General Preferences

The "General" preferences tab to allows you setup the folder to monitor for images and to specify which actions (printing, emailing, Tweeting) are available to users.

The "Folder to monitor for images:" text box specifies where Breeze Kiosk will look for JPEG images to display. You can either type in a folder name in the text box or click on the "..." button to the right of the text box to open a folder browser to select the folder.

The folder name can also contain tokens for the date which are replaced with the actual date values when full screen mode is selected. In the screenshot above the tokens %Y-%m-%D have been used. %Y will be replaced by the year with century e.g. 2016. %m will be replaced with the two digit month number e.g. 01 for January. %D will be replaced with the two digit date e.g. 21.

For example: on January 21, 2016 the tokens %Y-%m-%D will be replaced by 2016-01-21.

Select "Scan subfolders for images" to scan the images folder and all its subfolders.

Select the image types to display using the "Display JPEGs", "Display GIFs" and "Display MP4 and MOV movies" checkboxes.
Please note: at least one image type needs to be selected.

The "Stable time (secs):" settings specifies how long a file must remain stable (i.e. size and timestamp unchanged) before it is displayed. Set this to a low value, e.g. 5 or 10 secs, if Breeze Kiosk is monitoring images and videos created by another application on the same computer (e.g. a photo booth). A higher value to allow for possible network delays may be necessary if the images and videos are being accessed across a network or the folder being monitored is synced via the cloud (e.g. DropBox or OneDrive).

When the "Startup in full screen mode" option is selected Breeze Kiosk will automatically switch to full screen mode when it is started.

Images are displayed in alphabetical order unless the "Display newest images first" option is selected in which case they are displayed in reverse alphabetical order. If the photos are named with sequential numbering or prefixed with the date and time in YYYYMMDDhhmms format then alphabetical sorting will be the same as sorting the file chronologically.

Select the "Display new images when they are added" to automatically select and display new images and videos are added to the folder being monitored.

Select "Sort images by timestamp" to sort the images using their file timestamp. If this option is not selected the images will be sorted in alphabetical order using their filenames.

Select the "Show mouse cursor" option to display the mouse pointer when in full screen mode. This makes it possible to control Breeze Kiosk using a mouse if a touchscreen is not available.

The "Folder containing screen images:" text box specifies where Breeze Kiosk will look for screen images and backgrounds to display. The screen images should be JPEGs which are the same size as the computer's display resolution e.g. 1366 x 768 pixels. If Breeze Kiosk cannot find a JPEG screen image for the current action it will supply a default screen instead.

background.jpg - the background displayed in the main kiosk view (and thumbnail grid if grid_background.jpg not defined)

main_background.jpg - the background displayed when a photo has been selected in the grid view

print.jpg - the background displayed when the print confirmation screen is displayed

print_payment.jpg - the background displayed when the print confirmation screen is displayed in print payment mode

print_payment<n>.jpg - the background displayed when the print confirmation screen is displayed in print payment mode when more than one copy can be selected

no_images_background.jpg - optional screen image displayed if no images are available

email_success.jpg - screen displayed after an email has been sent successfully
email_offline.jpg - screen displayed in offline mode after the user has entered their email address

sms_success.jpg - screen displayed after an SMS has been sent successfully
sms_offline.jpg - screen displayed in offline mode after the user has entered their cellphone number to send an SMS

mms_success.jpg - screen displayed after an MMS has been sent successfully
mms_as_sms.jpg - screen displayed in if MMS isn't supported and SMS is being used instead

mms_offline.jpg - screen displayed in offline mode after the user has entered their cellphone number to send an MMS

startup.jpg - screen displayed at startup while Kiosk performs an initial scan of the image folder

twitter_login_failure.jpg - screen displayed if there is an error logging in to the user's Twitter account

twitter_upload.jpg - screen displayed while the photo is being uploaded to the user's Twitter feed

twitter_error.jpg - screen displayed if there is an error posting the photo to Twitter

twitter_timeout - screen displayed if the user does nothing and the Twitter timeout occurs

The appearance of the scrollbar shown in the thumbnail views can be changed using the size and color settings in Display Settings. A icon, defined by a PNG image, is placed in the scrollbar background at the top and bottom of the scrollbar. The icon image is named scrollbar-jump-icon.png if "Jump to top/bottom in scrollbar" is selected in the Display Settings or scrollbar-icon.png if "Jump to top/bottom in scrollbar" is not selected. The PNG image is resized to fit the width of the scrollbar and is drawn at the top of the scrollbar. It is then rotated through 180 degrees and is drawn at the bottom of the scrollbar.

