet Explorer favorites (standard) Finally, use a "Internet Explorer Favorites (standard)" variable type if you want to display your internet favorites. You can either display the content of the Favorites menu of Microsoft Internet Explorer or all the favorites located in all sub-menus of the Favorites menu. Play The Web documentation 112 / 158

113 Here, because we checked the sub-directories check box, Play The Web will use all your internet favorites. To preview the result addresses, click OK in the Properties dialog and invoke the "Display page list..." option of the Edit menu: Play The Web documentation 113 / 158

114 Click on this link to run a sample using all your internet favorites. Main window invisible The last page type is "Main window invisible". This page type is useful if you need the software to become invisible to let the user see the Windows desktop. Update delay When pages are computed from a start URL (value file) or a RSS feed, it is necessary not to overwhelm the web server hosting this file with too many queries. You can set a minimum delay between two queries through entry boxes: "Days", "Hours" and "Minutes". The page list will be refreshed only when the delay you set has expired. Default delay is 2 hours. Play The Web documentation 114 / 158

115 Include list The Include tab in the Configuration dialog box is used to restrict navigation in web browser mode. The exclude list holds all these allowed URLs. Allowed addresses in navigation mode Every time the user types an address in the Navigation tool bar or clicks on a hyperlink, the resulting URL is matched with the include list shown on this tab. If the left part on the URL where the user wants to navigate to is not included in the list, the navigation is canceled and the page is not displayed. In the other case, if the left part of the URL is listed on this dialog box, the user gets that page on the screen. If the include list is empty, as it is by default, all addresses are allowed for web browsing. You can select any element in the include list in order to define options with the second part of this tab. That part contains five buttons that you can use to edit, insert or delete addresses. Play The Web documentation 115 / 158

116 Click on this button to insert a blank line before the selected line in list box. This line scrolls down and Properties dialog box for a new address is displayed. Click on this button to duplicate the selected line in the list box. Use this button to delete the address selected in the list box. All the following addresses scroll up one row to fill in the blank. Click on this button in order to grab the address of the page displayed in the web browser. The page address fills up the selected line. Use this button to display the selected address in the Play The Web window. Use this button to open Properties window in order to edit a selected address. Play The Web documentation 116 / 158

117 Include properties Type here an allowed URL. An allowed URL can be: a mask including a star (*) character, for inclusion of some file types. the left part of a web site URL. Then, if the user tries to navigate to an URL containing the value typed here, the required page will be displayed. For instance, if you want to restrict access in a presentation to the current web site, include the following line: The "Apply to Run mode" check box tells if the given address is allowed for variable URL generation in screensaver mode. The "Apply to Nav mode" check box tells if the given address is allowed for navigation in browse mode. Play The Web documentation 117 / 158

118 Exclude list The Exclude tab in the Configuration dialog box is used to restrict navigation in web browser mode, or to automatically remove some URLs in screensaver mode. The exclude list holds all these restricted URLs. Restricted addresses in navigation mode Every time the user types an address in the Navigation tool bar or clicks on a hyperlink, the resulting URL is matched with the exclude list shown on this tab. If the left part on the URL where the user wants to navigate to is included in the list, the navigation is canceled and the page is not displayed. In the other case, if the left part of the URL is not listed on this dialog box, the user gets that page on the screen. If the exclude list is empty, all addresses are allowed for web browsing. Restricted addresses in screensaver mode You can also add some addresses in the Exclude list if you want to remove some pages from the automatic page loop. This loop is displayed in screensaver mode. Default exclusions are set in every new.wss configuration file. Content matching Play The Web documentation 118 / 158

