The kiosk management solution SiteRemote can be used to create an alert message system for kiosk systems running SiteKiosk Windows. An alert message will overlay the default SiteKiosk user inferface informing users of special events. Note that the solution described in this blog post is intended as a sort of emergency system. If you just want to show changing information you should consider using SiteCaster.
Two files are needed on the SiteKiosk terminal. One is a JavaScript file (named alertswitch.js in this example) the second is an HTML file (named alert.html in this example). Both should be placed in a folder called alert that should be placed in the HTML folder of the SiteKiosk installation path.
Let's start with the alertswitch.js JavaScript file. The code of the file is as follows:
//Periodic event to check alert conditions every 25 seconds
//The lower this value the harder to use the local SiteKiosk escape menu to close SiteKiosk
SiteKiosk.Scheduler.AddPeriodicEvent(25000, CheckAlertValue);
//Shell object used to read the registry
var WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
//Global variable for the event id of the periodic alert text check
var PeriodicEventID = 0;
//Alert dialog properties
var gk_Emergency = SiteKiosk.SiteKioskUI.CreateHTMLDialog();
//Path to the html file used for the alert
gk_Emergency.URL = "file://" + SiteKiosk.SiteKioskDirectory + "Html\\Alert\\Alert.html";
gk_Emergency.TopMostWindow = true;
gk_Emergency.Closable = false;
gk_Emergency.Title = false;
gk_Emergency.Border = false;
gk_Emergency.Scrollbars = false;
gk_Emergency.Sysmenu = false;
gk_Emergency.CloseOnInput = false;
gk_Emergency.OnClose = onClose;
gk_Emergency.Maximize();
function CheckAlertValue(){
try{
//Check registry value !NOTE! The following registry path is for 64-Bit systems!
if (WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\PROVISIO\\SiteKiosk\\AlertValue") !== ""){
//Resets the screensaver idle timeout to make sure the screensaver is not interfering with the alert
SiteKiosk.ScreenSaver.Reactivate();
//Show the alert
gk_Emergency.ShowDialog();
//Force hiding of the task bar during the alert (Note: Not required when running SiteKiosk in full screen mode)
SiteKiosk.SiteSkin.TaskbarVisible = false;
}
else{
if (PeriodicEventID !== 0)
//Remove the periodic event that checks for alert text changes
SiteKiosk.Scheduler.RemoveEvent(PeriodicEventID);
//Show the taskbar again (Note: Not required when running SiteKiosk in full screen mode)
SiteKiosk.SiteSkin.TaskbarVisible = true;
//Close the alert
gk_Emergency.CloseDialog();
}
}
catch(e){
//No matching registry value, do nothing
}
}
//Return the registry value to the alert dialog on request
function GetRegistryValue(){
return WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\PROVISIO\\SiteKiosk\\AlertValue");
}
//Allow the alert to write the event id of the periodic event that checks for alert text changes
function SetPeriodicEventID(evtid){
PeriodicEventID = evtid;
}
function onClose(){
if (PeriodicEventID !== 0)
//Remove the periodic event that checks for alert text changes because dialog has been closed from outside of the script
SiteKiosk.Scheduler.RemoveEvent(PeriodicEventID);
}
The file must be added to SiteKiosk as an external script file. This can be done in the configuration of SiteKiosk under Start Page & Browser -> Advanced. The file uses the AddPeriodicEvent method of the SiteKiosk Object Model to periodically check a registry value (in our example HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\PROVISIO\\SiteKiosk\\AlertValue). The registry value is either an empty string or contains the alert text that should be displayed. If the check does not return an empty string, the ShowDialog method is used to show the dialog defined with the CreateHTMLDialog method. One of the properties of the dialog is the path to the alert.html file explained below in this document. If the alert is shown the taskbar of SiteKiosk is switched off (only required if no full screen mode is used) using the TaskbarVisible property. Additionally the SiteKiosk screensaver will be prevented during the display of the alert to minimize any possible interference with the alert message, which is why the Reactivate method is used. Once an empty string is detected in the registry the alert is switched off by means of the CloseDialog method.
The external script also contains two methods to provide the HTML file that displays the actual alert with the alert message (GetRegisryValue method) and to receive the event id of the periodic event used in the HTML file to check for changes in the alert text. The id is used to stop the periodic event once the alert message is no longer displayed with the help of the RemoveEvent method.
The alert.html HTML file that accompanies the external script is used to display the alert message. You might change the design of that page to whatever you like. The code of the HTML file is as follows:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<head>
<style>
html {
background: red no-repeat center fixed;
background-size: cover;
}
body {
font-family: arial;
text-align:center;
font-size: 100px;
color: white;
}
div {
margin-top: 15%;
padding: 20px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body style="margin:0px;">
<div id="Alert-Text">
...
</div>
</body>
<script type="text/JScript">
//Initialize the SiteKiosk Object Model
window.external.InitScriptInterface();
//Get the alert text from the external script
function GetAlertValue(){
document.getElementById("Alert-Text").innerHTML = SiteKiosk.ScriptDispatch.GetRegistryValue();
}
GetAlertValue();
//Check the alert text every 5 seconds for changes
var evtid = SiteKiosk.Scheduler.AddPeriodicEvent(5000, GetAlertValue);
//Write event id to external script to remove event when closing the alert
SiteKiosk.ScriptDispatch.SetPeriodicEventID(evtid);
</script>
</html>
After the initialization of the SiteKiosk Object Model the ScriptDispatch object is used to retrieve the alert message from the external script. The AddPeriodicEvent method is used to periodically request the alert message to quickly react to changes. The id for that event is passed to the external script so that the event can be canelled once the alert is closed.
Note that the times for the periodic events in the script can be changed to your liking and the requirements of your environment.
With the two files required on the SiteKiosk terminal in place we can now focus on the SiteRemote part. Obviously the SiteKiosk terminal needs to be registered with a SiteRemote server. Within your SiteRemote team go to the SiteKiosk tab and select Jobs. Scroll all the way down and select New template. For the alert system to work we need at least two templates. One that switches the alert on and one to switch it off. The template that switches the alert on includes the string for the alert message. In case you have different predefined alert messages that you want to display with the alert system based on different situations, you can create different templates for each of the messages.
The create an ON template provide a job name, select SiteKiosk Windows as client type and Execute Script as action type. Click Add next to the selected action type and paste the following script into the script field. Make sure that you do not select the option Script requires SiteKiosk Object:
//ON !NOTE! The following registry path is for 64-Bit systems!
var gk_WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
gk_WshShell.RegWrite("HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\PROVISIO\\SiteKiosk\\AlertValue", "Alert Text", "REG_SZ");
This will write the string Alert Text to the registry of a SiteKiosk terminal the job will be assigned to. Change the string to whatever you like and make as many different ON templates as you require. Note that you can also change the text each time you assign the job template to a machine.
The OFF template simply writes an empty string to the terminal's registry:
//OFF !NOTE! The following registry path is for 64-Bit systems!
var gk_WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
gk_WshShell.RegWrite("HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\PROVISIO\\SiteKiosk\\AlertValue", "", "REG_SZ");
Each time you want to activate or deactivate an alert on one machine or a number of machines click one of the templates and assign it. If you assign the ON template from this example to a machine that runs the required files described above you will get an alert like this:
Note that for the alert message to be displayed, SiteKiosk must be running, which is the normal state on a SiteKiosk kiosk terminal.