MOBOTIX Online Help

The Remote Configuration API

The remote configuration API (Application Programming Interface) http://<camera_IP>/admin/remoteconfig provides the methods used for remotely changing configuration parameters directly on the MOBOTIX camera.

Using the Remote Configuration API

The camera's HTTP interface processes commands and configuration parameters in an HTTP POST request as in the following example:

POST /admin/remoteconfig HTTP/1.0
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46bWVpbnNt
Content-length: 87

helo
view section audio
write params
audio/MICRO=1
view section audio
store
update
quit

Explanation of the HTTP POST Request in the Example

Remarks:

• The content type (Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded) does not need to be specified, but it is expected by the camera's web server.
• The web server handles authentication (in this case, Basic authentication is used). User name and password are concatenated by a colon (":") and Base64-encoded. See the line above for the "admin:meinsm" user name and password.
• The length of the content (Content-length) is the length of all data that follows the blank line after the header.
• The content of the request itself is processed line by line.
• Note that you need to URL-encode special characters in the parameters, as described in the Command Conventions section of the The HTTP API help page.

This example is discussed in detail in Output of the Remote Configuration API using the cURL command line application.

Commands of the Remote Configuration API

You can use the commands as shown in the following syntax samples:

• Simple command:
  <command>
• Command with keyword, separated by spaces:
  <command> <keyword>.
• Command with parameters, separated by spaces:
  <command> <parameter1> <parameter2>.
• Command keyword and one or more parameters, separated by spaces:
  <command> <keyword> <parameter1> <parameter2>.

The Remote Configuration API provides the following commands:

Output of the Remote Configuration API

The camera API returns its answers line by line:

• The results consist of the data returned by the executed command.
• Informational output starts with "#" and documents the progress while processing the commands.
• Error messages start with "ERROR:", followed by a description of the error that occurred.
• Commands without results data (reset, store, etc.) do not have any output.
• If no errors have occurred, the camera acknowledges this by returning "OK" before closing.

Example: Activating the Microphone

This example demonstrates how to activate the microphone using an HTTP request. For easily testing the remote configuration API, the cURL command line tool (http://curl.haxx.se/download.html) can be downloaded for Windows. It is automatically installed on Mac OS X and most Linux computers.

Using cURL allows quickly and easily testing the commands, since this tool handles the communication with the camera. For example, cURL automatically sends the correct header and calculates the length of the command sequence.

Request to be sent:

Step-by-step instruction:

• Open a command shell (Windows) or a terminal (Mac OS X, Linux).
• Enter the following command line and replace <user name>, <password> and <IP address> by the actual data of your camera:

  curl -q -v -u "<user name>:<password>" --data-binary @- "http://<IP address>/admin/remoteconfig"

• Press the [Return] key; cURL is now waiting for commands.
• Copy the text block from the left column from the last table helo to quit.
• Copy the contents of the clipboard to the command shell or terminal.
• Press the [Ctrl+D] key combination twice to send the command sequence to the camera.

Output of the command sequence with the following data:

• <user name>: admin
• <password>: meinsm
• <IP address>: 10.8.0.118

* About to connect() to 10.8.0.118 port 80 (#0)
* Trying 10.8.0.118... connected
* Connected to 10.8.0.118 port 80 (#0)
* Server auth using Basic with user 'admin'
> POST /admin/remoteconfig HTTP/1.1
> Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46bWVpbnNt
> User-Agent: curl/7.18.2 (i486-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.18.2 OpenSSL/0.9.8g zlib/1.2.3.3 libidn/1.8 libssh2/0.18
> Host: 10.8.0.118
> Accept: */*
> Content-Length: 87
> Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
>
* HTTP 1.0, assume close after body
< HTTP/1.0 200 OK
< Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
< Cache-Control: no-cache
<
#read:helo:
#read:view section audio:
#exec cmd=view section audio
SECTION audio
SPEAKER=1
MICRO=0
PREAMPLIFIER=2
SPEAKERLEVEL=0
ENDSECTION audio
#read:write params:
#exec cmd=write params
#read:view section audio:
#exec cmd=view section audio
SECTION audio
SPEAKER=1
MICRO=1
PREAMPLIFIER=2
SPEAKERLEVEL=0
ENDSECTION audio
#read:store:
#exec cmd=store
#Storing to flash...
#read:update:
#exec cmd=update
#updating daemons!
#read:quit:
OK
#bye
* Closing connection #0

Example: Returning a List of Commands Using help

Request to be sent:

Step-by-step instruction:

• Open a command shell (Windows) or a terminal (Mac OS X, Linux).
• Enter the following command line and replace <user name>, <password> and <IP address> by the actual data of your camera:

  curl -q -v -u "<user name>:<password>" --data-binary @- "http://<IP address>/admin/remoteconfig"

• Press the [Return] key; cURL is now waiting for commands.
• Copy the text block from the left column from the last table helo to quit.
• Copy the contents of the clipboard to the command shell or terminal.
• Press the [Ctrl+D] key combination twice to send the command sequence to the camera.

Output of the command sequence with the following data:

• <user name>: admin
• <password>: meinsm
• <IP address>: 10.8.0.118

* About to connect() to 10.8.0.118 port 80 (#0)
* Trying 10.8.0.118... connected
* Connected to 10.8.0.118 port 80 (#0)
* Server auth using Basic with user 'admin'
> POST /admin/remoteconfig HTTP/1.1
> Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46bWVpbnNt
> User-Agent: curl/7.18.2 (i486-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.18.2 OpenSSL/0.9.8g zlib/1.2.3.3 libidn/1.8 libssh2/0.18
> Host: 10.8.0.118
> Accept: */*
> Content-Length: 87
> Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
>
* HTTP 1.0, assume close after body
< HTTP/1.0 200 OK
< Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
< Cache-Control: no-cache
<
#read:helo:
#read:help:
The following commands are currently implemented:
append
reboot_needed
view
reboot
write
profile
restore
activate_profile
reset
update
delete
store
exit
quit
help
#read:quit:
OK
#bye
* Closing connection #0