Release 10.2 is now available for Content Manager, Playback Audit Parser, Designer, Player, Broadcast Server, Publish Automation EX and IAdea Android Players.

Hi, we’re pleased to announce our latest release, available at www.scala.com/updates

Release 10.2

Multiple Products Release 10.2

• When installing any product, installation-logging is now on by default. The log file will be created as:
  %TEMP%\Setup Log <yyyy-mm-dd> #<number>.txt

  The log file can be overridden with the installer command-line argument

  /LOG=<logfilename>

Scala Enterprise Content Manager Release 10.2

• You can now see at a glance whether a Playlist has problems or warnings. A Playlist is marked if any of the following are true:
  • Contains a Media item whose upload is not complete.
  • Contains a Media item that needs approval.
  • Contains a Media item whose valid-date has passed.
  • Contains a Playlist item whose scheduled valid-range has passed.
  • Contains Sub-Playlists that are unhealthy.

  When looking at Playlist items, you can see at a glance which items have which problems or warnings.

• Re-introduced icons in many places, including:
  • On the Media list, for approval status and for valid-date expiry.
  • On the Players screen, for heartbeat status, plan status, and disabled players.
  • On the Player Health screen, for player health status.
  • On the Schedules screen, for the recurrence pattern of timeslots.
  • Various other places (User Profiles list, Maintenance Jobs list, Distribution, …)
• If you schedule a Message to an Android Player or a Samsung Player, it will display as a sequence of still-images.
• Significantly improved overall performance of the main screens within the user-interface.
• There is a new Playlist filter for Playlist Status, for viewing playlists with problems or warnings, or viewing playlists without.
• Added a Scala news feed to the Content Manager dashboard. This can be turned off or on from the Miscellaneous Settings tab of the Network Settings screen.
• The Content Manager dashboard now loads much faster, in some cases.
• The Server Monitoring functionality has been restored. On the System Settings screen, the Server Monitoring tab lets you open the monitoring and diagnostics provided by JavaMelody. JavaMelody has been upgraded to version 1.48, which includes performance-profiling support and other improvements. (To enable profiling, see the comments inweb.xml.)
• The Playback Audit reporting functionality is now supported within Scala Enterprise Content Manager. The various needed screens and properties have been created for the new user-interface. To use the Playback Audit log parser:
  • Enable Legacy Web Services within Content Manager under Network Settings > Legacy Web Services
  • Install the Playback Audit Parser on the same server or a separate computer, supplying the correct URLs and credentials during installation.
  • Enable Playback Audit reporting within Content Manager under Network Settings > Miscellaneous Settings.
  • Log out and back in again.
  • Go to Reporting > Database Configuration to set up the Playback Audit database options, then go to Reporting > Settings to set up report options.
• Under 64-bit Windows, the Playback Audit parser now runs as a 64-bit Java application. (A separate 32-bit Java runtime is therefore no longer needed.)
• The Broadcast Server is now supported within Scala Enterprise Content Manager. The various needed screens and properties have been created for the new user-interface.
• All time-fields use a new, improved time-editing control.
• When selecting dates in the calendar picker, there is now a drop-down list for months and for years, to easily reach more distant dates.
• Improved the appearance and information on the login screen.
• Removed the black footer from the Content Manager screens, for better use of screen space especially on smaller devices such as tablets or phones.
• The various modal dialogs no longer animate their size or position.
• When adding Media to a Playlist from the Media screen, you now have the option to create a new playlist.
• When adding Media to a Playlist from the Media screen, the Playlist chooser now has a Playlist-type filter. If the Media is audio, the list is filtered to show only audio or data Playlists, etc.
• You can roll back a Media item or Template to an earlier revision by going to the History tab of its Properties, selecting a prior revision and clicking Set as Current Revision.
• For Widgets and HTML Media items, you can now choose additional options, including Composition mode, Backdrop opacity, Show scrollbars, and Interactive, which affect how these items work in playback.
• On the Media screen, thumbnails now load much faster.
• If you make a Message using a Media element that is not approved, you get a warning dialog, and the item is also annotated.
• You can select a Message and click Duplicate to make and edit a copy. Duplicate leads to a naming dialog, and then places you on the Preview tab for easy editing of the new Message’s elements.
• On the Media screen and Templates screen, when adding Media, or selecting Media elements for a Message, the user can now filter by folder.
• On the Media screen, you can now filter by Upload Status.
• The History tab for Media Items and Templates now includes the date, time, and the user who uploaded the item.
• From the Templates screen, you can now select a template and click New Message to create a message.
• If you select a Template, and go to its History tab, you can see the previous revisions, and set a previous revision as the new current revision.
• The creation and modification information for Templates is now shown.
• When trying to delete a Template, the dialog now tells you how many messages use this template.
