Writing a rule

The three sections of a rule: dates, time of day, and days of week. What each accepts and what leaving one alone means.

On a playlist's Schedule tab, choose Restrict when this plays. Once the playlist has a rule, the button reads Add another rule. To change a rule, select it in the list.

The rule dialog has 3 sections: Dates, Time of day, and Days of week. You work on one at a time.

Dates

A start, an end, both, or neither. Leave both fields empty, showing No start date and No end date, and the rule has no start and no end.

You can also exclude individual days inside the range with Except a date. Holidays, a shutdown week, a day the building is closed. Each excluded date shows under the date range with its own remove control, so a closure that moves is one date to swap rather than a rule to rebuild.

Time of day

All day, or specific hours with a start and an end.

A time window is inclusive at both ends, and it cannot end before it starts. The editor refuses to save one that does.

Days of week

Individual days, or the presets Every day, Weekdays, and Weekend.

A rule has to include at least one day. Deselecting them all is refused rather than silently producing a rule that never matches.

Leaving a section alone

Anything you do not restrict stays unrestricted, which is the thing most likely to surprise you.

A rule that only sets 09:00 to 17:00 means those hours on every day, forever. If you meant weekdays, say weekdays. The rule does not infer it.

The summary under the rule

As you edit, the dialog shows what the rule means in plain language, under This rule means. Read it before saving. It catches the case where every field is individually right and the combination is not.

Saving

Save rule closes the dialog and puts the rule in the list. It isn't live yet: choose Save on the Schedule tab to save the schedule. Leave the tab first and Screenly asks "Leave without saving?".

Once saved, rules reach every assigned screen on its next check-in.