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: Kiosk setup

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i-table!® PBI FAQ's

Kiosk setup - Version 3.9  
Before you can run i-table!® PBI, you must run setkiosk.exe. This program will allow you to configure the software for your needs and preferences. Below is a complete list of all the different attributes that you can change.
General Identification Info

Owner ID - This number uniquely identifies you in the database and is assigned to you when you purchase your first license.  Changing this value when using the evaluation version will not have any impact (it will remain 000000). You will normally use the same OwnerID for all your kiosks.

Validation - This number ensures that you are the only one that can use the owner ID you were assigned. This number is like a password and should be kept secret. It is assigned to you when you purchase your first license. The kiosk will not access the database unless a valid Owner ID/Validation is entered. Changing this value when using the evaluation version will not have any impact (it will remain 220394127). You will normally use the same Validation for all your kiosks.

Kiosk ID - This number uniquely identifies each kiosk in the database. Changing this value when using the evaluation version will not have any impact (it will remain 000158).

Password – The password is used to control access to the PC’s resources. It is initially set to 'password'. This password is used by the kiosk administrator to carry out tasks such as rebooting in secure mode (mode used to eliminate unwanted access), rebooting to the Windows desktop, changing prices, etc...

Password(2) – This password is similar to the one above except that it allows limited  control - for example it does not show the Reboot to Desktop button. By default this password is set to "limited".  This password may or may not include the privilege to change the prices. If the checkbox beside Password(2) is not checked, then the prices cannot be changed with this password.

How to use these passwords:  Type the kiosk password from the main menu in the kiosk software. You will not see the password on the screen while you are typing it but the keystrokes are captured. Once the password has been typed, a small window will be displayed giving you different options.

Ensure that the second password is not included in the first one (e.g. passw and password). If the second password is included in the first one the second one will also be detected first.

Languages

Available Languages - Select the languages that will be available at the kiosk. A button will appear at the bottom of the kiosk screen for each selected language unless only one language is selected. Six languages are currently available: English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Italian.

You also have the option to add two more languages for which you provide the text. These two languages are saved in the Windows registry. To add the first "other language", edit the following files by changing the English text to whatever other text you want displayed and add the file to the registry by executing it (double click on it in Windows Explorer):

Other Language 1

For the second "other language", use the following file:

Other Language 2

Whenever you need to make changes in the text, edit the file that already have your existing changes and re-apply it to the registry.

Not all eight language buttons can be displayed at the same time. When using resolution 800 x 600, six language buttons can be displayed.

Default - Select the desired default language from the selection box. The default language means that the kiosk will return to this value after each user and when idle.

Admin - Select the language in which you want to perform your administration. This does not have to correspond to the default language. Log files will be generated using this language.

Inactivity

Free - Number of seconds of inactivity allowed during a usage when the kiosk is used for free. After this number of seconds, a warning message is displayed where the user has a chance to stop the closing of all applications.

Not Free - Number of seconds of inactivity allowed during a usage when the kiosk is used for NOT free. After this number of seconds, a warning message is displayed where the user has a chance to stop the closing of all applications.

To disable this feature set the values to 0

Email Info

Default Return Address - The default return address is used when the kiosk sends the log files and the receipts. By checking the checkbox below the default return address, you allow users to use the address as a return address for their personal email.

SMTP Server (Primary and Secondary) - Enter the server used in sending emails. Your Internet provider should provide you with this information. Note that most SMTP servers will only let you access their resource if your are connected to the Internet via the Internet provider that owns this server. You must provide a secondary SMTP server only if you provide a secondary dialup connection. The primary SMTP server is used when connecting through a LAN.

Volume

Use the trackbars to increase or decrease the default volume and the maximum volume of the sound. The volume will be reset to the default volume value after each user. If the user attempts to raise the volume above the maximum volume then the volume will be reset the the maximum volume.

Camera

Check this box if a camera is attached to the PC and you want the user to be able to use it when sending an email message or when posting an article to a newsgroup.
 

Windows NT Logon (Windows NT Only)
If your are using Windows NT, the auto logon values must be set before you reboot the kiosk in secure mode. This will allow Windows NT to restart without prompting for a password.

IMPORTANT: In secure mode, the Control-Alt-Delete combination will be disabled. It is strongly suggested that you test the auto logon before rebooting in secure mode. If you reboot in secure mode and your auto logon does not work, you might have to reinstall Windows NT.
 

IMPORTANT: Settings and registration values are stored in the Windows registry in a section specific to a user. This means that you should use the same Windows account to enter your settings in setkiosk.exe, to register, and to run i-table.exe.

