Handling of Device Resources
- Andy Erd
General Information
The StepOver Colour devices have a filesystem where the resources are stored. The resources include the Promoscreens for the slideshow and the images for the Default Sign Mode (where you see normally the flags). The images which are stored on the device are not regular images like BMP, JPG or PNG. The images resources are compressed RLE files, therefor the deviceAPI will convert your images before they are stored on the device. We recommend to use PNG or BMP as source files, because with JPG files you will see the encryption artefacts from the image on the device too.
The StepOver Pads have all different display solution, we recommend to use for your images the same resolution. Otherwise you might have a black border or the images will be stretched by the DeviceAPI. Here the overview of the device resolutions:
| Pad Type | Resolution |
|---|---|
| naturaSign Pad Colour | 640x480 |
| naturaSign Pad Flawless | 480x272 |
| naturaSign Pad Comfort | 480x272 |
| duraSign Pad Brilliance | 800x480 |
duraSign Pad 10.0 | 1024x600 (in Portrait Mode 600x1024) |
The memory of the devices is limited and we recommend not to use more than 4 Promoscreen on the device. The Firmware restricts the upload of the resources files, you can only upload specific files like the Promoscreens, SignInput/Info screens. Other files can only be uploaded with the prefix ui*. The file system on the device is case sensitive, you need to use the correct format otherwise the Images are not loaded.
| Name | Extension | Description |
|---|---|---|
PromoScreenN (sample: PromoScreen1.soi, PromoScreen2.soi,...) | .soi / .img | The device can store 4 up to Promoscreens. They will be showed in a slideshow in order of the name. The PromoScreens are RLE Compressed Images. The Img format is outdated and is replaced by soi with newer Firmware versions. It´s possible that both extension types are stored on the device, in that case only the SOI will be used. |
| PromoScreenNO | .soi | For the 10" pad you also need to upload the PromoScreen with orientations. For landscape (0/180°) you need extend the filename with an L (like PromoScreen1L.soi) and for portrait (90/270°) you need to extend the filename with an P (like PromoScreen1P.soi) |
| PromoScreen.cfg | .cfg | Config file for the PromoScreens which contains the delay options (not supported by Colour, Flawless and Comfort Pads) |
SignInfoBg (for 10" Device SignInfoBgL and SignInfoBgP has to use) | .soi / .img | Background image for the Standard Signature Mode (Fullscreen for Flawless/Comfort/Brilliance/10" and top of the Screen by ColourPad) |
SignInfoFg (for 10" Device SignInfoFgL and SignInfoFgP has to use) | .soi / .img | Foreground Image with the Flags + Texts, it´s transparent and alpha blending with the background image |
| SignInput | .soi / .img | Background image for the input area of the StepOver Colour Pad (Standard-Signature Mode) |
| ui* | * | The firmware also allows to other images in case the filename starts with ui* |
Device characteristics
The handling of the devices is not identical for all devices.
- The duraSign Pad 10.0 has different images for the landscape and for the portrait rotation. Therefor you need to add L or P at the end of the file name (e.g. PromoScreen1L.soi or PromoScreen1P.soi)
- By the ColourPad is the Background of the Default-Sign-Mode divided in to parts. The lower part with the active signing area is the SignInput Image and part above this area is the SignInfoBg
The other devices only have the SignInputBg as background image. - For the Update of the PromoScreens a reboot of the device is not required. If you updating the SignInfoBg or the SignInput resources you need to do a restart (see function ResetDevice), because the Pads loads this resources while boot up from the flash into the memory.
- The Devices interrupt the Slide show if a image PromoScreen is missing. This means if you have PromoScreen1, PromoScreen2 and PromoScreen4 on the device, the slideshow will only show the first 1 images (PromoScreen4 is skipped).
- The latest firmware of the Brilliance Pad (/wiki/spaces/PUBS/pages/78872745) and the up coming firmware of the 10 inch Pad allows to change the display time of each PromoScreen (for the other Pads this feature is not planed)
Download/Upload/Remove of Resources
Before you using any function, be sure the device is select by the DeviceAPI (see Configuring the signature device). The function UploadPromoImage only support the uploads of Promoscreens and doesn´t support the 10.0 Pads. With UploadPadResourceFileByName you can also upload PromoScreens and other resources like the Signing background images or other files to the device.
| Function Name | Information |
|---|---|
| DownloadPadResourceFileByName | Function to download resource files from the device |
| RemovePadResourceFileByName | Function to remove resource files from the device |
| UploadPadResourceFileByName | Function to upload resource files from the device, in case the Resource already exist it will overwritten |
| UploadPromoImage | Function for Uploading of PromoScreens |
| PromoImageSetOptions / PromoImageOptionsDoAction | Function to change the viewing time of promo images |