Understand app types

Understand app types

This guide outlines the different types of apps available in Q-Play. An app is used to display content within a presentation in the DesignTool. The type of content an app displays depends on its intended function. Below, you will find descriptions of the various app types and their specific purposes.
Each app serves a unique role within the Q-Play platform, allowing users to create dynamic presentations by integrating different content formats and functionalities. The apps range from simple media displays, like images and videos, to more complex integrations with external data sources, enabling personalized and interactive user experiences.
For example, some apps are designed to display static content such as text or images, while others are more interactive, pulling data from external systems like social media, databases, or even live dashboards from tools like PowerBi. These apps are essential for customizing how content is presented across different players, providing versatility in digital signage, event management, and real-time data display.
Below is an overview of the different app types and their applications within Q-Play. Each app type is designed to meet specific needs, helping users easily tailor their presentations to fit diverse scenarios, from retail displays to corporate communication.

Web App

A Web App displays web pages directly within Q-Play. Each player showing a Web App will fetch the content directly from the customer's source, bypassing Q-Play servers.
The Web App allows users to insert fields in the app settings that modify parameters in a URL address. For instance, a dropdown field can be used to change a language parameter in the URL, thereby altering the display language. It could also be a text field where users can input tokens or keys to define which specific view or content should be shown.

This functionality provides great flexibility, especially for scenarios where external web-based content needs to be customized dynamically for different audiences or contexts. By embedding customizable parameters into the Web App, users can personalize the web content without needing to change the core website. For example, a retailer might use the Web App to display localized product catalogs in different regions, simply by altering the language or currency parameters in the URL.

Additionally, this feature supports more advanced use cases, such as integrating third-party services that require secure tokens or API keys. The Web App can then fetch data or display content based on those tokens, enabling a seamless connection between Q-Play and external systems like CRM platforms, data dashboards, or user-specific content.
This customization makes the Web App a powerful tool in Q-Play for managing and displaying real-time, web-based information while maintaining control over how the content is presented and to whom.

Idea
The Web App is used to create the Q-Cal app, where a screen key is entered. This key is combined to form a URL that displays content from Q-Cal. Another example is the GoVisit app, where multiple parameters can be set within the app. The language is determined by the URL based on the customer’s selection in the app settings.
The Web App’s flexibility allows for dynamic URL generation, enabling the display of tailored content. In the case of Q-Cal, the screen key is crucial for identifying specific screens or views. For GoVisit, additional settings like language preferences enhance user experience by allowing the app to automatically adapt to the user's preferred language or other parameters based on the configuration within the app.
Warning
Attention
- A Web App loads individual web pages directly on a player, meaning the Chrome version on the specific player is crucial in determining whether the content can be displayed correctly. Additionally, it’s important to note that if a web page requires special features or significant processing power, it can impact the performance and experience on the player.
- The web page is displayed in an iframe, so it’s essential that any web page used as a Web App is compatible with being displayed in a frame.

The performance of a Web App on Q-Play is highly dependent on the capabilities of the individual player’s browser, particularly its Chrome version. Since web technologies evolve quickly, features like HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and other web-based functionalities may require newer browser versions. If the player’s Chrome version is outdated, certain elements of the web page may not render properly, leading to potential issues like missing content or interactive features not functioning as expected.

Moreover, web pages with heavy graphics, videos, or requiring high computational power could strain the player’s resources, causing slower load times, stuttering, or a degraded user experience. Therefore, it is important to optimize the web pages for the player’s hardware specifications, ensuring smooth operation.

In terms of iframe compatibility, many websites restrict embedding in iframes for security reasons or to prevent misuse. This limitation can hinder certain pages from being displayed as Web Apps. It is crucial to verify that the websites intended for use with Web Apps support being displayed within an iframe to avoid issues where the page refuses to load or shows a “frame not allowed” error.

By keeping these considerations in mind—browser compatibility, resource demands, and iframe restrictions—users can ensure a smoother and more reliable experience when using Web Apps in Q-Play.