• You can select one or more Playlist Items, and click the new Move button, and move them to a different ordinal position within the list.
• Playlists are again drawn with the “deck of cards” appearance.
• You can now convert a Smart Playlist to a normal Playlist, either by selecting it and clicking Convert to Normal Playlist, or by selecting it and clicking Duplicate then selecting the conversion option in the resulting dialog.
• In the Playlist items view, if you scroll down to see more items, the button bar (Add Media, Add Sub-Playlist) remains in view.
• When adding Media to a Playlist, the Add Media dialog now has separate Add and Add and Close buttons, to make it easy to add some media and remain in the dialog.
• You can now drag and drop media from your desktop into the Items tab of a Playlist.
• Improved options available when editing a multi-selection of Playlists.
• You can now click on a Playlist’s thumbnail in places like the Time Triggers or Event Triggers list, or the Non-Scheduled Content tab, and get a lightbox-preview of the playlist.
• Various improvements to the lightbox preview of Playlists, including better handling of different-sized media.
• When defining the conditions for a Smart Playlist, you can now match based on the Template used by a Message.
• When entering the details view for a Playlist, the Items tab is now the initially-selected one.
• If you only have view-access to certain playlists, those playlists are now denoted “(view only)” in the list.
• Playlist duration is also shown within the Playlist Properties screen.
• Playlist item properties is now faster to display.
• When working with Playlist Items, the button bar no longer scrolls with the list, for easier access.
• In various dialogs where you select a Playlist, you can now filter by Playlist Status.
• Improved drag-behavior when creating new timeslots.
• On the Schedules screen, you can now edit a timeslot more easily by using the new Edit Timeslot button. (Double-clicking is still supported.)
• On the Schedules screen, you can now delete a timeslot more easily by using the new Remove Timeslot button.
• When changing the Frameset of a Channel, the frames of the new frameset retain the schedule or triggers of same-named frames. You are warned about frames whose schedules or triggers will be lost if you proceed.
• When working with lists of framesets, you can now filter on the number of frames in the frameset.
• On the Audiovisuals tab of a Channel, you can now mark a frame as Hidden. This can be useful in certain advanced scenarios to schedule a playlist that runs without visuals. (This feature requires a matching version of Player.)
• Creating Event Triggers is now simpler and more consistent. Instead of every channel variable being listed as a potential trigger, you click Add and select the variable to use for each trigger.
• You can now drag the Event Triggers to re-arrange their priority.
• When returning to the Schedules screen, Content Manager now remembers which channel’s schedule you last visited.
• Made the Save and Save and Close button behavior consistent when adding channel variables.
• On the Channels screen, you can now duplicate a channel.
• You can now edit a multi-selection of Channels.
• If you alter the Frameset of a Channel, you can now save it as a new Frameset preset.
• Improved layout of the Channel Variables tab.
• On the Players screen, selecting Not Assigned or Any Assigned under the Channel or Player Groups filters will ghost the other filter choices.
• Improved the Player log viewer, with filtering, sorting, etc.
• Samsung Smart Signage Players now return logs, and report problems to Content Manager.
• When configuring a Samsung Smart Signage Player, you can now configure the log level and the plan-polling interval.
• If you add or remove players or player groups for a Maintenance job, you now have to explicitly use the Save button to save these changes.
• Since you can re-order maintenance tasks for a job, they are rendered with a “gripper”.
• When adding Players or Player Groups to a Maintenance Job, the list is now paginated.
• The playback audit reports now include the selection criteria in the report.
• When the playback audit database is configured on a separate server from the Playback Audit Parser, the parser now automatically uses the remote-database logic. (Before, that needed to be manually configured.)
• Back in Release 6.1, the Playback Audit Reporting module grew a feature to include audit-events placed on individual pages or elements in a ScalaScript. This is now supported when the playback audit database is on a different server than the Playback Audit Parser.
• Content Manager now ships with Java 7 Update 45.
• When you update Content Manager to a new version, the web application now automatically refreshes within each client’s browser.
• If the installer detects that your Tomcat, Java, or PostgreSQL version is too old, it now tells you the minimum required version.
• The installer now sets default values for Tomcat Java memory, based on your system configuration. (If you modify these values further, the installer will respect your changes.)
• The installer now lets you disable or enable Tomcat access logs. Although Tomcat access logs can be useful for certain diagnostics, but can grow very large over time. The question is asked once (whether a new installation or an upgrade), and can be later accessed by re-running Setup and modifying the web application settings.
• Various user-roles need implicit rights. For example, a message editor needs view-playlist rights. Before, these rights were shown on the Roles screen as dimmed checkboxes, and related screens — such as the Playlists screen — would be reachable. Now, those screens are no longer reachable unless a user has those rights explicitly.
• The User Profiles list now includes a Roles column.
• On the User Profiles screen, you can now sort by Last Login.