119 these filters is not displayed. This feature is useful if the page list is computed by the software (use of a value file in Page properties). You can select any element in the exclude list in order to define options with the second part of this tab. That part contains five buttons that you can use to edit, insert or delete addresses. Click on this button to insert a blank line before the selected line in list box. This line scrolls down and Properties dialog box for a new address is displayed. Click on this button to duplicate the selected line in the list box. Use this button to delete the address selected in the list box. All the following addresses scroll up one row to fill in the blank. Click on this button in order to grab the address of the page displayed in web browser. The page address fills up the selected line. Use this button to display the selected address in the Play The Web window. Use this button to open Properties window in order to edit a selected address. Play The Web documentation 119 / 158

120 Exclude properties Type here a restricted URL. A restricted URL can be: a mask including a star (*) character, for exclusion of some file types. the left part of a web site URL. Then, if the user tries to navigate to an URL matching one of these masks, the navigation will be canceled and the required page will not be displayed. Use a mask to remove some file types from the screensaver page loop. For instance: *.xml *.rss *.rdf *.ram *.css *.ico All these masks are excluded by default, to avoid some contents being displayed in screensaver mode. These masks are useful when the page list is computed from a value file. This feature also is useful if your pages include links to other web sites. Including addresses of these web sites will prevent users to quit your pages by a click on a link. You can also use the Exclude list to prevent users to go in special parts of your web site. For instance, if you include the following line in Include list: And this line in Exclude list: Play The Web documentation 120 / 158

121 Users will be able to browse the Play The Web web site, but access to the download part will be refused by the software. Also, it will be impossible to navigate to another web site. Click here for a demo of this feature. The "Apply to Run mode" check box tells if the given address is restricted for variable URL generation in screensaver mode. The "Apply to Nav mode" check box tells if the given address is restricted for navigation in browse mode. Play The Web documentation 121 / 158

122 Default options The default tab allows you to define default options for Play The Web and the scope of the current parameters: current user or all users (local machine). Launch options for Play The Web Play The Web can be automatically started when a user opens a Windows session. This is an interesting feature if you want to run this software on a dedicated computer. Check the "Launch Play The Web when Windows starts" option to get this behavior. This option creates a new value in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] or the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Run] registry key. So, the current user should have write access to the registry key. Use the "Set default association for.wss files" check box to set association between the current program and the.wss files. Because of this association, Play The Web will be launched if you double-click on a.wss file in Windows Explorer. Play The Web documentation 122 / 158

123 Note that this association is also automatically created during the software installation. The current association is displayed under the check box. This check box is grayed out if Play The Web is the default program associated to.wss files. The "Set this presentation as default file" check box defines which.wss file is loaded by default when Play The Web is launched. The current default file is displayed under the check box. This check box is grayed out when the current.wss file (displayed in Configuration dialog title bar) is the default file (the file stated in DefaultFile registry key). Parameters scope Finally, there is the "Define scope for current parameters" option. Two values are available: Local machine (all users) This is the default value. All the parameters that can be defined in the Configuration dialog box apply to every user account. Parameters are located in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Vaugouin\Play The Web] registry key on a 32 bits Windows or in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Vaugouin\Play The Web] registry key on a 64 bits Windows. So, the current user should have write access to this registry key. Current user With this option, current parameters in the Configuration dialog box apply only to the user that is logged now. Parameters are located in the [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vaugouin\Play The Web] registry key. So, the current user should have write access to this registry key. Play The Web documentation 123 / 158

124 Screen saver tool bar dialog This tab is useful if you want to edit buttons on screensaver tool bar. For each button, you can edit these properties: Visible Checkbox value telling if button is visible or not. Picture file Path of icon file to use for the button. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif Roll over picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the mouse is over it. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif Down picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the button is pressed. For instance: c:\temp\play_.gif Play The Web documentation 124 / 158

