The RadioBOSS event scheduler runs actions at set times, for example starting a playlist, inserting a contribution or downloading a file. RemotePLE displays these events and can control them remotely.

Open the window with the F9 key.

The events always refer to the RadioBOSS instance that is currently selected. If the check box for the internal instance is ticked on the "On-air list" tab, the event scheduler works with that internal instance as well.


The event list

On the left is the list of all events with six columns: Event, Time, Days, Group, State and Action. Use the arrow keys to select an event; the name, time, days, group and state are read out as a complete sentence.

The "Time" column shows either a fixed time or, for events that recur hourly, the hours and minutes of the grid. The "Days" column names the weekdays on which the event runs, or "daily".

The "Action" column shows the first action of the event. If an event consists of several actions, the number of further actions is also given. If an action contains a web address with credentials, the part from the question mark onwards is hidden so that passwords neither appear on screen nor are read out.


The buttons

- Refresh: Reloads the event list from the server. This also works with the F5 key.
- Turn scheduler on or Turn scheduler off: Switches the entire event scheduler on or off. While it is off, RadioBOSS runs no scheduled events at all. The button caption always shows what the next press will do. A confirmation prompt appears before switching it off, because after that not a single event runs any more, and this is often only noticed when the first show fails to air. Switching it on merely restores the normal state and is not confirmed.
- On / Off: Enables or disables only the selected event. All other events keep running.
- Run now: Runs the selected event immediately, regardless of its scheduled time. A confirmation prompt appears first.
- Skip next: Also runs the event immediately and additionally cancels the next scheduled start. Useful if you want to bring an event forward without it running twice.
- New: Creates a new event, see below.
- Edit: Opens the selected event for editing, see below.
- Delete: Removes the selected event after a confirmation prompt.
- From backup: Opens the window for restoring from a backup file, see below.
- Week overview: Opens the week view, see below.
- Close: Closes the window. You can also close it with the Escape key.

Below the buttons there is the "Colours" check box. With it ticked, the entries are shown in the colours stored in RadioBOSS for that group or event. The setting applies to every view of the event scheduler and is remembered. It is purely visual: group, state and everything else is in the text columns anyway and is read out.


Creating and editing an event

"Edit" opens the selected event, "New" creates an additional one. Both lead to the same window.

An event has far more settings than the window shows. RemotePLE therefore changes only the ones displayed and sends all the others back to RadioBOSS unchanged. Nothing the editor does not know about is lost - not even settings introduced by a newer RadioBOSS version.

For "New", RemotePLE needs a template. It builds itself: every time the event list is read, the program memorises each setting it does not yet know. After a program start with existing events the template is complete. Name, group, time and actions are deliberately not taken over, so that a new event does not inherit the identity of another one.

A setting is learned only once, though: its value comes from the event that first carried it and never changes afterwards. A new event therefore starts with the settings of some existing one. For that reason "New" asks how you would like to begin: empty with default values, or with the values of the template. Both have their use, so both ways are kept.

You can also decide the template yourself: the button "Save as template" at the bottom left of the edit window stores the settings currently on screen as the defaults for new events. The event itself is not saved, and nothing goes to RadioBOSS. That turns the second way into creating an event with your own defaults.

The window has six tabs:

- General: Name, group, the check box "Event is active" and the actions. The actions are listed one below the other, one per line, and are carried out in that order.
- Time and days: Fixed time or hourly grid, date, weekdays, weeks of the month, hours, minutes and seconds.
- Expiry and DTMF: When the event expires, a maximum duration and the DTMF control.
- Repeat and waiting: Repetitions within one start and the maximum waiting time in the queue.
- Options: Server title, artwork, where the tracks are placed in the playlist and how they are inserted.
- Overlay and fillers: Whether the event starts on top of the running playlist, at which music volume, plus the filler settings.

Weekdays, weeks and hours are individual check boxes, not strings of digits. When you enter such a group, the summary is read out first, for example "hours 5 to 9 and 14 to 22". Only when you tab on within the group do you hear the individual box. For the hours there are additionally "All hours" and "No hour".

Note the check box "Play on top" on the tab "Overlay and fillers": if it is set, the event runs on top of the playlist, and seven fields on the tab "Options" then have no effect and are disabled. Switching it is therefore announced.

