Understanding Cart Triggers; What are they, how do they work?

NOTE:  This is very advanced information.  Please contact our support team for assistance in setting up and managing Cart Triggers.

Cart Triggers are the data codes that "tell" the injector what to do and when to do it.  Cart Triggers can be based on a specific Time or they can be based on the on Air Automation system data.  If you need information on a Timed Trigger, please see the Timed Trigger tutorial located here. 

Most triggers are Data Based.  Essentially they work by "matching" on air data and defining an action that should happen when the automation system does something specific.  When the on air automation system exports data the Injector receives it if there is a cart trigger in place that matches some part of the data that is sent, the Injector will then respond to that data to take some specific action.

Cart Triggers can be configured to match any specific piece of data in either the Artist field, Song Title field, Category Field or Cart ID field of the automation data.  By default most stations are set-up with a DEFAULT trigger which is used to define the default state that the Injector should "be in."  Typically, stations have their DEFAULT trigger preconfigured by our Implementation team so that the Injector is in Go Live mode.  Go Live mode means that the Injector is taking the on air audio and playing that audio on the stream.  Injection periods are created by having the Injector switch modes to the Break mode - which means that the on air audio will be muted and the Injector will be playing audio directly into the stream from the station's inventory.

The "State" of the Injector is controlled by the combination of two fields in the Cart Trigger Editor, the Delivery Command and the Action.  Other actions can be defined and associated with a Cart Trigger when it is in one of its two Active states.  For example the Injector can be "told" to be in Live mode but also to export the now Playing data to external sources like an RDS unit or the Web Player.  There are other advanced actions that can be enabled as well, and if you need information for those, just contact our Support Department and they will assist you.

To set-up a Data Based Cart Trigger, the first thing one needs to do is to define what piece of data they should be looking for from the automation system.  Once they know the piece of data AND which field the data is going to be in, define the state of the Injector (should be in live mode or should it be in injection mode).  Then just access the Cart Trigger Editor in the Injector Manager and follow the needed steps to configure the type of trigger needed.

A Go LIVE Trigger can be configured by following these steps:

1. Access the Injector Manager
2. Choose the proper station from the drop down list and click Continue
3. Click the Cart Trigger Editor link in the middle section of the screen
4. When the Cart Trigger Editor opens, find the Add New Regular Trigger button in the lower middle section of the screen and click it
5. Set the "active" date range, available days and available times.  The date and time functions will define when the Injector should be looking for this specific code from the automation system
6. Set the Data Element; this is the field that will contain the needed data code
7. Define the string that the Injector should look for.  Remember, the Injector will match the specific string entered.  So, if SPOT is entered, then the Injector will be looking in the defined Data Element field for the exact match of SPOT.  If 234Fhy were entered into the Trigger Value field, then the Injector would be looking to match that exact string in the proper field when the automation system sends its data.  Wild cards can be matched as a subset in a given string by surrounding the string with % signs.  So, for example a Trigger Value of %Gaga% looking in the Artist field would match any artist that contained Lady Gaga.  Likewise %SUPER% would "fire" the trigger if it were to look for %SUPER% in the song title field and a song title of Supercalafragalisticexpealodousous was sent from the automation system. So, in sum a specific code or a wild card can be used as the Trigger Value in any field of the automation data.
8. The Trigger will control "what" the Injector does by following the defined Action.
     Start Break should be used to create an Injection period
     End Break should be used to put the Injector into Go Live mode
     Update Now Playing should be used if the Injector needs to reformat and re-exprt data to the player
     Clear Audio Buffer can be used to drop anytime in FIFO to 0 at the time that the automation system sends and the Injector matches a specific data string
     Profanity Dump is used only in specific cases.  Please contact our support team for assistance with this.  Do not use it without assistance from our Support Team
     Ignore this Trigger can be used if the Injector is NOT supposed to "fire" on a specific string
9. Define the default duration that this trigger should "last" once it fires.  Note that the default duration will be interrupted, and the Injector will react to any subsequent data that gets sent from the automation system
10. Define the Delivery Command
     Use a specific Letter, A-Z, if the Injector should use a specific Template
     Use -1 if the Injector should not use a Template and use anything, randomly, from inventory
     Use BreakSchedules if the Injector should use different Templates at different times of the day
     Use Go Live if the Injector should be playing what is playing on air
     Use NP if the Injector should be playing what is playing on air but also pass the Now Playing information to the player.
11. Set the Ad Family to use for content selection
12. Click Save

If you would like to learn more about the Advanced Settings, please contact our Support Department.  We strongly recommend that users DO NOT enable these unless they have already received instructions from our Support Team.  Likewise, DO NOT use the "Use Duration from Incoming Data Cue" unless the Support Desk has fully provided instructions and investigated whether or not using this is the best alternative.  99% of the time, the Support team will be able to assist you in getting a specific scenario put in place.