Using the Flexicast Windows Multi-Channel Manager

The Flexicast Channels use a multi window manager that allows you to control up to 50 windows on a Windows desktop. Windows allows up to 9 monitors to be configured as one large desktop area.

The Flexicast system tracks the changes to your desktop and knows which parts of your desktop map to which monitor. Configuring rating channels on your monitors is a simple 4 step process;

	Open a new window
	Click the Channel Select button to select the format for that window from the drop down menu
	Click the drag bar then drag it across the desktop and place the window on the desired monitor.
	Click the maximize button if you want it full screen or use the sizer tool to size the window.

This process can be repeated until you have all the windows you need configured.

Once the mouse is still for a while the windowing controls will fade out on each window leaving just the canvas area where the rating screen is rendered on view and the mouse pointer will be hidden so that data is not obscured.

There are some tricky bits while dragging and sizing that will help with positioning. While dragging windows you can press and hold 4 for a while and it will set the window to one quarter of the current monitor's size, 9 will set it to one ninth.

If you aren't using the maximize function and you are finely positioning windows you can put them close to where you need them and then while still the selected window hold the up, down, left or right button to finely nudge the window to the exact position you want.

You can size the window by clicking anywhere in it and then dragging the mouse. Initially clicking nearer the upper left corner will give faster courser sizing and clicking nearer the lower right will give slower finer sizing. As a happy medium a sizing tool is provided as a target for what we recommend is the best place to click and size.

While sizing, you can lock the sizing to either 4:3 aspect for standard computer monitor aspect by holding the shift key or to the 16:9 aspect by pressing and holding the Ctrl key which is the aspect of some wide format monitors and big screen flat panel displays.

As a general rule you are best to use the lowest resolution that can be configured that is still clear from the minimum viewing distance. If configuring a public display, start at the lowest resolution on the graphic boards that the monitor will function at and stand at the minimum distance to test it. Running the lowest resolution will give the smoothest animation and allow a lower grade machine to be used. Another tip is to use a lower colour depth than 24 or 32 bit colour. 16 bit colour halves the amount of work the computer has to do over 32 bit and will not have a recognisable loss of quality.

If you accidentally close all windows, you can simply restart the software and it will default to one on the main desktop when it restarts, or right click the [image of icon] icon in the system tray and select the 'New Window' item. New windows will by default display a hit screen which explains some of these points. As soon as you select a format it will replace the hit screen.

If the windows you have configured are behind other windows, simply left click the icon on the system tray to pop all configured windows to the foreground.

The ratings and information formats available are available via the channel window select icon . This will then present you with some channel icons to select various options for display. Each format is described fully on the Ratings and LiveOdds pages.

When installing you can select to auto start the system from startup. If you are configuring a public display system you may be best to use this option so that the system auto starts on power up. If you forgot this step simply install again and select it this time, the current configuration will not be lost.