Currently, the VOD player is still very much under development.
This VOD application manages and plays digital video files according
to requests and scheduled programming. Most information is stored
in a Microsoft Access Database and manipulated by the program.
Load Video Into MediaPlayer Button - loads current selected
video into player (not functional at this point)
Start Continuous - Begins algorithm to randomly select videos
from the database. As the videos in the database are not available
on all computers, the algorithm picks a random entry in the database
and then plays one of two short videos, depending on if the given
random entry number is even or odd.
Video Database
Selection of video titles in left window displays video information
on the right.
Add Button - add an entry into the video database
Edit Button - edit an existing entry in the database
Delete - delete an entry in the database (not functional at
this time)
Add Database Entry
Simple input form allows user to create new entry in video database
Author field is a selection of names from AuthorTable from the
database
Add Author
Allows user to input new Author name into the AuthorTable
Scheduler
Displays the current scheduled items
Add Entry Button - add an entry to the schedule
Edit Entry - edit an existing entry
Delete Entry - delete an entry
Close - close window
Schedule a Program
User may choose to enter start time of requested program or
may choose to schedule the next available time slot
Schedule conflicts are resolved at this stage of entry (not
operation yet)
Setup
Allows user to specify criteria importance of the random-video-selection
algorithm.
Duration - higher numbers indicate favorable selection of shorter
videos
Age - higher numbers indicate favorable selection of more recent
videos
Play Count - higher numbers indicate favorable selection of
videos played fewer times
Setting up a ODBC Connection
In order to connect to the Microsoft Access Database, you must configure
this database as a system ODBC connection.
Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools
Click on the System DSN tab at the top and click the Add... button
Select "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)" and click "Finish"
Name your Data Source and give it a description.
Click on the "Select..." button.
Select your Microsoft Access database and click "OK"
You will now be able to access the database with the VOD application.
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