As with Zetta and other RCS products, you’ve heard us tease about becoming a Beta user and this week, we debuted some of the new features in GSelector 5.0. Beta users can access GSelector 5.0 today with an official release slated for early January 2022. John Bonou joined us to review the completely redesigned user interface, scalable icons, Custom Song/Link Layouts, newly added Jobs and more!
As John pointed out, a new build number reflects a benchmark in GSelector’s history. GSelector 5.0 not only includes an updated user interface, but behind the scenes, GSelector has been modernized to coincide with current software code and under the hood functionality. This will improve performance and continue to allow programmers to scale GSelector with their growing number of stations and workflows within the database.
From the user perspective, John and the GSelector team have given each icon a facelift, modernizing them for everyday display scaling. Now, no matter the size of the screen, combined with the resolution, zoom or 4K, GSelector features crisp, dynamic icons. Users can also expand the icon size for better visual. These can be customized via Tools | Global Settings | Appearance | Style.
Speaking of customizing the user experience, we’ve also created Custom Song/Link Layouts. These are global settings that can be disabled, Legacy, or enabled, Custom. Once enabled, programmers have the option to essentially edit the layout, adding all their desired attributes and attribute panes, and then organizing each attribute pane module to their desired layout. Like Zetta’s customized layouts, we also encourage users to build multiple layouts, specific to their desired workflow. For example, if you have stations that include research, create a “Research Layout,” with the focus being on research fields. Or if you’re working from an enterprise aspect and you need to see Multi-Station fields, then toggle between station specific layouts and Multi-Station focused layouts. This is all about your music philosophy and how you interpret daily GSelector tasks. The Custom Song/Link Layout can be enabled via Tools | Global Settings | Song/Link Window: Custom.
Finally, we reviewed GSelector Jobs and identified some of the newer Jobs, like Generate Schedule. Programmers can automatically schedule and execute specific GSelector tasks like a Service Heartbeat (making sure there’s a live connection to the GSelector Server), Housekeeping, Backup, Check Publication Status, Check Schedule, and now Generate Schedule. Each of these Jobs also include an email notification in case the Jobs are successful or results in a failure. In regard to Generate Schedule, programmers can schedule the next unscheduled day or a defined number of days after the next scheduled day. This includes multiple station optional elements, like only schedule Songs or exclude Links. If you’re looking for more information on GSelector Jobs, check out our previous RCS Live here.
Since it came up during our weekly questions and answers segment, John commented on GSelector and Windows 11. Throughout RCS, all our products are tested in advanced with a partnership with Microsoft to work out any new operation system kinks, if any. As of right now, there are no known issues running GSelector on Windows 11. In fact, we already have multiple instances working in the field.
As 2021 comes to a close, RCS Live will be taking a slight break, returning with an impressive list of topics to cover in the new year. Don’t forget that users can always watch older sessions on the RCS Live Archive. If you want to become a GSelector 5.0 or Zetta 5.21.2 Beta user, reach out to your local RCS contact. From the entire RCS Live Team, we wish you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season and we can’t wait to chat more with you in the upcoming year!