Tip: To define an image for the whole of the scrollbar background make it the same width as the scrollbar and the same height as the display.

When the clipboard is enabled optional checkboxes can be displayed in the top left corners of thumbnails. The checkboxes are defined using the following PNG images: thumbnail_checked.png for thumbnails that have been selected and copied to the clipboard, thumbnail_unchecked.png for thumbnails that are not in the clipboard and clipboard_close_button.png for images in the clipboard.

You can use the default icons for the srcollbar and thumbnail checkboxes (these can be found in the installation folder) or you can provide your own by saving them in the "Folder containing screen images". The icons are defined using PNG images which can have transparent areas by using an alpha channel.

The main kiosk screen defaults to a dark blue background with thumbnails displayed on the left with the main display area showing the currently selected photo with the drawing/signing, print, email, texting and Twitter icons below it:

The screen layout and the size and appearance of thumbnails, captions etc. can be adjusting using the display settings. A JPEG screen image can be used to replace the solid colored background by placing a JPEG named background.jpg in the screen image folder. PNG icon images can be used for the print, email, SMS, MMS and Twitter actions. These PNG icons should be named draw-icon.png, printer-icon.png, email-icon.png, sms-icon.png, mms-icon.png and twitter-icon.png respectively. If no background screen is defined Breeze Kiosk will look in the installation folder for the default icons. If a background.jpg screen image is found in the screen images folder Breeze Kiosk will look in the screen images folder for the icons.

The positions of the touch sensitive areas for the print, email, texting and Twitter icons depend on how many actions are defined. If one action is defined the touch sensitive area will be centered half way across the main display area at the bottom of the screen. If two actions are defined the touch sensitive areas will be centered 1/3 and 2/3 of the width of the main display area at the bottom of the screen. If three actions are defined the touch sensitive areas will be centered 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the width of the main display area at the bottom of the screen.

Breeze Kiosk is designed to be used with a touchscreen, but it can be operated using a mouse or a keyboard. To control it using a mouse select the "Show mouse cursor" option in the "General" tab. Users will then be able click on thumbnails to select an image or click to the left or right of the main image display to select the previous or next image. They can also click on the icons at the bottom to select printing, emailing etc. and then click on the touchscreen keyboard keys to enter their email address or cellphone number.

cursor left, cursor up, page up, numberpad 4 or numberpad 8: select previous image

cursor right, cursor down, page down, numberpad 2 or numberpad 6: select next image

Esc: exit full screen mode unless it is password protected in which case the password must be entered

Please note: If users are given access to a keyboard you need to prevent them from being breaking out of full screen kiosk mode by typing Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Alt+Tab. One way to do this is to modify a keyboard and physically disable the Alt key. Other options are to run Windows Kiosk utilities which lock down the computer so that it will only run one program.

Select "Drawing and signing of photos" to add the option for guests to draw on or sign the photos, add emojis, frames etc. When the guest taps the drawing/signing icon the drawing and signing screen is displayed with tools for drawing on the photo, adding emojis or stickers and for choosing different frames. When the guest saves the changes the edited photo is saved as a new JPEG image with _1 appended to the original image's filename.

Select the "Print" checkbox to allow users to print photos. The printer can be setup by selecting "Printer setup..." from the File menu in the main window.

The "Minimum time to display printing screen (secs):" setting specifies the minimum time the printing.jpg screen should be displayed when printing a page. This gives the user feedback that the photos is being printed.

The "Print screen timeout (secs, 0=disabled):" setting specifies the timeout for displaying the print screen. This defaults to 30 secs and can be disabled by setting the timeout to 0.

The "Print payment mode" checkbox allows pay per print operation. When this option is selected the print confirmation screen will display "Print: please make your payment..." when waiting for a payment. If the maximum number of copies the user can select is set to more than 1 the normal print screen will be displayed first allowing users to select the number of copies to print. Then when the user taps the print icon the payment screen will be displayed.

When the payment screen is displayed the payment can be accepted either by pressing F6 or by sending a "payment accepted" command to Kiosk. The photos will be printed when the payment is accepted.

The payment screen will be cancelled if a "payment cancelled" command is received, the user to taps the "Cancel" button (in the top or bottom right corners of the screen) or the print timeout to occurs. The photos will not be printed if the payment screen is cancelled.

The default print payment screens can be changed by creating the following screen images:

print_payment.jpg - print payment screen displayed when the maximum number of copies is set to 1
print.jpg - screen allowing the user to select the number of prints when the maximum number of copies is set to more than 1
print_payment<n>.jpg - print payment screen displayed when the maximum number of copies is set more than 1 after the user has selected the number of copies and tapped the print icon in the print screen. <n> is set to the number of copies the user selected e.g. print_payment1.jpg, print_payment2.jpg etc.