• The User Activity log now also contains password-change events.
• On the Workgroup column of the User Profiles list, the full hierarchy to the Workgroup is now shown.
• The Playback Audit Parser now cleans up its logs that are older than 30 days.
• The installer for the Playback Audit Parser now warns that if an existing Content Manager has a large accumulation of audit logs, then those should be cleaned up before proceeding.
• If a user has email notification enabled, then an email address is required in order to save changes to that user’s profile.
• Improved the security of how the user-interface handles authentication tokens to protect against cross-site request forgery (XSRF) attacks.
• Content Manager has defensive logic to block repeated failed login attempts from the same IP address. When using a web accelerator (reverse proxy), the origin IP address will appear to be the address of the reverse proxy, which could lead to blocking too much. If your reverse proxy sets the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header, you can tell Content Manager to use the most recent IP address from that header when making blocking-decisions for failed login attempts. To enable this feature, set the UseXForwardedForIpBanning feature option totrue in features.xml. See Scala Enterprise Content Manager features.xml Options for more information.
• As part of general security hardening, the 2.0 web services now require a new API-token that is only accepted within HTTP request headers. (The API-token is not accepted in URLs or cookies.) There is a separate token, the get-token, that is only allowed for GET services, and is supported in HTTP request headers or within a cookie. (The get-token is not accepted in URLs). These tokens are obtained using the Login API.
• You can now re-order Media Metadata or Player Metadata by dragging the items in the list on the metadata screens. That controls the order that metadata is presented on individual Media items or Players.
• Content Manager now validates the length of Player and Media metadata.
• Added proper range limits for integer metadata.
• Under Internet Explorer, items per page is now limited to a maximum of 100, for better browser performance and behavior.
• The Tomcat access logs can grow quite large on a busy server. By default, they are now no longer included when using the Download Logs feature. This can be changed by setting theSKIP_ACCESS_LOGS feature option to false in features.xml. See Scala Enterprise Content Manager features.xml Options for more information. (Either way, the logs remain kept by Tomcat on the server.)
• Fixed a problem handling media with certain special characters in the filename (e.g. percent signs).
• Fixed a problem when drag-uploading a large number of files, where some of them would still be tagged as “Uploading…” even when they were complete.
• Fixed a problem where a broken upload of a new revision of an existing media item would not show the item as now incomplete.
• Fixed a problem where certain media files wth spaces in their file names could not be previewed in the lightbox.
• If you logout, then immediately log back in as a user of a different language, the menu-bar could have been shown in the wrong language. This is now fixed.
• When creating a Message, if you select a media element, and Cancel out of that, you are returned to the New Message dialog, rather than canceling all the way out.
• If you add a media with unknown duration to a playlist, it will be correctly treated as having unknown duration. (Before, it could have ended up with a declared duration of one second.)
• When adding media to a playlist, if you clear a filter in the Add dialog, the items list didn’t always refresh properly. This is now fixed.
• Clicking Clear to clear a message field now correctly updates the number of characters remaining for the field.
• The confirmation button of the Add Web Page Media Item dialog is now correctly labeled Create.
• Fixed a bug where after creating a new Web Page media item, the media list would show all entries instead of respecting the filter.
• When a user without approval rights created a new Web Page, it was being approved automatically. This is now fixed.
• For a Message with a Playlist element, if no Playlist is selected, a broken icon was sometimes shown. This is now fixed.
• A user that is not a member of any workgroup could not add media to a playlist from the Playlists screen. This is now fixed.
• Fixed an “invalid resource” error that could occur when a user tries to edit a Message where the Template was in a different Workgroup.
• Fixed a problem when editing a multi-selection of Templates, where editing the Description could alter the Categories of some Templates.
• Fixed a problem where certain changes in Template Administration could not be saved.
• If you delete all templates in the list, the button bar was not removed. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a problem where editing the metadata of a multi-selection of media would not update the selected items’ timestamp.
• Fixed problems in the Workgroup filter inside the Add Media dialog box.
• Fixed a bug where Media or Playlists belonging to a since-deleted Workgroup would still show that they belong to that Workgroup.
• Fixed a bug where pressing <Enter> in the multi-line text box of a new message could trigger the Create action, instead of inserting a newline.
• When importing users from LDAP, now correct assign the workgroup based on the information from the LDAP server. Also, a warning is now shown if the LDAP-indicated workgroup does not exist within Content Manager.
• Fixed a problem where a Message with a Playlist element could show an incorrect warning about unapproved elements.
• Fixed a bug where properties for a sub-playlist item were not available if it was a Smart Playlist.
