Create and reuse Widgets

A Widget is a reusable visual item, such as a clock, a list of announcements, or a weather forecast. Add a Widget to a Playlist or place it on a Layout.

Start with what the screen should look like. Where the information comes from is a separate choice. The Widget decides how things look, and a Data Source supplies the information. For example, a News Widget can show a feed from one publisher today and a different feed tomorrow without changing its design. One Data Source, such as a Google Sheet, can feed a Table on one screen and a Ticker on another.

Some Widgets, such as Clock and QR Code, need no Data Source. You enter their content directly.

Choose a Widget

Choose by what you want people to see. The Works with column says what kind of Data Source each one needs.

Widget	Use it to show	Works with
Clock	The current time, in a Standard, Minimal, or Analog style.	No Data Source.
QR Code	A scannable link or text, with an optional heading and instruction.	No Data Source.
List	Short rows, each with main and secondary text, such as announcements or a staff directory.	Any records source.
Table	Rows and columns that people compare, such as a bus schedule or game results.	Any records source. You choose the columns.
Cards	Records that each stand on their own, with a title, body, badge, and optional image.	Any records source.
Ticker	One continuous scrolling line of short items, such as headlines or closures.	Any records source, such as a feed, Manual Table, or Google Sheet.
News	Feed headlines with an optional summary, publication time, and source name.	An RSS / Atom Feed, or another source with headline fields.
Menu Board	Items with descriptions and aligned prices, grouped into sections.	Menu Items, or another source with item names and prices.
Status	A current status, severity, message, and optional effective or expiry time.	An object source, such as Status Message.
Alert Banner	One urgent message in a shallow horizontal strip, such as a closure or severe alert.	An object source with a message field. Severity is optional.
Agenda	Events shown as an agenda, a current and next view, or a schedule board.	A Calendar, Events, or another source with a start date or time.
Event Scroller	A scrolling event board with a fixed heading, or a horizontal rail in a short, wide zone.	Any records source with event titles and start dates or times.
Weather	Current conditions and a forecast of several days.	A Weather Data Source.

A records source is any Data Source that provides rows of fields, such as a feed, a CSV file, a Google Sheet, a Manual Table, or a plugin source like Forms. See Connect a Data Source.

Cards can show a managed image when Image field uses an asset field and the Player can use the image. Extra or unavailable images stay hidden. The Widgets V2 contract defines the image grant limit.

News shows text only. It doesn’t show article images.

Status is a panel. Alert Banner is the Widget for shallow horizontal Layout bands. It needs only a message; a severity badge and a label appear when your source has them. When you place it in a Layout, Studio keeps its wide, shallow shape and sizes it to the canvas. Agenda has Agenda, Now and next, and Schedule board styles. A web App shows a page or a document as it appears online; see Website Apps. The content definition reference lists everything your Tilecast version includes. For the exact saved-provider mappings, see the Widgets V2 catalog contract.

Status uses the screen’s time zone for date-only effective and expiry fields. An expiry date stays active through that day. In Schedule board, the next event’s start ends a current event that has no end time.

Choices that moved

Studio no longer offers feed-specific Widgets, such as Custom RSS, Atom Feed, RSS Ticker, News Feed, and the publisher Apps. The older QR Code Widget and QR Call to Action are replaced by the current QR Code. School Status Banner maps to Status. Alert Banner is a first-class strip Widget. Now and Next and School Schedule are Agenda styles. Recognition Board is now Cards. For feeds, use News or Ticker with an RSS / Atom Feed Data Source. Widgets you already saved with the older choices keep working, and you can still edit them.

Create a Widget

Show a scrolling event board

Choose Event Scroller for a TV showing games, meetings, services, or community events. It shows one line per event, with the date on the left, the title in the middle, and the time on the right. An optional Heading stays above the moving rows.

Connect a Calendar, Events, Manual Table, Google Sheet, or plugin records source. Map Title field and Start field. Map End field, Location field, and Category field when your source supplies them. Events need a title and a date or time to appear. Optional fields aren’t guessed from unrelated text columns.

Under Behavior, leave Flow on Auto for a vertical board that changes to a horizontal rail in a short, wide Layout zone. Choose Vertical or Horizontal to keep that orientation. Set each direction and adjust Scroll speed: 1 is slow and 10 is fast. Turn off Scrolling enabled for a static list. Reduced-motion playback also uses a static list.

Hide past events is on by default. Events with no end stay through their local start day. Date-only values keep their calendar day and show no clock time. Past events leave the board as the Player clock advances, including when it uses cached data offline. Maximum events limits relevant events, so past rows don’t prevent later events from appearing. The empty message stays visible in Layouts; an empty fullscreen playlist item can advance.

Under Style, use Text size (%) to enlarge event text and Heading size (%) to resize the heading separately. 100 keeps the automatic size; 150 makes it one and a half times as large. Text still adapts to the zone.

To reduce the space above and below each event, choose Natural spacing under Row layout, then lower Row spacing (%). Fill viewport keeps rows spread across the available height. Natural spacing keeps rows together; a short list can leave space after its last event. Use Outer padding (%) for the space around the board and Heading spacing (%) for the space below the heading. Set a spacing control to 0 to remove that space.

