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Set Up MT Showcase Services

A service set defines a specific administrative setup for an MT Showcase app. Each MT Showcase installation can support multiple service sets. This allows MT Showcase designers to create multiple versions of an app, all with the same content and theme but each with a unique service set. For example, you may want to deploy the same app in your London and Paris offices but with a different service set in each location that specifies the local SMTP server.

In the current version of MT Showcase, service sets can include:

  • The Data Gathering service collects content usage data that can be reviewed in the Editor or exported for third party data visualization tools. Usage data is stored in a local database on the application computer. Example events include hand and finger touches, opening or closing a widget, playing a video, viewing a PDF, browsing to a URL, adding items to a personal space, and emailing items from a personal space.
  • The Email Sending service is used for sending screen content from MT Showcase to a specified email account. When you add the email sending service to a service set, you will need to define such attributes as the SMTP host, credentials for an SMTP user, the sender's email address and the email subject.
  • The Media Server service saves screen content from a user's personal space to a personal web page, as an alternative to sending it by email.

You configure service sets in the MT Showcase Editor; for full instructions, see Service sets in the Editor guide. However, before you can configure the service in the Editor, some initial preparation may be needed; see the following sections for details.

Data Gathering Service

To enable data gathering, you simply add the data gathering service to a service set, and then add that service set to your MT Showcase app. You do this in the MT Showcase Editor. For instructions, see Service sets.

After you enable data gathering for an app, MT Showcase tracks content usage and generates event records whenever the app is running. It saves these records in the reporting database, showcase-reporting.db, which sits alongside the main application database on the application computer. No separate database server is needed, and no usage data leaves the application computer.

For the location of the reporting database, see File locations. For what is recorded and how to review or export it, see Data gathering and Analytics.

Email Sending Service

When you set up the Email Sending service in the Editor, you will need to provide details about your SMTP server, including:

  • SMTP host: You will need to enter the name or IP address of the SMTP server that will forward emails from MT Showcase to your users.
  • SMTP port: You will need the TCP port for mail submission on your SMTP server. The default is port 587.
  • SMTP email account: You will need to enter the user name and password for the email account that MT Showcase uses to access the SMTP relay server. For example, noreply@example.com.
  • Sender email account: You will need to enter the email account that your organization will use to send MT Showcase emails to users. For example, info@example.com.

You can also increase the timeouts for sending emails (for example, there is a 60 second timeout for attempts to connect to the SMTP server), although it is unlikely that you will need to change the default timeouts.

Finally, you can choose to ignore SSL errors. By default, MT Showcase does not send an email if it detects an SSL error (such as an invalid certificate) when connecting to the SMTP server. If you trust the connection, you can instruct MT Showcase to ignore SSL errors and send the email anyway.

Note

If no SMTP server is configured, MT Showcase falls back to an email relay operated by MultiTaction. Configure your own SMTP server so that mail is delivered by your organization's infrastructure.

Media Server Service

The Media Server service is used for saving screen content from a user's personal space to a personal web page. This service is an alternative to the Email Sending service and has the advantage that it does not require a user's email address. Also, this web page can include screen items collected by the user from multiple video walls.

From the end-user's viewpoint, they can drag screen content into their personal space in MT Showcase and then use a QR code reader on their mobile device to download screen content they have collected on any video wall.

Before you can add the Media Server service to an app, you must prepare the media server; see the media-server section.

After preparing the media server, you can then set up the Media Server service in the MT Showcase Editor. For instructions, see Service sets.

Note

The URL for the user's personal web page is determined by the media server. The media server creates a unique web page for each Codice code detected by MT Showcase when users present their personal markers.