Service Sets

A service set gives an app optional services, such as sending content by email or recording how visitors use the wall. Each server can have several service sets, so the same app can run with different services in different places. For example, one app can run in two offices, each with a service set that uses the local mail server.

When you create an app, MT Showcase also creates a service set with the same name. It holds an email service and a data gathering service. See Getting Started.

You manage services on the Services page. For what each service needs on the server side, see Services.

The Services page

Click Services in the left navigation.

The main area lists all services, grouped by type. The Service Set column shows which set each service belongs to, and Run Configs shows the apps that use it. Click a service to edit its settings.
The side panel lists the Service Types, so you can jump to a group, and the Service Sets. Click + (New Service Set) to create a set. Open a set's … menu to Rename or Delete it. Deleting a set also deletes all its services.
A service type marked (retired), such as twitter-service, came in with an import from an older version of MT Showcase and no longer exists. Its services do nothing on the wall and cannot be set up; their only action is Delete. Delete them when you no longer need the record.

Add a service

Click Add Service.
In the New Service dialog, choose the Type, the Service Set to add it to, and a Name, then click Create.
Click the new service in the list and set its attributes.

Changes save automatically.

Use a service set in an app

Click App Launcher.
Open the app's … menu and choose Edit.
In the Services column, choose the service set.
Click the ✓ (Save) button on the row.

Email Sending service

The Email Sending service lets visitors email content from their personal space to themselves. Emails can carry images, videos and PDFs as attachments, or links to them.

Set up the mail server

On the Services page, add an Email Sending service to the app's service set, or select the one the app already has.
Enter your mail server details:
- SMTP host and SMTP port: your mail server and its submission port, usually 587.
- SMTP username and SMTP password: the account MT Showcase signs in with.
- Connection encryption: None, SSL, TLS or Auto. Auto works out the right encryption from the port number and is usually the best choice. Choose None only on a secure internal network.
- Ignore SSL errors: by default, MT Showcase does not send an email if the mail server's certificate cannot be verified. Turn this on only if you trust the connection.
Set who the email comes from: Email sender name and Email sender address.

Note

Some email services, including Gmail, use the SMTP username as the sender's address instead of the Email sender address.
If your mail server is slow, you can raise SMTP connection timeout, SMTP response timeout and SMTP send message timeout (60, 60 and 120 seconds by default). You rarely need to.

Set up the email text

Select the Email Sending service.
Enter the Email subject, for example Content from MT Showcase.
Enter the Email template, the body text of the email. You can use two variables:
- <name>: the name registered for the visitor's Codice card.
- <links>: the links to the items the visitor sent, each on its own line. Without <links>, the links are added at the end of the message.
For example:
```
Hi <name>
Follow these links to find the MT Showcase items that interested you:
<links>
For information about other MultiTaction products, visit
www.multitaction.com.
```

What an email contains

For each item a visitor sends:

Items with a Codice URL: the email includes the link instead of the file. Use this to avoid sending large videos and PDFs as attachments.
Annotated items: if a visitor drew on an image or document with an infrared pen, the annotated version is attached.
Web pages and video streams: the email includes their address.
Other files: the file is attached.

To give a file a Codice URL, select it in the Media Library panel and add the address under Codice URLs in its preview.

Choose how personal spaces deliver content

What a visitor's personal space offers is set by the Personal space collection mode attribute of the Personal space component, in the app's theme:

Click Defaults and open the app's theme.
Go to Components > Personal space.
Set Personal space collection mode:
- Show Personal Folder access QR (the default): the personal space shows a QR code. Visitors scan it with their phone to open their Personal Folder and download the items they collected. This does not need an email service. See Audience identity.
- Email contents to user: the personal space shows an envelope button that emails the items. This needs an Email Sending service.
- Show QR and email envelope both: offers both.
We recommend also setting Personal space title and Personal space info text, for example to tell visitors how to send or download items. Visitors see the info text as a tooltip when they tap the ? button on their personal space.

A personal Codice code can override the collection mode, title and info text for its own personal space in the Codice DB. See Codice Cards.

Data gathering service

The Data gathering service records how visitors use the app: when the app starts and closes, widgets opening and closing, videos playing, PDF pages viewed, web pages visited, Codice cards presented, items collected into and sent from personal spaces, and widgets that close after being left idle. Optionally, it also records every touch. You review the data on the Analytics page. See Analytics.

To turn on data gathering, add a Data gathering service to the app's service set (new apps already have one) and set:

Site name: recorded with every event, so you can tell apart data from different walls. For example, enter the building or room name. The app name is recorded automatically.
Enable input tracking: on by default. Records every finger, hand, pen and Codice touch. This produces a lot of data and can slow a busy app down. Turn it off to record only widget events, such as a widget opening or closing.

Media server service

The Media server service stores the address of an external media server (Server URL) and a System name that identifies this wall on it. The current release does not send collected items to a media server, so this service has no effect on the wall. Personal spaces deliver collected items through Personal Folders on the MT Showcase server (see Choose how personal spaces deliver content). See Services.

Snippets service

The Snippets service adds ready-made text to the on-screen keyboard, such as a web address or an email domain. Visitors tap a snippet to insert its text instead of typing it. See Keyboard.

Codice Input service

The Codice Input service turns a badge or card scanner attached to a player into Codice events, so a scan works as if the visitor had placed a Codice card on the wall. It is also added from Add Service. For setup, see Codice Input Services.