Shape control
| Supported file types | Not applicable |
| Playlist support | Yes |
| Scheduler support | Hourly, daily and weekly scheduling |
| Scrolling support | Yes |
| Rotation support | No |
| File locations | Not applicable |
| Training video YouTube video |
Repeat Signage
Controls - Shape control (04:19 min/secs) Selecting a logo colour in Repeat Signage |
Description
You can insert the following shapes into your presentation:
Circle
Diamond
Rectangle
Rectangle rounded (the corners are rounded)
Rectangle right rounded
Rectangle left rounded
Rectangle top rounded
Rectangle bottom rounded
Semicircle
Semicircle upside down
Triangle
Triangle upside down
Triangle to the left
Triangle to the right
Triangle top left corner
Triangle right left corner
Triangle bottom left corner
Triangle bottom right corner
Vertical bars small
Vertical bars large
Small grid
Chessboard
Rectangle bottom right rounded
Rectangle bottom left rounded
Rectangle top right rounded
Rectangle top left rounded
The shape control is actually the Text label control with no text so that you are just seeing the font background colour. This colour can be a solid colour, a gradient colour, or a picture.
Repeat Signage V5 - Alternatives to using the shape control
Repeat Signage V5 includes 4000+ Repeat Icons, which are icons and shapes that you can use to enhance your presentations. You can also display SVG files and use free software like Inkscape to easily create basic shapes in any colour and display them with our Animated gif control.
Simple shapes
On the designer screen menu, click on 'Insert' then 'Shape'. This will allow you to choose an shape and also select a basic or gradient colour. You can then position and size your shape control as required. Double click the shape control to view the properties. Because this actually a Text label control, you could add text onto the shape later on if required.
Lines
You can put a line on screen by inserting a rectangle shape and then set the width or height of the line to 1 (or more) pixels. For example, a horizontal line could be 400 x 1 pixels
Playlists of shapes
You can create a play list of shapes. Insert shape as for 'Simple shapes' above. Then double click the shape control to display it's properties. Put a tick in the 'Use play list instead' tick box. This will take you to the Playlist tab. Your first shape appears in the grid for you. Use the 'Add' button to add other shapes to the list. It is asking for text, but leave the text blank and use the Shape tab to choose a shape. Currently, you cannot have different coloured shapes in a playlist.
Scrolling shape files
Create a play list of shapes (see above). Open the control's properties by double clicking it and select the 'Scrolling tab'. Change the 'Scroll direction' combo box to an entry other than NONE, for example RIGHT TO LEFT. Click on OK to see it scrolling. For more scrolling options, on the properties 'Scrolling tab', press the F1 key to see the various options.
Also see Single, playlist, scrolling and advanced scrolling for visual examples of what is currently possible.
Scheduling the playing of shapes (Standard and above editions only)
The information on creating a play list above shows you how to create a play list that just loops your shapes. On the play list tab, there is a 'Schedule type' drop down list. You can change this from 'PLAYLIST' to 'HOURLY', 'DAILY', or 'WEEKLY'. The difference of these to the 'PLAYLIST' option is that when you add items you have to specify 'From' and 'To' time values.
For example, an HOURLY scheduler can be used to display a shape at the start of every hour for 1 minute (0 minutes 0 seconds to 0 minutes 59 seconds). You have to put in shapes to cover the entire hour. If you don't want anything playing for the rest of the hour, then insert a blank item that covers from 1 minute 0 seconds to 59 minutes 59 seconds. At the end of an hour, the entire hourly schedule will loop again. When you play a presentation, it displays items based on the current time or day.
When you add a blank item, you can decide whether to make the blank item display the background of the control (which you can specify a colour or picture for) or whether to make the entire control invisible. When adding or editing a blank item, go to the 'Blank item' tab and either tick or un-tick the 'Entire control is visible' box. This is useful for scheduling when you want a control invisible.
The DAILY schedule type allows you to specify shapes and blank items to cover the entire day. At the end of the day, the schedule will start again. WEEKLY allows you to schedule what happens on each day of the week (at any time), and then restarts at the beginning of the next week. Repeat Signage uses Monday as the first day of the business week. Another thing to note is that every control that supports scheduling runs independently of all others, so you can have lots of different controls all doing different things.
Tools have been added to Repeat Signage to help you test scheduling. On the designer screen menu, you can click on 'View' then 'View program time for schedule testing'. Clicking on this puts the time on the bottom right of the designer screen menu. This is the clock that Repeat Signage uses with controls. You can change this time using 'View' then 'Change program time for schedule testing'. This allows you to change either the time or date, so that you can see what will be displayed at any point. For example, you may have an 'offer of the day' for each day of the week, made by displaying pictures in a picture control. Changing the program date to another day will allow you to test that the correct picture file, with that day's offer on, is being displayed.