Tags in Livetext for Graphics

[frank.leggett]

Hi,

I understand how you can put tags in Livetext pages (%tag%). These tags are variables which you can set with Datalink or TxtLink by using the %tag% = syntax in a specific txt file in a specific folder but I can't seem to get this to work with graphics.

I believe there is a way to set a tag in a LiveText page where you can set the tag to an image. Unfortuanately every time I try this all that happens is the page displays the address and filename of the image and not the image.

How do you set up image tags in LiveText pages and is there a video or text tutorial available somewhere.

Many thanks
Frank Leggett

[TPUC]

I am interested in this as well

[TPUC]

Does anyone have an answer ?

[SBowie]

It's not really clear to me what your intended use for tags is. As I recall, tags were added for metadata purposes for a few specific third party developers, and aren't really of much interest to a typical user. If you're just after replaceable images, I think you can do this with a DataLink key without any reference to tags.

[TriCityStorm]

I'm interested as well.
I have a 17 teams in the league and I have a "Score Around The League" graphic. I don't want to make a seperate graphic for each matchup possibility, nor do I want to have to go into the livetext file and add/delete logos before every game. What I would like to do is assign a key value that I can use to pull in an image so that I could easily and quickly swap the logos each time. I've read the manual and made attempts. From what I understand:

1) Go into your "DataLink Watch Folder"
2) Open the text file. By the way, the manual says there should be one already called example.txt, but I don't have one. So I created a file called "example.txt" and saved it.
3) Inside that file I wrote the following line of text MuskegonLogo=E:\Team Logos\MuskegonLumberjacksLogo.png and saved and closed the file
4) I opened up a .CGXML file in my Tricaster session. Tricaster 460 Advanced Edition and type %MuskegonLogo but I don't pull up any image.

[ZachSchuster]

I think you are asking how to make an image respond to a Datalink key/value pair.

You are creating a text field and assigning a key to it (ie. homelogo) and the value is C:\images\logo.png. The problem is that when you look at the text field in LiveText you see the letters C:\images\logo.png.

What you want to do is import an image of the same resolution in to the LiveText page. Right click the image and assign it the key you want to use. That will tell LiveText that the image in the page should now become whatever image is located at the filepath the key/value pair currently holds.

Assign the key to an image on the page, not a text field.

Hope that helps!

[TriCityStorm]

In the manual it says that while I am in Livetext, I should be able to right click next to the element and a dropdown menu with the keys will appear.



However I only have the following three options.



I'm wondering if maybe Livetext is trying to read from a different folder than the "Datalink Watch Folder"?

[SBowie]

It looks to me like you are using the integrated version of LiveText, which does not show DataLink keys in the menu the way the standalone version does (the standalone manual describes the use of DataLink, but the integrated version manual does not).

I believe you can still manually add key references to images in the integrated version, but I need to play with it to be sure - won't get to it tonight, sorry. In the meantime, if you have the standalone manual, look at the discussion of "Image Control Keys". You may figure it out before I do.

[TriCityStorm]

When I put one of NewTek's premade .CGXML files into DDR, I can click the gear icon and swap photos with one mouse click.




But when I created my own CGXML the graphics are all permanent?

[SBowie]

Marking images as replaceable (which does not require DataLink) can be handled in LT. Look for the word "placeholder" in the manual (obviously you don't want all images used in title page to be replaceable).

Once you've done that, in TriCaster's live title editor you can replace the filename with a DataLink key if you want. If it's possible to do this in LT in advance, I haven't found a way yet. Note that DataLink in LT standalone is a completely different animal than in TriCaster's native toolset.

[SBowie]

So, just to expand on this a little further, let me explain a few things.

First off, I went a bit astray in my first post because of the word "tag" in your original query. While it's understandable that one might think of DataLink 'tags', we usually refer to DataLink "keys", and "key-value pairs". (The reason for the distinction is that the term 'tags' is used elsewhere to refer to metadata assigned to DDR items.)

Moving on, I want to explain my remarks about the difference between DataLink usage in LiveText running on an external system and TriCaster/VMC1's native DataLink implementation.

Basic practices in both environments are similar, but it's useful to realize that they are nonetheless separate and distinct from one another. LiveText, when used as an external CG solution sending pages to a video system (i.e., not simply as a page authoring application), maintains a DataLink key database of its own, and its key-value data is not shared with TriCaster. The reverse is true, too; that is, data from TriCaster's internal key-pair database is not available to LiveText.