Printer

Available - Check this box if you want to have the printing option available to your customers. The printer must be connected and the appropriate driver installed. This value is disabled if no printer driver has been installed. Checking this value does not necessarily mean that the user will be able to print. In some cases, the user's balance in pages must be greater than zero. This is covered in greater details later in this document. When the user prints a document, the default printer is used.

Use Spooler - Check this box if you want the printing from the web browser to be detected by looking at the spooler. Note: This option DOES NOT work with network printers. Also note that when not using this option, only one page will print while in the browser. These are issues with the way that MS Internet Explorer handles printing of web pages.

Time

Displayed -  Check this box if you want to display the time on the status bar. This will use the PC's system time.

On-Screen Keyboard 

Available - Check this box if you want to display the on-screen keyboard.

Help Text 

Displayed - Check this box if you want to display the help text when the user moves the mouse over a button. This may be useful if you add your own language and you don't want to translate the help text.

 

Connection LAN Connection - If the kiosk is connected to a LAN but has access to the Internet via a proxy server, then you must specify the proxy server, user name and password. Note that the proxy server information entered here will only be used by the kiosk to access the central database, where access codes are stored. The kiosk web browser will use the setup from Microsoft Internet Explorer. The applications other than the web browser do not support access through a proxy server.

Dialup Connection - If you are using a regular phone line to connect to the Internet, you need to specify the connection. To create a connection, go to the control panel and click on the My Computer icon, then Dialup Networking. Once you have created a connection it will appear in the selection box. If you chose not to save the password when you created the connection, you must enter it here.

You may also specify a secondary connection. The secondary connection will be used whenever the primary connection fails to connect. If both connections fail, the kiosk will reattempt five times, alternating between the two connections. After five attempts, the computer will reboot.

You can choose to have the kiosk remain connected or have it disconnect when not in use. If you want the computer to disconnect when not in use, specify the number of minutes of idle time before disconnecting.
 
Appearance Logo

You can choose to use the default logo or specify your own. If you choose to display your own logo, specify the location of the image file (bmp, jpg, jpeg, ico, emf, or wmf). The background color of your images must match the kiosk background color (see table below). 

You can also specify not to use any logo by selecting None.

The main menu logo appears on the top left corner of the main menu. The applications logo appears on each built-in application on the top left corner.

Maximum size of the logos

Main menu: 160 pixels wide by 140 pixels high
Applications: 90 pixels wide by 100 pixels high

Color

There are four color backgrounds to choose from. They are:

  Red Green Blue
Cream 255 255 225
Teal 0 128 128
Navy Blue 0 128
Black 0 0 0

Main Title

Select the text you want to appear as a title on the main menu. If the text does not fit on one line, it will wrap on a second line. You can also specify the font name and size.

Instructions

The text entered here will appear on the main menu in the box left to the application buttons.

Image - An image can be displayed left of the purchase instruction:

Credit cards A picture of each accepted credit card will be displayed.
Cash Register This could be used if you sell access codes from a cashier.
Other Specify you own image. This image must match the selected background and be approximately 130 pixels wide by 100 pixels high.

Application Buttons

These are the buttons that appear on the main menu. The text on these buttons can be changed under the application section of the setup. The font name and size can be modified from here.

Web Based Main Menu

You can choose to cover the entire main menu (exept the area with the language bottons and the timer) with a web page retrieved either from the Internet or from a local drive. This web page may include as many links as you want. If you want to create links that will simulate clicking on the buttons hidden by the web page, use the following URLs:

URL Corresponding Button
HTTP:// followed by a URL Web Browser button then navigates to the specified URL
FILE:// followed by a URL Web Browser button then navigates to the specified URL
APP://WebBrowser Web Browser button then navigates to the start page (only the first time it is clicked)
APP://Email Email button
APP://Newsgroups   Newsgroups button
APP://WordProcessor Word Processor button
APP://Telnet Telnet button
APP://OtherApplication1   Other Application 1 button
APP://OtherApplication2   Other Application 2 button
APP://OtherApplication3   Other Application 3 button
APP://OtherApplication4   Other Application 4 button
APP://OtherApplication5   Other Application 5 button
APP://OtherApplication6   Other Application 6 button
APP://OtherApplication7   Other Application 7 button
APP://OtherApplication8   Other Application 8 button
APP://OtherApplication9   Other Application 9 button
APP://OtherApplication10   Other Application 10 button

If you want any of these links to be free, add the following characters in front of it:

If you want to create a link that will invoke a New Message form so that the user can send an email message, use the prefix "mailto:". If you want this link to include a destination address, use the prefix "mailto:dest@server.com"   where dest@server.com is the email to which the message will be sent.

freer  The link will be free, but if it is a web page then the navigation will be restricted to the server of the initial page. For example if the link on the main menu is http://www.microsoft.com/page1 then the user will be limited to URL within http://www.microsoft.com such as http://www.microsoft.com/page2.htm.
 

freeu  The link will be free, but the restriction described above does not exist.
 