Please see the section on Payment Options for more information on how to set up a payment system.

When the "Check 'prints' subfolder for printer friendly version of the image, GIF or movie file" is selected Breeze Kiosk will check the subfolder named prints for a JPEG file of the same name as the currently selected image when printing. If it can't find a JPEG in the prints subfolder it will also look in the prints subfolder of the parent folder.
e.g. source image C:\photos\20210721\GIF\203452.GIF
Looks for 203452.JPG in C:\photos\20210721\GIF\prints, if not found it looks in C:\photos\20210721\prints

If it finds a JPEG image of the same name in the prints subfolder it will print this instead of the selected image.

This is useful if animated GIFs or movies files are selected because a printable JPEG image can be provided for printing. Another use is when offering the option to share or print JPEGs from a photo booth which prints in a format that doesn't look good on screen or in an email (e.g. 6x2 strips). In this case the JPEG copy of the output from the photo booth can be saved in the prints subfolder and a screen/sharing friendly version can be created in the main folder using an program such as Breeze Systems' Hotfolder Prints.

Normally multiple copies are printed as a single document which reduces the time to print when using a single printer. Select the "Print copies as separate documents" to print each copy as a single document. This can increase print throughput when using printer pooling with multiple printers.

The "Auto bleed" option automatically extends the the edges of a photo to fill the full area of the printer's print extent e.g. if a photo is 1800x1600 pixels in size and printer may have a print extent of 1864x1228 pixels when printing 6"x4" @ 300 DPI. When "Auto bleed" is enable the photo is placed in the center of the print extent and a one pixel wide strip on each edge is extended to fill the print extent. This will avoid small strips of white appearing on the edges of the print which can occur if the printer heads aren't perfectly aligned.

Select the "Ask for email address before printing option" to display a touchscreen keyboard asking the user to enter the email address before printing the photos. If "Require email address before printing" is selected the user must enter an email address before they can print.

The email address entered by the user will be stored in the email address log file set up in the email server settings.

The log file contains a line for each email address containing the following comma separated values: the date in the format YYYYMMDD, the time in the format HHMMSS, the email address, the status (2=print email address, 1=email success, 0=email failure) and the filename of the image file e.g.

20170114,174842,sales@breezesys.com,2,C:\Users\Chris\Documents\PhotoboothImages\2017-01-14\prints\170114_174826.jpg

Select the "Disable printing of GIF images" if Breeze Kiosk is displaying a mixture of JPEG images and animated GIFs and you don't want people to try to print the animated GIFs. When this option is enabled the error message will be displayed if the user tries to print an animated GIF unless the "Check 'prints' subfolder for printer friendly version of the image, GIF or movie file" option is selected and a JPEG image with the same filename is found in the prints subfolder.

Select the "Disable printing of videos and movies" if Breeze Kiosk is displaying a mixture of JPEG images and videos and you don't want people to try to print the videos. When this option is enabled the error message will be displayed if the user tries to print a movie or video unless the "Check 'prints' subfolder for printer friendly version of the image, GIF or movie file" option is selected and a JPEG image with the same filename is found in the prints subfolder.

The "Maximum number of copies user can select" option allows you to give users the option to choose how many copies of the photo to print. If this is set to more than one the print screen will display touchscreen areas to "Cancel" and "Print" followed by the number of copies currently selected. The user can increase the number of copies (up to the maximum number allowed) by tapping the screen to the left of the print copies counter and decrease it by tapping to the right of the counter.

The print limiting settings can be used to limit the number of times each photo is printed. The first setting, "Maximum number of prints per photo (0=unlimited):", applies to all photos. Set this to the maximum number of times that each photo can be printed or set it to 0 to disable print limiting. When the maximum print limit is reached the message in the "Error message to display when limit reached" text box will be displayed.

A second print limiting option is available which limits prints by matching part of the photo's filename. One example of this is limiting the number of prints of Instagram photos that can be made for each Instagram user. If you use our Instagram Hashtag Monitor software to download photos from Instagram the photos have names like this 145570666745836321_21854356.jpg. The first part of the filename, 145570666745836321, identifies the photo and the second part, 21854356, identifies the author of the posting. By setting "Limit number of prints for filenames matching this pattern:" to {field,2,{filename}} you can limit the number of prints for each Instagram user.
The token {filename} returns the filename of the photo and the token {field,2,{filename}} returns the second field in the filename i.e. the author id.
Please note: The Instagram Hashtag Monitor comes with Breeze Systems' Hotfolder Prints software which is a separate purchase.

