Creating and Managing Channels

A Channel displays a sequence of content (images and videos) and also displays a website or a single-page application.

This page shows creating and managing channels for AEM Screens.

Pre-requisites:

Creating a New Channel

Once you create your project for AEM Screens, follow the steps below to create a new Channel for your project:

  1. Select the Adobe Experience Manager link (top left) and then Screens. Alternatively, you can navigate directly to https://localhost:4502/screens.html/content/screens.

  2. Navigate to your Screens project and select Channels folder.

  3. Click Create from the action bar.

    demochannel

  4. Select the Sequence Channel template from the Create wizard and click Next.

    demochannel

  5. Enter the Title as ScreensChannel and click Create.

    demochannel

  6. A Sequence channel is is now added to your Channels folder.

Channel Types

The following template options are available while using the wizard such as:

Template option Description
Channels Folder Allows to create a folder to store collection of channels.
Sequence Channel Allows to create a channel that plays the components sequentially (one by one in a slide show).
Application Channel Allows to showcase your custom web application in Screens player.
1x1 Split Screen Channel Allows to view the component in a single zone.
1x2 Split Screen Channel Allows to view the assets in two zones (split horizontally).
2X1 Split Screen Channel Allows to view the assets in two zones (split vertically).
2x2 Split Screen Channel Allows to view the assets in four zones (split horizontally and vertically in a matrix).
2 to 3 Split Screen Channel Allows to view the assets in two zones (split horizontally) with one of the zones being larger than the other one.
Left or Right L-Bar Split Screen Channel Allows content authors to view different types of assets in appropriately sized zones.
NOTE

The Split Screen channels split the display into multiple zones so you can play several experiences at the same time, side-by-side. The experiences can either be static assets/text or embedded sequences.

IMPORTANT

Once you create and add content to your channel, the next step is to create a location followed by creating a display. Furthermore you need to assign that channel to a display. See the resources below at the end of the section to learn more.

Working with Channels

You can edit, view properties and dashboard, copy, preview, and delete a channel.

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Adding/Editing Content to a Channel

To add or edit content in a channel, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the channel you want to edit (as shown in the figure above).
  2. Click Edit from the top left corner of the action bar to edit the channel properties. The editor opens that allows you to add assets/components to your channel that you want to publish.
NOTE

You can add components to your channel. Refer to Adding Components to a Channel for more details.

demochannel1

Uploading Videos to the Channel

Follow the steps below to upload videos to your channel:

  1. Select the channel where you want to upload the video.
  2. Click Edit from the action bar to open the editor.
  3. Select Videos under Assets and drag and drop the required videos.
NOTE

If you encounter issues uploading videos in your channel, see Troubleshooting Videos.

Viewing Properties

To view or edit properties of a channel, follow the steps below:

  1. Click on the Channel you want to edit.
  2. Click Properties from the action bar to view/edit the channel properties. The following tabs allow you to change the options.

properties

Viewing Dashboard

To view dashboard of a channel, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the channel you want to edit.
  2. Click Dashboard from the action bar to view the dashboard. The CHANNEL INFORMATION,ASSIGNED DISPLAYS, and PENDING LAUNCHES panel opens, as shown in the figure below:

dashboard

Channel Information

The Channel Information panel describes the Channel properties, along with the preview to the channel. Also, it provides you the information on whether the channel is offline or online.

Click on the (…) from the CHANNEL INFORMATION action bar to view properties, edit the content, or to update cache (offline content) for the channel.

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Viewing the Manifest

You can view the manifest from the channel dashboard.

IMPORTANT

This option is only available with AEM 6.4 Feature Pack 8 or AEM 6.5 Feature Pack 4.

Follow these steps to enable this option from the channel dashboard:

  1. Set the Channel to Offline
    1. Select the channel and select Properties from the action bar
    2. Navigate to Channel tab and make sure that you un-check Developer Mode (force channel to be online) option
    3. Click Save & Close
  2. Update Offline Content
    1. Select the channel and select Dashboard from the action bar
    2. Navigate to CHANNEL INFORMATION panel and click …
    3. Click Update Offline Content

You should see the View Manifest option from the CHANNEL INFORMATION panel in the Channel dashboard.

image1

Online and Offline Channels

NOTE

By default, when you create a channel, it is Offline.

When you create a channel, it can either be defined as an online or an offline channel.

An Online Channel, will show the updated content in the real time environment whereas an Offline Channel, shows the cached content.

Follow the steps below to make the channel online:

  1. Navigate to the channel as TestProject --> Channels --> TestChannel.

    Select the channel.

    screen_shot_2019-08-01at31406pm

    Click Dashboard from the action bar to view the status of the player. The CHANNEL INFORMATION panel provides information on whether the channel is online or offline.

    screen_shot_2019-08-01at31458pm

  2. Click Properties from the action bar and navigate to the Channel tab as shown below:

    screen_shot_2019-08-01at31542pm

  3. Check the Developer mode (force channel to be online) to make the channel as online.

    Click Save & Close to save your option.

    screen_shot_2019-08-01at31658pm

    Navigate back to the channel dashboard and now the CHANNEL INFORMATION panel shows the online status of the player.

    screen_shot_2019-08-01at31821pm

NOTE

If you want to configure your channel again as offline, un-check the Developer mode option from the Properties tab (as shown in step (3)) and then from the CHANNEL INFORMATION panel click Update Offline Content, as shown in the figure below.

dashboard2

Automatic versus Manual Updates from the Device Dashboard

The following table summarizes the events associated with the automatic and manual updates from the device dashboard.

Event Device Auto Update Device Manual Update
Change in Online Channel Content updated automatically

Content updated on "Device: Push Config"

Or,

Content updated on Device: Restart
Change in Offline channel but Channel "Push Content" is NOT triggered (no offline package re-creation) No content update No content update
Change in Offline Channel and Channel "Push Content" is triggered (new offline package) Content updated automatically

Content updated on Device: Push Config

Or,

Content updated on Device: Restart

Change in Config

  • Display (forced channel)
  • Device
  • Channel assignments (new channel, removed channel)
  • Channel assignment (role, event, scheduling)
 Config updated automatically

Config updated on Device: Push Config

Or,

Config updated on Device: Restart

Assigned Displays

The assigned displays panel shows the display associated to the channel. It provides a snapshot of the assigned display along with the resolution.

The associated displays will list in the Assigned Displays panel, as shown below:

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NOTE

To learn about creating a display in a location, refer to:

Additionally, click on the display in the ASSIGNED DISPLAYS panel, to view the display information, as shown below:

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The Next Steps

The next step after creating a channel and adding/editing content in your channel is to learn how to create a location and display. Furthermore, then assign a channel to that display.

See the following resources, for next steps:

Business.Adobe.com resources

Docs links
Multichannel Communication Auto Form Fill Embedded Charts Theme Editor Managed Cloud Digital Rights Management

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