Cisco ACNS Software Program Manager for IP/TV User Guide, Release 5.4 - Using the Web-Based Program Guide [Cisco Application and Content Networking System (ACNS) Software]

Table Of Contents

Using the Web-Based Program Guide

Overview

Software Requirements

Launching the WBPG

Setting User Preferences

Searching for Programs

Accessing Online Help

Web-Based Program Guide Customization

Retrieving Program Listings

Retrieving Scheduled Program Listings

Retrieving On-Demand Program Listings

Playing Programs

Retrieving Program Information

Using the Web-Based Program Guide

This chapter describes the web-based program guide (WBPG) and contains the following sections:

•Overview

•Software Requirements

•Launching the WBPG

•Web-Based Program Guide Customization

•Retrieving Program Listings

•Playing Programs

•Retrieving Program Information

Overview

The WBPG allows IP/TV end users to review available program listings and to view programs directly from their browsers, without having to individually install the IP/TV Viewer application on their local systems. The WBPG generates dynamic HTML content based on the programs managed by one or more IP/TV Program Managers, and takes advantage of the IP/TV plug-in technology for streaming video programs.

Software Requirements

The WBPG supports both the Netscape browser (Versions 4.5x through 4.7x) and the Internet Explorer browser (Versions 5.5 and later).

Netscape users must perform the following tasks:

•Enable JavaScript.

•Accept (at least) cookies that are sent back to the originating server.

Internet Explorer users must perform the following tasks:

•Enable Active Scripting.

•Enable the option to allow cookies to be stored on their computers.

Launching the WBPG

You can launch the WBPG in two ways. If you have IP/TV Program Manager running on your system, you can click the Program Guide link in the IP/TV Program Manager main window to launch the WBPG. You can also access the WBPG on other IP/TV Program Managers through the browser using the URL of the Program Manager host.

When you launch the WBPG for the first time, you must enter some information to create a user profile. (See Figure 9-1.)

Figure 9-1 User Profile Window

The default WBPG main window is illustrated in Figure 9-2.

Figure 9-2 Default WBPG Main Window

From the WBPG main window you can perform the following operations:

•Review, play, and sort scheduled programs.

•Review, play, and sort on-demand programs.

•Set user preferences.

•Search for programs matching specific criteria.

•Edit user profile information.

•Launch online help.

Each of these tasks is discussed in the sections that follow.

Setting User Preferences

The Preferences window helps you to set up the window of your choice as the WBPG main window.

To set up your preferences, follow these steps:

Step 1 Click Preferences in the banner bar of the WBPG main window.

The WBPG Preferences window appears. (See Figure 9-3.)

Figure 9-3 Preferences Window

Step 2 Choose one of the following from the Launch the following as my home page options:

•The page defined by the system administrator

This option retains the default main window for the WBPG.

•The Scheduled Program Guide

This option sets up the Scheduled Program window as your IP/TV WBPG main window.

•The OnDemand Program Guide

This option sets up the OnDemand Program window as your IP/TV WBPG main window.

Step 3 Check or uncheck the Show category hierarchy when launching the OnDemand Program Guide check box.

If this check box is checked, on-demand programs are displayed in hierarchical fashion. If it is unchecked, programs are displayed in flat fashion.

Step 4 Click the Go button next to Preferences to save your preferences.

Searching for Programs

Click Search in the banner bar of the WBPG main window to search for any programs of particular interest. You can search for scheduled programs by entering the preferred program start and end times, or on-demand programs by specifying the parent category or keywords. (See Figure 9-4.)

Figure 9-4 Search Criteria Window

Figure 9-5 illustrates how the search results are displayed for scheduled programs.

Figure 9-5 Search Result Window for Scheduled Programs

Figure 9-6 illustrates how the search results are displayed for on-demand programs.

Figure 9-6 Search Result Window for On-Demand Programs

Accessing Online Help

Click Help in the banner bar of the WBPG main window to access context-sensitive online help.

Web-Based Program Guide Customization

Cisco IP/TV Release 5.2 and later releases allow you to customize the web-based program guide to suit your needs.

Properties of the web-based program guide are configured in the iptvguide.properties file, which is located in the /local/local1/PMWebGuide folder of your IP/TV Program Manager device. The images and HTML files associated with the web-based program guide are located in the /local/local1/PMWebGuide/iptvguide folder of IP/TV Program Manager.

