10.4. Managing Services

To manage services in RDAdmin, touch the Manage Services button to open the Rivendell Services dialog.

The Rivendell Services Dialog

To examine and modify an existing service, touch its entry in the Services list and then touch the Edit button to open the Edit Service Dialog.

The Edit Service Dialog

10.4.1. The General Section

The Service Name field contains the name of the service (read-only). This value is available in filepath wildcards as %s.

The Service Description field is for a free-form string that describes the service.

The Program Code is a string that is sent to RLM plug-ins as part of every Now & Next update.

The Log Name Template field is a string that defines how logs will be named when generated by RDLogManager. This field can take filepath wildcards.

The Log Description Template field is a string that defines how the Description for each log will be formatted for logs generated by RDLogManager. This field can take filepath wildcards.

The Voicetrack Group dropdown specifies the Rivendell group to be used for storing voicetracks for this service.

The AutoSpot Group dropdown specifies the Rivendell group to be used for storing carts used for the AutoSpot functionality.

The Insert CHAIN TO at log end, if ticked, will cause a CHAIN-TO event to the following day's log to be appended to the log when generated by RDLogManager.

The Enable AutoRefresh By Default box, if ticked, will cause the log's Enable AutoRefresh attribute to be set to Yes when generated by RDLogManager.

The Purge Logs after box, if ticked, will set the deletion date for logs to be the specified number of days after being created by RDLogManager.

The Purge ELR Data after box, if ticked, will cause Electronic Log Reconiliation (ELR) as-played data to be purged from the database the specified number of days after being generated.

10.4.1.1. Configuring Autofill Carts

The Configure Autofill Carts button will bring up the Autofill Carts dialog>

The Autofill Carts Dialog

Carts listed in this dialog will be considered for inclusion in an event by RDLogManager when the event's Use Autofill box is ticked. When filling a gap, RDLogManager will recursively scan the list of available carts, working from the longest to to shortest, and insert the longest cart that will fit. The process will stop when either the available gap has been completely filled or no cart short enough to fit has been found.

10.4.1.2. Enabling Hosts for Service Playout

The Enable Hosts button will bring up the Hosts dialog, where the hosts for which this service is allowed to be played can be defined

The Hosts Dialog

10.4.2. Traffic/Music Data Importation Settings

With the exception of one field (Insert Traffic Break String), the Traffic Data Import and Music Data Import sections are identical. Thus, only the Music Data Import section will be described here.

The upper part of the section consists of string fields and a dropdown box.

Log Importation String Fields

The Linux Import Path field takes the fully-qualified path to the file to be used for import events by RDLogManager when run on Linux. This field can take filepath wildcards.

The Linux Preimport Command field takes the fully-qualified path to the command to be run before attempting to import the file specified in Linux Import Path. This field can take filepath wildcards.

The Windows Import Path field takes the fully-qualified path to the file to be used for import events by RDLogManager when run on Windows. This field can take filepath wildcards.

The Windows Preimport Command field takes the fully-qualified path to the command to be run before attempting to import the file specified in Windows Import Path. This field can take filepath wildcards.

The Note Cart String field can be used to configure placement of a marker event in the generated log. When the string set here is found in the 'cart' field in a line of the specified import file, RDLogManager will insert a marker event, the text of which will be the 'title' field from that same line.

The Insert Voice Track String field can be used to configure placement of a voice track marker in the generated log. When the string set here is found in the 'cart' field in a line of the specified import file, RDLogManager will insert a voice track event, the text of which will be the 'title' field from that same line.

The Insert Traffic Break String field can be used to configuration placement of a traffic break from an entry in the music import log. When the string set here is found in the cart field. RDLogManager will insert a traffic import event, using the event specified in the Import inline traffic dropdown box in the relevant music event.

Note

This field is available only in the Music Data Import section!

10.4.3. Traffic/Music Import Parser Settings

The Log Parser Settings

Rivendell includes the ability to import log schedule files from a variety of third-party scheduling utilities. To configure an import from one of these systems, all that is necessary is to select the appropriate system in the Import Template dropdown. If the target scheduler system is not on this list, a custom parser can be defined by selecting [custom] from the dropdown.

Log schedule files for Rivendell are assumed to be in so-called "column-aligned" format --i.e. each record occupies a single line in a text file that is terminated by a single linefeed or a carriage return, with each field occupying a fixed column position on the line. Each field takes two values: Offset:, which is the starting position of the field (starting from 0) on the line and Length:, which is the number of characters reserved for the field. Setting the Length: value for field to 0 disables the use of that field.

Most of the fields should be self-explanatory, but a few call for some comment:

Globally Unique ID

Many schedulers provide an opaque string with each scheduling record which they expect to be returned as part of the corresponding Electronic Log Reconciliation (ELR) feed back to the system. This field indicates where this "GUID" string should be found.

Event ID: / Annc. Type

Additional fields for GUID data. As of this writing, only scheduler products from Marketron require the use of these fields.

10.4.4. Testing Data Importation

Once the parameters have been configured, they can be tested with a sample import file by touching the Test Music or Test Music buttons to bring up the Test Import dialog.

The Test Import Dialog

Select the date for the import to test, either by entering it in the Test Date: control or by touching the Select button. Then, touch the Import button. The import events for the day should appear in the Imported Events list.