Moon SuiteLive data
Show a Google Sheet on a TV, and keep it up to date by itself
Orbit Fitness kept its class timetable in a Google Sheet, and members kept asking the front desk which class was next. Now the lobby TV reads the sheet and answers for them.
The question at the front desk
Orbit Fitness has two rooms and a timetable that changes every week. Dee, at the front desk, keeps it in a Google Sheet: time, class, coach, room and spots left. Members don’t read the sheet. They walk up and ask: what’s next, which room, is it full?
Dee wanted the lobby TV to answer those three questions so she could get back to checking people in.
The timetable already existed. I just needed the members to see it before they got to me.
Publish the sheet
- Open the sheet in Google Sheets.
- Choose File > Share > Publish to web.
- Pick the tab to publish, choose Comma-separated values (.csv), and click Publish.
- Copy the link it shows. It ends in
output=csv.
Publishing makes that tab readable by anyone who has the link, which is how the TV reads it without signing in. Keep only what’s fine to show in the published tab.
Pick the widget
Each widget reads the sheet in its own way:
| Widget | Shows | Columns it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Table | Rows under column headings | The headings you list, or every column |
| Menu board | Items and prices under section headings | Name, Price, Note, Image, Section; only Name is needed |
| Number | One big number, its change and target | The last value in the column you name |
| Chart | A line or bar chart of recent rows | One or two columns you name |
Dee started from the Gym class schedule template, which already has a Table with the columns Time, Class, Coach, Room and Spots left. She pasted her sheet’s link into the table’s Google Sheet (CSV link) setting, and her rows replaced the sample ones.
Mark what’s on now
Two Table settings turned the timetable into answers:
- Mark now and next by column: she typed
Time. The class on now and the next one stand out, and earlier ones drop off as the day goes on. A time like18:00-19:00sets the end; a time with no end lasts an hour. - Show “Full” at 0 in column: she typed
Spots left. A class with no spots left says Full instead of 0.
When the sheet changes
The TV checks the sheet every 5 minutes. When Dee changes a coach or a room, the lobby has it by the next check.
If the sheet can’t be read, because it was unpublished or Google is having a bad minute, the widget keeps the last rows it had and says how old they are: “Data from 20 minutes ago”. A sheet that never loaded shows “No data” with the reason, so it’s never mistaken for an empty timetable. See what your screen does when the Wi-Fi drops for the rest.
About the story. The people and businesses in these guides are made up. They show how we expect a moon to be used, not the experience of real customers.
