msx-knowledge-base

Quick Start Guide

Introduction

This is a quick start guide to setup a local Media Station X server with example content by using Node.js and the http-server package.

Alternatively, if you have Media Station X 0.1.123 or higher, please see the showcase Node Browser MSX. This showcase is based on the same technology, but simplifies and speeds up the setup process.

See: Node Browser MSX

1) Setup HTTP Server

• Download and install Node.js: https://nodejs.org.
• Install the http-server package (via npm): https://www.npmjs.com/package/http-server.
• Create the folder http-server on your local machine (e.g. c:\http-server).
• Create the subfolder msx in this folder (e.g. c:\http-server\msx).

2) Create Example Start Parameter

• Create the following start.json file in the msx folder (e.g. c:\http-server\msx\start.json).

{
    "name": "My Example Content",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "parameter": "menu:http://{SERVER}/msx/menu.json"
}

Note: Since version 0.1.65, the {SERVER} part is automatically replaced with the entered server. If you use an older version of Media Station X, you will need to do this manually. Please note that the auto-replacement feature only works for the start parameter file, for the other JSON files, you must always indicate full URLs (to avoid errors in cross-references). Since version 0.1.97, you can also indicate a {PREFIX} to automatically replace the used prefix (i.e. http:// or https://) (e.g. "menu:{PREFIX}{SERVER}/msx/menu.json" → "menu:http://192.168.0.10:8080/msx/menu.json").

3) Create Example Menu

• Create the following menu.json file in the msx folder (e.g. c:\http-server\msx\menu.json).

{
    "headline": "My Example Content",
    "menu": [{
            "icon": "movie",
            "label": "My Example Movies",
            "data": {
                "type": "pages",               
                "template": {                  
                    "type": "separate",
                    "layout": "0,0,2,4",
                    "icon": "msx-white-soft:movie",
                    "color": "msx-glass"                    
                },
                "items": [{
                        "title": "Video 1",                        
                        "action": "video:http://msx.benzac.de/media/video1.mp4"
                    }, {
                        "title": "Video 2",                       
                        "action": "video:http://msx.benzac.de/media/video2.mp4"
                    }, {
                        "title": "Video 3",                       
                        "action": "video:http://msx.benzac.de/media/video3.mp4"
                    }]
            }
        }, {
            "icon": "music-note",
            "label": "My Example Audios",
            "data": {
                "type": "pages",
                "template": {                   
                    "type": "separate",
                    "layout": "0,0,2,3",
                    "icon": "msx-white-soft:music-note",
                    "color": "msx-glass"
                },
                "items": [{
                        "title": "Audio 1",
                        "action": "audio:http://msx.benzac.de/media/audio1.mp3"
                    }, {
                        "title": "Audio 2",                          
                        "action": "audio:http://msx.benzac.de/media/audio2.mp3"
                    }, {
                        "title": "Audio 3",
                        "action": "audio:http://msx.benzac.de/media/audio3.mp3"
                    }]
            }
        }, {
            "icon": "image",
            "label": "My Example Images",
            "data": {
                "type": "pages",
                "template": {
                    "type": "default",
                    "layout": "0,0,3,2",
                    "color": "msx-glass",
                    "imageFiller": "cover",
                    "action": "image:context"
                },
                "items": [{
                        "image": "http://msx.benzac.de/img/bg1.jpg"                      
                    }, {
                        "image": "http://msx.benzac.de/img/bg2.jpg"                       
                    }, {
                        "image": "http://msx.benzac.de/img/bg3.jpg"                       
                    }]
            }
        }]
}

4) Start HTTP Server

• Open a command-line interface (e.g. Windows PowerShell).
• Navigate to the folder http-server (e.g. cd c:\http-server).
• Enter http-server --cors to start the server.
• Note the displayed IP address and port (e.g. 192.168.0.10:8080).

PS C:\> cd c:\http-server
PS C:\http-server> http-server --cors
Starting up http-server, serving ./
Available on:
  http://192.168.0.10:8080
  http://127.0.0.1:8080
Hit CTRL-C to stop the server

5) Setup Start Parameter

• Install and launch the Media Station X application.
• Navigate to Settings → Start Parameter → Setup.
• Enter the noted IP address and port (e.g. 192.168.0.10:8080).
• Complete the setup.
• Browse and enjoy your content.

Note: Please make sure the device running the Media Station X application and your local machine are connected to the same network. Additionally, please make sure that your local machine has not configured a firewall that blocks incoming connections on the used port.

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