Note: freeu and freer can also be used in with the mailto: prefix described earlier. This may be useful if you want to allow users to send emails for free. Also, if you use freer, then the user will be able to send email for free but will not be able to change the destination. Therefore you should always specify the destination address when using "freermailto:".

If you want the navigation to occur in a special web browser which does not have any buttons, add survey in front of the URL (e.g. surveyhttp://www.test.com).

A different page can be displayed for each language you make available. If the web page is stored on the Internet (HTTP:// URL) and you are using a dialup connection, then the kiosk will need to be connected when the user clicks on a language button. With dialup connection, it is recommended that you store the web pages used as main menus (one per language) on a local drive.
 

Sign-In Position (Top and Left): Position the location of the Sign-In box when a web based main menu is used. The values used here will also have an impact on the advertising displayed in the instruction box (small screen) because this box is always positioned right below the sign-in position.

Full Screen: If this value is checked, the web based main menu will occupy the entire screen and the status bar with the timer and language buttons will not be displayed. Also, in that mode every thing is always free. This feature is for very specific applications and disables almost all of i-table!® PBI features.

Navigate Within Web Based Main Menu When URL Contains: If you want a link to navigate within the main menu (instead of invoking the web browser application), check "Navigate Within Web Based Main Menu When URL Contains:"  and specified the text in the URL that will trigger the navigation to occur within the main menu (instead of navigating to the web browser).

newspin.gif (8666 bytes) This value will also be used banners displayed on the main menu and in the web browser - this may be useful if you want to rotate banners using the HTML tag Refresh.

Example: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10; URL=http://www.i-table.com/ads/test/test1.htm">

This would normally trigger the opening of the web browser instead of changing the banner. To get the desired effect you could enter test in "Navigate Within Web Based Main Menu When URL Contains" and make sure that all the banners have the text test in the name.

The main menu will return to the initial page after each user and after 2 minutes of inactivity.

If you want all the navigation to always occur within the main menu display, check "Full Screen". In that mode, the user is restricted to navigating within the main menu. This is for free access only and will not work with coin/bill acceptors.

For an example of a web based main menu (meant just to show you the links), see

http://www.i-table.com/mainmenu.htm

Applications Five applications are included in the software: Web browser, E-mail, Newsgroups, Word processor, Telnet. In addition to these five applications, you can add ten external applications or links to web sites. You can change the position of each application/link on the main menu. If you include more then 5 applications/links (maximum visible on the main menu), then scrolling buttons will be displayed.

For each application you can specify the following:

Available - If this value in not checked the button corresponding to this application will not appear on the main menu.

Position - You can specify the order (top to bottom) in which the application buttons will appear on the main menu.

Free - You can set any application to be free. In that case the user will not have to make a payment to use this application. If a usage is already in use (the user has made a payment) then the timer will stop while using this application.
 

Title - Specify the title that will appear on each of the application buttons. For example, you may choose Surf the Net instead of Web Browser. A different title can be specified for each language.

Image - You can change the image or icon that appears on the main menu beside each application button. As with the logo, the background color on these images must match the kiosk background color selected. The application images should be 60 pixels wide by 60 pixels high.

Options Specific to each Application

Web Browser
 

Allow Typed URLs - Uncheck this value if you never want the users to be able to specify a URL that they can navigate to.

Start Page - This is the web site the web browser will navigate to when starting the web browser. The user will also be taken to this site when clicking on the home button. You can specify a different start page for each language.

Search Page - This is the web site the web browser will navigate to when clicking on the Search button. You can specify a different search page for each language.

Small Buttons - Check this value if you want to display small buttons with no text instead of the regular buttons with text.

Clear Cache and History After Each User: Check this value if you want the cache to be cleared after each user. It will also delete the cookies.

Menu: Check this value if you wish to display a taskbar in the web browser.  This makes navigating between windows easier.

Only Allow Access/Prevent Access To - To limit access to specified sites, select "Only Allow Access To" then list the web sites allowed. To allow access to all sites except some specified sites, select "Prevent Access To" then list the web sites which are not allowed. This list supports wild cards (*, ?). For example, if you select "Prevent Access To" and add the entry *sex*, then all URLs with the word sex in them would be prohibited.

Email
 

Web based: If you check this value, the user will be offered to use a web based email client instead of i-table!® PBI email client when experiencing problems. Some of these web based email clients have huge database of POP3 servers which might help the user. The site www.thatweb.com is the default, www.mail2web.com and www.mailstart.com are other good ones.