• Fixed a problem where a Smart Playlist with no conditions would not update its items. (This could happen if you delete the metadata used for the sole condition of the Smart Playlist.)
• Fixed a problem where after converting a Smart Playlist to a normal Playlist, the item-number in the first column would not be correct.
• Fixed a problem where deleting a metadata condition from a Smart Playlist would not always update the Items tab.
• Fixed a problem seen in Internet Explorer where a “broken link” icon would be shown for message elements that were not set.
• Turning off approval for a network now sets all media to approved.
• A user with view-media rights but not edit-media rights no longer is shown approvals-buttons. (Those buttons would not have worked for that user in any case.)
• Under Media Information, media files that have no dimension, or have no duration, no longer show those attributes at all (before, a question mark was shown).
• When creating a new Message, the Create button was sometimes pushed off-screen. This is now fixed.
• In Media Properties and Message Properties, the creation time is again shown.
• Fixed a problem where thumbnails for media of unknown type were broken in languages other than English.
• Worked around a Chrome problem where a playlist with a large number of items could crash the browser.
• Fixed a poorly-worded error message if you try to use an existing name when duplicating a message or playlist.
• When viewing playlists with very large numbers of items, the spinning gear would sometimes disappear before the list was ready to show.
• Fixed a problem where setting an adjacency condition for Playlist items could sometimes show “There has been a server error.”
• Fixed a problem where updating several large Smart Playlists could lead to a Server Error message being displayed.
• Fixed a case where a user was in rare cases blocked from accessing a message if it contained an element belonging to a different workgroup.
• Various cleanups to the implicit rights needed to support certain roles, including:
  • Fixed a bug where a user whose role permitted deleting messages but not media could not delete messages.
  • Fixed a problem where a user whose role included everything would sometimes be unable to edit certain objects.
  • Fixed a problem where users whose role included “View players” rights also had “Edit player metadata” rights.
  • Fixed a problem where users whose role included “View playlist/Edit playlist” rights would not have access to the View in Content Library button.
  • Fixed a problem where users with “View Playlists” or “Update Playlists” rights were unable to perform certain tasks pertaining to workgroups, players, or player groups.
  • Users with Edit Messages rights can now create or edit messages that have Playlist elements.
  • A user with “Full access to playlists” rights would in some cases not be able to delete playlists. This is now fixed.
• Fixed incorrect Playlists breadcrumb after adding a media item to a playlist from the Media screen.
• Fixed a problem in Smart Playlists, where Show Matching Items would also show items from the wrong workgroup (the actual playlist items were correct).
• Fixed a bug where a Smart Playlist’s conditions would not be shown if you navigated there via View in Content Library.
• Fixed an error that could occur when using a Smart Playlist condition aobut an integer-type Media metadata.
• Fixed a “This resource is invalid” error that could occur after deleting all metadata.
• Fixed a bug when editing a multi-selection of Playlist Items, where setting of transition options would not always take.
• Fixed a bug where after adding Media to a Playlist, before clicking Save, the Adjacency picker would not show the newly-added items.
• Fixed an invalid error that could occur if you navigated away from the Playlist Properties page while it was still loading.
• Fixed a bug where after adding items to a Playlist and performing certain edit sequences, the wrong items could end up selected.
• Fixed a bug when editing multiple Playlist items and modifying the Audio ducking and Fullscreen options, where the OK button was not being enabled.
• Fixed a “No row with the given identifier” error that could occur when deleting items.
• Fixed a problem where a Smart Playlist whose condition was “Media.Type is Web Page” could show “Media.Type is ScalaScript” instead.
• Fixed a bug where a Playlist item set to expire today would be shown as expired.
• Fixed a bug where after duplicating a Smart Playlist, the item duration in the new playlist ended up wrong.
• Fixed a bug where the Smart Playlist item count was not always updated.
• Fixed a problem where updating the computed duration for Playlists could take forever.
• In the Timeslot Properties dialog, if you change the playlist, and then cancel out of the playlist dialog, it would also cancel you out of the Timeslot Properties dialog. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a bug where changing the color of a Timeslot could pop the color to red.
• When selecting a Playlist for a Timeslot, it was possible to filter for Playlists whose Workgroup is “Not assigned” at the same time as “Any assigned”. These options are now exclusive.
• Fixed a bug where deleting a timeslot and creating a new one could sometimes show both of them.
• Fixed a bug where unlocking a timeslot would remove its end-date.
• Fixed a bug on the Channels properties screen, where the Save and Save and Close buttons could disappear while adding channel variables.
• A user having only permission to view and edit channels was unable to modify the frameset. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a problem seen under Internet Explorer where you could not customize frameset dimensions.
