ToolsOnAir Preference Pane

Upon the first launch of just:connect a new preference pane called ToolsOnAir Preferences will be installed on the machine.

ToolsOnAir System Profile

The System Profile tab in the TOA preference pane is able to gather and save information related to TOA's software that may be important when diagnosing and fixing issues with the software and/or the system it is running on. Attach a newly saved TOA System Profile every time a new support related ticket has been made in the → ToolsOnAir Online Helpdesk. This will allow the support team to get a good overview over the system without the need for the user to give any additional informations. 

Saving a System Profile

1. Check the Exclude log files that are older than… option to exclude log files which are outside of the timeframe the issue happened.
2. Additionally you can enable the Delete any excluded log files option to delete log files prior to the incident.
3. Check the Include Apple System Profile option only on machines which are currently NOT on air! If you are unsure, leave it unchecked.
4. Click the Save System Profile button and select a saving destination.
5. Add the saved System profile to a ticket in the → ToolsOnAir Online Helpdesk.
   
   

ToolsOnAir's "Stay Alive"

The Stay Alive tab of the TOA system preference pane can be used to select certain applications that should be automatically started and additionally should be "kept alive" at all times. This helps you to ensure that interruptions to your playout are kept to an absolute minimum.

• Power Outage at the Playout Center: Once the power returns and the system restarts, the selected applications will automatically start as well. If you select just:out and just:connect from the list of applications then your playout will automatically start.
• Unexpected Application Termination: Should just:out or just:connect crash at any time then they will automatically be restarted by the system and the playout will continue. This is particularly useful if you have a completely automated playout with limited human oversight (for example during the night) as without this function an unexpected termination of just:out or just:connect during such hours would result in complete loss of playout until human intervention.

Using Stay Alive

Starting an Application using Stay Alive

When an application is enabled for Stay Alive, that application will always be started by the system (first after booting, then automatically whenever the application terminates for any reason).

1. Make sure the application you are about to activate is currently not started.
2. Activate the checkbox in front of the application to start it immediately and automatically after a restart or a crash.

Optional "Required Path" Selection

When a volume or folder is specified in the Required Path section, the respective application will only be started when the specified volume/folder is mounted/present. This may be useful if you have a NAS, SAN or other types of file systems that must be mounted during system startup that may take some additional time before they are available.

In this case it is important not to start any ToolsOnAir applications that may rely on data from these file systems until the volume is available. By specifying such volumes in Stay Alive you can make sure that any ToolsOnAir applications are not started until the relevant volume/file system is available.

Optional "Scheduled Restart" Selection

It is possible to schedule an automated restart for all applications which are controlled by Stay Alive at a predefined time. Such a restart can be done as a kind of maintenance or to automatically restart just:out after a DST change.

Activate the Scheduled Restart checkbox and define the time and day the selected element should be restarted.

Stopping an Application using Stay Alive

1. Deactivate the checkbox in front of the application to stop it.
2. A warning appears which informs you that turning off Stay Alive will end the selected application immediately.
3. Click Yes to quit the application immediately.

Updating from Older Versions

1. Deactivate all applications in Stay Alive first.
2. Do the update.
3. Start just:out, just:connect and the UI.
4. Proceed with the System Update if asked to do so.
5. Quit all TOA applications and activate Stay Alive for the TOA applications you would like to have restarted automatically.

ToolsOnAir Log Analyzer

The TOA Log Analyzer application can be accessed from the just:out help menu and allows the system admin to get a visual representation of the text based log files of the local just:out. In addition to just:out (and therefore playout) relevant informations like dropped frames and restarts of the engine, the log analyzer also offers system related info like free memory or CPU temperatures.

Please → contact us if you require more information.

just:next

Starting with version 2.5 we offer an optional application called just:next. It allows you to execute the Jump To Next command of several just:play channels at the same time. There is a dedicated user manual, check it out → here.

Importing just:out 1.7 Settings

Starting with version 1.8, event devices such as GPI output or video routers are defined for a channel in just:connect. In previous versions this was done in just:out. If you have defined any event devices in a previous version using just:out and you would like to reuse them in v1.8, you will need to import them into the relevant channel in just:connect.

1. Navigate to the Library folder in the Finder. Do so by using the Go menu in the Finder while holding the alt-key and selecting Library.
2. Go to the Preferences folder and locate the file com.toolsonair.Just_Out.plist.
3. Copy this file to the system running just:connect.
4. Then – after starting just:connect – select Import just:out 1.7 settings from the Help menu and select the com.toolsonair.Just_Out.plist file you copied before.
5. Any event devices from the settings file will then be imported into the selected channel.

Please → contact us in case you need help to save your Events.