Not knowing their pop3 server is often a problem for kiosk users. To help the users, you can specify a list of domains with the corresponding pop3 server. For example, if you specify email address server.com with pop3 server mail.server.com, then the pop3 server will automatically default to mail.server.com if the user enters username@server.com as an email address. This list can be populated from the setup but will also be populated when users successfully retrieve their mail. In other words, the kiosk will remember valid combinations. This list can also include web sites. For example if you enter hotmail.com with pop3 server http://www.hotmail.com, then the user will be presented with a message offering him to navigate to www.hotmail .com if he enters a hotmail address.

Footer: The text included here will be added at the end of any email message sent from the buildin email client. You can specify the text in each language.

Not knowing their pop3 server is often a problem for kiosk users. To help the users, you can specify a list of domains with the corresponding pop3 server. For example, if you specify email address server.com with pop3 server mail.server.com, then the pop3 server will automatically default to mail.server.com if the user enters username@server.com as an email address. This list can be populated from the setup but will also be populated when users successfully retrieve their mail. In other words, the kiosk will remember valid combinations. This list can also include web sites. For example if you enter hotmail.com with pop3 server http://www.hotmail.com, then the user will be presented with a message offering him to navigate to www.hotmail.com if he enters a hotmail address.

Newsgroups

News Server (Primary and Secondary) - Enter the server used to retrieve newsgroups. Your Internet provider should provide you with this information. Note that most News servers will only let you access their resource if your are connected to the Internet via the Internet provider that owns this server. You must provide a secondary News server only if you provide a secondary dialup connection. The primary News server is used when connecting through a LAN.

Other Application (1 to 10)

Type - Each "Other Application" can be either an executable (like Solitaire.exe) or a web site. If you select an executable, then this executable will be started when the user clicks on the corresponding button. If you specify a web site, then the web browser will be displayed with the specified web site when the user clicks on the corresponding button. If you want to restrict the user to s specified list of URLs, choose Web Site Restricted and create the list of authorized URLs for that button. You can use wild cards (*, ?). For example *microsoft* would allow access to any site that include the word microsoft.

Location - the location of the executable (example c:\windows\solitaire.exe) or the URL (example www.cnn.com).

Configuration - If you select an executable, you have the option to specify where the configuration for this application is located in the registry. For example, if you made Microsoft Word available, you could enter \Software\Microsoft\Office under Configuration. As a result, this branch of the registry would be restored to its original values after each user. Make sure you include the \ as the first character.
 

Payment You can use i-table!® PBI in one of eight Payment Modes:

Free Access With Timer:   i-table!® PBI allows for free access but a timer is displayed and the usage will be terminated after n minutes, where n is specified under Prices. For example if you specify 15 as the number of minutes, then the user will be allowed 15 minutes of usage before everything is closed. If a printer is available, a number of pages that can be printed is also displayed, and the maximum number of pages printed is also specified under Prices.

Free Access Without Timer: This mode also allows the user to use application for free, but without any limit of time and pages to print. The timer is not displayed.
 

Prepaid Minutes and Pages: In this mode, Access to the kiosk can be controlled using accounts (either access codes or
user names/passwords) which are stored on a central database. This means that accounts can be used at any kiosks that belong to one owner. These accounts can be created by the kiosk when the user makes a payment, or they can be created by the kiosk owner. In this mode, i-table!® PBI supports coins acceptors, bill acceptors, and credit card payments. The kiosk owner can generate accounts with a fix number of minutes and distribute these either by writing the access code on a card or by encoding a magnetic card. If a user makes a payment without being already in a session, an account is created and a session is started.  If a user makes a payment while already in a session, the purchase minutes are added to the current account (if a user first makes a payment and specifies a user name/password combination which exists in the database then the existing account is used).

A kiosk owner could for example distribute cards with 30 minutes then the user could make a payment at the kiosk to recharge the same account with more minutes. When created by the kiosk owner, accounts can be created with an expiry
date, or a number of days before expiring from the first time it is used (useful for hotels who want to create a account valid for one day). Accounts can be created so that the balance in minute will be reset to a specified value daily (great for subscriptions). Accounts can also be created so that a specified number of minutes is added daily.  A separate balance in maintained for minutes and pages.

Prepaid Minutes (Printing Charged as Minutes): This mode is similar to the previous one except that printing is charged as minutes instead of maintaining a separate balance.

Prepaid Amount: This mode is similar to the previous one except that the balance is maintained as an Amount.

Pay for Time/Printing Used (Display Min/Pages): In this mode, the user swipes a credit card to start a session, and his card is billed for the amount used. In this mode the number of minutes used and the number of pages printed are displayed but not the amount. In this mode, users can also gain access using an access code or a user name.
 