When the user taps on the print icon a print confirmation screen is displayed. The default screen shows a print preview on a black background with "Cancel" and "Print" displayed at the bottom of the screen. The sensitive area for the "Cancel" action is centered 2/5th the way across the screen and the sensitive area area for the "Print" action is centered 3/5th the way across the screen, If the maximum number of prints a user is allowed to select is more than 1 the currently selected number of copies will be displayed 4/5th across the screen with the sensitive area to increase the number of copies to the left and the decrease to the right.

If the user taps on the "Cancel" area the screen returns to the main kiosk display without printing the photo. If the user taps on the "Print" area the photo is sent to the printer and the printing screen is displayed. If the user taps to the left of the print copies counter it will be incremented by 1 (up to the maximum number of copies allowed). If the user taps to the right of the print copies counter it will be decremented by 1.

The default printing screen displays the word "Printing..." on a black background. After the print has been sent to the printer the display returns to the main kiosk display.

JPEG screen images can be used for the print and printing screen by placing the following screen images in the screen image folder:

print.jpg - the background displayed when the print confirmation screen is displayed

The touch sensitive area for the "Cancel" action is at the bottom of the screen centered 2/5 of the width of the screen. The touch sensitive area for the "Print" action is at the bottom of the screen centered 3/5 of the width of the screen. The touch sensitive areas for increasing or decreasing the number of copies to print are at the bottom of the screen either side of the point located at 4/5 of the width of the screen.

Up to three different sets of printer settings can be used to print photos and these can be selected using the file names of the photos. This allows Breeze Kiosk to print a mixture of different print sizes e.g. 6x2 strips, 6x4 standard prints or 6x8 large prints based on the filenames of the photos. To set this up select File->Printer Setup...

The filters can be a simple text prefix (e.g. 6x2 or 6x4) or a regular expression (e.g. 6x2.*DNP). When printing photos Breeze Kiosk will compare the filename against the filter for printer 2 and will use those printer settings if the filter matches the filename and the printer is defined. If printer 2 doesn't match it compares the filename against the filter for printer 3. If this doesn't match it will print using the default printer settings.

Example: Breeze Kiosk is displaying three different print layouts: traditional 6x2 strips, 6x6 square prints or 6x8 large prints. The filenames for the photos could be prefixed with 6x2, 6x6 and 6x8 respectively and Breeze Kiosk would be set up so that the default printer prints 6x2 strips, printer 2 is set up for 6x6 printers has the filter "6x6", printer 3 is set up for 6x8 printers has the filter "6x8".

Select the "Print as double strip" if the photos to be printed are 6x2 strips and the printer is a dyesub printer than can only print 6x2 strips by printing a 6x4 page and cutting it in half to form two 6x2 strips. When this option is selected Breeze Kiosk will double the width of the image before sending it to the printer. It will also divide the number of copies to print by 2 e.g. 1 or 2 copies selected - prints a single page, 3 or 4 copies selected - prints 2 pages.

Optional color management can be applied to the photos before printing. To set this up select File->Color Management Settings... and the dialog below will be displayed:

Enable color management using the "Enable color management when printing" checkbox. Then enter the color space used for the photos (this is normally sRGB) and the color profile for your printer.

Select the "Email" checkbox to allow users to email photos and then press the "Email settings..." button to edit the settings:

The body text of the message can be specified in plain text or in HTML format to provide more control over its appearance. When using the HTML format the token {image} represents the URL of the photo to be emailed and can be used with HTML <img> tag e.g. <img src="{image}">.

The simplest way to create a complex HTML format message is to use an HTML editor or to compose a suitable email in an email program and then copy the HTML into the "Message (HTML format)" field and replace the image URL with {image}.

Please note: It isn't possible to embed an attached movie or video file into an HTML formatted email message. When sending a movie or video the file will appear as an attachment to the email.

Tokens for the date and time can be included in the email subject and message text fields and will be replaced with the date or time the photos were taken when they are uploaded e.g.

%L will be replaced with the long date representation for your computer's locale e.g. Wednesday, January 08, 2014

%l will be replaced with the long date and time representation for your computer's locale e.g. Wednesday, January 08, 2014 20:23:56

Select the "Attach image to email" option to send the image with the email as an attachment (this is the default option). If this option is disabled the image won't be attached to the email and you need to provide a link to a website where users can view their photos. For example you might use an FTP client to automatically upload the photos to your website and then provide a link to the photo in the email by replacing the line:

To crop the image first check the "Crop image:" checkbox and then specify the left offset and top offset in pixels for the top left corner of the cropped image. Then specify the width and height of the image in pixels. For example if the photos are from a photobooth which is setup to print a double strip of 4 images on 6"x4" paper you may wish to crop the image so that only a single strip is emailed to the user. If the printer is set to a resolution of 300 dpi the image will be 1200 pixels wide (4" x 300 dpi) by 1800 pixles high (6" x 300 DPI) and so to crop it into a single strip you need to set left=0, top=0, width=600 and height=1800.