125 Help Tip Text displayed as help tip when the mouse rolls over the button. Use this button to move up the current button in the screensaver tool bar dialog box. The selected button is swapped with the button before on the tool bar. Use this button to move down the current button in the screensaver tool bar dialog box. The selected button is swapped with the following button on the tool bar. Use this button to open Properties window in order to edit selected button. You can also lock the tool bar, which means that the title bar of the tool bar is removed. So, the tool bar can not be moved by the user. By default, the "Lock tool bar" check box is unchecked. In this case, the tool bar can be moved with no restriction. The tool bar position is also displayed in the dialog box. This position is saved in the Windows registry when the tool bar is moved around the screen. This enables display of the tool bar at the same location every time Play The Web runs. The tool bar can also be hidden if the mouse is not above. If you want to enable this feature, you have to check the "Hide tool bar is mouse is not above" check box. This behavior is similar to Internet Explorer full screen mode. The next check box is labeled "Hide the mouse when it does not move". Check this option so the mouse cursor will become invisible when the mouse does not move anymore. The mouse cursor will be visible again as soon as the mouse is moved again. You can also enable function keys for easier control in screensaver mode. For this purpose, check the "Function keys enabled". Click here to know which function keys can be used. This option is checked by default. Function keys can also be notified in help tips. check the "Display function keys in help tips" option. This option is also checked by default. The last option in this tab is labeled "Icon size". This is a drop-down list box containing several icon sizes for the screensaver tool bar and the navigation tool bar. Available sizes are: Small (24x24 pixels) Medium (36x36 pixels) You can select any of the available icon size. However, if you need a different button size and/or different graphics for each button, you can edit the buttons properties. Play The Web documentation 125 / 158

126 Screen saver tool bar properties For each button, you can edit these properties: Visible Checkbox value telling if button is visible or not. You can hide any button on a tool bar using this property. Picture file Path of icon file to use for the button. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif You can customize tool bar if you use different pictures in this property. Roll over picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the mouse is over it. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif Down picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the button is pressed. For instance: c:\temp\play_.gif Help Tip Text displayed as help tip when the mouse rolls over the button. Play The Web documentation 126 / 158

127 Navigation tool bar dialog Use this tab to edit buttons on navigation tool bar. For each button, you can edit these properties: Visible Checkbox value telling if button is visible or not. Picture file Path of icon file to use for the button. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif Roll over picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the mouse is over it. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif Down picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the button is pressed. For instance: c:\temp\play_.gif Play The Web documentation 127 / 158

128 Help Tip Text displayed as help tip when the mouse rolls over the button. Use this button to move up the current button in the screensaver tool bar dialog box. The selected button is swapped with the button before on the tool bar. Use this button to move down the current button in the screensaver tool bar dialog box. The selected button is swapped with the following button on the tool bar. Use this button to open Properties window in order to edit selected button. You can also lock the tool bar, which means that the title bar of the tool bar is removed. So, the tool bar can not be moved or resized by the user. By default, the "Lock tool bar" check box is unchecked. In this case, the tool bar can be moved and resized with no restriction. The tool bar width and position is also displayed in the dialog box. This position is saved in the Windows registry when the tool bar is moved around the screen. This enables display of the tool bar at the same location every time Play The Web runs. The tool bar can also be hidden if the mouse is not above. If you want to enable this feature, you have to check the "Hide tool bar is mouse is not above" check box. This behavior is similar to Internet Explorer full screen mode. The next check box is labeled "Hide the mouse when it does not move". Check this option so the mouse cursor will become invisible when the mouse does not move anymore. The mouse cursor will be visible again as soon as the mouse is moved again. You can also enable function keys for easier control in navigation mode. For this purpose, check the "Function keys enabled". Click here to know which function keys can be used. This option is checked by default. Function keys can also be notified in help tips. check the "Display function keys in help tips" option. This option is also checked by default. Play The Web documentation 128 / 158

129 Navigation tool bar properties For each button, you can edit these properties: Visible Checkbox value telling if button is visible or not. You can hide any button on a tool bar using this property. Picture file Path of icon file to use for the button. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif You can customize tool bar if you use different pictures in this property. Roll over picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the mouse is over it. For instance: c:\temp\play.gif Down picture file Path of icon file to use for the button when the button is pressed. For instance: c:\temp\play_.gif Help Tip Text displayed as help tip when the mouse rolls over the button. Play The Web documentation 129 / 158