Pay for Time/Printing Used (Display Min/Pages/Amount): This mode is the same as the previous one except that the Amount is also displayed so that the user can see how much he has spent.
 

Cyber Cafe: In this mode, the user would go to a cashier,get an access code or user name, then enter that at the kiosk. The user will then gain access to the applications until he clicks on Sign Off. At this point a windows is displayed showing the user how many minutes/pages were used and the amount owed, including a description of the taxes. A receipt can also be printed/emailed at this time. One possible scenario would be to have the user bring this receipt to the cashier and pay. The access code/user name used in this mode can only be used once.

Count From First Application: if you check this value then the timer will not start until the user launches an application.
 

Menu-Free - Check this value if you always want the timer to stop when the user is on the main menu.
 


Minutes - When Free Access With Timer is selected as a Payment Mode, specify how many minutes the user has before the applications are closed. This may be used to prevent one person from using the kiosk for hours.  When Free Access With Timer is not selected, specify the price you wish to charge for each minute of usage. If you specify 0, then clicking on an application button will automatically start a usage. If the database is used, then an access code will even be generated. This price includes all taxes.

Pages - When Free Access With Timer is selected, specify how many pages the user can print in each free session.  When Free Access With Timer is not selected, specify the price you wish to charge for each page printed. If you specify 0 then the printing will always be available. This price includes all taxes.

Currency - this value will be included as part of each payment (cash or credit card) stored in the database. It is also used to display the right currency symbol.

Display prices - check this value if you want the prices to be displayed on the main menu.

Taxes

The information entered here is only used to show the user the portion of the amount paid that goes for taxes. This information is displayed on the purchase screen when a payment is made (cash or credit card). This information is also included as part of the receipt.

Assuming a tax called "Tax A", the following line would be included on the purchase form and on the receipt:

Includes Tax A: $1.23

You must specify the name of each tax in each of the languages you make available to the users.

For each tax, you must also specify if the tax applies to purchasing minutes, pages, or both by using the checkboxes under the small pictures (clock for minutes and page for printing).

This works if the taxes are simple percentage of the purchase amount. If your taxes are more complicated than that, the program will have to be modified to include a specific formula.

Receipt

When a user makes a purchase, you can give them the option to be emailed a receipt or print a receipt. You specify what is included in the header of the receipt by creating a text file for each of the languages you make available to the users. Specify the path and name of these files under Header Files.

The receipt will also include the payment ID generated by the database and the access code toward which the payment was made. This may be especially useful in cases where the user needs to remember the access code for future use. An emailed/printed receipt will provide the user a way to keep track of the access code.
 

Email - Check this value if you want to give the user the option to receive an emailed receipt.

Print - Check this value if you want to print receipts.

To - Check this value and specify an email address if you want to receive a copy of each receipt.


Access Codes

Restricted - The first part of an access code indicates the Owner ID of the issuer of the access code. If you wish to limit access to the kiosk to people who got their access code from the kiosks’ owner, then check this value.

Sign-In Option

Access Codes: Check this value if you  want the access code entry fields to be visible.

Hide Owner ID: If you always use the same owner ID, you might want to hide that field on the main menu to make it easier for your customer. If you use that option, make sure to only provide your users with the second and third portion of the access codes (the first portion being the owner ID).  When you use this option, a Clear button will also be displayed to allow the user to clear the access code fields.

User Name: Check this value if you want the Sign-In (User Name and Password)  entry fields to be visible. When checking this value, you also have to specify when the user should be asked for a user name and password:

0: Never, 1: at the time of the initial payment, 3: When quitting, if the balance is greater than zero.

F5 - If you check this value, it will be possible for the user to refresh the balance from the database by pressing F5. This only applies to the Prepaid payment modes. This is useful if you operate in a setup where the user can recharge an account at the cashier. The user would then return to the kiosk and press F5 to display the new balance without having to sign out. Note that this function is disabled when the user is in a third party application since F5 might be used for something else by that application.

Automatically Sign-In After Crash (For New Users Only)

When this value is checked, i-table!® PBI will automatically enter the last access code used if a crash occurred while this access code was used.

Magnetic Card Reader - You need to attach a magnetic card reader to accept credit cards as a method of payment. Specify "Serial" if a card reader is connected.

This magnetic card reader can also be used to read magnetic cards on which access codes are stored.

Bar Code Reader - Not yet supported.

Cash payment

Minimum - Since there are sometimes fees associated with each connection, you may want to specify a minimum amount.

Display Minimum - Check this value if you want the minimum purchase amount to be displayed on the main menu.