• Fixed a problem seen under Internet Explorer where the channel variable name defaults did not work as intended.
• Fixed a problem where you could not specify a repeating time trigger without also supplying the end time.
• Users can now access Timeslot Properties or Triggers, even if the current Playlist is from a workgroup they do not have access to.
• When changing which channel you’re looking at on the Schedules screen, the channel-list picker no longer has a New+ button.
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to create players whose name differs only by leading or trailing spaces.
• When uploading maintenance files using Internet Explorer, the list of files was not always refreshing when the upload completed. This is now fixed.
• In the Maintenance Jobs screen, the file selector now lets you delete maintenance files you no longer need.
• In the Select File dialog of the Maintenance screen, if you use drag-and-drop to re-upload an existing file, it appeared to not complete. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a bug which prevented viewing maintenance job execution status.
• Fixed a bug where in rare cases a player inventory could be shown incorrectly.
• If you add or remove a player from a maintenance job, that job’s last-modified date was not being updated. This is now fixed.
• Removed some unneeded columns from the Add Players dialog for maintenance jobs.
• On the Maintenance screen, the Players column now shows the correct count after adding/removing player groups from the maintenance job.
• Fixed a problem in the Job Execution Status dialog where the Close button was sometimes pushed off the bottom and unreachable.
• Fixed a problem that prevented setting network bandwidth throttling, in some cases.
• Fixed a case where viewing 500 or 1000 players per page on the Players screen could provoke the browser to crash or freeze.
• Fixed a bug on the Players screen where a player that never reported could be listed as “Plan downloaded”.
• Fixed a problem on the Player Health screen where the search filters did not always work correctly.
• When clearing all problems on the last page of the Player Health screen, the page now updates correctly to show the new last page.
• Fixed a problem where the bandwidth limit control could be cut off when using Firefox.
• When deleting a Player Group, you are warned about where this group is used. The links would to lists of Players or Playlist Items that were not actually filtered by the affected group. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a problem where after entering too long a role-name, you would still get an error after entering a shorter name.
• Fixed a problem where it was possible to edit the “Administrator” role.
• Fixed a problem when working in the Roles screen where the page URL could grow extra blackslashes and ultimately become invalid.
• Fixed a problem when using a language other than English, where changes to the Miscellaneous Settings tab of the User Profiles screen could fail to be saved.
• Fixed a problem where starting to change the password, then unchecking Change my password would leave you unable to successfully save changes.
• Removed unneeded button-bar from the Import from LDAP dialog.
• Fixed a bug where it was sometimes possible to create several metadata with the same name.
• Deleting a parent workgroup now correctly cleans up media items belonging to sub-workgroups.
• Fixed a bug that prevented you from removing a Player Group from a Player.
• On the User Profiles screen, users who never logged in were sorted above the most recent logins, on systems that used PostgreSQL. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a problem on the dashboard where the number of users shown also included inactive users.
• Now enforce a 225-character length limit on folder names.
• If you have a Publish Location set to auto-approve all content, and you use media from that Publish Location within a Message, you could get an incorrect warning about media being unapproved. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a problem where the Ad Manager options were not always being shown, for mult-network Content Managers.
• Fixed a problem where on a fresh installation or re-installation of Content Manager, it would sometimes not show the initial setup wizard, leaving the installation unusable.
• Only the Administrator user can now access the API documentation.
• Fixed an incorrect warning message about unsaved changes when navigating away from the Folders page.
• Fixed a bug where license upload could fail when using Internet Explorer 8, 9, or 10.
• Fixed a problem where email-related exceptions were being logged when no Mail Server had been configured.
• Improved the sizing of the dialog boxes, in certain extreme cases.
• Fixed a bug on first installation where after naming the network, Content Manager would sometimes appear to get stuck.
• Fixed a problem on first installation where you could get a “This resource is invalid” error message after naming your network.
• In User Profiles, first name and last name are now required.
• A few information dialogs had both an OK and Cancel button. Removed the unnecessary Cancel button.
• Various minor improvements to the Content Manager UI layout and performance.
• Fixed various localization issues.
• Various improvements to the 2.0 Web Services APIs, including:
  • Corrected annotation of various API services that should have been POST, or GET.
  • New features and methods corresponding to new capabilities in the user-interface.
  • Improved documentation, including for the HeartbeatDTO.
  • Various cleanups and improved error handling in the Messages web services.
  • Fixed the return type of duplicateMessage.
  • Improved docs on setting Player metadata.
  • downloadThreads and unusedFileCache fields are no longer required when updating a Player.

