VizMosart

AvidiNewsWeb
Services

AvidiNewsWebServiceforstatusfeedback
ThisdocumentdescribestheconfigurationofAvidiNews
WebServiceforstatusfeedbacktoiNewsfromVizMosart.

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Content
Introduction
Purpose
Documenthistory
Definitions/Abbreviations/Nomenclature
Overalldescription
Configurations
ConfigurationinVizMosartAdministratorSettings
ConfigurationsthatarenotrelatedtoiNewsWebServices
ConfigurationinAvidInewsWebServiceConfig.xml:
Behaviour
Statusforstoriescontainingmorethanoneitem
Statusofanoffairstorywhenthestorycontainsseveralclips
AppendixA:Troubleshootingandknownissues
AppendixB:AvidiNewsWebServiceInstallation
AppendixC:CheckcurrentversionofTomcatinstallation
AppendixD:Bibliography

Introduction
Purpose
ThisdocumentcontainsthestepsonhowtosetupanduseVizMosartwithAvidiNewsWebServicesin
ordertogetstoriesstatusupdatesintheNCS.

Documenthistory
Date

Rev

By

Description

December6,2013

LB

Initialversion

December19,2013

LB

UpdatedversionafterrevisedwithET

Devember23,2013

ET

Minorcorrections

December30,2013

ML

MovedandchangedApacheinstallationandconfigsectiontoappendix

January16,2014

LB

Updatedwithsupportofcoloursforstatusfield

January31,2014

CN

Updatedinstallationinstructionsandformatting

February5,2014

CN

Minorchangestoconfigurationdescriptionandformatting

September30,2014

CN

UpdatedconfigurationdescriptionandconvertedtoVizrttemplate

November21,2014

LB

Updatedconfigurationdescriptionandstatusbehaviour

Definitions/Abbreviations/Nomenclature
NCS

NewsroomComputerSystem

JRE

JavaRuntimeEnvironment

MOSProtocol

MediaObjectServerProtocol

FTP

FileTransferProtocol

ManusAdmin

MMManusAdministrator.ApplicationcontrollingtheVizMosartRundown.

GUI

VizMosartGUI.Mainusercontrolapplication

Overalldescription
AvidiNewsWebServicecanbeconfiguredwithVizMosartconnectedtoiNewsthroughFTP.The
purposeismainlytosendstatusforstoriesthatcontainclips(Online/Offlineforclipavailability,Cued,
PlayorStop),butthesystemcanalsobeconfiguredtosendstatusforalltypesofevents(Cameras,
DVEsetc.).

Configurations
1.

OpeniNewsclientandaddtheAvidiNewsWebServiceversioninfirststoryofrundown
SYSTEM.CLIENT.APIVERSIONS.TheversionnumbershouldmatchtheversionofAvidiNews
webserviceyouarerunning(seeAppendixC:CheckcurrentversionofTomcatinstallation)E.g:
webservices
1.0.0.182
1.1.1.49
1.1.2.1
1.6.0.5
runofflineconfigurenonlineafterdoingchangesiniNewsserverconsole

AttheiNewsserverconsole,executethefollowingcommandsonebyone:
offline
,
configuren
and
online
.

Figure1AddAPIversioninSYSTEM.CLIENT.APIVERSIONS

2.

Enable
Refresh
fortherundownthatareusedforreceivingstatusupdates:clickonthe
rundownname,chooseProperties/UserInterface

Figure2EnableRefreshforarundown

Note:
FromiNewsSetupandConfigurationGuide:UsetheRefreshtraitonlyonimportantqueues,
likerundownqueuesthatareoftenmodifiedbymultipleuserssimultaneously.Toautomatically
refreshaqueue,yoursystemmustspendalotoftimemonitoringworkstationswhereusersare
viewingthatqueue.Assigningtherefreshtraittotoomanyqueuesthatareoftenaccessedatthe
sametimegreatlyincreasestheamountofworkyoursystemhastodoandmayseverelydegradeits
overallperformance.

