Dynamic Content with DataSets

Static images are fine until the price of a coffee changes and someone has to re-export a graphic, re-upload it and hope every screen catches up. Dynamic content separates data from design: the layout stays as it is, and the numbers, lines and headlines inside it update on their own. easyCMS offers two flavours, DataSets you control, and live widgets fed from outside sources.

What is a DataSet?

A DataSet is a small table that lives in the CMS, independent of any layout: you define columns (Product, Description, Price) and fill in rows (Espresso, single shot, 2.50€). Layouts then display the table through data widgets. Change a price in the DataSet and every screen showing it updates at the players’ next check-in, no design work, no re-uploads.

Classic uses: menu boards, price lists, meeting-room and event schedules, KPI dashboards, arrival/departure boards, staff rotas.

Creating and filling a DataSet

1. Create a DataSet and give it a clear name (“Lunch menu”).
2. Define its columns. Most are plain value columns; formula columns can compute or format values derived from other columns.
3. Add rows by hand through the CMS grid, a friendly, spreadsheet-like form anyone can edit, or import them from a CSV file when migrating an existing price list.
4. For data that lives elsewhere, a remote DataSet pulls rows automatically from an external source (such as a JSON feed) on a schedule, keeping the CMS copy in sync without anyone touching it.

The person updating rows needs no design skills and, with permissions set accordingly, no access to layouts at all, a store manager can edit today’s specials without being able to break the design.

Showing DataSet content on a layout

On the layout, add a data widget to a region and point it at your DataSet:

• Table-style widgets render rows and columns with fonts, colours and templates you control, the natural fit for menus and lists. Long tables can page through rows across multiple screens-worth automatically.
• Ticker-style rendering feeds rows one at a time into a scrolling or cycling presentation, good for announcements pulled from a DataSet.

Design the widget once; from then on the content team only ever touches the data. DataSet-driven signage is included with the easyCMS PRO and Enterprise accounts; on the standard 49€ account, contact us and we will tell you what upgrading involves.

Live widgets: RSS, weather and web content

Not all dynamic content needs a DataSet. easyCMS layouts can include widgets that fetch their content live:

• RSS/news tickers: point a ticker widget at any RSS feed (news, your blog, an internal feed) and headlines flow across the screen, always current.
• Weather: current conditions and forecasts for a location, styled to match your design.
• Clocks and calendars: time, date and upcoming events.
• Web page / embedded HTML: render an existing dashboard or web app inside a region, useful for KPI screens that already exist as a URL.

Players cache the most recent data, so a brief connection drop shows the last known content rather than an error.

A worked example: café menu board

1. DataSet “Menu” with columns Item, Price, Available.
2. Portrait layout with a header image region and a data widget region showing the DataSet, filtered to available items.
3. Ticker along the bottom fed by the café’s news feed.
4. Staff update prices and availability in the DataSet grid from a phone; screens follow within minutes.

That is the whole operating model: design once, then run the signage from data.

Related articles: /support/creating-layouts/, /support/playlists-and-media-library/, /support/users-and-permissions/