Third Party Data Integrations for GoBright View

GoBright View can show data or information from external sources. For this, custom integrations can be developed. If you are interested, please carefully read this article.

How it works

Within GoBright View all content is displayed using Widgets. Widgets with dynamic (external) data receive the data from a Data Source. Custom integrations can be developed by GoBright to display data from external sources within GoBright View.

Data source

The Data Source gets the data from an external source, formats it, handles caching and then provide the data for the Widget to use it. A Data Source is written in JavaScript.

A Data Source can have one or multiple Widgets assigned to it.

The data source is collects by default once per 5 minuts the data by pulling it from an external api.

The data source is linked to a widget and the widget is linked to a slide. The slide is scheduled on a device like a display at your reception.

Every player/display collect and caches the data by its own via the data source.

Widget

The Widget visualizes the data. A Widget consists of three elements: HTML, CSS & JavaScript. HTML is always required, but both CSS and JavaScript are optional.

A widget can have no or one Data Source assigned to it, but never more than one.

Examples:

• A weather Data Source can have multiple Widgets linked to it. A Widget displaying current temperature and another Widget displaying the weather forecast for the upcoming days.
• A table Widget with a specific design can be linked to one Data Source, another table widget with a different design can also be linked to the same Data Source, displaying the same data in a different way.
• A QR code Widget is an example of a Widget without a Data Source linked to it. All the necessary logic is performed within the Widget and no external data is required.

When GoBright develops a custom integration with external data, at least one Data Source and one Widget will be created, as this is included in the article no. ‘GB-VIEW-EXTAPIQUERY-GENERAL’. Depending on the case multiple Data Sources and or Widgets are required to meet the customers requirements. Separate widgets can be ordered using article no. ‘GB-VIEW-EXTAPIQUERY-WIDGET’.

A common thing with custom integrations is a dashboard to present data. In many cases this dashboard consists of multiple Widgets. In GoBright View, a template will be created containing these Widgets.
The exact amount of Data Sources and Widgets required for a dashboard depends entirely on the case.

Requirements to develop a custom integration

Data

When GoBright needs to develop a widget and datasource for a customer because data must be visualized within GoBright View, GoBright needs access to the raw data.

In most cases this data comes from an external API and GoBright does not have knowledge of the external data structure.

Therefore the data must be provided by the customer or the third party we have to integrate with. GoBright expects this data to be structured and its delivery to be reliable. The data can be delivered using an API as JSON or XML.

• Full API documentation must also be provided.
• A technical contact (preferibly a product owner of the thirt party we have to integrate with) must be available who can assist us in understanding the shared data / documentation and help with other releated questions for this implementation regarding the thirt party implementation.

Then it’s time to set the requirements. Should the data be filtered and or sorted in some way?

Obviously, only data that can be gathered from the API can be displayed. Please contact your API provider for more information.

Note: GoBright View won’t store data for extended periods of time. Any required historical data must be made available via the API every time we collect the data from the API.

Design

The customer provides a sketch / drawing of the desired presentation of the data. This shows how the data should be presented on the digital signage displays using Widgets. As mentioned before, only data that can be gathered from the API can be displayed.

It is also needed to receive a written description of the customizable params which can make the widget a bit more flexible.
For example in a school schedule display you want maybe a param display the data for “students” or for “teachers”. Which can be set via a dropdown selectbox. Based on this setting the presentation of data can change a bit.

Order

Only when an order is received by GoBright and the other requirements (see below) are met, GoBright can start developing the custom integration.

In the order at least one article no. ‘GB-VIEW-EXTAPIQUERY-GENERAL’ is required. This article contains one data source and one widget. If multiple data sources and/or widgets are required they must be added to the order. The article no. for a separate widget is ‘GB-VIEW-EXTAPIQUERY-WIDGET’.
Please contact your GoBright reseller for more information.

Timeline

From the moment phase 2 (see below) is finalized and approved by the GoBright developer that all required information is available, the estimated development time is approximate 8 weeks.

Phase 1: Receiving PO and gathered data

Phase 2: scheduling and checking delivered data and request

Phase 3: Design of the widget (as an image in jpg or png format)

Phase 4: Data Source development

Phase 5: Widget development

Phase 6: Internal Testing

Phase 7: Testing in customer environment

Phase 8: Final Delivery

Update of Widget & datasource after delivery

Be aware that the widget & datasource is developed in Javascript, HTML and css. With the right development skills you should be able to change the widget & datasource your selves.

GoBright also can handle this for you, via your GoBright reseller you can ask for a price for this extra work.

Take a look at some custom widgets we’ve developed earlier: Custom widgets