3. MaximumofAPIsessionsallowedconnectingtoiNewsserver.

ThedefaultlicenceforAvidiNewsWebServiceisforfiveconcurrentAPIsessionstheyarenot
thesameastheiNewsworkstationlicenses.Type"/exc/listtype=apic"attheiNEWSserverto
seethenumberconfigured.AdditionalconcurrentAPIsessionlicenceisavailablefromAvid.

VizMosartwilluseamaximumoftwoAPIsessions(inaredundancysetup).

IfyouexperienceissueswithnoavailableAPIsession,pleaseseesection
AppendixA:
Troubleshootingandknownissues
onhowtoavoidthis.

4. MakesuretheStatus(fieldtypeeventstatus)andAirDate(fieldtypeairdate)fieldsare
addedinthestoryform.


Figure3
StatusandAirDatefieldsarepresentinthestoryform

ConfigurationinVizMosartAdministratorSettings

FromManusAdminConsoletype
settings
andconfigurethefollowingparameters(seeFigure4):

InewsWebServiceConnectionString
Leavethefieldblankifyoudonotwishtoconnecttoanywebservice.
Theconnectionstringmustbegivenintheformat:

attribute_1=value_1attribute_2=value_2...attribute_n=value_n

Requiredattributesare:
WebServiceServer
(host:port).Onlythehostcanbeprovidedifthedefaultport(8080)
isused.
iNewsServer
OnlyoneiNewsservercanbeusedbytheWebService,specifywhich
iNewsservertheWebServiceshouldconnectthrough.Thisfieldisoptionalifonlyone
iNewsserverissetintheiNewsConfiguration.

Optionalattributesare:
iNewsUsername
OptionalasitcanbetakenfromiNewsConfiguration.
iNewsPassword
OptionalasitcanbetakenfromiNewsConfiguration.

UseItemStatusToNCS
(default:false)
Settotruetoupdateclipstatus(Online/Offlineetc.)whenMediaAdministratorisrunning.

IgnoreSendCueStatustoNCSforOfflineClips
IfTrue,firststorydoesnotgetCuedforOfflineclipsiftimelineisrunning.

ConfigurationsthatarenotrelatedtoiNewsWebServices

IgnoreUpdatesIfNoChanges
(default:false)
Ifenabled,storieswithnorelevantchangeswillnotbeprocessedbyVizMosart.Thisistoavoid
issueswithstoryupdatesfromGUItobeignored.LaterchangesinVizMosartiNewsWeb
ServicesAPIpreventedsuchproblems,butforfuturechangesisgoodtokeepinmindthis
settingtogetherwith
StoryCompareIgnoreAttributes
whichisexplainedbelow.

StoryCompareIgnoreAttributes
(default:empty)
Listofxmlattributestoignoreduringcomparison.Defaultsetto[date_0,date_1,timestamp].

WhenVizMosartreceivesastoryinNSMLformat,itwillparsethestoryandcreateitsownXML
format.WhenirrelevantupdatescomesfromNCS,someattributesintheVizMosartXMLstory
areupdated.Currentlythesearedate_0,date_1andtimestamp(seetheformatofaVizMosart
XMLstoryinanyxmlfileinC:\manusfolder).Attributedate_0wasrecentlyaddedtothedefault
attributestobeignoredduetotheproblemswithupdatescausedbyVizMosartiNewsWeb
Services.
Infutureifotherattributescausesuchissues,thantheycanbeaddedtothelistofattributesto
beignored.

RefreshMediaOnNCSUpdate
(default:false)
Ifenabled,itforcesupdatingclipswhenstoryischangedinNCS.Thisisanoldsetting
introducedbeforeVizMosartiNewsWebServices.

KeepStoryStatusOnNcsUpdate
(default:false)
Ifenabled,willkeepthestorystatusonanNCSupdate,thuskeepingtheonairstatus.The
contentofthestorywillbeupdated,butthestorywillbegrayintheMosartGUI.Thisisalsoan
oldsettingintroducedbeforeVizMosartiNewsWebServices.