You can also specify a maximum size for the image being uploaded using the "Max width (pixels):" and "Max height (pixels):" settings. The JPEG copy of the printed output will be resized so that it is no bigger than these settings before it is emailed. Keeping these values relatively small, e.g. 500 x 500 pixels, will reduce the time it takes to send the email.

If required, the photo can be rotated using the "Image rotation:" dropdown list.

Please note that the image is cropped first, then resized and finally rotated before being emailed to the user.

By default the screens displayed when emailing the photo will have a simple status message shown on a black background. This can be overridden by placing the following JPEG screen images in the screen images folder:

email_photo.jpg - screen displayed when emailing a photo (email_offline.jpg is displayed if the offline mode is selected)

email_offline.jpg - screen displayed when using offline mode and saving the email for sending later

When the user taps the email icon in the main kiosk display a touchscreen keyboard will displayed to allow the user to enter their email address. Please see the touchscreen keyboard section for information on how to customize its layout and appearance. The touchscreen keyboard layout can be tested by clicking on the "Test keyboard..." button.

SMS messages are short text messages of up to 160 characters sent to a cellphone. Breeze Kiosk can be used to send an email to an email to SMS forwarding service which sends the SMS message to the user's cellphone. An SMS message is text only and does not include the actual photo. The text can be a URL to where the image is stored on a web server and on most cellphones the user can tap on the link and open a web browser to view the web page.

2) You can also use the "Sending an MMS" option to send SMS messages using Twilio.com

Select the "SMS" checkbox to allow users to send an SMS message to their cellphone and then press the "SMS settings..." button to edit the settings:

The settings will depend on the email to SMS service you are using. The settings above are suitable for the UK based "text local" service (http://www.textlocal.com). For this service the email address is the cellphone number followed by @txtlocal.co.uk. The token {number} is replaced by the cellphone number entered by the user and so the email address is set to {number}@txtlocal.co.uk.

The subject line is used to pass additional information to the service such as your password.

The message text contains the message text that is sent in the SMS message and should be no more than 160 characters in length. The example above sends an SMS containing the URL to access an Instagram post on the WEBSTA Instagram Web Viewer website (websta.me). This assumes that the photo has been downloaded using Breeze Systems' Instagram Hashtag Monitor and has a filename containing the post id followed by the user id e.g. 145570666745836321_21854356.jpg. The token {field,1,{filename}} extracts the first field from the filename e.g. 145570666745836321

Here are some other URLs that could be used to view Instagram posts made by the same author:

If you are using Breeze Kiosk to view photos from a photo booth and have a website for viewing the photos online you could text a URL like this:

For this to work you need to use additional software to upload the photos to your website either during or after the event e.g. an FTP client that can automatically sync files stored locally with your website. You also need to have suitable scripts to view the photo on your website.

Tokens for the date and time can be also included in the email subject and message text fields and will be replaced with the date or time the photos were taken when they are uploaded e.g.

%L will be replaced with the long date representation for your computer's locale e.g. Wednesday, January 08, 2014

%l will be replaced with the long date and time representation for your computer's locale e.g. Wednesday, January 08, 2014 20:23:56

By default the screens displayed when sending an SMS will have a simple status message shown on a black background. This can be overridden by placing the following JPEG screen images in the screen images folder:sms_photo.jpg - screen displayed when emailing the SMS message (sms_offline.jpg is displayed if the offline mode is selected)

sms_offline.jpg - screen displayed when using offline mode and saving the email for sending later

When the user taps the SMS icon in the main kiosk display a touchscreen keyboard will displayed to allow the user to enter their cellphone number. Please see the touchscreen keyboard section for information on how to customize its layout and appearance. The touchscreen keyboard layout can be tested by clicking on the "Test keyboard..." button.

The email server settings also need to be setup so that the program can email the photos or send SMS messages via email. The "Email Server Settings" dialog can be opened by selecting "Email Server Settings..." from the File menu or by clicking on the "Email server settings..." button in the "Output Settings" dialog. The "Email Server Settings" dialog shown below will be displayed:

To send an email you need to specify the host name and port number of your email server. Most email servers also require a username and a password to prevent unauthorized users from sending spam emails. For additional security select the "Use SSL for secure email" option to send the email using SSL. The port number should normally be set to 587 when using SSL secure email or 25 otherwise (please check the port numbers used by your ISP). Google's free GMail service is a convenient way to send emails and can be set up using the settings shown above and replacing yourname@gmail.com with your GMail email address and entering your password. Set the "Email addr:" to the sender's email address. Most ISPs require the sender's email address to the be the same as that of the email account specified by the username and password.