Scala Designer and Scala Player Release 10.2

• The Web Clip element now supports multi-touch.
• Multiple Web Clip elements at the same time is now supported.
• The Web Clip element now supports playback of H.264 video within the web page.
• The Web Clip element now supports HTML drop-down menus / lists.
• The Web Clip element now has a Scrollbars() option.
• The Web Clip element now has an Interactive() option, that governs whether the Web Clip receives input and has a mouse-pointer.
• The Web Clip element now supports web pages with alpha-transparency, through the new CMode(opaque|transparent) option that controls the composition mode.
• Improved visual performance of Web Clip content.
• The Text element and TextCrawl element now support inline images. (Currently supported with the standard text-engine, not yet supported with the Complex Writing Systems engine.)
• For Text Crawl elements, now support a separator image that gets added between crawl-segments.
• The Box element now supports various corner styles (normal, rounded, angled, scooped, or notched), making it possible to have rounded rectangles and other useful shapes.
• ScalaScript variable names may now contain Unicode characters. Since variable names are used as the field-names when creating Scala templates, that helps get the template forms in Content Manager to be in the user’s own language.
• When defining a Text Crawl element, the text source may now be a variable, which can be an array variable.
• The Frame() command now supports the same If() parameter that most commands support.
• In ScalaScript, the various string-comparison operators have always been case-insensitive. This now works case-insensitively for Unicode strings too (i.e., accented or international characters are also treated case-insensitively).
• Fixed a problem where certain unusual compression formats in MOV or MP4 containers were not supported.
• Updated video playback to use FFMPEG version 2.1.1.
• Updated Web Clip playback to use Chromium version 31.1650.
• Playback now uses less memory when hardware-accelerated video is being used.
• The “User-Agent” string used for WebClip can be customized using the MMOS.INI setting:
  WEBCLIP_UserAgent=string
• Added a new Python module named scws2 that wraps the “Version 2.0″ REST-based Content Manager Enterprise APIs.
• Implemented and improved Web Clip JavaScript functions:
  • window.ScalaGetVariable(“variable-name“): Returns the value of the given Player metadata variable. (window.ScalaGetMetaDataValue() is a synonym.)
  • window.ScalaDone(): Signals to playback that the web content is done, and the script or playlist can move on.
• Fixed a problem in the Data Source module where it would loop incorrectly when using a Custom Step Size.
• Fixed a problem where streaming of certain 60fps H.264 or MPEG-2 videos could stutter.
• Fixed a problem where certain H.264 streams could temporarily freeze for a few seconds.
• Fixed a problem where 60fps transport streams could gradually lose audio/video sync over time.
• Fixed an occasional crash cleaning up a Web Clip.
• Fixed a bug where the Python installer could fail on certain systems that had spaces in the path of both the installation folder and the Windows temporary folder,
• Removed an incorrect and unneeded parameter from the StreamingVideoStyle() and StreamingVideoClipStyle() commands.
• In some cases, the Caps option could do the wrong thing for non-English lower-case letters. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a problem in the scws Python module that could result in a “TypeError: None not callable” error.

