Centrally Controlled Digital Picture Frame

Step 11 Centralized Server Setup

The final step is to setup your centralized file share from where you will control the frame and store all your pictures.

I'm not going to go into much detail on how to setup your fileshare. If you need help, consult Google or start with Microsoft's article here.

After you have created your file share, open the attached file called "AutoRun9MySlideshow.txt"

Add details for connecting to your file share by editing the line directly under:
"REM Attempt to connect to network share"

The syntax for connecting to your share is:
net use p: \\shareserver\sharename /USER:servername\username password

This will assign drive P to the share.  You could change this but if you do you'll have to edit references to P: in the rest of the script.

When you're done editing, save the file as  AutoRun9MySlideshow.cmd (note the .CMD, not .TXT) to your ..\plugin\autorun\ folder.  Overwrite the temporary file we created there as a placeholder earlier.

BUILD IT!
You can now go back into PE Builder and Build your FINAL CD!
(Note: Building your CD creates a file called "pebuilder.iso" within your PEBuilder program directory (in this case, c:\pebuilder).  You can now take this ISO and burn it to a CD, CD-RW, or simply mount it from VMWare Player for testing)

Now that we have the CD out of the way, on to the rest of your picture share config...

Share Configuration / Frame Control

1. There are 14 files included in my "utility_scripts.zip" file below. Extract all of these files to the root of your file share.
2.  
3. Created a main folder called "pics" for your pictures
4. Copy i_view32.exe and i_view32.ini to the root of your share
5. There are 14 files included in my "utility_scripts.zip" file below. Extract all of these files to the root of your file share.

Prepare Pictures for Viewing

1. Copy the pictures you want in your slideshow to the ..\pics\ directory on your fileshare
2. Execute "reload.cmd" from the file share system
   
   1. This is a batch file that I created to "refresh" the pictures on your share (which is required for IrfanView)
   2. Anytime you add or change pictures from this directory, you need to run this cmd file again

Utility Scripts
You'll notice several other .cmd batch files within the utility_scripts.zip file I provided.  Here is a description of what everything does:

• MySlideShow.cmd
  This is the MASTER batch file that the CD always looks for. Here you can control what the frame actually launches.  Edit the batch to launch a web browser instead of the slideshow, run a local program, etc.
• DisplayPictures.cmd
  This batch file simple renames MySlideshow.pictures.not to MySlideShow.cmd.  It's the command required to launch the basic slide show
• DisplayWeather.cmd
  This batch file simple renames MySlideShow.Weather.not to MySlideShow.cmd.  This contains the commands required to use the picture frame to view the weather.  Note that you may need to find another "full screen" weather service provider.  The one shown in this script now is for example only. I created my own webpage (as seen in several of my photos) but can't give it out due to license restrictions on the weather.com API I am using.  If you're interested in the source for my page (with the specifics of my Weather.com account removed), contact me directly and I will be happy to share.
• reboot.cmd
  This batch file renames reboot.not to reboot.txt.  The CD regularly polls for reboot.txt on the share. If it is found, the frame is rebooted.
• reload.cmd
  This batch file executes my "pictureupdate.vbs" script to update pictures on the share.  You should run this whenever pictures are added or removed.  It then renames reload.not to reload.txt.  The CD regularly polls for reload.txt on the share. If found, it forces the main program to reload, without rebooting the entire system (much faster than reboot.cmd).
• shutdown.cmd
  This batch file copies shutdown.not to shutdown.txt.  The CD regularly polls for shutdown.txt on the share. If it is found, the PC is powered off (and must be turned on manually

Other Files Included (that you shouldn't move or edit)
There are several other files included that are used either by the boot CD or the batch files above.  You should keep these in your fileshare root and not move or edit them.

• netcheck.txt
  This file is a "dummy" file used by the CD to check for a successful network connection.  If it can find this file, it knows that the connection was successful.
• MySlideshow.pictures.not
  This is really just a modified copy of  MySlideShow.cmd, designed to show pictures on the photo frame (default functionality). Used by DisplayPictures.cmd.
• MySlideshow.weather.not
  A modified copy of MySlideShow.cmd, designed to show the weather from an external website.  Used by DisplayWeather.cmd.
• pictureshow.txt
  Just an example pictureshow.txt file that is used by IrfanView.exe.  This will be overwritten the first time you run reload.cmd
• pictureupdate.vbs
  The vbscript code that is used to create pictureshow.txt.  Unfortunately IrfanView requires this file to exist for the slideshow to work.  If it didn't, this would be a lot less complex.
• reboot.not
  Temporary blank file that is copied to reboot.txt when we want to reboot the frame
• reload.not
  Temporary blank file that is copied to reload.cmd when we want to reload the frame main program
• shutdown.not
  Temporary blank file that is copied to shutdown.txt when we want to power off the display