Offline Channels offline-channels

The Screens player provides offline support for the channels by leveraging the ContentSync technology.

The players use a local http server to serve the unzipped content.

When a channel is configured to run online, the player serves the channel-resources by accessing the AEM server but when the channel is configured to run offline, the player serves the channel-resources from a local http server.

The workflow for the process is as follows:

  1. Parse the desired page(s)
  2. Collect all related assets
  3. Package everything in a zip file
  4. Download the zip and extract it locally
  5. Display local copy of the content

Update Handlers update-handlers

The ContentSync uses update handlers to parse and collect all necessary pages and assets for a specific project. AEM Screens uses the following update handlers:

Common Options common-options

  • type: the update handler type to use
  • path: path to the resource
  • [targetRootDirectory]: target folder in the zip file
Type
Description
Options
channels
collects a channel
extension: extension of the resource to collect
[pathSuffix='']: suffix to add to the channel path
clientlib
collect the specified client library
[extension='']: can be either css or js, to collect only the former, or only the latter
assetrenditions
collect the asset renditions
[renditions=[]]: list of renditions to collect. Defaults to the original rendition
copy
copy the specified structure from path

Testing ContentSync Configuration testing-contentsync-configuration

Follow the steps below to test the ContentSync configuration:

  1. Open https://localhost:4502/libs/cq/contentsync/content/console.html
  2. Select your config in the list
  3. Click Clear Cache
  4. Click Update Cache
  5. Click Download Full
  6. Extract the zip file
  7. Start a local server in the extracted folder
  8. Open your start page and check your app status

Enabling Offline Config for a Channel enabling-offline-config-for-a-channel

Follow the steps below to enable offline config for a channel:

  1. Inspect the channel content and check if it is requested from an AEM Instance (Online).

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  2. Navigate to the channel dashboard and click in the CHANNEL INFORMATION Panel to change the properties.

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  3. Navigate to the channel properties and make sure the checkbox is disabled under the Channel tab. Click Save & Close.

    screen_shot_2017-12-19at122422pm

    Before content is properly deployed to the device, click the Update Offline Content.

    screen_shot_2017-12-19at122637pm

    The Offline status under PROPERTIES also updates accordingly.

    screen_shot_2017-12-19at124735pm

  4. Inspect the channel content and check if it is requested from the local Player-Cache.

    chlimage_1-26

NOTE
To learn more about the template for custom offline resource handlers and the minimum requirements in the pom.xml for that specific project, refer to Template for Custom Handlers in Developing a Custom Component for AEM Screens.
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