About our Browser Client

What is the Browser Client?

Our Browser Client provides an easy solution for running our application on any platform with a standards-compliant chromium browser, including desktop and mobile devices.

For a full list of supported functions by our Browser Client please refer to our Client platform comparison chart article.

Info

Browser Client is only supported on browsers with chromium version 71+.

How to use our Browser Client?

To start our Browser Client simply open a chromium-based browser on the device you want to display your content on and paste the URL for the Browser Client into the address bar.
The base URL for the Browser Client can be found at Settings > Downloads in the editor interface. After launching the Browser Client you can add the application to your home screen for ease of access and locking the device with kiosk mode.

Utilizing URL parameters

You can optionally extend the Browser clients URL with URL parameters to customize behaviour.

Cache behaviour

Currently there are two supported modes for caching on browser clients:

• PreCache: Browser Client will cache resources provided by the displayer before loading and any resources that are referenced during runtime
• OnTheFly: Browser Client will only cache resources that are referenced during runtime

To configure cache mode you have to extend Browser clients URL with either ?cacheMode=precache or ?cacheMode=onthefly depending on which mode you prefer

Note

If not configured the Browser client will run in PreCache mode

Forcing serial number

You can register Browser client in advance utilizing feature outlined in this article To take advantage of this feature with Browser clients you should extend the URL with ?serialNumber=desired_serial_number so your device registration settings are stored. This is especially useful for devices that wipe storage data when restarted.

The serial can be:

• A sequence of numbers/string without constrains regarding length

Note

Pre-register feature has constrains regarding serial number length

Please note

Each device must have a unique serial number! Using the same serial on multiple devices is not supported and will result in errors due to socket conflicts.

Please note

Using multiple parameters should be done with the following syntax:
?cacheMode=desired_cache_mode&serialNumber=desired_serial_number

URL parameters with 2.x UI

The new ui interface helps user to configure these parameters. Navigating to Settings > Downloads then clicking on Copy URL on the bottom right of the Browser clients card opens up the following modal to help you configure the URL

Wallboard Extension

When running the Browser Client from a regular browser you can optionally install the Wallboard Extension from the Chrome Web Store in order to utilize additional functionalities:

• Information about CPU (temperature, model, cpu count)
• Information about Memory usage
• Capture preview image

Installing the Browser Client on ChromeOS

To learn more about the available functions and limitations of this application please refer to the ChromeOS column of our Client platform comparison chart.

1. Navigate to Device Management

• Open your browser and go to the Google Admin Console.
• Log in using your administrator credentials.
• From the Admin Console home page, click on Devices.
• In the left-hand menu, click on Chrome to access Chrome device settings.
• Under Chrome management, click on apps & extensions.
• Select Kiosks from the menu at the top.

2. Adding the Browser Client

• Click on the + button to add a new app or extension.
• Select Add by URL option.
• Enter the URL of the Browser Client. Example: https://<your-server>/apps/pwa/
• Click Save.

3. Configure Installation Settings

• Installation policy:
  • Select installed to ensure devices will have the app installed on them after assigning to Organizational Unit.
• Kiosk Settings:
  • Enable Allow App to Manage Power this option allows apps to manage devices power state.
  • Enable Enable Device Attributes API this gives the app permission to query additional information about the device.
• Auto-Launch Kiosk App Settings:
  • Enable Health Monitoring should be enabled.
  • Screen Rotation should be set to Allow device to set.

4. Adding extension

• Under Extensions click on ADD EXTENSION and select Add from Chrome Web Store which should open chrome web store where you can search either by name Wallboard Extension or by ID jiagglaoghkmmihcofpmikhpbikdipeb.
• Once found click Select on the top right of the window to add the extension.
• Click Save in the top right to save changes.

5. Configure automatic start on devices

• Under apps & extensions, select Kiosks on the top bar and the Organizational Unit on the left you want to configure it to.
• In the Auto-Launch App option select Wallboard Browser Client.
• Devices added to the configured Organizational unit with Kiosk & Signage upgrade should now start the app upon startup.

Set up working hours in Google Admin Console

You can set up working hours for your ChromeOS devices through Google Admin Console.

• Go to Devices > Chrome > Settings
• Near the top, switch to the Device settings tab.
• Scroll down to Kiosk power settings and set the Action on idle setting for AC Kiosk power settings and Battery Kiosk power settings to Do nothing. These must be set in order for the sleep mode to work properly.
• Go to Device sleep mode under Kiosk power settings. Here you can set up the schedule for your device. When the interval starts, the device goes to sleep; when the interval ends, the device wakes up.

In this example the device would wake up every day at 8:00AM and go to sleep at 7:00PM on weekdays and 2:00PM on weekends: