Client computer issues
Hi Emile,
Firstly, congrats on releasing this software, initially a little daunting and had difficulty configuring, along with a problem (below), but I did get it working.
Anyway, I'm looking at the possible use of Broadcast Power at our local community station, 2NVR, but while I have managed to install and run BP2X on a single computer, stand alone, and I can run the station fine on that install, I don't seem to be able to get a networked client computer to work properly. I'd eventually like to have one extra internal client in a second studio and a couple of clients connecting into our station feed via the internet (remote studios).
Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the configuration options for a client computer?
I get different error messages depending on the configuration options I use (note that the network is up and running fine with static IP addressing, and that the SQL server is visibly operational from the point of view of the client computer).
Firstly I made the following presumptions:
* That I only need to install the "client" part of the software on the client computer.
* That I need to set the "Enterprise Connection" type in the client WinUI.exe.config to "remote", with all the port settings matching those on the server (for the Remote Player etc).
Please note that I have double-checked all settings and the remote player and client settings are all to the same ports, etc (as far as I can tell), and the remote player server is running in the system tray of the server.
The error I receive at the client with the above settings is as follows:
Exception: Can not connect to the remote host "gtcp://ANTICS:8872". System error message: Not connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.
(followed by a longer message about username etc.)
ANTICS in this case is the name of the server computer on the local windows network.
Now, I did a little experimenting:
Just in case I was misunderstanding the settings, I changed the setting in the WinUI.exe.config on the client to "direct", and tried logging in that way. This time I got part way into the system. The login box changed green to indicate a correct username and password combination, but I soon get this error message:
Could not load file or assembly "PluginManager", Version=1.0.2879.41186, Culture=enabled, PublicKeyToken=null", or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
(again followed by the longer message about username etc).
So I experimented even more, and this time installed the full BP2X software on the client machine, including the server components (but not the SQL server, of course), once again I tried logging in with the setting to "direct" in WinUI.exe.config.
Now I could log in, load the UI, control the station, set it to run automatic and listen to the audio feed emerge correctly from the remote computer.
But — if I try to run in manual mode and cue some audio to the players at the client computer from the media store, I now get another error message:
Exception: "Bass_Error_Fileopen".
(However, if I load some music from a local folder on the client computer, it can be successfully cued) which I guess kind of solves my problem since I could share a folder on the network for the music and assign a shared drive letter, but I think this is only getting the client to work by strange default since the system ought to work in a remote manner with the client only software, and I'd still have a problem connecting into the station via the internet and cueing audio from the storage...
Hope you can help!
Ooroo for now,
Ion.
RE: Client Computer Issue
Hi Ion,
If you change the "Connection Type", or the Enterprise connection type to "remote", the client will be communicating to the server, for database operations using the remote method instead of directly connecting to the database, from the client.
To allow this to occur, you need to run a service or application on the server hosting Broadcast Power. This is different to enabling communication to the remote player.
In other words, the server has two main components:
1. RemotePlayer
2. Enterprise Service (BPHostConsole.exe or BPHostService.exe)
The client can run with the UI only: WinUI.exe
Having said that, I don't think I have distributed (BPHostConsole.exe or BPHostService.exe) with the installer. In the initial versions, those files were distributed, but I found that they were rarely used and that including them with the installer complicates the deployment. If you are adventurous, I can email you the binaries so you can experiment with them.
The difference between the console and service versions is as follows:
1. You need to be logged in to a windows session to run the console. If you log off, the application shuts down.
2. You can run the service without logging in to a Windows session. If you have a Windows login session and log off, the service continues running in the background.
Now let's get back to the other issue you are having with installing the client and trying to connect to the server.
Yes, you only need to install the client components on client computers.
You do not need to set the Enterprise connection to "remote" to run the client components on client computers and connect to the remote player, as explained above.
However, the installer has a problem with installing the client components without the server.
Because I was lazy when I added the plugin functionality to the client, I merged the sample plugins with the server plugins.
What you need to do, after installing the client components on client computers, is the following:
1. Create a directory called "Plugins" in the binaries folder where you installed the client components to
2. Copy the following binaries from the server to the "Plugins" directory you just created:
File "ServerPlugins.dll"
File "Melih.FTPClient.dll"
File "Template.html"
File "NowPlayingWebExportPlugin.log4net"
3. Copy the following binaries from the server to the binaries directory where you installed the client components to:
File "PluginInterfaces.dll"
File "PluginManager.dll"
Give that a try and let me know how it goes. I will change the installer to accommodate for these changes and incorporate in my next release.
The error you got, Could not load file or assembly "PluginManager"..., is due to the missing assemblies (or dll's) above.
When you installed the client and server, without SQL server, you actually are connected to the local instance and that's why it failed to load the audio file.
What you need to do, to connect the client to the server is to change the following setting: "Audio Player Remoting Settings".
Make sure that the servername value, in WinUI.exe.config on the client points to the server.
"servername=127.0.0.1"
Replace 127.0.0.1 with your server name. In your case that would become:
"servername=ANTICS"
Replace ANTICS with the IP address if the client cannot resolve the name or if your DNS or WINS are not configured properly on the client.
If you have two audio devices on the server, one used to broadcast and the other as PFL, you can control playback of audio files defines on the server from the client in another room or another state. Although you issue the command from the client, the server will actually load the file and play it back on one or both of its audio devices.
However, if the client is using its own version of the remoteplayer, it will be using the local audio device(s). Since your database has records of audio files from the server, the client won't find them and won't be able to load them.
I hope this explains the issue and solves it for you.
If not, please don't hesitate to post a reply or create a new thread.
Cheers,
Emile
remote connection type
Hi Emile, thank you for this software.
I've been trying to configure a "remote" client-database connection. I had been trying to figure out why the client couldn't connect to port 8872 of the server, even if the Remote Player Host was running. Thanks to this post I now know that an additional service needs to run on the server for this to work (BPHostConsole.exe or BPHostService.exe).
Could you please post those files to the Registered User Downloads?
BTW, do these programs need configuraton files?
I'd also like to point out that the need of this extra component for remote connections is not very clearly stated in the documentation or the configuration files. I think there is a hint of it somewhere, but you certainly don't mention that it is not included in the installer. Your program is great, but it would be greater if better documentation was available.
Thank you,
Erick
Hi Erick, Can you send me
Hi Erick,
Can you send me the two config files you have for WinUI and RemotePlayerHost?
I need to see what you are trying to do to confirm what is happening.
Are you offering help with the documentation? I would appreciate any help you can give.
My wife gave birth recently and it's hectic at home these few months. I barely have time to work during the day and sit with my baby boy in the evenings before crashing in bed.
I will post those missing files to the registered users download section as soon as I can.
Please be aware that I have not done much testing on them, but last time I tried them, they were working. So, support to those files will be limited until I get a chance to test them some more.
Cheers,
Emile Bassil
config files
Hi Emile,
Thank you for answering so fast. The files are attached.
I wanted to use a remote connection because it seemed more elegant and secure. Do you think a direct connection is preferrable?
Thank you very much, and congratulations to you and your wife for your baby.
Erick
PS: I believe I can help document. Perhaps I would be most useful with the Spanish translation of the application (I'm a native speaker). What do you think?
config files
Hi Erick,
Looks like you've set it up correctly to use remoting for the business objects. For that you definitely need the other executables.
I will let you know by email or when I publish my newsletter about having those two business object applications (the console version and service version) added to the installer.
In regards to the translation, that would be great. I will also publish the resources file for translating the screens and will send you a copy of the help file to translate in your spare time.
Regards,
Emile