You can modify the iptvguide.properties file and the contents of the iptvguide folder to customize the web-based program guide.

Table 1 lists the variables and settings that can be modified in the iptvguide.properties file.
Table 1 Customizable Variables and Settings in the Iptvguide.Properties File
Parameter

Description

Syntax and Default Value
Table properties

Sets table properties for the web-based program guide.
—
Table border background color

Sets the background color for the table border.

default.view.border.bgcolor=#009999

Table cell background color

Sets the background color for table cells.

default.view.table.cell.bgcolor=
#CEE6E6;#F0F0F0

Table section background color

Sets the background color for a table section.

default.view.section.bgcolor=#66CCCC

Table header background color

Sets the background color for the table header.

default.view.table.header.bgcolor=
#FFFFF0

Table border text font color

Sets the font color for table border.

default.view.border.text.color=
#FFFFFF

Table border text font face

Sets the font type for the table border.

default.view.border.text.face=
Arial,Helvetica,Geneva

Table border text font size

Sets the font size for the table border.

default.view.border.text.size=3

Table section main text font color

Sets the text font color for the main section of the table.

default.view.section.main.text.color=
#FFFF99

Table section main text font face

Sets the text font type for the main section of the table.

default.view.section.main.text.face=
Times New Roman

Table section main text font size

Sets the font size for the main section of the table.

default.view.section.main.text.size=5

Table section minor text font color

Sets the font color for the minor text in the table.

default.view.section.minor.text.color=
#FFFFFF

Table section minor text font face

Sets the font type for the minor text in the table.

default.view.section.minor.text.face=
Times New Roman

Table section minor text font size

Sets the font size for the minor text in the table.

default.view.section.minor.text.size=3

Table header text font color

Sets the font color for the table header.

default.view.table.header.text.color=
#000000

Table header text font face

Sets the font type for the table header.

default.view.table.header.text.face=
Times New Roman

Table header text font size

Sets the font size for the table header.

default.view.table.header.text.size=3

Table cell text font color

Sets the font color for the table cell.

default.view.table.cell.text.color=
#000000

Table cell text font face

Sets the font type for the table cell.

default.view.table.cell.text.face=
Times New Roman

Table cell text font size

Sets the font size for the table cell.

default.view.table.cell.text.size=2

Poll rate

Sets the frequency (in minutes) with which the web-based program guide contacts IP/TV Program Manager for program information.

server.pollRate=5

Local information and language

Sets the language, country, and the variant.

server.locale=en, US¹
Program Manager list

Configures the IP/TV Program Managers from which the web-based program guide receives program listings.
default.contentManager.list=
localhost:80
where localhost is the default IP/TV Program Manager and 80 is the port number. You can add multiple IP/TV Program Managers separated by a semicolon.
Home page

Sets the web page of your choice as the home page of the web-based program guide.

default.view.home.url=
/iptvguide/res/en/homeview.html
User profile settings

Sets user profile options.
—
User profile enforcement

Enforces entry of the user's username and e-mail address when the default.view.home.profile variable is set to True.

default.view.home.profile=false

User profile validity period

Sets the maximum number of months for which the user profile is valid since the last update.

default.view.home.profile.maxAge=12

On-demand category

Controls the display of the on-demand programs category hierarchy in the web-based program guide.

default.onDemandPrograms.showHierarchy= true
¹For more information about language and country codes, refer to http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/http/related/iso639.txt and http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/diverse/doc/ISO_3166.html. Variant codes are vendor- and browser-specific.
To customize the web-based program guide, follow these steps:

Step 1 Establish an FTP connection to the IP/TV Program Manager device.

Step 2 Go to the /local/local1/PMWebGuide folder.

Note The default FTP directory for IP/TV Program Manager is /local/local1.

Step 3 Copy the iptvguide.properties file using the following command:
iptvprogrammanager# copy disk ftp {hostname | ip-address} 
remotefiledir remotefilename 
iptvguide.properties
where hostname or ip-address is the host name or IP address of the destination, remotefiledir is the folder on the destination device to which the local file is copied, and remotefilename is the filename that you want to give to the file once it has been copied to the destination server.

Step 4 Open the iptvguide.properties file using a text editor.

