Using the Announcer Feature of Launch

Introduction

This brief guide will show you how to configure Fusion/SimpleClient to send tag reads to the Announcer screen of Launch and offer some best practices for using the announcer display. If you haven't already, please familiarize yourself with streaming data using Fusion and/or SimpleClient before proceeding with this guide.

StreamManager cannot be used with the Launch announcer display since it is a web-based application and must target a local desitnation. However, you CAN still stream data over the internet to your announcer computer.

Prepare Launch

1. Install Launch on the computer you'll be using for the announcer display, log in to Launch, and then download the CT Live event that will be announced. If you're not yet familiar with how to download an event in Launch, click HERE to familiarize yourself with the program.
2. From the Kiosks tab of your event, scroll down to the Announcer Kiosk section.
3. This section will enable you to choose which fields appear in the Announcer display. Three fields are always on the Announcer kiosk and cannot be removed: Entry Name, Gender, and Race Age.
   You can also select up to three additional fields to display including Custom Questions from your CT Live event. In the example below, the Kiosk is set to include a 'Best Friend' field to show each runner's best friend using Custom Question data that was collected during registration.
   
4. When you're done selecting the display fields, click the blue Open icon to launch the announcer view.
   

Prepare Fusion/SimpleClient

1. Now, open either SimpleClient or Fusion, depending on which you you intend to use to stream data to the announcer display.
2. For SimpleClient, enter the below information into one of the unused Direct Socket connection slots. Remember to check the "Activate Connection" box.
   
   Make sure to go to File > Save Configuration to save the direct socket information.
   --OR--
   For Fusion, create a new Connection and enter the below information, then click Create Connection to save. All other information should remain at the default values.
   
3. Now, you're ready to stream data from your controller.

Prepare and Connect the Controller

1. Set your controller to Immediate Mode. This option can be found using the following controller menus:
   Pro2 - Race Ops > Controller
   Pro (BoxScore 3) - Controller > Operations
   Pro (BoxScore 1.26) - Status > Operations
   MiniTrack - Menu > 3 > 3 > 2
   Launch does not require controllers to be in Immediate Mode in order to display results, but we still recommend using Immediate Mode since it gives the first possible read for an athlete.
2. Connect your controller to the ChronoTrack server or directly to the announcer computer using Ethernet or WiFi. For complete guides to these procedures, see the Connections sections of our Knowledge Base for Pro2, Pro, or MiniTrack.
3. Now, open up Fusion/SimpleClient.

Select Data and Apply Filters

SimpleClient

1. Select the active data session for your announcer controller in SimpleClient. 
2. In the Tag Mode section, select Immediate and deselect Normal.
   
3. Now, check the box next to the Min Time Between Same Tag field and enter 3600 in the Seconds field. This prevents athletes from showing up in the announcer display over and over.
4. Click Select at the bottom of the window, then play the data when ready. After athletes start crossing the Announcer line, reads should begin appearing in the display.
   

Fusion

1. Add the active data session for your announcer controller into a Stream.
   
2. In the Filters tab to the right under Type, select Immediate and deselect Primary.
   
3. Next, check the Time Between Same Tag box and enter 01:00:00 into the time field.
4. Finally, click the Outputs tab and check the box for the Launch Announcer connection you added previously.
   
5. Now click the play button on the Stream when ready. After athletes start crossing the Announcer line, reads should begin appearing in the display.

Using the Announcer Display

Once data has been streamed to the Announcer screen, athletes' information will appear on the screen as shown here.

If an entry shows up as "undefined", then it means a tag was read by the antennas for which there is no data in CT Live.