Configuring Signagelive and O365 for use with Calendar Widgets
Signagelive and Calendar Widgets require some configuration to enable them to be used with your O365 account and the associated calendars. To see how to do this, watch the video and read the written instructions below.
Setting up the Calendar Integration Application
To begin configuration, you need access to the Calendar Integration application, which is available from the application drop-down within your Signagelive Network. Please see the video above and instructions below.
Please Note
Users are not given access to the Signagelive Calendar Integration application by default, and so an administrator will need to grant access to each User that requires it.
After logging in, click on your network name at the top of the page and select Edit.
Locate Network Applications towards the bottom of this page, then click the blue cog associated with Calendar integration.
Select New User. This will display a drop-down list of any users in your network.
Select the User who needs access to the Calendar Integration App.
Any Users selected as part of this process will now be able to access the Calendar integration application.
Once you're able to access the Calendar Integration application, to begin displaying a calendar’s items on one of the Signagelive calendar widgets, you will need to follow these steps:
Link an Office 365 account.
Create a room.
Set up the calendar widget you want to use.
The details can be found in the sections below.
How do I link an Office 365 account to Signagelive?
To utilise your Office365 calendars in Signagelive, you will need to authorise your Office365 account.
Locate the application list at the top of the page and select Calendar Integration
Select Services towards the top left of the screen
Select the green Authorise button aligned with the Office 365 service
You will be redirected to Microsoft, where you can select the O365 account you wish to link with Signagelive
Please Note
an O365 administrator must approve the application to be able to authorise your O365 account in Signagelive. This is required to get access to some new API permissions which allow using the new room calendars feature. Once the administrator has approved the application, any user within that Azure tenant can connect Signagelive, without the administrator having to approve the connection.
Once the application has been approved, for that user to be able to connect to the room's calendar, they must have full delegated access to the room. This is done from the Exchange Admin Centre (https://admin.exchange.microsoft.com/) and requires an O365 administrator to provide this access.
To promote optimal security, we recommend that you set up accounts specifically for connecting to Signagelive and that these will only have access to the Calendars which are required to be used within Signagelive.
How do I reauthorise an O365 account with Signagelive?
Please Note
If you wish to use the new O365 room calendar feature, and If your Office 365 account has previously been authorised against Signagelive, it is highly recommended that you now Re-Authorise this account. This is only necessary if you will be using O365 room calendars.
To reauthorise your O365 account against Signagelive:
Locate the application list at the top of the page and select Calendar Integration
Select Services towards the top left of the screen
Click the green ReAuthorise button associated with the Office 365 service
You will be redirected to Microsoft, where you can select the O365 account you are reauthorising with Signagelive
Please Note
an O365 administrator must approve the application to be able to reauthorise your O365 account in Signagelive. This is required to get access to some new API permissions which allow using the new room calendars feature. Once the administrator has approved the application, any user within that Azure tenant can connect Signagelive, without the administrator having to approve the connection
Once the application has been approved, for that user to be able to connect to the rooms calendar, they must have full delegated access to the room. This is done from the Exchange Admin Centre (https://admin.exchange.microsoft.com/) and requires an O365 administrator to give this access.
How do I disconnect an Office365 account linked to Signagelive?
To disconnect an Office365 account:
Locate the application list at the top of the page and select Calendar Integration
Select Services towards the top left of the screen
Select the Red Disconnect button aligned with the Office 365 service
When disconnecting an account, any rooms which have been created using a calendar linked to the account will be deleted, along with any calendar items synchronised for those rooms.
Any Calendar Apps using an API key for these rooms will also no longer show any calendar items.
How do I create a room?
To create a room in Signagelive with your authenticated calendar account:
Locate the application list at the top of the page and select Calendar Integration
Click New Room
Next to Name, enter a desired room name
Next to Service, use the drop-down menu to select ‘O365’
Next to Calendar, select the O365 Calendar you want to use with Signagelive
Select Save Changes
Important Note
When creating a new room and selecting the O365 service, any calendar (including resource calendars) will be listed under ‘Calendar’. The ‘Resource’ drop-down menu only applies to Google calendars.
Once you have created the room, Signagelive will synchronise calendar items for the next 90 days for the chosen calendar. Items will continue to be synchronised at a regular interval so that new, cancelled, or edited items are synchronised correctly. We remove all items older than today from the Signagelive database.
When the room is saved an API Key is created so you can start using this room with the Signagelive calendar widgets. Copy this now, as we will need it in the next step.
You will be able to view the items synchronised with Signagelive, by viewing the details of the room at any time within the Calendar Integration application.
Please Note
You cannot edit, delete or create calendar items within the Signagelive Calendar Integration application.
How do I Set up a Calendar widget?
To display your O365 calendars, you can use and configure a Calendar widget, which can then be added as part of a playlist.
Log in to Signagelive as an Administrator or a User
From your network, select Content
Select Playlists
Select Create / Edit
Press Add (blue +)
Select From the Marketplace
Search for Calendar
Select a Calendar Widget of your choosing
Click Add to Signagelive to add the Calendar app to your Signagelive network
Close the Marketplace
Click on the Recently Added folder
Add the Calendar app to the playlist of your choice
Open the Calendar app Properties within the playlist
Set the API key to be the API Key for the Room you want to display
Set the other properties to your liking (See ‘Calendar App Preferences’ below for more detail)
Save the playlist
If you have already published this playlist to your players then the App will be added the next time the player checks in, otherwise, publish the playlist to your player/s.
Please Note
If you wish to show the Calendar Widget for a long period of time, or it is the only asset in your playlist, we recommend setting the duration to a long period of time. This is because the App refreshes its data in the background and there is no need for the whole App to be reloaded on a regular basis. If you have the duration set to a short time, then you will see a short flash while the App reloads.
When published to your player/s, the App itself calls out to the Signagelive Calendar API and will show the calendar items based on the preferences chosen.
Calendar App Preferences
API Key: The API Key which defines the room for which Meetings are shown.
Maximum Number of Meetings to Show: The maximum number of meetings which will be shown in the list views of the Apps.
Show Only Today’s Meetings: If there are less than the maximum number of meetings happening today, should meetings for the following days be shown.
Timeline Start Time: If the App has a timeline, what is the earliest time to show a meeting on the timeline for.
Timeline End Time: If the App has a timeline, what is the latest time to show a meeting on the timeline for.
Timeline Segment Duration: If the App has a timeline, what duration segments should the timeline be split into.