Install Structured Importer

Use the Structured Importer UDC plugin to import spots and media to the IXM Platform. Upon import, the system automatically creates spot and media groups for the imported files. In addition, you can configure import options such as automatically adding spots to playlists, or clearing spot groups and playlists before importing new content.

Prerequisites

Consider the following prerequisites before you use the Structured Importer:

• You must have a base directory for importing. For example, a folder on the IXM Server. 

• You can only import to existing playlists in the IXM Platform. They’re not created during the import.

• You must create a JSON configuration file to configure import settings.

Install the plugin

Note

We recommend using the latest versions of importers and spots so that you can take advantage of the latest fixes and features.

To install the Structured Importer UDC plugin, perform the following steps:

1. Stop the UDC service.

2. Open the release folder and go to Server.zip\Plugins\Udc\StructuredImporter.

3. Copy all files from there into the folder UDCService/plugins on the server. If the plugins folder doesn’t exist, create it.

4. Start the UDC service.

Configure the data import

You must create a configuration file that contains settings for the importer. This allows you to specify how and where files are imported.

Save the config file anywhere on the server where the server services have access to.

There are two import options with different requirements. Basically, the server makes the difference. You can upload files either to the IXM Server or via an FTP server.

Configure upload to spot and media groups

Configure the upload of files to spot an media groups either via the IXM Server or an FTP server depending on your setup.

Configure upload to playlists 

You can import spots directly to your general playlists. This applies to both the IXM Server and FTP servers.

Note

Please notes the following limitations:

• The import doesn’t create playlists. Create the playlists in the IXM Platform beforehand. 

• You can only import to general playlists, screen playlists are not supported.

To upload spots to playlists, create a sub-folder within a spot group folder with the name of an existing playlist in square brackets. 

Create the following folder structure: path to root\spots\spot group hierarchy\[name of playlist]

Upload to playlists with a start date

You can also create a playlist version with a start date when importing spots. To do so, create a sub-folder in the playlist folder with the date and time.

Create the following folder structure: path to root\spots\spot group hierarchy\[{name of playlist}]\YYYYMMDDhhmmss

Create the configuration file

To enable the import from any server, you must create a JSON configuration file called configuration.json with the following entries: 

Example configuration.json file:

{
  "ApiKey": "3D1E08CBD56FE3668BE3C4148EBBC9*****",
  "ImportType": "Ftp",
  "BaseDirectory": "\\\\qa11\\data\\StructuredImporter\\FtpImport",
  "SpotDuration": 13,
"Ftp": {
    "Host": "support.grassfish.tv",
    "User": "*****",
    "Password": "*****",
    "SourceFtpDirectory": "/Dir1/Dir2/Root"
  }
}

If paths contain backslashes, you must mask them with escape sequences ('\'). Network drives require four backslashes at the beginning ('\\\\').

Prepare the data import

Before you set up the data importer, note that there are two different types of import. You must select the import type when you set up the data importer in the IXM Platform. However, you might have to prepare your import type in advance.

You can use the default import or full import.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<FinishFile xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <ClearSpotGroups>true</ClearSpotGroups>
  <TruncateEmptyPlaylists>true</TruncateEmptyPlaylists>
  <ClearPlaylistIfExists>true</ClearPlaylistIfExists>
</FinishFile>

Configure spot time control

Optionally, you can specify the validity of imported spots. To do so, you must create a JSON file with time control settings for each spot and place it in the playlist folder.

Create a file with the name [Spotname].json and the following entries:

Example spotname.json file:

{
  "ValidFrom": "2020-05-10T11:59:10",
  "ValidTo": "2020-07-27T04:15:46",
  "Weekdays": {
    "Monday": false,
    "Tuesday": false,
    "Wednesday": false,
    "Thursday": false,
    "Friday": true,
    "Saturday": true,
    "Sunday": false,
    "Holiday": true
  },
  "DailyFrom": "05:00",
  "DailyTo": "21:30",
  "Loops": {
    "One": false,
    "Two": true,
    "Three": false,
    "Four": true,
    "Five": false,
    "Six": false
  }
}

Set up the data importer

To set up the data importer in the IXM Platform, perform the following steps:

1. Go to Administration > Content > Data importer > New.

2. In the Create data importer dialog, select the Structured Importer as Data importer.

3. Enter a Designation. You’ll use the designation when you select the data source of the spot.

4. Enter a Display name. The display name is the name of the data source in the system.

5. Switch to the Feeds tab and select one of the following Feed definitions: 

   • Default import

   • Full import

6. As Path, enter the path to your config.json file.

7. Specify all other settings as required.

8. Click Save to save the data importer.

Start the data importer

To finish the installation, you must start the data import in the IXM Platform. To do so, perform the following steps:

1. In the IXM Platform, go to Administration > Content > Data importer. 

2. Select the data importer that you want to start.

3. In the lower-right corner, select Tools > Start import.

4. Optionally, select Display data to display the imported data. Click OK to close the window.