Use Density, colors, and the date, time, location, category, and divider controls to fit your screen. Larger text can truncate sooner. Long titles stay on one line. Smaller zones hide secondary fields to keep the title readable. Event Scroller requires a Player version that supports its component. See the Event Scroller contract for the exact time and movement rules.

Scroll speed is an authored speed level, not a promise that every TV will move the same number of physical pixels on every refresh. The animation is time-based, but display refresh rate, browser engine, other playback work, and device performance can change how smooth it looks. Reduced-motion playback stops the scrolling instead of slowing it down.

There is no one pixel breakpoint shared by every Widget. Each Widget adapts to its own bounds and may hide secondary fields or change arrangement at different sizes. Use Wide strip, Tall sidebar, Small zone, or Custom size in the live preview at the dimensions you plan to use instead of designing around a universal breakpoint.

Tilecast’s built-in Widgets use the bundled Tilecast typeface and the styles exposed by that Widget. They do not load an arbitrary uploaded font or Google Font. Layout text has its own small built-in font list; see Build a Layout.

Save your Widget

An Owner, Administrator, or Editor can create and edit Widgets.

1. Open Content > Widgets, then select Create Widget.
2. Search the catalog or choose a category, then select the Widget that matches what the screen should show. A disabled catalog item shows why it isn’t available.
3. The editor opens with a live preview and the Widget’s settings beside it. The new Widget starts with a name such as New Countdown; select the name in the header, or ⋯ > Edit details, to rename it.
4. For a Widget that shows data, open Data. Select Choose to pick one of the sources this Widget can use, or select Connect new data to create a Data Source without leaving the editor.
5. Check the field mapping under Data. Studio fills it in from the source, and you can change each field.
6. Set the options under Content, Style, and Behavior. The preview updates as you change them.
7. Select Save Widget, or press Ctrl+S (Command+S on a Mac).

Every Widget type uses this one editor, including Website and YouTube. Their settings use the same controls, and Studio shows the labels and help text in your language.

Studio shows only the setting groups a Widget has. A Widget with one group shows its settings without tabs. Rarely changed settings sit under Advanced.

If Choose lists no sources, create one with Connect new data, or create it from Content > Data Sources. The list offers only sources whose data this Widget can show.

How Studio fills the fields

When you connect a source, Studio chooses a field for each empty field control:

1. It first uses fields the source marks with a meaning. An RSS / Atom Feed marks its title as the headline, its description as the summary, and its date as the publication time.
2. It then uses fields with a familiar name, such as title, price, or start.
3. It then offers any field of a compatible type, such as a date for an Agenda’s Start field.

Each mapped field says Auto when it uses Studio’s choice and Custom when you picked another field. If you switch to another source, Studio keeps your choices that the new source also has and fills in the rest. Opening a saved Widget never changes its mapping.

Some Widgets need your choices. A Table shows only the Columns you add. An Agenda can’t place an event without a Start field. News and Weather read their source’s fields directly and have no field controls.

Find a Widget in the library

Widgets lists every saved Widget as a card with its stored thumbnail, its type, and where it’s used, such as 2 playlists · 1 Layout. A Widget that nothing uses shows Not used yet. Select a card’s title or thumbnail to open the Widget. Select the ⋯ button on a card to open or edit the Widget, or to duplicate it if you can manage content.

The toolbar keeps the controls you use most in one row:

• Search Widgets finds Widgets by name as you type.
• All Widget types limits the library to one type. The list is grouped like the Widget gallery, and you can type to find a type. It includes older types that existing Widgets still use.
• The sort button orders the library by Recently updated, Newest, Oldest, or Name. Studio sorts the whole library, not only the Widgets already loaded.
• The grid and list buttons change how Widgets are shown. The list shows each Widget’s type, where it’s used, and when it was last updated.

If a search or type matches nothing, select Clear search and type to see the full library again. Clearing doesn’t change your sort or view. On a phone, the type filter stays under the search field and View options holds the sort and view choices.

Edit and save a Widget

Open a Widget from the library, or from the Layout or Playlist that uses it. The editor header shows:

• Back, which returns to where you opened the Widget, such as Back to Layout.
• Used by, which lists every Playlist and Layout that shows this Widget. Saving changes the Widget everywhere it appears, so check this before you save a shared Widget.
• The save state: Saved, Unsaved changes, Saving…, or Save failed. When a save fails, Studio keeps your changes and shows Retry.
• Save changes, which stays unavailable until you change something.
• ⋯, with Edit details, Duplicate, Discard unsaved changes, and Delete Widget. Studio doesn’t delete a Widget that a Playlist or Layout still uses.

Studio doesn’t save Widgets automatically. If you leave with unsaved changes, Studio asks whether to discard them. If a setting needs a value, Studio shows the problem next to that setting when you save.

A Viewer can open a Widget, use the preview, and see its settings and where it’s used, but can’t change or save it.

Check the live preview

The preview in the Widget editor uses the same Widget renderer as current Linux and Tilecast Edge Players. What you see there is what those screens show.

