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Viz Pilot User Guide

Version 8.0 | Published May 30, 2017 ©

Setting up Crop Service and Crop Tool

Some configuration is required in order to make use of the Crop Tool or Crop Service.

To configure the Crop Service

Note: Before configuring the Crop Service, a Pilot Data Server must be installed, configured and running (one per separate schema used in the Viz Pilot Database). See To install the Pilot Data Server and To install the Crop Service.

  1. If Crop Service and Pilot Data Server are installed on different machines, see how To configure the connection from Crop Service to Pilot Data Server.

  2. If performing Viz One searches from Viz Pilot News, see To configure search providers (Viz One).

  3. If performing RestVOS searches from Viz Pilot News, see To configure search providers (RestVOS).

  4. Configure the Viz Pilot system to use the Crop Service. See To set the VCP Parameters for the Crop Service.

To configure the connection from Crop Service to Pilot Data Server

Note: When Crop Service is installed on the same machine as Pilot Data Server, the steps below are not required because Crop Service is configured this way by default.

If Crop Service is installed on a different machine than Pilot Data Server, configure the connection to Pilot Data Server as follows:

  1. In Windows, open the Services dialogue and stop Crop Service.

  2. Open the Crop Service configuration file. This must be done "As Administrator".
    For example, run Notepad (as administrator), and in Notepad open the config file:
    c:\Program Files\Vizrt\Crop Service\CropServiceHost.exe.config

  3. In the config file, find the following section:

    <userSettings>
    <CropServiceHost.Properties.Settings>
    <setting name="PilotDataServerUri" serializeAs="String">
    <value/>
    </setting>
    </CropServiceHost.Properties.Settings>
    </userSettings>

  4. Replace <value/> with
    <value>http://YOUR\-PDS\-HOST\-HERE:8177</value>
    and save your changes.

  5. Start Crop Service.

  6. Verify that the configuration is correct by viewing the log file at
    c:\ProgramData\Vizrt\Logs\CropService\cropservice.log
    If you see an error similar to:
    _ERROR: Failed to get payload from: http://localhost:8177/vcp/parameters, Error: Unable to connect to the remote server _
    the configuration is incorrect, and you need to repeat steps 1-6.

To configure the Crop Tool

To enable image cropping in a template (Crop Tool and Crop Service)

  1. Start Template Wizard.

  2. Open a template with an image component.

  3. Select the image component and set one or both of the following properties:

    • AlwaysUseCropTool: Enables the user to always use the crop tool/service when an image is added to the template.

    • DestHeight and DestWidth: When set to values greater than 0 (zero), it will enable the crop tool/service. The parameters set a fixed height and width for the cropped image. Using this setting will force the user to use the configured height and width, and the aspect. Meaning, if the selection is greater than the actual height and width parameters, the image will be scaled to fit, allowing the user to select a greater area, and conversely.

  4. Select one or more image sources:

    • ImageSources: Valid sources for the crop tool are isImageMediaSearch, isFileOpen and isPaste.

  5. Save the template.

    Note: isPaste will only work with Crop Tool, see To configure the Crop Tool.

    Note: To use an image from the clipboard with Viz One or RestVOS, and Crop Service, the image must first be ingested into Viz One or RestVOS, and then used in Crop Service.