WebCapture App

A WebCapture app utilizes an integration that allows content to be displayed from sources such as PowerBi behind a login. By using a WebCapture app, web pages and content are loaded on a NordicScreen server, where screenshots are taken at a frequency determined by the integration settings. These screenshots are then used by the WebCapture app to display content on information screens.

The WebCapture app is particularly useful for scenarios where access to content is restricted behind login-protected platforms, such as PowerBi or other internal web systems. Instead of displaying the content directly through a player’s browser, the NordicScreen server acts as an intermediary. It logs in and navigates through the desired platform, loads the required content, and then captures screenshots of the rendered pages.

The key advantage here is that the content is securely handled on the server side, ensuring that sensitive data stays protected while allowing the player to display real-time or periodic updates from the integrated system. The frequency of the screenshots can be customized depending on the needs—whether content needs to be updated every few seconds, minutes, or at specific intervals.

This approach also minimizes the processing load on the player itself, as the player is only tasked with displaying the images rather than rendering complex web content. This makes the WebCapture app a highly efficient solution for devices with limited processing power or in environments where direct integration with login-restricted services would otherwise be challenging.

The architecture behind the WebCapture app essentially separates content access and display, with the server acting as the bridge that captures and delivers updated visual data to the player. This design ensures reliable content delivery, even for complex or secure platforms, without compromising the performance of the information screen.

Creating WebCapture app require both Integration template and Webcapture app 

Idea

The WebCapture App is ideal for scenarios where content is hosted on platforms that restrict direct access due to authentication, security protocols, or proprietary limitations. Instead of allowing players to access these platforms directly, which might require complex login handling or expose sensitive credentials, the WebCapture App provides a secure and efficient workaround.

For instance, platforms like PowerBi or Grafana, which are widely used for data visualization and dashboards, often require users to log in and access restricted content. With the WebCapture App, the system can handle these restrictions by rendering the content on a NordicScreen server. The server logs into the dashboard, loads the required data, and captures snapshots at predetermined intervals. These snapshots are then displayed on the information screens.

This method is particularly useful in corporate or operational environments where real-time data from dashboards, such as financial reports, operational KPIs, or live monitoring data, needs to be broadcast on digital displays. By using the WebCapture App, organizations can ensure that the most up-to-date information is shown, without compromising the security of their login credentials or exposing the raw dashboard environment to public-facing screens.

The WebCapture App offers a versatile solution for integrating platforms that are otherwise difficult to display on screens due to technical limitations like iframe restrictions or high-security requirements. This approach not only improves performance and reduces the burden on the player but also ensures that sensitive or proprietary data remains secure behind a server-side capture process.

Warning

The integration between the WebCapture app and external systems is crucial for its functionality. The app relies on this integration to log in, access, and retrieve data from external dashboards or web pages, such as PowerBi or Grafana. Without this integration, the WebCapture app wouldn’t be able to access the necessary content, especially when login credentials or authentication steps are required.

Although the WebCapture app does not offer real-time data streaming, its ability to update frequently (every 1 to 5 minutes) ensures that the information displayed remains relatively current. This near-real-time capability makes it suitable for applications where data doesn’t need to be updated instantly but where periodic updates are sufficient. For example, it can be used in environments where dashboards provide operational data, sales metrics, or performance indicators, and a few minutes’ delay in updating the displayed content is acceptable.

The app’s limitation on real-time data also reduces the strain on system resources, as constant updates would require more bandwidth and processing power. Instead, the periodic screenshot capture method strikes a balance between performance and keeping data fresh for viewers. Organizations can set the update frequency based on their needs, ensuring that the displayed information is still timely without overwhelming the system.

In summary, while the WebCapture app may not be suitable for environments requiring second-by-second data updates, its adjustable update frequency of 1-5 minutes makes it highly effective for many dashboard displays, ensuring a practical compromise between real-time accuracy and system performance.





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