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Schedule content with conditions

CanvasPro does not use a timeline-based scheduler. Time-of-day, day-of-week, date-range and other scheduling behaviours are expressed as conditions attached to scenes and queues. Conditions are evaluated continuously by the dynamic engine; when a scene's conditions become valid it plays, and when they become invalid the queue skips past.

This guide shows the common patterns.

Before you start

  • At least one channel exists, with a queue inside it
  • Scenes exist that you want to schedule

Daytime versus evening content

Two scenes, one for the day and one for the evening, with non-overlapping time windows.

  1. Open the daytime scene in Channels.
  2. Open its Conditions panel.
  3. Add a Time Range condition with start_time = 07:00, end_time = 18:00.
  4. Save.
  5. Open the evening scene.
  6. Add a Time Range condition with start_time = 18:00, end_time = 23:00.
  7. Save.

Both scenes sit in the same queue. Only one is valid at any moment, so the queue plays the right one.

Weekday versus weekend

Use the On Week Day condition to gate by weekday.

  1. Open the weekday scene.
  2. Add an On Week Day condition and tick Monday through Friday.
  3. Save.

For weekends, do the same but tick Saturday and Sunday.

The On Week Day condition supports selecting multiple weekdays at once, so you usually only need one condition.

Holiday or campaign window

Use a Date Range condition for a fixed campaign window, or a DateTime Range condition for a moment that starts and ends at specific times of day.

  • Date range: valid on every day between two dates.
  • DateTime range: valid between a specific moment and another specific moment.

Combining conditions

A scene can carry several conditions. The condition mode decides how they combine:

  • All: every condition must be valid. Use this for things like "weekdays AND morning".
  • Any: at least one must be valid. Use this for things like "Monday OR Friday".

Example: a sponsor read that should play only on weekdays between 12:00 and 14:00.

  • Add one On Week Day condition with Monday through Friday ticked.
  • Add one Time Range condition with 12:00-14:00.
  • Set the condition mode to all, so both conditions must be valid.

Cap plays per day or per loop

Use a Play Count condition to limit how many times a scene plays. Use Nth Loop to restrict a scene to a specific iteration of its parent queue's loop.

Asset-driven duration

An Asset Duration condition ties a scene's playback duration to the duration of an associated asset. This is useful when a scene wraps a video and you want the scene to step forward exactly when the video ends.

Force live during a broadcast

Conditions describe scheduled behaviour. To override the schedule for a live moment, the operator uses Force Live from On Air. Force Live takes over the channel with a chosen scene until released. The schedule resumes when Force Live is dismissed.

See Live override for the full pattern.

What's next

  • Live override for operator-driven interruptions during a broadcast
  • Glossary for the full list of built-in condition types