Prerequisites
Viz Mosart 5.1.0 or later.
A running Viz Mosart system. As a minimum, the Viz Mosart Remote Control Service must be reachable, and Manus Administrator must be running with a loaded rundown for a script to appear.
A modern browser. The latest Chrome or Edge is recommended, as for all Mosart Web Applications.
Installation
The Prompter requires no separate installation and no additional configuration:
It installs as part of the Mosart Web Applications bundle and is listed in the installer's application list.
It is served from the Mosart Web Apps host at
/prompterand routed through the Mosart Web Proxy, like the other web applications.
Opening the Prompter
Ensure your Viz Mosart system is operating under normal working conditions (Manus Administrator running, a rundown loaded).
From the Mosart Web Apps Configuration Tool, select Home and then the Prompter card.
On a system configured with multiple studios, the Prompter is opened per studio: Home opens it against the studio you select, and the app connects to that studio's Viz Mosart server.
Connection to the Viz Mosart Server
The Prompter receives the rundown, the script, and live timing over the same server connection as the other Mosart Web Applications: the Viz Mosart server defined for its studio on the Studios page of the Configuration Tool. By default it connects to the Mosart Web Apps host it was served from, which proxies the connection to the configured Viz Mosart server.
For special setups, the connection can be adjusted with URL parameters:
Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Display-only mode: shows the rolling script and its reading cue only. The control bar, the state strip, the timers, the on-air banner, the connection chip, the placeholder messages and the Edit in Showmaker buttons are all hidden; the thin reading-position progress bar along the bottom edge remains. This is the mode used when the prompter output is embedded in a Smart Panel widget, and it suits any passive output screen. The session dialogs are the one exception to this hiding. Where authentication is enabled, an expired session shows its Session timeout! dialog even in display-only mode, so a passive screen or an embedded widget reports that it needs signing in again rather than sitting silently on stale script. |
| Overrides the address of the Viz Mosart server connection (the Mosart SignalR hub), for example |
| Connects the Prompter to a specific studio on a multi-studio system. Set automatically when the app is opened from Home; useful when bookmarking a prompter display for a particular studio. |
Note: The two address parameters are not combined. If ?signalr is given, it wins and ?studioId is ignored, so use one or the other.
Optional Server Setups
Support for Main/Backup Connection
If you have a backup server for redundancy, define the environment on the Studios page of the Configuration Tool, where each studio carries its own main server and optional backup.
Support for HTTPS
If you are using HTTPS, define the environment in the Configuration Tool menu section Server Configuration.
Session Timeout
Where authentication (OIDC) is enabled, the controls are on the Server Configuration page of the Configuration Tool, inside the Authentication (OIDC) block, under Allow session timeout. See Authentication for the full description.
Prompter ships with its switch off, reading Stays signed in while open. The Prompter renews its own session for as long as its page is open, so an unattended prompter display never expires from inactivity.
Session timeout sets the window in minutes, 30 by default. It applies only to the apps whose switch is on.
Warning: Do not switch the Prompter's row on for a studio prompter position. Nobody touches a prompter screen during a show, so the session would expire from inactivity while script and timing were still arriving, and the presenter would be reading behind a sign-in dialog. Leave it on Stays signed in while open for any on-air surface.
Stored Settings
All Prompter settings (font, text size, margins, mirroring, speed, Follow the rundown, read-ahead, and the cue indicator) are stored locally in the browser on each machine. Nothing is stored on the server:
Each prompter position keeps its own setup. A studio prompter screen, the director's laptop, and a presenter's tablet can each hold different text sizes and cue positions.
Settings survive reloads and browser restarts on the same machine and browser profile.
Clearing the browser's site data resets the Prompter to its defaults.
Remote Control
The Mosart Web Apps host provides a shared prompter control channel used by Smart Panel:
A Smart Panel button with the Prompter Play/Pause action toggles the roll on every connected Prompter. The button calls the Mosart Web Apps host at
/api/v1/prompter-control/toggle; the host holds the shared play/pause state and pushes it to every Prompter over the/prompter-controlWebSocket channel, so the current state is also restored whenever a Prompter reconnects.The Smart Panel Prompter widget embeds the prompter output (display-only mode) in a panel.
Display preferences remain local to each Prompter window; remote control affects only the transport.
No additional configuration is required; the control channel is part of the standard Mosart Web Applications installation. Note that it is a separate channel from the Viz Mosart server connection: remote play/pause keeps working even while the Prompter shows Waiting for the Mosart Server.
Troubleshooting
Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
Connecting to Mosart… does not go away | The Prompter cannot open its connection to the Viz Mosart server. Check that the browser can reach the Mosart Web Apps host, that the Mosart Web Proxy service is running, and that the proxy can reach the Viz Mosart Remote Control Service on the host and port set for the Prompter's studio on the Studios page of the Configuration Tool. |
Waiting for the Mosart Server, or the connection chip shows No Mosart Server | The connection is up, but no live timing has arrived for several seconds. Viz Mosart broadcasts timing about once a second while it is running, so this points at the Viz Mosart side rather than the network. Check that Manus Administrator is running and that the studio's Viz Mosart server host and port are correct on the Studios page of the Configuration Tool. |
No rundown loaded | The connection is healthy. Load a rundown in Viz Mosart and it appears automatically. |
On-air item is not in the rundown | An item is reported on air but is not in the loaded running order, so the Prompter has parked rather than rolling stale script. Typical causes are an item removed after the rundown was loaded, a pre-roll, or a stale on-air reference. The warning clears as soon as an item that is in the rundown is taken. Shown only while Follow the rundown is on. |
The script does not roll on a take | Check the state strip: it must read FOLLOWING. If it reads MANUAL, switch Follow the rundown on; if it reads PREVIEW, select Jump to live. Also note that an on-air item with no script does not roll; the Prompter reads ahead or holds, per the read-ahead setting. |
A prompter display shows a Session timeout! dialog | The sign-in for that browser has ended. The Prompter holds its own session while its page is open, so this points at a long outage between the display and the Mosart Web Apps host, at a machine that was switched off or rebooted, at a page reloaded after the session had gone, or at the Prompter's row having been switched on in Allow session timeout. Sign in again, then check that row in Server Configuration. |
The Prompter card on Home shows a warning icon | The Configuration Tool cannot reach the main Viz Mosart Server for the selected studio, so the Prompter (and the Rundown Viewer) may not function properly. The Configuration Tool's status banner gives the reason: either the Viz Mosart Remote Control Service is not running, or the Viz Mosart Server version may be incompatible with this version of Mosart Web Applications. If HTTPS is used, it must be enabled on both the Viz Mosart Server and Mosart Web Applications. Verify Server Configuration, then check the Viz Mosart web server log files or the Windows Event Viewer logs. |
The Smart Panel Prompter Play/Pause button has no effect | The button reaches the Prompter over a WebSocket channel served by the Mosart Web Apps host, not over the Viz Mosart server connection. Check that the Prompter window can reach the host and that WebSockets are not blocked between them. The transport is all the button controls: if the state strip reads MANUAL, the roll starts but the Prompter still does not follow takes. |
For general connectivity issues, please also refer to the Troubleshooting section for the Mosart Web Applications.