Support Request: Screen Saver and App Start-up script issues

Ticket ID: 23158	Creation Date: 12/19/2016 3:51 PM	Product: SiteKiosk Classic Windows	Attachment: -
TicketType: Support Request	Version: 9.3.3836	Language: English
Views: 34717	Last Modification Date: 1/20/2017 7:03 PM	Platform: Windows
Level: Closed	IE: 11.0
Bug Status: Not Fixed	User account: SiteKiosk Restricted User	Bug Frequency: About once a day

Support Request: Screen Saver and App Start-up script issues

Reproduction

Let SiteKiosk boot-up and sit. If I have the screen saver set for 600 or 300 seconds, SiteKiosk will automatically go into screen saver mode at the designated time, but immediately come out of screen saver after a second. This does not happen if I set the screen saver for 60 seconds. This also does not happen with this application if I am logged into Windows normally, and let it go to screen saver after 10 minutes, so something is happening with SiteKiosk and the screen saver that is causing it come immediately come out of the screen saver. Nothing is happening with the application at the 5 minute or 10 minute mark that would make it come out of screen saver, as I can let it go into screen saver mode after 60 seconds, and it will then stay in screen saver for hours. For the issue with the script app launch, we just let that sit as well, and after a few hours it will re-run for no reason and launch another copy of the app - it will do this over and over again.

Description

I have purchased and been using SiteKiosk for extended periods of time for less than a day now, and I am finding that there are some serious problems both with your screen saver and with your process to script an application to start-up with SiteKiosk.

We have been using the SiteKisok start-up script, to launch an app when SiteKiosk launches, because we do not want the application to be closed when the screen saver comes on. However, we have noticed that after several hours of uptime, the script will re-fire and launch another instance of the application - this can happen several times throughout the day, resulting in numerous open copies of the same application.

We are also seeing problems with the screen saver. It will immediately come out of screen saver if the timeout setting is 300 or 600 seconds, however if we set it to 60 seconds, it will work as expected (will go into screen saver and stay there until user activity with the keyboard or mouse brings it out of the screen saver).

Answer: (4)
Re: Screen Saver and App Start-up script issues	12/20/2016 8:59 PM
Windows Screensaver: The Chrome Browser Skin or Start Screen start page template when used in combination with a Windows Screen Saver can cause an issue like this. This is a known timing issue that will be fixed with a future release. You can use SiteKiosk Player instead along with this customization for SiteKiosk Player (instead of the Windows Photos Screensaver): http://www.provisio.com/en-US/CustomerSupportCenter/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=23146 Running external app: Please review the following regarding an external app. http://devblog.provisio.com/post/2012/09/18/How-to-Build-a-Script-Watchdog-for-External-Applications.aspx "true" makes sure that the app will only be started once: http://www.provisio.com/helpconsole/SiteKiosk%20Object%20Model%20Help/en-US/default.htm?externalapps_run_mth.htm
Re: Screen Saver and App Start-up script issues	12/21/2016 3:35 PM
I did go ahead and change my script's Boolean parameter to be true, but I still get multiple versions of my application being started by SiteKiosk. I believe I know the issue with this however; I launch a batch file from the script, because the application that I launch requires a command line argument in order to open a specific configuration file for my application. If I could get the java script to handle this launch parameter, then I wouldn't need to use the batch file. The way I launch the application from the batch file is: start /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2016\Timeclk" Dynamics.exe TimeLog.set The application shortcut is actually: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP2016\Timeclk\Dynamics.exe" TimeLog.set But I do not know if I can specify that in the script either. I do notice that once I see multiple application instances running, that the scheduled reboot or unlocking SiteKiosk and trying to manually reboot it, do not work. The Start Page closes, but then the device basically freezes-up, (the running applications do not get closed, and manually closing them just leaves the devices at the SiteKiosk desktop background).
Re: Screen Saver and App Start-up script issues	12/22/2016 10:49 PM
Also having issues with the maintenance reboot process. I have scheduled it to reboot daily, but it freezes up in the process. It kills the Start Screen but not our application. The result is our application stays running, but the machine won't gracefully reboot any longer.
Re: Screen Saver and App Start-up script issues	12/23/2016 6:22 PM
Please send your SiteKiosk config file to ward(at)provisio.com. If you load a default config file and test the maintenance settings does the issue still occur? You can add command line parameters when adding your application under >Basic >Applications and then use this script to run your application. http://www.provisio.com/helpconsole/SiteKiosk%20Object%20Model%20Help/en-US/externalappinfo_run_mth.htm