Figure4ExampleVizMosartAdministratorsettingsforiNewsWebService.


ConfigurationinAvidInewsWebServiceConfig.xml:

Copytheconfigurationfilefromin
MosartInstallationfolder\MosartServer\ConfigurationFiles
tothe
ChannelTemplates
folderonC:\.

SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
(default:false)
Bydefault,onlystatusofitemscontainingclipswillbesent(Online/Offline/Cued/Play/Stop).
NotonlyclipsgiventhroughPackageorVoiceoveraretakenintoconsideration,butalso
Adlibpixorotherwaystoinsertclipintoastory.SoforexampleifastorycontainsaCamera
andanAdlibpix,thanthestorygetsstatus.

ClearStatusWhenReload
(default:false)
Ifenabled,onlystatuscolumnisclearedonreloadoftherundown.Thisistoavoidinconsistent
statusif,forexample,storiesfailedtobeupdatedbecauseofacrashofVizMosartoriNewsor
VizMosartisclosedwhilerundownisplayingetc.

ClearStatusWhenUnload
(default:false)
Ifenabled,thestatuswillbeclearedwhenrundownisunloaded.

SetStoryAirDate
(default:true)
SettofalsetodisablesettingtheAIRDATEfieldandmovingthe"redline".

ClearAirDateWhenReload
(default:false)
Ifenabled,theairdatefieldwillbeclearedduringreloadoftherundown(emptystatus).

ClearAirDateWhenUnload
(default:false)
Ifenabled,theairdatefieldwillbeclearedduringunloadoftherundown(emptystatus).

Colorindexattributes
ThefollowingparametersarecolourindexreferringtovaluesdefinedinSYSTEM.COLORSon
theiNewssystem.TheAIRDATEfieldneedstobeemptyinordertoseethecorrectcolorfor
theSTATUSfield(seeFigure5):
UrgencyIndex
(default1)
UrgencyIndexONLINE
(default1)setcolorforOnlinestatus
UrgencyIndexOFFLINE
(default4purple)setcolorforOfflinestatus
UrgencyIndexCUED
(default2green)setcolorforCuedstatus
UrgencyIndexPLAY
(default3yellow)setcolorforPlaystatus
UrgencyIndexSTOP
(default1)setcolorforStopstatus

LockFormSectionOnly
(default:true)
IftruewillissuealockontheFORMsectionofastory,iffalsewilllockthecompletestory.

HeartbeatInterval
(default:3seconds)
IntervaltocheckAvidWebServiceheartbeat.

UpdateStoriesCacheInterval
(default:1second)

RetryStoryUpdateStatusInterval
(default:5seconds)

Whenastoryfailedtobeupdated(eitherbecausethestoryislockedforediting,the
WebServiceisdownortheiNewsserverisdown),anerrormessagewillbedisplayedin
console.TheretrialtoupdatethestorystatuswillcontinueuntiltheproblemisfixedorManus
Adminisclosed.

NoOfStoriesToGet
(default:50)numberofstoriestogetfromiNewsforcaching

Figure5ColouredstatusesasconfiguredinAvidInewsWebServiceConfig.xmlfile

Behaviour
WhentheconnectiontotheAvidWebServiceissuccessfulthemessage:<iNewsWebServices
<host:port>connected>inManusAdminconsolewillinformyou.Theconnectionwillbemadeafter
loadingarundownintheGUI.

Figure6

ThefollowingstatuseswillbeshowniniNews:Cued,Play,Stop,OnlineandOffline.CheckiNewsserver
settings(MCSdictionarylocatedat/site/dict/mcs)totranslatethestatusesshowniniNewsclienttolocal
statuses.

10

Note:
Nostatuswillbesentforoverlays.

