The library wanted to have digital signs but didn’t know how. They were currently running a PowerPoint slide on a computer. It seemed like an easy problem to fix, I started to make a backend database that I could log into and schedule when the different images would show, but the staff didn’t want that, they wanted something that was very simple, they wanted no interface. I knew that we still needed to schedule the slides somehow, so I made a program that looks at the file name for its scheduling.
The program is a web based digital signage solution using PHP and JavaScript, there is no database. The program gets all of the files in an images folder on the server. The files use a special naming convention, End-Date_filename_Start-Date Ex. 09-29-2016_My fav image_11_03_2016 .
Any files who date range the current date falls in get added to a sorted list. The random.php file randomly displays any of the files in this list before refreshing after 30’s or after the video is completed, restarting the process. The ordered.php file displays the first slide or video in the sorted list then when it refreshed moves to the next file, it continues to do this until it gets to the end of the sorted list then starts over.
Installing this system is very easy, you just put a folder on webserver running PHP and put images or video .mp4 files in the images folder using the end date first naming convention. Here is a link to my Github, https://github.com/camling/digitalSignage Since putting this up I’ve gotten a few other libraries interested in using it for its simplicity.