1 Topic by tucan

  • tucan
  • NWare Pioneer
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  • From: London
  • Registered: 2007-09-07
  • Posts: 64

Topic: Kiosk 1.4.2 as a 'kiosk'

I am running a large 1.4.2 Nion/conman system with 3 touchscreens running Kiosk 1.4.2, and I am using the following personality file to successfully set various options:-

<kiosk>   
    <name value="kiosk_test" />
    <username value="TS1" />
    <password value="TS1" />
    <hide_root_tab value="true" /> <!-- defaults to false -->
    <hide_cursors value="true" /> <!-- defaults to false -->
</kiosk>

The hide_root_tab option works well, hiding the single tab that we often ended up with in previous versions.
The hide_cursors value also mostly works, apart from when the cursor is on the title bar of any popup window/control block that has been used to simplify the user interface.

Is there an option to hide the 'red outline' of the currently selected on screen object. This is fairly meaningless on a touchscreen as all it shows is the last button pressed?

Is there an option to hide the status bar at the bottom of the Kiosk window, as well as the horizontal thin bar just above it?
This is important because if a touchscreen user hits the middle of a thin bar he gets a terminal type window listing 'bogus controls' as well as losing/covering part of his main screen with this terminal, potentially covering mission critical buttons/information

2 Reply by aspender

  • aspender
  • aspender
  • Technical Author
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  • From: Peavey Oxford
  • Registered: 2007-12-03
  • Posts: 98

Re: Kiosk 1.4.2 as a 'kiosk'

You can hide the red outline on selected objects in Kiosk by adding this line to the "nware_kiosk.xml" file:

<item name="skip_drawing_selection_rectangle" value="true" />

The xml file is located in the "C:\Program Files\MediaMatrix\NWare 1.4.2\personality" folder.

And you can hide the status bar at the bottom of the Kiosk window (and the thin bar above it) by doing the following:

1. Open the file "kiosk_windows.xml", which is located here:

C:\Program Files\MediaMatrix\NWare 1.4.2\plugins\nware\xml

The "window" blocks in this file control the display of the frames in the Kiosk window.


2. Edit the xml file, so it looks like this (remove the unwanted "windows" blocks):



<windows>
  <window class="app::frame_t" title="NWare : Kiosk"
      not_menu_xml="plugins/nware/xml/kiosk_menu.xml" id="main_frame" icon="plugins/nware/icons/n-ware.ico">
   
     
        <window class="win::main_container_t" id="page_container" />
       
           
   
  </window>
</windows>


3. Save the xml file, then run Kiosk and the status window will be no more.

aspender's Website

3 Reply by phils

  • phils
  • Member
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  • From: Sydney, Australia
  • Registered: 2007-08-15
  • Posts: 322

Re: Kiosk 1.4.2 as a 'kiosk'

I've always wondered why users would want the status bar in Kiosk mode anyway.
Is there something I'm missing, or could no status bar become the default, with the ability to switch it on via personality file, if it is needed.

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
                                                                                        - George Bernard Shaw

4 Reply by JoshM

  • JoshM
  • JoshM
  • Recording Engineer at Burnt Orange Studio
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  • From: Meridian, MS
  • Registered: 2007-08-13
  • Posts: 1,498

Re: Kiosk 1.4.2 as a 'kiosk'

Andy-

Thanks for sharing this!

Now for the big request...

How can we get rid of the main title bar for Kiosk that is always at the top of the screen?

Josh Millward
Burnt Orange Studios

JoshM's Website

5 Reply by tucan

  • tucan
  • NWare Pioneer
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  • From: London
  • Registered: 2007-09-07
  • Posts: 64

Re: Kiosk 1.4.2 as a 'kiosk'

Thanks for the info Andy, but not quite there yet.

When I tried the option to hide the status bar it worked, however I then got a seperate DOS terminal window on top of my Kiosk window, listing 'bogus controls'

Just an observation, its a shame that to get Kiosk to work as a Kiosk I have to make 4 changes to the default install, surely these could at least all be wrapped up in one personality file, or even all presented as options by the installer when Kiosk is installed.

6 Reply by phils

  • phils
  • Member
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  • From: Sydney, Australia
  • Registered: 2007-08-15
  • Posts: 322

Re: Kiosk 1.4.2 as a 'kiosk'

I agree that it would be very nice to have a "Kiosk Config" option, or even a separate app, like DiscoOptions.
If it created a personality file, and shortcut that points to it, that would be great.

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
                                                                                        - George Bernard Shaw