Thetablebelowshowsanexampleofstatusbehaviourwhen
SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
is
enabledanddisabled.
ClearStatusWhenReload
shouldbesettotruetocleanupoldhistory.Lastline
inthetablebelowmeansthatafterthestoryhasbeenrunbuttherundownisstillonair,theclipisno
longermonitored,soiftheclipsubsequentlybecomesavailableorunavailable,thiswillNOTbereflected
iniNEWS.Onlyaftertherundownwillbereloaded,clipstatuswillbeupdated.If
SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
isfalsethewholecolumnforStorywithoutvideoclipswillbecleared,
i.e.nostatuswillbesentforthesestories.

Timesequence

Storywithvideo
clips

Storywithoutvideoclips

Storywithoutvideoclips

(SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
=true)

(SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
=false)

BeforeOnair

ONLINE/OFFLINE

Nextstory

CUED

CUED

StoryOnair

PLAY

PLAY

StoryjusttakenOffair

STOP

STOP

StoryhasbeenOnair

STOP

STOP

Table1Statusbehaviour

Airdate
isalsoupdatedtotheNCSiftheparameter
SetStoryAirDate
issettotrueinthe
AvidInewsWebServiceConfig.xmlfile.Whentheparameterfor
SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
isfalse,
only
airdate
forstoriesthatdonotcontainanyclipswillbeupdated.

Figures7,8and9showssomeexamplesofstatusbehaviour.

Figure7Inthisscreenshottherundownisoffair.StoriesS2,S3andS4wereupdatedwith
statusoftheclipitcontains.

11


Figure8Inthisscreenshottherundownisonair.StoryS1iscurrentlyplaying,butthe
statuswasnotsenttoNCS.SinceS2containsaclip,itsstatusissettoCued.

Figure9StoryS2isplayingandS3isCued.SincethefirstiteminS3isacamerathe
CuedstatusisnotsentunlessSendUpdateStatusForAllItemsissettotrue.

Statusforstoriescontainingmorethanoneitem

Ifastoryhasmorethanoneitemsthefollowingstatusesaresentwhenthestoryisonair(remember
thatif
SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
isfalsethestatusisnotsentifthestorydoesnotcontainclips):

Play
forfirstitem,
Cued
fornextitem=>thusthestorystatuswillbe
Cued
(regardlessof
SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
value)

Figure10Whenthefirstitem(camera)inS3isplayingnoPlaystatusissent.TheNextitem
isaPackagesoCuedstatusissent.Inthiscase,evenifSendUpdateStatusForAllItemsis
true,theCuedstatuswillstillbesentforthestory.

WhenF12ispressed
Stop
issentforthefirstitem,
Play
fortheseconditemand
Cued
forthe
thirditem=>thusthestoryendupwith
Cued
status(regardlessof
SendUpdateStatusForAllItems
value)
Andthiswillgoonuntilwereachthelastiteminthestory.

12

Itisonlythelastitemthatwillsendthestatus
Play
.Atanytimeitispossibletocheckthe
AirDate
toidentifythestorycurrentlyonair.
Inourexample(Figure10andFigure11),thestoryS3hasonlytwoitems,aCameraanda
Package.WhenweplaytheclipinthePackage,thestorywillgetPlaystatus.

Figure11ThePackagefromS3isplaying,thisisthelastiteminthestorysoPlaystatusis
set.StoryS4willgetCuedbecauseitcontainsaclip.

Figure12StoryS4containingonlyaclipisplaying.NoCuedstatushasbeensentfornext
storysinceSendUpdateStatusForAllItemsissettofalse.

Figure13StoryS5isplayingandsincethestorydoesnotcontainanyclipsnostatuswillbe
seenforthisunlessSendUpdateStatusForAllItemsissettotrue.OnlytheAirDatefield
showsthatthisstoryisonair.

13

WhenVizMosartisdoingtheupdatesitlockstheformofthestoryortheentirestorydependingonthe
valueforLockFormSectionOnlyparameterandunlocksthestoryaftertheupdateisperformed.Ifthe
storyformislockedbyaniNewsuseramessageinManusAdminconsolewillbeshowntowarnthe
userthatthestatuscouldnotbesentbecausethestoryformislocked(seeFigure14).Oncethestory
formisunlocked,thestatusisupdated(seeFigure15).

