Showing live data on screens with datasets

A dataset is a small table kept in Casty, a bit like a spreadsheet, and a layout shows it on screen. Once the layout is built you only change the rows: add a fixture, mark a class as full or move an event, and every screen showing that dataset picks it up with no redesign. The rows can be typed in, imported from a CSV file or fetched from another system on a timer.

What venues use them for

Anything that's a list and changes often. The Casty demo account has a few examples:

• The Crown's fixtures board, with the date, time, competition and fixture for each match, on the bar screen every afternoon.
• Fitzroy Gym's class timetable at reception, where the front desk changes a class's places to "Full" in a few clicks.
• Harbour Cafe's events list, with the day, the event (open mic night and so on) and the time.

Price lists and bank holiday opening hours work the same way. For a food menu, Casty also has menu boards, which are built for products and prices and can take a dish off the screen when it sells out.

Setting one up

Datasets live under Library. A new one starts with a single column called Col1, which you rename, then you add the other columns you need. Column headings can't have spaces or hyphens in them, so use one word, such as Day or StartTime. Each column has a type: String covers words and times, and there are Number, Date, image and HTML types as well.

Then add the rows, one at a time or with Next, which saves the row and keeps the window open for the next one. If the list already lives in a spreadsheet, save it as a CSV file and use Import CSV. You can add the rows to what's there, or tick Overwrite existing data? to replace the lot, which is handy for a fixtures list you rebuild every week. The help page on showing a table of data goes through it step by step.

Putting it on screen

In the layout editor, the DataSet widget shows a dataset as a table. Pick a table style from the static templates, choose your dataset on the Configure tab, then on the Appearance tab drag the columns you want into order and set the font and size. The Configure tab can also sort the rows by a column, filter which rows show and limit how many appear, which keeps a long list down to what fits. A dataset doesn't have to look like a table, either. You can place individual fields anywhere in a layout.

Keep it readable from a distance. A fixtures board with five columns in small type looks thorough on a laptop and turns into a grey grid from the other end of the bar. Fewer columns and bigger text nearly always win, and designing for screens has more on sizes.

How quickly changes show up

The screen doesn't change the second you click Save. The DataSet widget has an Update Interval (mins) setting on its Configure tab, which is how often a playing screen fetches new data, and players pick up changes when they check in with the CMS. For something urgent, Collect Now in the screen's menu on the Displays page asks it to check in straight away.

You don't need to edit or publish the layout again for any of this, whatever you change in the rows.

Data from other systems

A dataset can also fetch its rows from somewhere else. Tick Remote when you create it and it pulls JSON or CSV from a web address on a refresh interval, with authentication and custom headers if the other system needs them. That suits a booking system or a sports data service. Setting it up needs details from whoever runs that system, so it's usually something we do with you.

If you have a developer to hand, there's more: formula columns for simple calculations, real-time connectors that push updates to the player without waiting for the next refresh, and an OAuth2 JSON API for connecting your own systems. The datasets section of the features page lists them.

Remote data needs the internet, of course. If the venue's connection drops, the screen can't get new rows until it's back.

Who keeps it up to date

Give the updating to whoever already has the information, such as the bar manager for fixtures or the front desk for classes. They can have their own Casty logins with access to only what they need, so keeping the timetable current doesn't mean handing over the whole account.

Tidy as you go. Delete fixtures once they've been played so the next ones fit on the board, and clear out last month's events before anyone turns up for them.

Datasets and tickers

A dataset can also be published as an RSS feed, which makes it a handy source for a ticker along the bottom of the screen, with one row per message, edited by whoever's on shift. Tickers, news and RSS feeds on screens covers how tickers work. For gyms in particular, showing gym class timetables on screen goes further into timetables.