130 For the URL text entry, it is only possible to check/uncheck the Visible property, making the URL entry box visible or invisible. Play The Web documentation 130 / 158

131 Reboot dialog Reboot options Use this tab if you need to reboot the computer on which Play The Web is running. Using this function, you can reboot the computer every day at a given time. To enable this feature, you should select the "Reboot every 24 hours: at a given time" option in the "Reboot scheme" list box and type a reboot time in the entry fields supplied below. You can also reboot the computer when nobody uses it anymore. Then, you should select the "Reboot after idle time" option in the list box: Play The Web documentation 131 / 158

132 When this reboot scheme is selected, you have to enter the idle time in seconds before a reboot will occur. Also, you can define a delay (in hours) between two reboots in the next entry field. If the reboot of the computer is handled by a separate application, you can select the "Automatic close every 24 hours: at a given time" option and type a close time in the entry fields supplied below. Finally, you can select a range for the reboot time between a start time and an end time. This option is useful if you manage hundreds or thousands of computers in your organization and you do not want all computers reboot at the same time and therefore contact some servers at the same time. To enable this feature, select the "Reboot every 24 hours, at a random time in a time interval". Then, you need to type a begin and an end time in the entry fields supplied below. If you check the "Force reboot (close all applications and documents even if not saved" check box, the system will reboot even if unsaved documents are open in other applications. Play The Web documentation 132 / 158

133 Auto login options On a Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 or Windows NT computer, you have access to an additional feature allowing automatic opening of a session using Windows login information: User name, password and domain. To provide these information, you need to check the "Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT Auto login" check box. Then, provide appropriate credentials in "User name", "Password" and "Domain" fields. When auto login is enabled, Play The Web needs to write some information to the Windows registry. So, the current user should have write access to the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] registry key. Play The Web documentation 133 / 158

134 Update options If you manage a large quantity of computers, you would want to prevent all computers always requesting pages from HTTP server. Doing this, you will minimize the network traffic. Play The Web is able to work off-line as Internet Explorer does, because every page accessed by HTTP is copied in a local cache. Using this copy, a page can be displayed even if the computer is off-line. Internet Explorer cache is located in a "Temporary Internet Files" folder, in the current user profile. Here are the options located in "Update" tab of Configuration dialog box: Several update schemes are available: Always online (never check the connection to the network) This is the default mode. In this mode, the connection is assumed to be always online and the computer to be always connected to the network. Play The Web documentation 134 / 158

135 Always online (except if disconnect from the network) In this mode, the connection is assumed to be always online and the computer to be always connected to the network. However, if a page doesn't load completely in the time defined by the "Maximum update time for each page" parameter, Play The Web checks the network connection by sending a HTTP request on the test URL. If this request fails, it switches to off-line mode so the web pages will be read from the local web cache. As soon as the network connection is up again, Play The Web switches back to online mode. Also, when Windows reports that the computer is not connected to any network, Play The Web automatically switches to off-line mode. You can also force Play The Web to reconnect to the network when disconnected. To achieve this, chek the "Force connection when disconnected from the network" check box. This mode is useful for pages that are ever changing, but it could lead to a lot of network traffic, because an HTTP request is sent to the server for every page. Always off-line In this mode, Play The Web uses only cache. It is the same that off-line mode in Internet Explorer. If a page doesn't exist in cache, it won't be displayed. No network traffic will result with this mode. Use it for pages that never change. Update every day This mode is useful if you manage many computers, because you will minimize network traffic. Updates will occur at a given time that you can input using an "hh:mm" entry box. At update time, the computer will switch to online mode, process one page loop and go back to off-line mode when every page is updated. If the computer is not connected to the network or switched off, update will occur later, when it is connected to the network. This mode is also recommended for laptop computers, because they are not always connected to the network. With this update policy, you can distribute update time: 20 computers at 02:00, 20 computers at 02:30, etc. Update once when screensaver is launched Play The Web will check connection at launch time. If it is connected, it will switch online, display one page loop and then switch off-line back when every page is updated. If not connected, it will display pages from the cache. This option can also be used with laptop computers. Update every day during a fixed delay This mode is similar to "Update every day" except for one thing. The software switches back to off-line mode after a fixed delay. You can input this delay in the dialog box. The software will go to off-line mode when the delay has occurred, even if all pages have not been updated. Update once when screensaver is launched during a fixed delay This mode is similar to "Update once when screensaver" except that the software switches back to off-line mode after a fixed delay. You can also input this delay in the dialog box. Play The Web documentation 135 / 158