The setting "Expiry" is also announced when you choose "Delete event" there: the event removes itself at the stated time, and afterwards nothing shows that it ever existed.

The action lines are best edited with the command wizard. The button "Edit line..." opens the line the caret is on; "Append line..." creates a new line and appends it at the bottom; "Delete line" removes the line the caret is on and announces how many actions are left. You change the order afterwards in the text field itself. See the chapter "Command wizard".

Note: Action lines may contain credentials, for instance for a download from a protected address. They are shown in the text field so that you can repair a faulty line, but normally they are not read out. If you do want to hear which line you are on while moving through the field, tick the check box "Announce actions anyway" below it. Bear in mind that a password is then spoken out loud. Deleting a line never says the content, only the number and how many actions are left.

"Save" sends the event to RadioBOSS and reloads the list afterwards. "Cancel" discards all changes; nothing has been sent to the server until then. "Save as template" only writes the template on your own computer and likewise sends nothing to the server.

If an action line carries the addition "CueNextOnEnd", RemotePLE checks two things when saving: whether the line is the first one when there are several actions, and whether the event starts at once at all. If one of the two does not hold, a warning appears, because RadioBOSS accepts such a line and then does nothing. You can save anyway; with "No" the window jumps to the line concerned.


Backup

Before every write access, that is before switching an event on or off, before saving from the editor and before deleting, RemotePLE automatically creates a complete backup of the event scheduler as an XML file. The backups are kept in the "Backups" subdirectory next to the program. The file name contains the name of the server profile and the point in time.

RadioBOSS itself has no undo function. The backups are therefore the only way to take back an unintended change.

Note: These backup files contain the events in their original state, including any credentials stored in them. Do not pass them on.


Restoring from a backup

The "From backup" button first asks for the backup file and then opens a window of its own. It lists all events of the backup with name, time, days and a state:

- present: The event still exists on the server. Restoring overwrites it with the state from the backup; it keeps its identifier.
- deleted: The event no longer exists. Restoring recreates it. The content comes back completely, but RadioBOSS assigns a new internal identifier. That is normal and is announced as well.
- already restored: The event has been brought back from this backup before. It is skipped so that it is not created a second time.

"Restore" brings back the selected event, "Restore all" writes back every event of the file after a confirmation prompt. At the end you are told how many were restored, skipped and failed. After closing, the event list is reloaded if anything was changed.

Note: An event that has only lost individual values is best restored while it still exists - its identifier is then preserved, and other places referring to it are not lost.


Week overview

The "Week overview" button shows every start of one week. The window only reads, it changes nothing in the scheduler.

At the top, "Previous week", "This week" and "Next week" change the period; Ctrl plus Page up or Page down does the same. Next to them stands the period shown, on the right the "Colours" check box and the button that switches the view. F5 reloads, Escape closes.

There are two views of the same data:

- List view: a single list across the whole week in chronological order, with a column for the day. This view is the most comfortable one with the speech output and is therefore preset.
- Calendar view: seven day columns side by side, each with the starts of that day. All seven share one scrollbar on the right so they stay together while scrolling.

The chosen view is remembered.

When an entry is selected, day, time, name, group and note are read out as a complete sentence.

The "Note" column names three things:

- conflict: Two or more events start in the same minute and both want the main playlist. Only then is it a conflict. A command or a deliberate overlay at the same time is not one and is not reported.
- repeat: The entry is one of the repeats of an event, not its first start.
- inactive: The event is switched off and would not run at that time.

Worth knowing: the overview shows the planned start times, not a forecast of what will actually happen. Options with which RadioBOSS moves, brings forward or cancels a start at runtime are not taken into account. Likewise only the start is shown, not the duration - how long a playlist runs is something RadioBOSS itself only knows while playing.


What the event scheduler cannot do here

Some settings do not belong to the event itself but to the RadioBOSS music library. This includes the repeat protection for track packages, that is how long an artist or a title should not be played again. You still set these values in RadioBOSS; RemotePLE can neither show nor change them, but it does not change them accidentally either.

After every write operation RemotePLE reloads the list completely from the server so that the displayed state always matches the actual one.
