Introduction
Let’s say we want to send a text message to another camera so that it can be displayed on its live image. When the message configured is something like “Hello world!” then this is exactly what will be sent.
On the other hand, by using variables, you can get a different result each time the message is sent. For example, when you send something like this
Hello World! I’m (ID.NAME) with event (FPR.ENO)
then the camera will replace the variables with camera name and event number and this is what will be sent:
Hello World! I’m MX10-12-32-55 with event 001432
All of the available variables and placeholders are listed in the camera help file:
-
Variables:
http://<ip_cam>/help/help?longvariable -
Placeholders:
http://<ip_cam>/help/help?imagecomment
To make our example a bit more interesting we could decide to send the timestamp and the current temperature to another camera every 10 minutes. Let’s see how to achieve that.
Configuration on Camera A (sender)
First of all we need to create an IP Notify Profile from Admin Menu >> IP Notify Profiles
From the “Predefined Configuration” drop-down menu select “Custom Configuration”, type the IP address of the recipient followed by the port (i.e. 8000) and select “Raw TCP/IP” as a transfer protocol. In the text box you can type static text or you can use variables that will be replaced on the fly by the camera when it’s time to send the message. Press “Set” to apply the changes.
Now we need to schedule the iP Notify profile so that it can be sent every 10 minutes. To do so we need to go to Admin Menu >> Time Tasks.
From the drop-down menu select the IP Notify profile configured above and type “*/10” in the first field. The statement */10 means “every 10” and since it is written in the minutes column it means “every 10 minutes”. Press “Set” to apply the settings and “Close” to store the configuration in the flash memory.
Configuration on Camera B (receiver)
In order to receive the TCP message, Camera B needs to be listening on the same port Camera A is sending the message to (e.i. port 8000).
Go to Setup Menu >> General Event Settings and enable the Arming.
Go to Setup Menu >> Events Overview and click on the “Edit” button in the “Messages” section. Create a new Message event and make sure the port is the same specified in the IP Notify profile of Camera A. The settings of the event are not relevant.
Go to Setup Menu >> Text and Display Settings.
Type the following in the text “Comment” box:
^S10;
This means that we want to display on the live image the last 10 messages received by the camera. Press “Set” to apply the settings and “Close” to store the configuration into the flash memory.