Seconds Idle Before Closing - This only applies to cash payments. When a cash payment is made, a window is displayed. Specify how long  i-table!® PBI should wait before closing that window. This has the same effect as if the user clicked on the Continue button and only works when that button is enabled. Therefore, if the minimum payment has not yet been paid, this will have no effect. This feature is useful when using Arcade Game type applications.

Apply to First Payment Only - Check this value if you want the minimum to apply to the first payment only. This means that if a user is already using the system them no minimum payment will be required.

Acceptor - You can attach two bill acceptors/coin acceptors to serial ports (COM ports) or parallel port. Several types of interface are supported.
Click here for instructions specific to bill/coin acceptors
Port - Specify the port to which the acceptor is connected. The software will detect signals from the specified port.

Amount - Specify the required amounts depending on the interface used.

Credit card  payment

Minimum - Since there are often administration fees associated with credit card payments, you may want to specify a minimum amount.

Display Minimum - Check this value if you want the minimum purchase amount to be displayed on the main menu.

Accepted - Specify the credit cards accepted at the kiosk. If a user tries to use a type of card not available at the kiosk, a message will be displayed and the card will not be accepted.

Processing -

Currently 2 options: processing.net and pcCharge

Use pcCharge when using i-table! credit card Gateway 

Select Off-Line if the transactions are not processed in real-time

Info required - Name, Street #, and Zip Code - Check the information required to process the credit card payments. The user will be required to specify the name only if it could not be read from the card.
 

Timer Speed (%) - This feature allows you to vary the speed of the timer for specific applications. For the web browser, it is also possible to vary the speed depending on the web site visited.
 

% for each application/URL - This value (1-999) represents the percentage of the normal speed. Therefore a value of 50 means that the timer will run at 50% the regular speed with the effect of charging half the regular price. A value of 200 would speed up the timer making the application/URL more expensive.

For the URLs, wild cards can be used, like *i-table* to indicate all URLs which contain the text i-table.

Only for Periods - Check this box if you want the different % to apply only for certain days of the week and times. This may be useful to implement "Happy Hour".

Advertising
 
Web banners (Menu) - You can specify up to four web banners for which you specify the size and position. The content of each banner can be stored on the Internet or on a local drive. Anything that can be displayed on Microsoft Internet Explorer can be displayed on these banners. For example if you want to display different images you can build an animated GIF.

If you check the Restricted value, you must create the list of authorized URLs for that web display. You can use wild cards (*, ?). For example *microsoft* would allow access to any site that include the word microsoft.

If you check the Free Links value then the users will be able to navigate to the links on the banner without making a payment otherwise the links on the banner follow the same rules as applied to starting applications. If the link is clicked during a session for which the timer is displayed then the timer will stop. In most cases you will want to restrict navigation when making a web display free.

If you want to create a link that will invoke a New Message form so that the user can send an email message, use the prefix "mailto:". If you want this link to include a destination address, use the prefix "mailto:dest@server.com"   where dest@server.com is the email to which the message will be sent. If the banner is "Restricted", then the user will not be able to change the destination address.

Web banners (All) - You can specify a web banner that will be displayed on the right of the screen all the time. You can specify the width. It has all the characteristics of the banners described above.

Web banners (Web 1) - You can add a web banner on the top portion of the web browser, for which you specify the size and position. The content of this banner can be stored on the Internet or on a local drive. Anything that can be displayed on Microsoft Internet Explorer can be displayed on this banner.

Web banners (Web 2) - You can add a web banner that will be displayed underneath the buttons. The content of this banner can be stored on the Internet or on a local drive. Anything that can be displayed on Microsoft Internet Explorer can be displayed on this banner.   If you want this banner to be refreshed, specify a number of seconds greater than 0 beside Refresh Current. This is useful only if you have a process on the web server that changes the content of the file specified in setkiosk, otherwise it will keep reloading the same banner.

Display

The display of advertising on the primary monitor works like a screen save. If there is activity on the keyboard or on the mouse then the advertising is hidden. There are two options for displaying advertising:

Display After - Enter the number of seconds of idle time before the advertising is displayed.

Web Full Screen

This display is retrieved from the Internet (web page). Note that you can use this type of advertising even if the kiosk is not always connected. A connection is required only at the start to retrieve the web page. Specify the number of second the kiosk should be idle (no mouse or keyboard activity) before displaying the full screen advertising. The value for Address corresponds to the site to be displayed in full screen.

AVIs and Bitmap images

You can build a list of AVI animations and bitmap images by specifying the file locations. The files will be shown in the order found in the list you build.

Duration - Enter the number of seconds each image will be displayed. This only affect images. For AVIs the length of the AVI is used.

Interval - Enter the interval between the time a image or an AVI is hidden and the time the next image or AVI is displayed. For continuous showing, set this value to 0.

