Crosslinks and Other Interactive Contents
Macula servers provide several types of interactive resources called CrossLink: these can be webpages or remote workstations. You can drag and drop them onto viewports as regular channels, enable the remote control and then manipulate the contents. Crosslink devices and workstations can be recorded (so they may have some footage in playback modes), while direct Crosslinks go straight from the source to the Macula Monitor application and allow multiple concurrent sessions.
The main differences between Crosslinks and Crosslink devices:
Crosslinks go directly to Macula Monitor, while devices go through Macula servers
so Crosslinks are simple Web contents, and Crosslink devices are like interactive video streams
Crosslinks are therefore not recorded and do not have any archive, unlike interactive devices
also, Crosslinks can be used simultaneously by many users (independent sessions), and if you close the viewport with the Crosslink, next time the base URL will be reopened
on the contrary, Crosslink devices have user priorities for remote control
channels produced from Crosslink devices do not have audio but do have two video streams (main/sub), just like regular video channels
As for remote workstations, these are also server-side devices, and you can think of them as recorded remote desktop sessions.
Below, you fill find details on how to find and use each type in Macula Monitor.
Direct Crosslinks
These are fully interactive Crosslinks available for browsing, with live view only. You will find them in the Resources panel on the left, under the dedicated Crosslinks section. Crosslinks are not recorded, thus, the streams go directly from the source to the Macula Monitor application(s).
To start, open the Resources section on the left and then drag and drop the desired Crosslink onto the viewport. You may want to use a single viewport layout template for better browsing experience. Crosslinks may be grouped: drag and drop the entire folder to the viewing area to put all pages onto the layout.
After the Crosslink is displayed, you can go ahead and control the page contents simply by clicking the contents as if the viewport was your Web browser. You can click links, type texts, log into your account etc.
Due to security reasons the following restrictions apply:
it is impossible to navigate away to another website (domain)*
copy-paste is not allowed
no file upload
pop-up windows or new tabs may be restricted in Macula console
Some pop-up functions may not work properly. If possible, try to open them directly in the web browser
no right-click menus
Dedicated Crosslink tabs
With the version 1.26 release, your administrator can configure the web pages to appear in a separate tab inside the main menu. In such case, the particular Crosslink will disappear from the viewports and become accessible via the Main menu tab, the same name as the title for your Crosslink set inside the console app.
If your system administrator enabled file downloads from the web pages, you find those downloads inside the library after the download is complete.
*Navigation to lower level domains is allowed. This means, for example, you can switch between sub-sections of the website like lv.wikipedia.org and it.wikipedia.org, but you cannot navigate away to wiktionary.org. If there is a redirect attempt (e.g., you click on a banner) or you try to navigate away from the specified domain (if the link leads to a different website), a corresponding warning will appear in the Alerts section of Macula Monitor.
If you click some button or link on the website and nothing happens, there's a big chance the target page belongs to another website (domain). Check the Alerts section for warnings.
Use the overlay controls in the bottom right corner to go back and forward in the browsing history, and to refresh the Crosslink.
There are no statuses in the bottom left corner of the viewport, as this is not a video stream: the Crosslink is rendered on the Macula Monitor side.
Sound is automatic and it will start playing if the remote page plays some content with audio. On the right side, the is a scrollbar, just like in your browser.
Please note that this feature is not a fully-featured browser but rather a facility that enables cross-platform interaction. Certain restrictions apply. Media-rich webpages may be slower than normal. For feature-rich browsing, please use regular Web browsers.
Crosslink media access
You can use Crosslinks with the Microphone, Web camera and Screen capture (Discord, Teams). To do so, go to:
Main menu -> Tools -> Administration tool
Click the Crosslinks tab and allow Macula Monitor to access your Microphone, Webcam, and Allow capturing desktop video and audio.
If media access does not working with particular domain - check the Macula Console crosslink section if it is added to the crosslinks.
Crosslink Devices
It is also possible to set up a Crosslink on the Macula server side so that it is recorded, too. In this case, it is treated like a regular video source: you will find these interactive Crosslinks channels under the Channels section of the Resources panel.
Drag and drop any Crosslink from the list to put in onto the viewport.
Viewport overlay controls are very similar to those of regular video channels:
top left corner: X to remove the channel, lock to pin it to the viewport, channel name and (optional) attached user buttons
top right: timestamp or error text
bottom left: stream properties and recording status
bottom right: the usual channel controls + remote control ON/OFF
The remote control toggle is displayed by default and turned OFF. To initiate remote control, click the icon with the "clicking cursor" so that it becomes yellow. You can now interact with the channel contents.
You can create snapshots and bookmarks, toggle streams, or switch to instant playback and regular playback as usual, just like with any video stream.
Use the channel's notification panel to check if there were any errors or warnings (including those about redirects).
Remote Workstations
Similarly to Crosslink devices, there can also be devices that provide contents from a whole remote machine. You can think of them as of Teamviewer or RDP sessions. While Crosslinks only display a single page, with the remote desktop access you can use any applications on the remote machine.
In Macula Monitor, you will find these entities in the Channels section of the Resources panel on the left. These do not have any special icon so we recommend that your system administrator configures visual groups for your convenience.
Viewport overlay controls are very similar to those of regular video channels:
top left corner: X to remove the channel, lock to pin it to the viewport, channel name and (optional) attached user buttons
top right: timestamp or error text
bottom left: stream properties and recording status
bottom right: the usual channel controls + remote control ON/OFF
The remote control toggle is displayed by default and turned OFF. To initiate remote control, click the icon with the "clicking cursor" so that it becomes yellow. You can now interact with the channel contents.
Keep in mind that during remote control:
you will be unable to copy and paste text of files from the local computer (remote machine clipboard will work)
system key combinations will not be sent to the remote PC (use on-screen keyboard or your mouse for this)
For example, it you press Alt+TAB during the remote session, your local computer will catch that combination.
You can create snapshots and bookmarks, toggle streams, or switch to instant playback and regular playback as usual, just like with any video stream.
Non-Interactive Crosslinks
Some of the channels may also be non-interactive. For these, the remote control toggle button will not be displayed. These are regular video streams rendered from an HTML source, and there is no option to change their contents from Macula Monitor. If you only see this kind of Crosslinks, the case may be that there are not enough CrossLink licenses on the connected server and the channels were configured to use a regular channel license.
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