Manage Layouts

There is an additional folder where the layout settings of the different GUIs and templates for layouts are located. By default, it is the subfolder “Layouts” below the installation folder. If this folder does not exist it will be created automatically by TurboPlayerService.

The layout folder can be configured in the parameter “LayoutsFolder” of the TurboPlayerService:

It contains files with name “Layout_X.dat” where X is the GUI number. The extension is “dat” because for TurboPlayerService the layout of a GUI is treated as pure binary data and the service returns it to the GUIs exactly as the data was sent. For a DAVID WebTurboPlayer GUI the format will be JSON and therefore the file could be opened by a text editor.

The “Layouts” folder can also contain a subfolder “Templates”. The "Templates" folder contains layout templates, which can be used by the GUIs during configuration. It is up to the administrator to fill the folder with templates by copying one of the saved GUI layouts and giving the file a user-friendly name.

When a GUI queries all available layout templates, the service returns a list of all files with extension “dat”. In addition, it is possible to add one screenshot for each template. This screenshot must be made by the administrator and it must then be saved into the templates folder. The file name must be identical to the dat file. The usual web graphic formats like jpg, png or gif are supported.

There is only one layout template file which is automatically being created by TurboPlayerService: If no such file is present the service creates a file “Layout_default.dat” by copying the file “default_layout.json” from the html folder. This default layout is returned to a GUI which requests a layout but no layout file for this GUI number has yet been saved. On launching the WebTurboPlayer, the settings of the GUI layout for a given GUI number are received from TurboPlayerService. In the edit mode of WebTurboPlayer, changes can be made to the layouts. For example, a new layout can be selected from the available layout templates.