Dimension - Specify whether you want to display advertising in a small screen (the box left to the application buttons) or full screen.

The images and AVIs should have the following dimensions (depending on the resolution):

  Small Screen Full Screen
800 x 600 333 pixels wide by 237 pixels high 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels high
1024 x 768 426 pixels wide by 303 pixels high 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high

 
Secondary Monitor: The display on the secondary monitor is similar to the display on the primary monitor except that it is always displayed and always full screen. Make sure that the same AVI file is not accessed at the same time for both the primary monitor and the secondary monitor. If you want to play the same AVI on both monitor you should keep two copies. This requires Windows 98 or Windows 2000.
 

Database
 
You can choose not to use the database. In that case access codes and credit card payments cannot be used. If you are using bill/coin acceptors and you do not want users to be able to use their balance at a future date then this can work for you. You will also loose the ability to track payments and usages from the online web site. You ill have to rely on the log file in order to monitor usages and payments.

If you choose to use the database feature, you can either use the default database (our database) or use your own database. The database server has to be Microsoft SQL Server. A separate set of instructions exists on setting up your own database:

http://www.i-table.com/database.htm
 

Messages Payment Required - You can specify the message that will be displayed to inform the user that a payment is required when he clicks on an application that requires a payment (if a payment has not been made).

Time Remaining (1 and 2) - You can specify the messages that will be displayed to warn the user of how many minutes they have left. You can also specify the message to be displayed when the time has expired.

Thank You - Message displayed when the usage is terminated.

Security Prohibited Windows - In order to prevent unwanted access to the PC, you can prohibit certain windows or dialogs completely. For example, you can block dialogs such as ‘Save As’. You can also block dialogs that contain the title ‘File Download’ to prevent downloads from the web browser. Specify the Windows that should not be allowed. The ones inserted for you will provide you basic security.

Windows Closed when in Background - Specify the windows that should be closed when falling into the background (no longer visible), for example RealPlayer.

Windows Never Closed - Specify windows that should never be closed. This can be useful if you want to run programs such as PC Anywhere on the kiosk.

For each of these three lists, you can specify the window class, the window title, or both. The window title will be used most of the time. This list also supports wild cards (*, ?). Therefore if you enter the window title "Open file*" then any window that has a title that starts with "Open file" will be matched.

Click here to download a utility to display Title and Class Name of currently running applications 

Disks - This is where you determine what drives you want accessible to the user. Generally, in a public Internet site, you want limited access to the system so that customers do not tamper with the system. It is not recommended that you allow access to local drives such as C:. Make sure you don’t allow access to floppy drives that are not physically accessible to the user. This selection will only affect the built-in applications such as the word processor, email, and newsgroups.

 Right Clicks - If the value Right Click is checked then the right click is available. Note that it will still not be available in the built-in web browser.

 Alt-Tab - If the value Alt-Tab is checked then the Alt-Tab is available for users to switch between applications. Note that Alt-Tab will will not work if you disable the Alt key.

 Alt - If the value Alt (Win 98/ME) is checked then the Alt key is available. This only applies to Windows 98/ME. Unless you need to make the Alt key available for special characters, it is preferable to disable it. 

Alt (Win 98/ME ONLY) - If the value Alt is checked then the Alt key is available. This only applies to Windows 98/ME. Unless you need to make the Alt key available for special characters, it is preferable to disable it. 

BootWarn and BootKeys(Win 98/ME ONLY) - When rebooting in secure mode with a Windows 98/ME PC, the following lines may be  added to the file c:\msdos.sys:

BootWarn=0

This line Disables the safe mode boot warning message and the startup menu (which would sometimes be displayed when the PC is turned off without a proper shutdown).

BootKeys=0

This line Disables the disables the Function Key Boot Options

It seems that adding these lines causes problems with some PCs, mostly Intel Celeron running Windows ME. The only solution I found is not to add these lines in msdos.sys. A check box labeled "BootWarn" and a checkbox labeled BootKeys were added to the Security tab in setkiosk. If you check these values, these line will not be added. 

Print Dialog - Check this box if you want the print dialog to be displayed when printing from the web browser.

Monitoring
 
Log File

You can choose to have a log file emailed to you, sent to a server using FTP, or both. You can also choose what information you would like included in this log file. You can choose when and how often you would like these log files to be sent. If you want to monitor a kiosk very closely, you can select to receive a log file every hour.