In LT, you can embed DataLink key names in both text and image objects used on title pages. When these pages are used live in LT standalone, they refer to the local DataLink database on the external system. If you export pages with embedded DataLink keys from LT (either version) as CGXML files for use in TriCaster's media players, the DataLink keys for text objects on the page continue to work in TriCaster (assuming matching keys exist in TriCaster's local key-pair database). This is because the keys were stored as literal text values on the title page.

However, image objects on title pages (exported .cgxml pages) do not support this mechanism in TriCaster. Instead, having added a replaceable image to the page, you can open the page in TriCaster's live title editor, right-click the image, and change the Image Source entry in the Image Properties dialog to a DataLink key wrapped in % signs. For example, entering %myswapimage% would cause the image to be updated any time the associated key value changes.

I've tested all of this to make sure it's working as expected. Hope this information helps!

[frank.leggett]

So, just to expand on this a little further, let me explain a few things.

First off, I went a bit astray in my first post because of the word "tag" in your original query. While it's understandable that one might think of DataLink 'tags', we usually refer to DataLink "keys", and "key-value pairs". (The reason for the distinction is that the term 'tags' is used elsewhere to refer to metadata assigned to DDR items.)

Moving on, I want to explain my remarks about the difference between DataLink usage in LiveText running on an external system and TriCaster/VMC1's native DataLink implementation.

Basic practices in both environments are similar, but it's useful to realize that they are nonetheless separate and distinct from one another. LiveText, when used as an external CG solution sending pages to a video system (i.e., not simply as a page authoring application), maintains a DataLink key database of its own, and its key-value data is not shared with TriCaster. The reverse is true, too; that is, data from TriCaster's internal key-pair database is not available to LiveText.

In LT, you can embed DataLink key names in both text and image objects used on title pages. When these pages are used live in LT standalone, they refer to the local DataLink database on the external system. If you export pages with embedded DataLink keys from LT (either version) as CGXML files for use in TriCaster's media players, the DataLink keys for text objects on the page continue to work in TriCaster (assuming matching keys exist in TriCaster's local key-pair database). This is because the keys were stored as literal text values on the title page.

However, image objects on title pages (exported .cgxml pages) do not support this mechanism in TriCaster. Instead, having added a replaceable image to the page, you can open the page in TriCaster's live title editor, right-click the image, and change the Image Source entry in the Image Properties dialog to a DataLink key wrapped in % signs. For example, entering %myswapimage% would cause the image to be updated any time the associated key value changes.

I've tested all of this to make sure it's working as expected. Hope this information helps!

Thanks for this Steve but I am still not sure how to embed image "keys" into Livetext layouts. I use Livetext on an external laptop and I would like to have image "keys" as variables but I haven't found a way to do this. The image I want to display will be stored in the external computer but when I display the layout only the images address is displayed (e.g. C:\Users\Frank\Pictures\Image.jpg) and not the image itself.

So does the image "key" need to be setup differently then a text "key". At present I use TxtLink to change the text variables.

Frank

[SBowie]

I use Livetext on an external laptop and I would like to have image "keys" as variables but I haven't found a way to do this.

I have a text file in my DL Watch folder with the following entries in it:

city = San Antonio
temperature = 98°
myswapimage=D:\image 1.png

I created a title page as follows:

1. I dragged a sample image file from the Filebin tab in LT onto the LT canvas.
2. I clicked the Select tool (arrow button) under "Text and Drawing", and selected the image I had added to the canvas
3. I right-clicked the image on the canvas, and selected *myswapimage from the list of DL keys shown.

* There's another way to do this, too, but this is easier to describe.

Finally, I edited the key value in the text file to "D:image 2.png" (without quotes). The image on the canvas updated instantly.

p.s., the difference in behavior between the integrated and standalone versions in this respect that I noticed when checking this out bugged me (it would be tedious to have to manually enter a DL key every time you load this type of title page into a Media Player on TC), so in turn I 'bugged' it, and it's fixed now. I'm not certain the fixed version has been released but, if not, it will be anon.)

[TriCityStorm]

Thanks for the help Steve, I've got it working now! The difference was in using the Integrated versus Standalone versions of LiveText as well as reading from the correct manual. Then, I added "_Placeholder" to the end of every file name, and now I can swap them inside my session. This only works on the standalone version, not the integrated.

[SBowie]

Glad to hear you've got it working.