Marquee 9.1
07-01-24

Marquee is a dual-display kiosk application to showcase events for a museum, planetarium or other exhibit installation.

Users flip through poster thumbnails which when chosen shows descriptive information on display 1 and either a movie file (MP2, MP4, AVI, QuickTime MOV (h.264/aac)) or image sequence on display 2.

INSTALLATION
APP_DIR:  The applications and required resources are installed into "programs"
  MAC: HD:Applications:Marquee:
  WIN: C:\Program Files\Marquee\
NOTE: 64bit WIN OS installs into "Program Files (x86)"

DATA_DIR:  The media directories are installed into "shared data"
  MAC: HD:Users:Shared:Marquee:
  WIN: C:\Users\Public\Marquee\

CONFIG_DIR:  The settings config file is created and stored in "local app data"
  MAC: HD:Users:USERNAME:Library:Application Support:marquee:marquee_config.ini
  WIN: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\marquee\marquee_config.ini

LOG_DIR:  The user count log file is created and stored in "local app data"
  MAC: Users:USERNAME:Library:Application Support:Elements In Me:elements_in_me_user_log.txt
  WIN: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Elements In Me\elements_in_me_user_log.txt

REGISTRATION
A registration key is required to run this software beyond a 30-day demo period. Registration is only asked for once per day. Visit http://spaceupdate.com/store/software.html to purchase Marquee and receive your registration key.

HOW TO RUN
Launch the Marquee application. It will scan the "media" folder for content and then display a set of thumbnail buttons onscreen to choose from. Use the MORE buttons if available to scroll through more content. Select a thumbnail poster to view. After a specified idle period a screensaver mode will enable that shows a random display of poster images on both displays. To quit the application simply hit the ESC key.

HOW TO CONFIGURE
1 display:
Marquee works with a single display system with 1 screen. If only 1 screen is detected by the software, the display screen replaces the marquee interface screen when media is selected and shown.
2 displays:
Marquee works with a dual-display system with 2 screens. If dual-displays are connected to the computer, the software will auto-detect them. They do not have to be the same resolution and should be arranged via the Display Control Panel so that the primary display is in the upper left (i.e. primary display can be either to the left or directly above the secondary display). The software will ask which screen you want to use for the MARQUEE and DISPLAY interfaces.  If the primary display is upper left, these assignments can be switched. 
 
A config file is located in the CONFIG directory (see INSTALLATION). It can be edited to control app functions. The following settings are available:
NOTE: DO NOT CHANGE OR EDIT ANY COMMENT LINES THAT START WITH "#"

timeTilReset	= the idle seconds til the software resets and displays a screensaver [integer | 10..300]
textMain	= main display text (default = "SHOWS & EVENTS") [string]
textInfo	= basic text to instruct user (default = "SELECT A POSTER TO PREVIEW") [string]
textContinue	= additional text to instruct viewer once a selection is made (default = "SELECT TO CONTINUE") [string]
defaultDisplay	= determines whether the default display is set to be the MARQUEE or the DISPLAY [string | marquee, display]
limitCursor	= limit the cursor to the default display [boolean | 0 = FALSE, 1 = TRUE]
autoPlay	= media files autoplay until user interaction - autoplay resumes after timeTilReset  [boolean | 0 = FALSE, 1 = TRUE]
autoPlayDelay	= time delay in seconds between media files auto-advance [integer | 0..60]
infoBarColor	= RGB color of the info text bar [integer | 0..255 | R,G,B]
moreDefaultColor	= default RGB color of the MORE buttons [integer | 0..255 | R,G,B]
moreSelectedColor	= selected RGB color of the MORE buttons [integer | 0..255 | R,G,B]
videoRenderer	= sets video renderer used by DirectShow (WIN-ONLY) [string]
logUserCount	= log user count [boolean | 0 = FALSE, 1 = TRUE]

NOTE: To change this defaultDisplay setting hold down the CONTROL key when the application is launching the software will show 2 option buttons on the primary display to set that display to be MARQUEE or DISPLAY. Making this selection will update the config file properly and the software will launch with this setting from then on. To change the setting in the future, repeat the process of launching with the CONTROL key held down.

The "graphics" folder in the "media" data directory contains 2 background image files that must be named properly:

marquee_bg.jpg 	=	image used in the background of display 1
display_bg.jpg 	=	image used in the background of display 2

If you wish to change these files or if they are not present, simply create an image and name it properly in this folder. The images are shown fullscreen behind the interface, so for best results when creating a background image consider the resolution and aspect ratio of the system displays, and the location of onscreen buttons and controls.

HOW TO ADD MEDIA
"Shows" are stored as individual folders using show names in the media directory. Each showName folder requires a showName-info.txt file, a showName-poster.jpg file, and a video file (MP2, MP4, AVI, QuickTime MOV (h.264/aac)) or a folder containing a sequence of images. The showName text used for a given "show" must match exactly with name of the folder, the showName-info.txt file and the showName-poster.jpg image file.

The showName-info.txt file is similar to the config.txt file. It is a simple text file where you enter all the information controlling the display of that "show" item. NOTE: DO NOT CHANGE OR EDIT ANY LINES THAT START WITH "#".
1. title = the title of the show or event
2. name = either the video file name or the name of the image sequence folder
3. type = use only "video" or "sequence" depending on the type
4. sequence time delay = seconds between fades in image sequence (1-60 seconds, default = 3 sec). Leave this blank if the media is a video file.
5. description = text about the show or event. The size of the font used onscreen will attempt to adjust to fit for longer entries, but limit this text to a few sentences for best results. Blank lines are allowed (e.g. between paragraphs)

The showName-poster.jpg files are resized to fit into the thumbnail buttons. However for best results a 3x4 aspect ratio should be used (e.g. 480x640 px).  Videos are shown FULLSCREEN on display 2, so keep in mind the resolution and aspect ratio of that display when preparing movies.  Image sequences are shown at max size to fit on display 2. If images are smaller than display 2 they are not scaled up and will simply be shown at their normal full pixel size.

Samples for an exampleMovie and exampleSequence are included in the installation.  NOTE:  If the showName-info.txt has errors the entry will be ignored.

NOTE: The combined width of the dual-displays cannot exceed 4095 pixels. If they do, the display size will be limited so that the total width < 4096 pixels.

USER COUNT LOG
The user count log file is created and stored in "local app data" if logUserCount = TRUE in the settings config file.  The format of each line of the file is:
  MM.DD.YY HH:MM N
where
  MM.DD.YY	= date of most recent app restart
  HH:MM	= time of most recent app restart
  N	= user count since the time/date of most recent app restart
The current user count data is also available but hidden onscreen in the upper right corner of the main home/splash screen. Selecting that corner will toggle on the visibility of the most recent restart date, time and current user count. Selecting again will toggle the visibility off. Any other action to begin using the app as a new user will also toggle off the visibility of the user count data.