Autolog Foscam HD Controller Discussion

Hi Bill,
That feature is designed to work on jpgs stored on the Apple Mac and already retrieved from the camera. It won't work trying to access the SD card on the camera. You need to set the camera up so that the plugin can FTP to the camera and retrieve the images.

See the documentation here: Foscam_HD_Controller Wiki

Here is a piece of the plugin log when the error happens:

2020-10-25 19:50:37.676 DEBUG Plugin.polling.run 'Outside Camera' [192.168.1.22:88] Start of While Loop ...
2020-10-25 19:50:37.724 DEBUG Plugin.DebugSend.run Command: getDevState [camera]
2020-10-25 19:50:37.724 DEBUG Plugin.MonitorSend.run Command Sent To Camera Outside Camera [192.168.1.22:88]: http://192.168.1.22:88/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?usr=<USERNAME>&pwd=<PASSWORD>&cmd=getDevState
2020-10-25 19:50:37.803 DEBUG Plugin.DebugReceive.run <CGI_Result>
<result>0</result>
<IOAlarm>0</IOAlarm>
<motionDetectAlarm>2</motionDetectAlarm>
<soundAlarm>0</soundAlarm>
<record>0</record>
<sdState>1</sdState>
<sdFreeSpace>31016944k</sdFreeSpace>
<sdTotalSpace>31147664k</sdTotalSpace>
<ntpState>0</ntpState>
<ddnsState>0</ddnsState>
<url></url>
<upnpState>0</upnpState>
<isWifiConnected>0</isWifiConnected>
<wifiConnectedAP></wifiConnectedAP>
<infraLedState>1</infraLedState>
<humanDetectAlarmState>0</humanDetectAlarmState>
</CGI_Result>

2020-10-25 19:50:37.803 DEBUG Plugin.DebugReceive.run Response received from camera: Outside Camera [192.168.1.22:88] to 'getDevState' =
<CGI_Result>
<result>0</result>
<IOAlarm>0</IOAlarm>
<motionDetectAlarm>2</motionDetectAlarm>
<soundAlarm>0</soundAlarm>
<record>0</record>
<sdState>1</sdState>
<sdFreeSpace>31016944k</sdFreeSpace>
<sdTotalSpace>31147664k</sdTotalSpace>
<ntpState>0</ntpState>
<ddnsState>0</ddnsState>
<url></url>
<upnpState>0</upnpState>
<isWifiConnected>0</isWifiConnected>
<wifiConnectedAP></wifiConnectedAP>
<infraLedState>1</infraLedState>
<humanDetectAlarmState>0</humanDetectAlarmState>
</CGI_Result>

2020-10-25 19:50:37.807 THREADDEBUG Plugin.method.processGetDevState CLASS: Plugin
2020-10-25 19:50:37.808 THREADDEBUG Plugin.method._ftpClientRetrieve CLASS: Plugin
2020-10-25 19:50:37.853 ERROR Plugin.DebugMessageHandling._ftpClientRetrieve alarmFtpDateFolder: Line '688' has error='550 Can't change directory to /IPCamera/MGS2012_00626EEE429C/snap: No such file or directory'

Thanks,
Bill

Hi Bill,
What happens if you paste /IPCamera/MGS2012_00626EEE429C/snap into Finder > Go > Go to Folder ?

Hi Jon, thanks for your replies.

When I use "Go to Folder" it takes me to the 'snap' folder within the 'MGS2012_00626EEE429C' folder.

Regarding your first reply, I'm quite confused. Isn't the FTP Client mode suposed to fetch the files from the camera's FTP server? Do you have any suggestions as to how I could set up the plugin?
Sorry about my limited understanding of FTP stuff,
Bill

It's probably me getting confused as it was coded a while ago and I don't use FTP for my usage.

I will have to fit an SD into one of my cameras and test it out to be able to offer further advice.
It may take 2-3 days.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

Absolutely no problem. I'm very grateful for your work on this plugin! BTW, I'm curious as to how you get the images onto your computer without FTP. I was under the impression that was the only way to do it.