To simplify the task of parsing the log files, the first 3 characters following the date and time are as follows:

DBE: Database error
INF: Information
ERR: Error
WSV: Web site visited
WFM: Web site visited from menu (from one of the buttons created on the main menu)
APS: Application started
DIS: Disconnection (dialup)
CON: Connection (dialup)
DAD: Display advertising - the screen saver ad
HAD: Hide advertising - when the mouse is moved, a key is pressed, or a payment is made.
UST: Usage started
UEN: Usage ended
SVY: the link to display the survey was clicked.
WD1: A link on the Web display 1 was clicked (web banner).
WD2: A link on the Web display 2 was clicked (web banner).
WD3: A link on the Web display 3 was clicked (web banner).
WD4: A link on the Web display 4 was clicked (web banner).
WBL: A link on the Web based main menu was clicked.

So if you wanted to know the average number of banners clicked per user, you could write a program that would go through the log file and count the number of WD1, WD2, WD3, WD4, and reset the counter every time a UST occurs.

Log File Location - Specify the path and file name where the log file will be stored before being emailed to you. Note that when a log file is sent to you it is deleted from the kiosk and a new one is created.

Send Log Files At - Specify the time at which the log file should be sent. You can also select to have it sent every so many hours.

Send Log File When restarting - If you check this option, a log file will be sent every time   i-table!® PBI is restarted.

Send Log File After Each User - If you check this option, a log file will be sent sent after each user.

Email Log File - Check this option if you want the log file to be emailed. Specify the email addresses to which the log files will be sent.

FTP Log File - Check this option if you want the log file to be sent to a server using FTP. Specify server name and the path to which the log files will be sent.

Activities recorded - check the items you would like included in the log file.
 

Maintenance
 
Time - Specify the time at which daily maintenance will occur.

Download and execute file daily - A file that will be downloaded then executed. This can be used for several purposes but the main one I have in mind is the download of a self-extracting file that will update files on the PC. Using such a zip file will allow you to update any number of files and the files will go in directories specified when building the zip file. You must use a self-extracting file that will not generate any message -the combination of Winzip and Winzip Self-Extractor allows you to do that.

Download and execute file daily - A file that will be downloaded then executed. This can be used for several purposes but the main one I have in mind is the download of a self-extracting file that will update files on the PC. Using such a zip file will allow you to update any number of files and the files will go in directories specified when building the zip file.You must use a self-extracting file that will not generate any message - The combination of Winzip and Winzip Self-Extractor allows you to do that.

Updating i-table.exe

Windows 95 and Windows 98

Because it is not possible to update a file while it is in use, a special procedure must be followed in order to use the Download and execute file daily to update i-table.exe. This capability is implemented through the [rename] section of a file named Wininit.ini. If Wininit.ini is present in the Windows directory, Wininit.exe processes it when the system boots. Once Wininit.ini has been processed, Wininit.exe renames it to Wininit.bak.

The following steps assume that i-table.exe is in c:\i-table on the kiosk. If not, substitute c:\i-table with the directory used on the kiosk. These steps would be carried out from your office or your home.

Step 1 - Create a directory c:\new on you drive and copy the new version of i-table.exe to this directory.

Step 2 - Using Notepad, create a file named Wininit.ini with the following text:

[rename]
C:\I-TABLE\I-TABLE.EXE=C:\NEW\I-TABLE.EXE

Step 3 - Using Winzip create a zip file, making sure to check "Save extra folder info" because we need to save the directory structure. This zip file must include c:\windows\wininit.ini and c:\new\i-table.exe. Using Winzip Self-Extractor, make a self-extracting file, making sure to check "Unzip automatically" and "Default to overwrite files without prompting".

Step 4 - Copy the self-extracting file to an FTP server.

If the kiosk is set to download and execute the file on the FTP server (step 4), then i-table.exe will be updated when the PC reboots. If you have the kiosk set to reboot during the daily maintenance, it will be effective then.
 

Download and apply file to registry daily - A reg file (file created by regedit and that contains registry values, such as i-table!® PBI settings - contact us directly to determine which registry to use.). This will allow you to remotely change the settings you normally change using setkiosk. This will be a great feature if you have many kiosks.

Restart Computer Daily - Check this value if you want the computer to be rebooted as part of the daily maintenance.

And Every - In addition to rebooting once a day, you can also have the PC reboot after a specified number of users.  Set this value to 0 to disable this feature.

Content
 
Filter Content: Check this option if you want to prevent web paged and newsgroup messages that contain one of the specified keywords from being displayed.

You can add or remove keywords from the list. Be cautious as to which keywords you add because they maybe words which have more than one context. For example, if you add the keyword hot, then a web site such as Hotmail will not be displayed.

URLs not Filtered: Some web sites, such as CNN, are safe to display but may sometimes include some of the keywords. For example. You can list these sites here and they will not be scanned for keywords before being displayed.

Third party filters

Third party filters such as Cybersitter (see www.cybersitter.com) can also be used with i-table! PBI.


 

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