136 Update hourly In this mode, Play The Web will connect to the network hourly and display all pages included in the page loop before going back to the off-line mode. Here is the options available in the Update tab when the "Update every day" update scheme is selected: With this update scheme, you need to define the start time in the "Update time" entry field along with the "Maximum update time for each page" option (in seconds). Now, you can see the options available when the "Update every day during a fixed delay" scheme is selected: Play The Web documentation 136 / 158

137 This update scheme is similar to the "Update every day" update scheme, except that you can define a global maximum update delay using the "Maximum update time for all pages" entry field. Remark: If you display pages using a local address and not using an HTTP address, pages are not copied to the cache. For instance: s:\intranet\quarter-results.html With this type of address, cache is not used. Then, pages will be read from the file server even if Play The Web is off-line. A lot of network traffic could result using local addresses. "Update as soon as possible" button allows you to force Play The Web to update every page the next time theses pages will be displayed. This button is available when "Update scheme" is set to "Update every day" or "Update once when screensaver is launched". The Maximum update time entry field allows you to specify the maximum time that Play The Web can wait to update a given web page. This delay is defined in minutes. If the update time for one page and its resources is longer that the time specified here, Play The Web abort update of the current page and displays the next page in the page loop. Play The Web documentation 137 / 158

138 The next part of the Update tab contains settings regarding the local cache handled by Play The Web. The Cache path is a local folder where the current user should have write access so Play The Web can create temporary files. The default cache path defined by the setup procedure is: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Vaugouin\Play The Web Where %USERPROFILE% is an environment variable containing the path of the profile for the current user. Using this part of the dialog box, you can update the cache path or use the Windows TEMP folder. To check the content of the local cache, use the "Explorer" button: opens a Windows Explorer that browses the cache path.. This buttons The "Use default" button replaces the current path in the entry field above by the default cache path. Finally, the "Test cache path" button checks if the current user has write access to the current cache path. If not, this features suggests to use the default cache path where the current user should have write access because this folder is located under his profile. The "Minimum size for a downloaded file to be cached" entry box allows you to define the minimum size of any downloaded file to be treated as a valid file. So, the value set here should be greater than the actual size of an HTTP error page. In fact, when a file disappear on a web server, Play The Web may try to download it anyway because it was present in the result the last time the file list was retrieved. When a file disappear, the web server will deliver a not found (error 404) error page in place of the requested file. So, the value defined here is useful to discard HTTP error pages. The default value for this setting is "0" (zero). This setting applies only to the current.wss Configuration. It is related to the "CachedFileMinSize" Windows registry setting that applies to all.wss Configuration files used on a computer. The "Update URL" parameter can be used to define the address of a.wss configuration file stored on a web server. At the end of the page loop, this.wss configuration file is downloaded and replaces the local copy of the running.wss file. When the "Replace default file parameter" option is checked, the update URL that is loaded at the end of the page loop becomes the default file for Play The Web. So next time the software will be launched, this URL will be automatically used to retrieve page list and other settings. If you set a URL in the DefaultFile registry setting (File Open from the web...), you do not need to use the Update URL feature from the Update tab. Play The Web documentation 138 / 158