Figure14PlaystatuscouldnotbesentforstoryS4.

Figure15StoryS4isnowunlockediniNewsandPlaystatushasbeensent.

Ifthetimelineisnotrunningandthefirststoryisfloated,youmayhavetoreloadtherundowninGUIin
ordertoset
Cued
statusforthenewfirststory.

Statusofanoffairstorywhenthestorycontainsseveralclips

Thestatusofanoffairstorywhenthestorycontainsmorethanoneclipsshallbegivenbythefirstclip
inthestory.
Considerthefollowingexample:astorywithVIDIDsetandcontainingtwoclipitems.Firstclipitemhas
idgivenbytheVIDIDfieldanditsanOnlineclip.Secondclipitemisgivenanid,forexample,through

14

clip_hirespathattribute(MosartActiveX)anditisanOfflineclip.Thethestorywillhavethestatus
dependingontheavailabilityofthefirstclip(seeFigure16),i.e.Online.Ifthepositionoftheclipsis
changed,thenthefirstclipwillget2IDs,theonefromVIDIDandtheonegiventhroughMosartActiveX.
TheidgiventhroughMosartActiveXwillgivethestatusofthestory,i.e.Offline.

Figure16.Story
S2
getsthestatusofthefirstclip.

15

AppendixA:Troubleshootingandknownissues
NotabletoaccessWebServicepageafterinstallation

IfyouhaveproblemsaccessingtheWebServicespageafterinstallationanddeployment
(
http://<server>:8080/inewswebservice/services
),trytodeletetheTomcatcacheasfollow:

a. StoptheTomcatservice.
b. DeletefolderTomcatinstallation\webapps\inewswebservice(onlythefolder,notthewarfile).
Youmayreplacethewarfile,forexample,withanewonewhenupgrading.(Thissolutionis
sameasdeployingfromTomcatmanager).
c. DeletefolderTomcatinstallation\work\Catalina\localhost\inewswebservice
d. StartTomcatserviceandtryagaintoaccesstheWebServicespage.

2. NosessionsavailableonXMaximumsession

IfthefollowingerrorisshowninManussconsoleorthelog:NosessionsavailableonX,whereX
istheiNewsserverIPaddressorhostname,youmayfirstcheckstep3)insection
Configurations
aboutthemaximumapisessionsallowedontheiNewsserver.

Ifthisisnotthecase,thenmostprobablytheproblemoccurredbecauseManusAdminconsole
failedtoreleasetheoccupiedapisessiontoconnecttoiNewsserverthroughAvidWebServices
whenthiswasclosed.

Workaround
:therearetwosolutionsforthisproblem.EitherrestartApacheTomcatServiceor
reducethesessiontimeoutinTomcatto1minsothatthiswillfreeuptheapisessionafter1min
sinceManuswasclosed.IfManusisclosedandopenedmorethanmaximumapisessionsallowed
in1min,itwillreconnectautomaticallytoWebServiceafter1minwhenatleastonesessionhas
beenreleased.

Tochangethesessiontimeoutintervaldothefollowing:
a. Stoptomcatservice.
b. ChangeTomcatsessiontimeoutintervalinTomcatinstallation/conf/web.xmlto1min:
<sessionconfig>
<sessiontimeout>1</sessiontimeout>
</sessionconfig>
c. Starttomcatservice.

3. CannotwritetoiNewsWebservice,connectbeforeselectQueue

IfyougettheerrormessagecannotwritetoiNewsWebservice,connectbeforeselectQueueyou
shouldcheckthattheversionofWebServicerunningcorrespondswiththeversionsetiniNews.
See
AppendixC:CheckcurrentversionofTomcatinstallationandConfigurations3.1.

4.
CannotgetanystatusfeedbackiniNews.

IfaftersettingupeverythingasdescribedinthedocumentnostatusiswrittenintheStatus
field,youmaycheckthefollowings:
1.