In spring 2020 Google withdrew support for standard SMTP emails and replaced it with a more secure service linked to your Google account. Breeze Kiosk v2.0 has received app approval from Google which allows it to send emails using this new secure method. To use GMail to send emails you need to authorize it with your Google account. To do this first set the "Host" to GMail and then click on the "GMail authenticate..." button. This will open a web browser window guiding you through the acceptance process. If the PC has already been authenticated pressing the "GMail authenticate..." button will refresh the GMail access token and display its status.

If you decide to stop allowing Breeze Kiosk to send emails using GMail you can revoke its access by logging in to your Google account and going to the Security settings and "Third-party apps with account access". You should see an entry for Breeze Booth which you can click on to review its access. If you decide to remove access this will prevent all copies of Breeze Kiosk from sending emails using GMail and you will need to re-authenticate them if you to use GMail on them again.Breeze Kiosk only has permission to send emails on your behalf using GMail. It is not able to read, modify or delete your emails and does not have access to any other Google services you may use.

Switching to a different GMail account: The GMail email account used to send the emails can be changed by signing into the Google account settings for the current account using a web browser and removing access for Breeze Booth in the security settings. Then re-authenticate in Breeze Kiosk and select the new account.

Please note: Google limit the number of emails that can be sent from a GMail account to 500 emails in a 24 hour period which may not be enough if you are running several photo booths. If this is a problem please consider using a dedicated email service such as sendgrid.com.

The settings can be verified by sending a test email by entering the destination email address and then clicking on the "Send test email to:" button. The email status and any error messages will be displayed in the status area at the bottom of the dialog.

Select the "Log email addresses to file:" checkbox to log the email addresses to a CSV file. Then either type in the filename of the log file in the editbox or click on the "..." to open a file browser. The log file contains a line for each email containing the following comma separated values: the date in the format YYYYMMDD, the time in the format HHMMSS, the email address, the status (2=print email address, 1=email success, 0=email failure) and the filename of the image file e.g.

2017011,174842,test@gmail.com,1,C:\Users\Chris\Documents\PhotoboothImages\2017-01-14\prints\170114_174826.jpg
2017011,174842,SMS:0123456,1,C:\Users\Chris\Documents\PhotoboothImages\2017-01-14\prints\170114_174826.jpg

Select "Save XML copy of email" to save an XML copy of the email including the message text, subject, email address and user inputs. The XML file is saved in the same folder as the photos being emailed and is given a filename prefix of email_YYYMMDD_hhmmss_. Click on the "Attachment settings..." button to display the "XML Email Attachment Settings" dialog to specify how email attachments are saved in the XML copy of the email when sending MP4 videos:

Select the types of attachments to be included when emailing MP4 videos. The options are: "MP4 only" which attaches the MP4 file to the email, "JPEG preview only" which extracts a preview image from the MP4 movie and attaches it to the email, "MP4 and JPEG preview" which attaches both the MP4 file and the JPEG preview to the email. Use the "Max size of MP4 preview (pixels)" settings to specify the maximum width and height of the JPEG preview extracted from the MP4 file.

The XML copies of the emails can be processed automatically using Breeze Hub. This allows emails to be sent in the background so that users don't have to wait before taking the next set of photos in the photo booth. This method also allows for more sophisticated emails to be sent e.g. sending a JPEG preview of a movie with the movie attached to the email or sending a slideshow GIF together with copies of the individual photos.

Attachments for JPEG images (including preview created from MP4 videos) and GIF images can be embedded in HTML emails using the {image} token followed by the attachment number e.g. {image} or {image1} for the first attachment, {image2} for the second attachment e.g.

If there is no corresponding {image} token for the attachment in the HTML email text or if the attachment is a MP4 movie file it will be attached to the email and won't be embedded in the email text.

Please note that the "Save XML copy of email" option is experimental and the details may change in a future release.

MMS messages can be sent in the US and Canada using a web-based service called Twilio (www.twilio.com). In other countries the message can be sent as an SMS message with a link to the photo. Most cellphones should recognize the link as a link to a web server and open a web browser on the user's cellphone to view the photo. Please note that the image link in an SMS will only be valid for 7 days.