139 The Update URL feature from the Update tab should be used when the.wss Configuration file location is set to a local folder on the user hard drive. When the "Replace default file parameter" option is checked, the DefaultFile registry setting is updated so it points to the local copy of the.wss Configuration file that is stored in the "My Documents" folder or any other local folder defined as the default path for this kind of file (File menu, Location of the.wss Configuration files...). Play The Web documentation 139 / 158

140 Network options This tab contains settings that allow Play The Web to know if the computer is connected to the network or not. First, you have to define a test URL if you want to enable detection of the network. When you set a test URL, Play The Web queries this address when the software is launched and at the end of the page loop. If there is a reply on this address, Play The Web knows that the network can be used. When there is no reply on the test URL, Play The Web will not use the network anymore and switch the web browser to offline mode. After that, all pages will be retrieved from the local Internet Explorer cache. The "Check connection to the network" option buttons have three choices: Never Select this option if you want to disable network test. In this case, the web browser will be always online and download content from the network. Always Select this option if you want a network test to be performed every time the software is launched and at the end of the page loop. Play The Web documentation 140 / 158

141 Auto detect Select this option to perform a network test only if pages listed in the page list have like adresses. When a network test is performed, it uses a test URL. However, this test URL can be stored in different locations: Use test URL stored in the Windows registry When this option if selected, the test URL is saved to the "TestURL" parameter of the Play The Web Windows registry. This is the default option. Use home page for test URL Select this option if you want to use the home page URL as test URL. The home page is set in the General tab of the Configuration dialog box. Use test URL stored in the Configuration file When this option if selected, the test URL is saved to the "TestURL" parameter of the.wss Configuration file. Finally, the address typed in the Test URL text box is used to check connection to the network when it is necessary to retrieve files using HTTP protocol. It is used in three cases: "File Open from the web" command, "Update every day" scheme, "Update once when screensaver is launched" scheme. You should provide here a reliable and fast loading URL. An HTTP request is sent to this URL. If it succeed, the computer is connected to the network. The default value is the home page address if you provided it in the "General" tab, or Play The Web web site address: If you are not connected to the internet, you have to provide here an address that can be accessed by the computer, for instance, your intranet server: If the computer running Play The Web is behind a proxy server, you have to set proxy settings. These parameters are necessary to go through the proxy server and access the network. Provide a "User name" and a "Password" in the appropriate text boxes to connect to the proxy server. Play The Web documentation 141 / 158

142 Help options Using the "Help" tab of the Configuration dialog box, you can manage if the help system is available. If yes, you can also define the address of the help page: Check the "Enable help feature" check box to display the help button on both tool bars: screensaver and navigation tool bar. If this option is unchecked, this button will be invisible: If help is available, you can configure the address of the help page that will be displayed when the user clicks the help button. You can type here any valid URL. For instance: This feature is useful when the software is used in an intranet. So, users can display a specific help page on that intranet, with that page having the same look than any other page. Play The Web documentation 142 / 158

143 You can also force display of some help (error) pages when a user action is cancelled in navigation mode. To enable this feature, click the "Display help pages on restricted URL" check box. Then, you can type the address of the help page to display if the user tries to reach a restricted URL. Use the "If restricted page" text box. You can also give the address of the page to display if the user clicks on a link that attempts opening a new window, when pop-ups are restricted in current settings. Use the "If no pop-up" text box to set the address of this error page. Play The Web documentation 143 / 158

144 About Play The Web Register Play The Web Use this tab to know the exact version of Play The Web and the registration status of the current copy: Unregistered of Full version. Your address may also be provided in this dialog box. You can update registration information using the "Register" feature. A click on this button displays the following dialog box in which you can enter your User Name, Company Name and Serial number: Play The Web documentation 144 / 158