16

TheStatusfieldhaswritepermissionsfortheuserusedtoconnectVizMosarttotheiNews
system.
ThetypeoftheStatusfieldiseventstatus

ThequeuemustnotbemonitoredwiththeiNewsMonitortool

AppendixB:AvidiNewsWebServiceInstallation
SupportedAvidiNewsWebServiceis
1.6.0.5
orlater.
TestedbyVizMosartwithWindows7,Java1.7andTomcat6.0.37.
TestedbyAvidwithWindowsServer2008R2SP1,Java1.7.0_07andTomcat7.0.32.
ReferalsotothedocumentationthatcomeswithAvidiNewsWebServiceinstallationpackage.
1. DownloadandinstallthelatestJRE,availablefromoracle.com(Windowsoffline(64bit)).
2. RuntheexecutableJREinstallationfile(e.g.jre7u7windowsx64.exe)
3. DownloadandinstallthelateststableTomcatversion,availablefromtomcat.apache.org
(32bit/64bitwindowsserviceinstaller).Recommendedtestedversions.
4. RuntheexecutableTomcatinstallationfile(e.g.apachetomcat7.0.32.exe)
a. SelectNormalinstallationtype.
b. CreateaTomcatAdministratorloginusernameandpassword.
c. SelecttheJREinstallationpathifitisnotalreadyselected(e.g.C:\Program
Files\Java\jre7).
5. AllowC:\ProgramFiles\ApacheSoftwareFoundation\Tomcat7.0\bin\Tomcat7.exethroughthe
WindowsFirewall.
6. AftertheTomcatinstallationisfinishedandhasstartedtheTomcatmanagementpageshould
beavailableat
http://<server>:8080/manager/html
.
7. TologinontheTomcatmanagementpage,usernameandpasswordweredefinedduring
Tomcatinstallationatstep4.b.
8. ThedefaultconnectorportcanbemodifiedinTomcats.\conf\server.xmlfile.
Thusifport8080isusedbyotherapplications,thiscanbechangedinTomcat
Installation/config/server.xmlfile:
<Connectorport="8080"protocol="HTTP/1.1"connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8443"/>
TomcatServicemustberestartedafterportchangedfromServices.mscorfromStart/All
Programs/ApacheTomcat/MonitorTomcat.AniconwillbecreatedintheWindowsTaskbar.Whenright
clickingontheicon,alistwillpopupwithactionstostartandstopTomcatservice.
9. Deploy
inewswebservice.war
usingtheWARfiletodeploysectionofthemanagementpage.
10. Afterdeployment,theiNewsWebServiceshouldbeavailableat
http://<server>:8080/inewswebservice/services.

17

Note:
IfyouhaveproblemsaccessingtheWebServicespage
(
http://<server>:8080/inewswebservice/services
),trydeletingTomcatcacheasfollowing:
1. StoptheTomcatservice.
2. DeletefolderTomcatinstallation\webapps\inewswebservice(onlythefolder,notthewarfile).
Youmayreplacethewarfile,forexample,withanewonewhenupgrading.(Thissolutionis
sameasdeployingfromTomcatmanager).
3. DeletefolderTomcatinstallation\work\Catalina\localhost\inewswebservice
4. StartTomcatserviceandtryagaintoaccesstheWebServicespage.

18

AppendixC:CheckcurrentversionofTomcat
installation
GototheApacheTomcatinstallationfolder/webapps/inewswebservice/METAINFandopen
Manifest.mf.ChecktheImplementationversion.Thisversionnumbershouldbeidenticaltheversion
numberspecifiedinConfigurations.1.

Recommendedversionis1.6.0.5orlater.

19

AppendixD:Bibliography

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

iNewsWebServicesAPI160.pdf
http://tomcat.apache.org/whichversion.html
http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp
iNewsMosGatewayInstallationandOperationsManualv2.6.0
iNewsMosGatewayv4.0ReadMe
iNewsv4.5SetupandConfigurationGuide
IntroductiontoiNewsWorkstation

20