To use this service you need an account with Twilio and enter you Twilio account details in the MMS setting dialog. Twilio charge for each MMS or SMS message sent using their service. Please see their website for pricing information.

The maximum image or video file size that can be sent is 2 MB, but Twilio may resize the image file to conform to the cellphone service provider's size requirements.

Enter your Twilio message phone number, AccountSID and AuthToken in the "MMS Settings" dialog. You can find your Twilio message phone number, AccountSID and AuthToken by logging into your Twilio account.

Set the country prefix to your country prefix e.g. +1 for the US and Canada, +44 for the UK, +49 for Germany etc. When users enter their cellphone numbers they can either enter the number with their country prefix e.g. +1234567890 or without it e.g. 23456789 and the country prefix will be added automatically before sending the text.

Select the message type from the "Message type:" dropdown list. The available options are:

1.	MMS - send the message as an MMS with the image attached to the message. Currently Twilio only supports MMS messaging in the US and Canada. If this option is used in a country which doesn't support MMS messaging through Twilio the message will be sent as an SMS + image.

2.	SMS - send the message as an SMS. You will need to include a link to a website in the message text so that the user can view their photos e.g. http://mywebsite.com/photos/{fullFilename}

3.	SMS + image - send the message as an SMS with a link to the photo. The photo will only be available for viewing for 7 days. Use the {url} token to include the URL to the image in the text message. If the {url} token is not included in the message the URL will be appended to the end of the message.

Photos sent using the "MMS" and "SMS + image" options must be no more than 1MB in size after resizing and cropping. An error message will be displayed if the 1MB file size limited is exceeded. Twilio may resize the photo to conform with the cellphone service operator's MMS size limits.
Photos sent using the "SMS + image" and "MMS" options will be hosted on the Breeze Systems' website for 7 days.

You can specify a maximum message length to ensure the 160 character SMS message length is not exceeded. In some countries SMS messages of more than 160 characters may be sent as multiple SMS messages and will cost more. In other countries the SMS message will be truncated to 160 characters.

You can crop, resize and rotate the JPEG photos, but not animated GIFs, before they are sent to the user.

To crop the image first check the "Crop image:" checkbox and then specify the left offset and top offset in pixels for the top left corner of the cropped image. Then specify the width and height of the image in pixels. For example if the photos are from a photobooth which is setup to print a double strip of 4 images on 6"x4" paper you may wish to crop the image so that only a single strip is emailed to the user. If the printer is set to a resolution of 300 dpi the image will be 1200 pixels wide (4" x 300 dpi) by 1800 pixels high (6" x 300 DPI) and so to crop it into a single strip you need to set left=0, top=0, width=600 and height=1800.

If required, the photo can be rotated using the "Image rotation:" dropdown list.

Please note that the image is cropped first, then resized and finally rotated before being sent to the user.

You can specify a timeout for uploading the photo and a upload progress message that is displayed during the upload. The default file upload message is "Uploading: {percentage}%". During the upload the {percentage} token will be replaced with the upload progress expressed as a percentage. Leave the "Progress message" blank to disable upload progress messages.

By default the screens displayed when sending an MMS or SMS will have a simple status message shown on a black background. This can be overridden by placing the following JPEG screen images in the screen images folder:

mms_success.jpg - screen displayed after an MMS has been sent successfully
mms_as_sms.jpg - screen displayed in if MMS isn't supported and SMS is being used instead

Select the "Log uploads to file:" checkbox to log the cellphone numbers to a CSV file. Then either type in the filename of the log file in the editbox or click on the "..." to open a file browser. The log file contains a line for each message containing the following comma separated values: the date in the format YYYYMMDD, the time in the format HHMMSS, the cellphone number prefixed by MMS:, the status (1=success, 0=failure) and the filename of the image file e.g.

2015011,174842,MMS:0123456,1,C:\Users\Chris\Documents\PhotoboothImages\2015-01-14\prints\150114_174826.jpg

Select "Save XML copy of text" to save an XML copy of the text including the message text, phone number and user inputs. The XML file is saved in the same folder as the photos being emailed and is given a filename prefix of text_YYYMMDD_hhmmss_. Please note that this option is experimental and the details may change in a future release.

When the user taps the MMS icon in the main kiosk display a touchscreen keyboard will displayed to allow the user to enter their cellphone number. Please see the touchscreen keyboard section for information on how to customize its layout and appearance. The touchscreen keyboard layout can be tested by clicking on the "Test keyboard..." button.