Scala Designer Release 10.2

• Designer now supports auto-recovery of unsaved changes. In Tools > Options, the new Auto Recover tab lets you specify how often scripts should be checkpointed, and where. When Designer starts up, if it finds auto-recovery information for one or more scripts, you will be asked if you wish to recover those scripts. If you open a script that has auto-recovery information, you will also be asked what you wish to do.
• You can now insert an image within a text element. Position the cursor at the desired place, and either right-click and select Insert Image, use the Edit > Insert Image pull-down menu option, or select Insert Image from inside the new Image popup on the Design panel. Images that are too tall will be resized down to match your choice of range, which can be the font’s caps-height, caps-height including ascender-space, or cell-height. Images that are too short will be aligned according to your choice of top, middle, or bottom with that span. Those range and alignment choices are also in the Image popup.
• Text Crawl elements also support images within the crawl text, through the use of Text Style Tags. Specifically, Here are new text style tags for images: <imagepath>, <imagevar>,<imagerange>, and <imagealign>.
• For Text Crawl elements, you can now specify a separator image that gets added between crawl-segments.
• For Text Crawl elements, the text can now be bound to a string-array (before, you could only bind to simple string variables).
• The new Web Clip Control panel lets you set whether a Web Clip is rendered opaque or with transparency, whether it has scroll bars or not, and whether it is interactive.
• Images within text can be bound to data fields.
• When mapping data sources with repeated (array) values, there are several additional variables you can define and use:
  • an additional array can be created which tells you if the given entry exists. You can choose the variable name, but it defaults to “.exists[]” added to the repeating XML element’s name. For example, when mapping 10 records at a time, if only 8 of them exist in the current loop, then item.exists[n] will be true for n=0..7 but false for n=8 and n=9.
  • Current Count Variable: number of items available in the current loop iteration.
  • Current Loop Variable: The iteration number of the current loop.
  • Total Count Variable: Total number of items available.
  • Current Index Variable: The index of the first record of the current loop.
• On the Data Source panel, Max Loops is not shown unless you enable Loop Through Records?. When you do enable looping, Max Loops now defaults to infinity.
• The variable selector dialog now shows the initial value of each variable, as well as its use count.
• The Script Properties dialog now has a Fonts tab, listing all the fonts referenced by the script. Any non-embeddable fonts will be denoted by a lock icon. Any missing fonts will be denoted by an “x” icon.
• In the Script Properties Data tab, you can now Clone an existing variable.
• When working with elements that are bound to array variables, you can now alter the array index of those elements, using the new Edit > Set Array Index feature. For example, when working with data feeds, you can copy and paste a set of elements bound to the first array index, and then in one operation, increment the array index of the copy.
• The variable picker for Text Entry Fields uses the new standard variable selector dialog.
• In the Data Source mapper dialog, you can no longer set Number of Records to zero.
• When binding a Sound file to a variable, the new style of Bind button is used.
• You can now bind a streaming video page to a data field, by entering the page and binding its background. You can now bind a Streaming Video Clip by selecting the clip and binding it.
• The Transition panel now has Copy Transition and Paste Transition buttons, allowing you to easily apply transitions from one element or page to another.
• When sharing variables with a Python script, if the ScalaScript variable name includes a dot, it will be represented in Python with an underscore instead.
• The File > Export to HTML Slides feature now defaults to using PNG files. You can still select JPEG in the dialog that opens.
• The various “open recent” and “add recent” menu items are now placed immediately after the corresponding item that lets you select a file:
  • File > Open Recent is now immediately after File > Open…
  • Add > Add Page From Recent Media File is now immediately after Add Page From Media File…
  • Add > Add Recent File is now immediately after Add > File(s)…
• When you mouse over an element, its selection border will now faintly highlight, to make it clear which element would be selected when you click.
• Help on ScalaScript commands, functions, variables, and text-tags is now available from the Help pull-down menu.
• Help on inline text style-tags is now available from the Help pull-down menu.
• Saved ScalaScripts now use an internal version-number of 1020, that is they begin with:
  !ScalaScript1020

  This is used to identify the new syntax for template variables, and to handle older scripts.

• The Backdrop options-popup has a new Link Padding? option, to link the four padding options together.
• Fixed a bug where the Add Page From Media File… dialog would sometimes open with the file-type filtered to only show sound files.
• When using Paste Format, outline softness and shadow softness are now correctly applied.
• When using Paste Format, clip chroma-key range and feather are now correctly applied.
• When using Paste Format, it now works as expected on multi-state buttons.
• If you lock a text element, it was still possible to modify it in several ways (bind it to data, paste text, and others). This is now fixed.
• Fixed a bug where clicking on variables or functions in the Variables panel could pop up a syntax-error dialog while you were still constructing an expression for a variable.
• Fixed a couple of duplicate hotkeys in the Edit pulldown menu and the element right-mouse menu.
• Fixed a crash that could occur with a hand-written script where certain integer parameters were bound to real variables.
• Fixed a bug where pasting elements that had no transition would sometimes give them a Cut transition.
• Fixed a bug where the font name for a button element was not being shown.
• Fixed a bug where it was not possible to unbind the x or y position of an element.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when entering a page containing text entry buttons.
• Fixed a bug where an options popup could close if you clicked next to a slider knob.
• In the Data Source mapper, if the preview text had embedded newlines, it is now displayed correctly.
• Fixed a bug where locked elements were no longer being rendered with the lock-symbol.
• If you use <Shift>+<Enter> to break a text element, the borders of both new elements were supposed to flash, but only one was. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a bug where setting an expression on an element in the Page view would be lost if you closed the Variables panel without first hitting <Enter>.