• The frame list switches between Landscape · 16:9, Portrait · 9:16, Wide strip, Tall sidebar, Small zone, and Custom size. Widgets arrange themselves for the space they have, so check the sizes where you plan to use the Widget. A Widget that is built for one shape, such as the Ticker, opens at that shape and lists it as Recommended.
• Fit scales the frame to the window. Use the zoom buttons to look closer, and the fullscreen button to see the preview on its own.
• Time appears for Widgets that change with time, such as a Clock, Countdown, or Agenda, and for Widgets whose data source selects records by date. Select At a time to see the Widget at a chosen date and time. The selected calendar date also drives time-sensitive Data Source previews, so both use the same day.
• In Live mode, the preview uses the Data Source’s current data. If the source has no data yet, the preview shows the Widget’s empty message.

Changing the preview frame, zoom, or time never changes the Widget. Changing the preview time keeps the saved data and update time of manual objects and approved Form snapshots. It does not retrieve historical source data.

For Widgets that chart time-series data, Studio uses the same points, timezone, and units as the Player.

A healthy preview shows only the Widget. When the preview is loading, waiting for data, empty, or can’t render, a short note under it says so. A preview problem doesn’t stop you from saving.

Studio saves the Widget first. Then it captures the Widget’s thumbnail, no matter which frame you had selected. The thumbnail is always 16:9. A Widget with a recommended shape, such as a wide strip, appears whole in the middle of the thumbnail on a dark background. If Studio can’t capture or upload the thumbnail, the Widget stays saved and Studio shows a warning. The Widgets library tries the thumbnail again later.

Recommended shape

Some Widgets are built for a shape. The Ticker and Alert Banner are wide, shallow strips. When you add such a Widget to a Layout, its placement starts with that shape instead of a 16:9 box, and you can resize it as usual. Existing Layouts don’t change.

When a content manager opens Widgets, Studio checks the full library for missing or outdated thumbnails in the background. Search and provider filters do not limit this check, and Studio captures one Widget at a time.

Countdown recurrence

A repeating Countdown keeps the selected local wall time in its configured IANA timezone. Weekly recurrence therefore stays at the same local time across daylight-saving changes. Monthly and yearly recurrence clamps a date that does not exist in the target month to that month’s last valid day. For example, a yearly countdown set for February 29 uses February 28 in a non-leap year, and a monthly countdown set for the 31st uses the last day of a shorter month.

Chart values and axes

Chart treats missing or non-numeric values as gaps instead of zero. Bars leave the missing bar empty; lines and areas break at the gap. The value axis comes from the finite values unless you set explicit minimum and maximum bounds. An invalid pair where the minimum is at or above the maximum is ignored, and an all-equal range expands so the chart can still draw it.

Axis ticks use up to five rounded steps. Small ranges keep enough decimal places to avoid duplicate labels, while values of 10,000 or more use compact notation such as 10K when the Widget locale supports it. Data labels and ticks follow the Widget’s regional locale.

Choose a Clock style

The Clock Widget has three styles. Pick one under Style:

• Standard: the time in large type, with the seconds and AM/PM beside it. Turn on Show date to add the day and date below.
• Minimal: the time alone, as large as it fits.
• Analog: a clock face, with the digital time and the optional date beside or below it.

The Clock arranges itself for the space it has. In a wide strip it becomes a single line, in a tall sidebar it stacks the hours over the minutes, and in a small Layout zone it shows only the time. You don’t adjust sizes by hand. The live preview shows the style you chose at each preview size.

Which Players show these Widgets

Current Linux Players and Tilecast Edge show the Widgets in the table above the way the Studio preview does.

Android Players, and Linux Players that haven’t been updated, show a compatibility version instead. It shows the same information, but it can look different from the preview. For example, the Clock shows the time on its own, without the chosen style. To see the current design, update the Player.

News, QR Code, and Event Scroller have no compatibility version. Tilecast won’t assign them to a screen whose Player can’t show them. Use a current Linux Player or Tilecast Edge for these Widgets. For the technical rules, see Widgets V2.

Reuse a Widget

Add a saved Widget to a Playlist or Layout wherever you need the same visual content. You can use a Widget in more than one presentation; its details show where it is used. Editing a shared Widget changes the Widget itself, so check its other uses before changing its data or appearance.

In a Layout, the Widgets section opens the Apps picker. Add the Widget to the canvas, then use the inspector to set its position, fit, and unavailable behavior. A Widget can also be selected as a Playlist item.

When a Widget has no current data

Check the Data Source’s status and refresh diagnostics in Content > Data Sources. Most data Widgets have an Empty message option under Content. A fullscreen Widget that declares an empty state as eligible may be skipped in a local Playlist when it has nothing to show. If every Widget in the Playlist is empty, the Player waits 30 seconds before trying again. Layout zones and synchronized playback keep their timeline. See the Widgets V2 contract for the Player rules.

Next steps

• Create a reusable Data Source.
• Add a Widget to a Playlist.
• Arrange Widgets with other content in a Layout.