Users can post photos, animated GIFs and videos to their Twitter feed directly from Breeze Kiosk if it has an internet connection. Select the "Twitter" checkbox to allow users to upload photos to Twitter and then press the "Twitter settings..." button to display the "Twitter Settings" dialog:

Enter the Twitter message in the comment field. Twitter allows tweets of up to 140 characters but around 20 characters are used up by posting a photo and so the maximum message length is about 120 characters.

Tokens for the date and time can be included in comment and will be replaced with the date or time the photos were taken when they are uploaded e.g.

%L will be replaced with the long date representation for your computer's locale e.g. Thursday, January 08, 2015

%l will be replaced with the long date and time representation for your computer's locale e.g. Thursday, January 08, 2015 20:23:56

You can crop, resize and rotate photos (but not animated GIfs or videos) before uploading it to Twitter.

To crop the image first check the "Crop image:" checkbox and then specify the left offset and top offset in pixels for the top left corner of the cropped image. Then specify the width and height of the image in pixels. For example if the photos are from a photobooth which is setup to print a double strip of 4 images on 6"x4" paper you may wish to crop the image uploaded to Twitter so that only a single strip is sent. If the printer is set to a resolution of 300 dpi the image will be 1200 pixels wide (4" x 300 dpi) by 1800 pixels high (6" x 300 DPI) and so to crop it into a single strip you need to set left=0, top=0, width=600 and height=1800.

You can also specify a maximum size for the image being uploaded using the "Max width (pixels):" and "Max height (pixels):" settings. The JPEG copy of the printed output will be resized so that it is no bigger than these settings before it is uploaded to Twitter. Keeping these values relatively small, e.g. 500 x 500 pixels, will reduce the time it takes to upload the file.

If required, the photo can be rotated using the "Image rotation:" dropdown list.

Please note that the image is cropped first, then resized and finally rotated before being uploaded to Twitter.

By default the screens displayed when logging in to Twitter and uploading the photo will have a simple status message shown on a black background. This can be overridden by placing the following JPEG screen images in the screen images folder:

twitter_login_failure.jpg - screen displayed if there is an error logging in to the user's Twitter account

twitter_upload.jpg - screen displayed while the photo is being uploaded to the user's Twitter feed

twitter_error.jpg - screen displayed if there is an error posting the photo to Twitter

twitter_timeout - screen displayed if the user does nothing and the Twitter timeout occurs

The "Upload timeout" setting specifies the timeout when uploading photos or videos to Twitter. It may be necessary to increase this setting if the internet connection is slow.

You can specify a upload progress message that is displayed during the upload. The default file upload message is "Uploading: {percentage}%". During the upload the {percentage} token will be replaced with the upload progress expressed as a percentage. Leave the "Upload progress message" blank to disable upload progress messages.

Select the "Log uploads to file:" checkbox to log the details to a CSV file. Then either type in the filename of the log file in the editbox or click on the "..." to open a file browser. The log file contains a line for each message containing the following comma separated values: the date in the format YYYYMMDD, the time in the format HHMMSS, the user's Twitter login name prefixed by TWITTER_USERNAME:, the status (1=success, 0=failure) and the filename of the image file e.g.

2015011,174842,TWITTER_USERNAME:user@somesite.com,1,C:\Users\Chris\Documents\PhotoboothImages\2015-01-14\prints\150114_174826.jpg

When the user taps the Twitter icon in the main kiosk display a touchscreen keyboard will displayed to allow the user to enter their Twitter username and password. Please see the touchscreen keyboard section for information on how to customize its layout and appearance. The touchscreen keyboard layout can be tested by clicking on the "Test keyboard..." button.

If no internet connection is available at an event you can save users' email addresses (and cellphone numbers for MMS/SMS messages) and send the messages later when an internet connection is available.

To log email addresses for sending later you need to select the "Offline mode" option in the email server settings dialog and select the "Log email addresses to file" option - this will save the user's email address together with the filename of their photos.

To log cellphone numbers for sending MMS or SMS messages later you need to select the "Offline mode" option in the MMS settings dialog and select the "Log uploads to file" option - this will save the user's cellphone number together with the filename of their photos.

Please note: You can use the same log file for both email addresses and cellphone numbers.

The messages can be sent when an internet connection is available by selecting "Send emails and MMS/SMS messages..." from the "File" menu in the main window. When you select this you will be asked the log file to read (this defaults to the email log file specified in the "Email Server Settings"). The "Unsent Emails and MMS/SMS Messages" dialog will be displayed listing the date/time, email address or cellphone number and photo filename for unsent emails found in the log file. Select the messages you wish to send and then press the "Send" button to send them.

Please note: There is no offline option for Twitter uploads because users need to enter both their username and password to allow uploading to their Twitter account and no system should ever keep a record of users' passwords.