Scala Player Release 10.2

• Player now supports the hidden-frame feature of Content Manager.
• Player now supports the various Web Clip options for HTML elements and widgets (transparency mode, scroll bars, interactive).
• If the Player system is unable to open its monitor configuration (e.g. an HDMI or DVI cable becomes unplugged), Player’s logic is to reboot and retry. You can now request Player to fall back to displaying the first channel on the surviving output. To do this, and to limit the number of reboot attempts, use the MMOS.INI setting:
  RUNIC_MonitorConfigRetryLimit=n
• If you set the service start-type of the Transmission Client service to “Automatic (Delayed Start)”, this is now preserved when you update the Player.
• Fixed a bug where updating Player using the command-line installer would often require a reboot at the end, if the Transmission Client had been installed as a service.
• If a ScalaScript is made to play full-screen by Content Manager, and its aspect ratio doesn’t match, the letterbox area is now blank. (Before content from underneath could show through.)
• Player was sometimes initiating server requests without username/password, then correctly supplying connection credentials upon retry. Now player presents username/password upon first connection, which is more efficient on the network and the server.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when updating a Player having a single-item playlist that contains a sub-playlist.
• Fixed a rare problem where a crash could lead to an error dialog. The dialog is now suppressed, which allows the Player to restart by itself.
• Fixed a problem where a playlist containing just a single ScalaScript would not be interrupted when the playlist was updated.

Scala Android Player Release 10.2

• Optimized Player logging and database activity for better long term behavior on Flash-memory devices. Note: Use of Diagnostic level logging can produce very large logs, and therefore should only be used during active debugging. (Otherwise, free storage on the player, and Flash-memory wear, could become a problem.)
• Log files and related files are now kept on the device’s internal storage instead of any SD card (helps with Flash-memory wear-leveling.)
• If you schedule a Message to an Android Player, it will display as a sequence of still-images.
• The Android Player now includes a watchdog that monitors various components of playback and communication, and will restart the media player if any of those components appear to be frozen.
• Reworked the Player Configuration screens to be more usable and generally better.
• The Player Configuration now has options to enable the player watchdog, and set the billing logs queue size and the status logs queue size.
• Cookies are now persisted by the HTML environment of the Player.
• In the event of a Player crash, the error report now includes a more complete stack trace, which can help Scala debug certain types of issue.
• On the IAdea Android Media Players, the auto-start and nightly reboot is controlled by the Android system properties, rather than by the Player application.
• Improved the recording of version/build information into the Player log and the status reports to Content Manager.
• When Android Players process maintenance jobs, the Retry Until date is now supported.
• Reimplemented how Android Players store local data, for improved robustness.
• The APK update on IAdea Players now handles low disk space properly.
• Fixed a problem where players could stop sending heartbeats.
• Fixed a potential hang that could occur if network connectivity was lost just after starting to download a piece of content.
• Fixed how the Player boot time is reported to Content Manager, so that Content Manager will correctly display it.
• Fixed the behavior of the HTML <select> element on Android 2.x devices.
• Fixed how the Player reports its build date, so that information is correctly displayed in Content Manager.
• Fixed a problem where cleanup might not occur on the Player’s Content folder.

Scala Samsung Smart Signage Player Release 10.2

• The Samsung Player can now connect to Content Manager via HTTPS.
• If you schedule a Message to a Samsung Player, it will display as a sequence of still-images.
• During the download of a new plan and its content, the Samsung Player will now continue to show the previously-received plan.
• Added support for framesets with multiple frames. This feature requires that your Samsung players have the Scala Samsung SSP HTML Enhanced Player license — please contact Scala for more information. Note that the are several hardware limitations:
  • Video may only play in one frame at a time.
  • In case of overlapping frames, the video will be underneath other rendering.
  • The frame rate for any video file should be half the display’s refresh rate, to avoid a flicker / repainting at the beginning and end of the video.
• Added support for reporting various problems back to Content Manager.
• The Samsung Player now logs activity, and sends those logs to Content Manager, where they may be viewed.
• Added support for several transitions, including Wipe, Center, Curtain, and Corner.
• Optimized the checking for new plans, in the case where the plan is unchanged.
• Improved plan-status reporting so that it’s easier to see in Content Manager that the Samsung Player is functioning.
• When the Samsung Player cleans up unused files, it now also cleans up empty folders inside the Content area.
• If you schedule an HTML widget to play on the Samsung Player (which is not supported), it now reports a problem back to Content Manager.
• The Samsung Player now checks for available free storage before downloading new content. (This feature may require updating the firmware on the Samsung display.)
• The Player heartbeat rate and Plan Polling interval set in Content Manager are now respected on the Samsung Player. Before they were always one minute.
• Better recovery in case the Samsung Player encounters a malformed plan file.
• Fixed a rare stuck-problem that could occur if Content Manager is not reachable at the time the Samsung Player is turned on.
• In the case where the Samsung Player is downloading content but the network connection is lost, the Player was not always showing the red spinner, as it should have. This is now fixed.
• Fixed a problem where the Samsung Player would skip sub-playlists that contained only a single media item.

Regards,
The Scala team