PADapult Main Screen Overview

 

PADapult can be considered as a 'One to Many' data relay program. In other words, PADapult will receive data from a source and relay this data to up to ten different destinations. Each Destination can have it's own unique format if desired.

If you have several different data sources, you can run more than one copy of PADapult.

Lets start by reviewing the Main PADapult screen.

A Clicking on the ENCO logo will being up contact information about ENCO.
B When running in Auto Mode, this area will display the Title and Artist information being sent out. When in Manual mode this area is dedicated to input of data. Users can enter their own Title, Artist, Album and Genre for the song if the material is not playing from an automation system. 

Pressing on the graphical display will open version information about PADapult.

 
C

Fields like Station ID and Station Slogan contain a user defined pull-down menu that allows one to set predetermined options. The pull-down information is saved in the INI file under the Station ID and Station Slogan sections. 

Comments allow one to quickly and easily enter a string to be sent out the data channel. 

AUTO / MANUAL mode button. Pressing this button will toggle between AUTO and MANUAL mode. When in MANUAL mode the PADapult My Data button will become active. This allows one to manually send the data when ready. 

Between the two button, PADapult will display the current mechanism for Data Input. For example, if you are receiving a UDP Stream using the Format: DAD XML, this information will be displayed.

D Status screen. Here one will see the status and transactions taking place within PADapult. When PADapult outputs data, one will see the string sent in this screen. 

The Verbose checkbox can be checked to allow for additional information. 

E The LOG button displays a log of details about what the program has done. This can be the same information displayed in the Status Screen. These logs are kept in the \PADapult\LOGS directory and are created anew each day. 

Pressing the CONFIG button will open the PADapult.INI file. Details about the INI are discussed here. 

NOTE: If one makes changes here, one should always press the RELOAD button. 

The spinning character to the right of the Reload button in an indication that PADapult is running and 'active'. 
F
AUTO INPUTS will open a screen allowing one to select which input PADapult should use for data.

Input data types can be IP, UDP, Serial, HTTP Data, File based (for example, reading an XML file) and Telnet IP transmissions.

Check the box for your data type (such as UDP Stream) then select via the pull-down menu. 

The checkbox option for "Use Event Length to control Transmission of PAD Data" allows PADapult to use the length of the received data as a time-out for the current Data Output string. When the time-out is reached PADapult will not stop sending the Default Output string but will send a Scheduled Message string if enabled.  

 
There are several different Data input types.

Please select the appropriate type for your input data. 

RELOAD will reload the Config.INI file allowing one to make changes to the configuration without restarting the application. 

The spinning character to the right of the button shows that PADapult is waiting for any updates via the Web Interface. 
G This section contains the Destinations. Pressing the button will open the Output Configuration screen.  This screen allows you to configure the Destination. More details can be found here. 

There are checkboxes along the left side of the buttons to enable or disable that Destination along connection indicator.  

Users are permitted up to ten Destinations. 

The Enabled checkbox flags that output service as Enabled (checked) so data will be sent to that location or Disabled (unchecked). More than one service can be selected as Enabled.

PADapult will 'fill in' the Connected button when it establishes a connection. While a user can click and select these buttons, the Connection is based upon what the Software is connected to.. not what the User has selected. Please note that some communications methods will not always have a 'connected' indicator - an example would be if that destination is writing a data file to an FTP site.

The Disable All button allows one to disable ALL Destinations. Doing so will STOP all outgoing messages.  
H Pressing Scheduled Message open the screen for adding and  editing Scheduled Messages. More details about interleaving messages with your Now Playing Data can be found here. 

Note that if and when a HIGH Priority item has been sent, a Clear HIGH State button will be visible above the Scheduled Message button. Pressing this will clear any HIGH Priority messages sent resuming normal messaging status. This button will then disappear until another HIGH Priority message is sent. More details about Priority Levels can be found here.