Thanks,
Bill

Hi Bill,
Sorry it has taken longer than I anticipate to get back to you.

Bottom line, is I now know what is wrong and I should be able to fix it in due course.

In more detail, I have finally setup a test camera, with SD Card and managed to get it linked to the Foscam HD Controller plugin on my development system. It was a bit problematic as I was having problems accessing the camera (Foscan R4M) via a web browser (that uses a Foscam plugin). I tried on my Mac and on Windows. Finally resolved by downloading the FoscamVMS app from the Mac App Store. I reset the camera and using the Foscam App on my iPhone updated to the latest firmware. So everything on the camera front is up-to-date.

So it looks like the camera setting I have to use is Original, not Amba.

Assuming you are using FoscamVMS, the FTP server on the camera is enabled by going into the section for Storage Management > Video storage path = SD card. Clicking on the Manage SD card button will launch a web browser to display the FTP files.

What this showed me is that the file naming structure of the files on the SD card has changed. I will need to change how the plugin handles this. It is slightly more involved than I would like as it affects how the files will be stored on the Mac when the plugin FTPs to the camera to retrieve the images.

It is fixable and I will upload a test release to Github when I have it sorted. This may take a week or so as I am focusing my available time on a couple of other plugins at the moment.

Anyway this post is just to say I haven't forgotten your issue and I believe it is resolvable.

Hi Jon,
That all sounds great and I'm looking forward to trying out the update! Thanks for figuring this out!
Bill

Are there any plans to make this plugin work with moving to preset position for PTZ cameras?

I am afraid this plugin has been parked on the back burner for a long while.

I no longer use Foscam cameras which means that I haven't been focused on it.

I am planning to upgrade the plugin to Python 3 prior to the release of Indigo 2022.2 when Python 2 support in Indigo is being deprecated.

When I go through this process, I will look at adding in PTZ support and reviewing other outstanding requests.

Due to other priorities, I can't say at the moment when this will be.

Hi Jon,

Are you still planning on updating this plugin to Python 3? I hope so, but if not it would be good to know ahead of time.

Thanks,
Bill

Hi Bill,

... Are you still planning on updating this plugin to Python 3? I hope so, but if not it would be good to know ahead of time. ...

The short answer is YES

The longer answer: I have done all the Python changes and am currently testing it along with the Dynamic View Controller (DVC). The functionality of the FoscamHD plugin hasn't changed but the DVC has been extensively changed to take advantage of how Indigo can now handle Control Page images. In addition, the DVC can now handle images created by Security Spy etc, which is what I am using it for. Also you can page backwards and forwards through the captured images by: Date (i.e. day), half-hour, event or individual images. An event is defined as occurring where the time between two images is greater than a user defined amount e.g. 5 seconds. Skipping through images is now very fast.

Hopefully these two plugins will be ready for the next Indigo release or very shortly thereafter. It is what I am currently working on.

That's great news, thanks Jon!

Hi Bill,

I am now running the updated plugins on my Production System to give them a final test before uploading a pre-release version to Github.

I think the FoscamHD plugin will just be a simple plugin install of the new version.

Do you use the Dynamic View Controller?

I ask because the Dynamic View controller has been extensively re-engineered to be able to support other systems such as Security Spy in addition to Foscam.
It's performance has been markedly improved by taking advantage of recent Indigo features available in the latest Indigo APIs.
This does mean that if you are using the Dynamic View Controller to provide data for Control Pages, then those Control Pages will need updating.

Here is a sample of the sort of Dynamic View control buttons you can have on a Control Page [Image redacted]

Example control buttons on a Dynamic View Control Page

dynamic_view_control_page.png (70.2 KiB) Viewed 2600 times

I will be putting some notes together on this revised Dynamic View Controller.

I have released the updated Python 3 versions of the Foscam HD Controller and Dynamic View Controller to the Indigo plugin store.