Step 5 Edit the necessary parameters (see Table 1) to customize the web-based program guide.

Step 6 Save the changes you made in the iptvguide.properties file.

Step 7 Upload the updated file to the original location on IP/TV Program Manager using the following command:
iptvprogrammanager# copy ftp disk {hostname | ip-address} 
remotefiledir remotefilename 
iptvguide.properties
where hostname or ip-address is the host name or IP address of the source device, remotefiledir is the folder on the source device from which the file was copied, and remotefilename is the name of the file that you just copied.

This command replaces the iptvguide.properties file on the IP/TV Program Manager device with the modified copy of the file.

Step 8 Restart IP/TV Program Manager using the following commands:
iptvprogrammanager# iptv program-manager stop
iptvprogrammanager# iptv program-manager start
The changes take effect after you restart IP/TV Program Manager.

To modify or add any images or HTML files associated with the web-based program guide, follow these steps:

Step 1 Establish an FTP connection to the IP/TV Program Manager device.

Step 2 Go to the /local/local1/PMWebGuide/iptvguide folder.

Step 3 To modify an existing file, follow these steps:

a. Download the file that you want to modify.

b. Modify the file.

c. Upload the modified file to the original location.

Note Delete the original file from the /local/local1/PMWebGuide/iptvguide folder before placing the updated file there.

Step 4 To add a new file, follow these steps:

a. Upload the new file to the /local/local1/PMWebGuide/iptvguide folder.

b. Go to the iptvguide.properties file and modify the necessary parameters that should use the new file.

c. Upload the iptvguide.properties file to the /local/local1/PMWebGuide folder.

Step 5 Restart IP/TV Program Manager using the following commands:
iptvprogrammanager# iptv program-manager stop
iptvprogrammanager# iptv program-manager start
The changes take effect after you restart IP/TV Program Manager.

Retrieving Program Listings

The following section describes how to retrieve program listings from the scheduled programs and on-demand programs listings. Scheduled programs can be sorted by program schedule or program name. On-demand programs can be sorted by program name or program length.

Retrieving Scheduled Program Listings

From the banner bar of the WBPG main window, choose Scheduled Programs to review the program listings for the current day. In the Scheduled Program Listing window (Figure 9-7) you can click the tabs at the top of the listing to retrieve the program listings for the current week, the current month (see Figure 9-8), and the current year, or program listings for a specific date.

Figure 9-7 Scheduled Program Listing Window—Daily View (Sorted by Schedule)

Figure 9-8 Scheduled Program Listing Window—Monthly View (Sorted by Schedule)

Retrieving On-Demand Program Listings

From the banner bar of the WBPG main window, choose OnDemand Programs to review on-demand program listings. You can choose to view the listing in either a category hierarchy fashion or a flat structure. Figure 9-9 illustrates the top-level categories. You can click a particular category to retrieve the program under that selected category.

Figure 9-9 On-Demand Program Listing Window—Category Level

Playing Programs

You can click the Play button or the program name in the WBPG to launch a program. When you click either of these, the application launches the browser plug-in in a new window and starts playing the program. (See Figure 9-10.)

Figure 9-10 Program Video Window

IP/TV supports both IP/TV Viewer plug-in and the QuickTime plug-in, but IP/TV Viewer is the default choice for programs invoked from the WBPG.

Table 9-2 shows which plug-in is used in different situations.

Table 9-2 Relationship of Plug-Ins to Programs

IP/TV Plug-In Installed¹

QuickTime Plug-In Installed

Plug-In Used

X

X

Program is played using the IP/TV plug-in.

X

—

Program is played using the IP/TV plug-in.

—

X

Program is played using the QuickTime plug-in.²

—

—

Program is not played, and you are prompted to download the QuickTime plug-in from the Apple website.2

¹The IP/TV plug-in is used by default to play a program unless only the QuickTime plug-in is available.

²The program administrator can enforce the use of IP/TV Viewer for any program. In such cases, IP/TV Program Manager prompts you to download the IP/TV plug-in to play the program.

Retrieving Program Information

To review detailed program information for a selected program, click the information button in the Description field of the scheduled or on-demand program listing. The information is displayed in a separate browser window, as shown in Figure 9-11.

Figure 9-11 Program Information Page