Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

PVX Directory
Management

Unlike the Polycom Viewstation and VSX videoconference models, there is no external support program for importing an existing directory of videoconference sites. With more than 100+ IFAS videoconference sites available, manual entry of all individual entries would be time-consuming, cumbersome and prone to errors. However, the procedure can be done manually if you know where the directory information is stored on the PC and you take care with the storage of personal directory entries. To simplify this process, a complete list of IFAS videoconference sites is available for download and installation.

On your PC, two files are used by the PVX program to store directory information. Both are directly accessible from the PVX main menu.

VVLocalDirectory.xml - this file contains the primary directory of videoconference sites and usually is used to store the complete list of all known IFAS sites. The file is fully editable from within the PVX program for adding, changing or deleting entries. Any entry in this directory can be added to the speed-dial directory (i.e., right-click desired entry and select "Add to Speed Dial list").

VVSpeedDial.xml - this file contains a secondary directory of videoconference sites. These sites can only be created in the primary directory and than added to this secondary directory. It provides for easier access because it is usually smaller in size. Entries cannot be added or edited in this directory, only deleted.

To manage the directories, it is recommended that only temporary entries be stored in the primary directory. Personal entries that need to be retained for long term availability should be protected by adding them to the secondary (speed-dial) directory. As a result, when an updated IFAS Directory file becomes available, the primary directory file can be safely replaced with the newer site listing. Any entries in the secondary (speed-dial) directory would be retained.

To determine the currency of the entries in the primary Directory, the first line of the directory file contains a dummy entry that displays the creation date for the data file. If no date exists, entries were manually entered and have not been previously imported as explained below. This date is of value for determining if the installed data file is the most current directory available for download.

Procedure to update the IFAS Directory listing in PVX:

1. In the PVX program, review the Directory and add any entries to the speed-dial directory that need to be saved.
    
2. Download the newest PVX IFAS directory file from the IFAS web site by right-clicking on the latest PVX entry and saving the associated file to your desktop.
    
3. Using Windows Explorer (right-click START and select Explore), open the "ViaVideo" directory. (note: The Application Data folder is a hidden folder, and only visible if the user account has selected "show hidden files and folders" in their folder "Tools" > "folder options" checkbox.)
    

   C:					(for Windows XP)
   	Documents and Settings
   		[username]
   			Application Data
   				Polycom
   					ViaVideo
   						VVLocalDirectory.xml VVSpeedDial.xml

    

   C:						(for Windows Vista)
   	Users
   		[username]
   			Application Data
   				Roaming
   					Polycom
   						ViaVideo
   							VVLocalDirectory.xml VVSpeedDial.xml

    

4. Drag the downloaded "VVLocalDirectory.xml" file from your desktop to the ViaVideo directory. A warning message that the "VVLocalDirectory.xml" file already exists will be displayed. When asked if you want to continue, select YES to replace the existing file with the downloaded file.
    
5. Restart the PVX program and verify that the directory has been updated by checking the date on the first entry line.

From the notebook of Thomas Hintz
the AgriGator