zm4ppc help needed zm viewer for pocket pc 2003 se

robi · Post by **robi** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:59 pm

jameswilson wrote:
robi wrote:May I have one simple suggestion?

The zm4PPC.jpw config file should be in the same folder as the exe, this would allow different configs in different folders. Moreover, the .jpw file name should be the same as the .exe name, renaming the exe should require renaming the .jpw too. This would allow several configs to be available in the same time on one's device. Simply with renamed exes and jpws. All on SD Card, that can be moved from device to device, to quickly test around.
It would save you from a lot of programming
it wouldnt but yes i agree that the settings in the same folder would help, but making settings name dynamic might be aproblem. I am limited in hwat the cf can do, its not full blown net2.

Or maybe we could dynamically open settings, with an open dialog and do it that way?

Oh, sure! An Open dialog would be most elegant, and if settings file is in the same folder with the same name as the exe just load that one by default. I say that we should avoid the root of the device, as it may cause problems when moving SD cards with the .exe around.

This would be a solution also for those with more than 4 cams.

And for those with less than 4 cams, the unused buttons should be removed. This could be done by simply analysing how many urls are there in the settings file, with string 'nph-zms' in them.

haus · Post by **haus** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:27 pm

robi wrote:Understood your concerns about the quad issue. My opinion is that it's not really necessary indeed, because 4 cams shrinked in 320x240 would give useless small detail-less thumbs anyway.

I'm going to (very) respectfully disagree on that.

Where my cams are, if there's *any* movement, there's interest (i.e., around my house when I'm away). I want to be able to get a quick visual on things. 4 tiny images, even 110x110 (allowing for 20px "stuff" around a Treo screen) would be enough to see if there was something moving around, or a package near the front door. Then the ability to press on the tiny image and bring up a 220x220 (or slightly larger for you "regular" PPC viewers) would be very useful. Press again to go back to the quad.

Of course, James has built and released this app with a lot of hard work behind it, and as a (non-windows) developer myself, I understand the problems of feature creep and user expectations. He's done a lot for us even if he never touches this again, but it could be a very useful add-on to the "ZM suite". I don't think any other reasonably-inexpensive surveillance system allows realtime viewing on a pocket PC, simply because most of them use ActiveX controls designed for full IE. What an awesome development!

I should add - I use 160x120 in my montage view, since I have 10 cams and I like a small window. With the add-on I posted that allows you to click the montage thumbnail, I can quickly scan for movement and then enlarge something interesting. So 110x110 (or whatever a treo-sized quad would look like) isn't much of a stretch for me.

Also, like Robi, I used a fully qualified hostname and custom port and it works beautifully.

robi · Post by **robi** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:18 pm

haus wrote:I'm going to (very) respectfully disagree on that.

Alright, we have a 1:1 match here, no problem

I just said it's not important for me, but it may be for others. If it can be implemented, of course, why not? It would look cool, that's for sure.

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:24 pm

ok ill look into it and see if the device can handle it, but the treo only has a 200Meg proc and i fear updates per quad will be 1-1.5 seconds, on wifi.
I think the speed factor is the proc not the bandwidth. I may alter it to be a bit more like zm4ms and use IP address and paths and alter the scale dynamically depending upon settings and image size.

I can go with the default file and an open to change and think ill head that way, bit to be be fair there is no reason why it has to be limited to 4 cameras. It could be 16 or 32 etc.

Thanks for your comments too

robi · Post by **robi** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:34 pm

jameswilson wrote:I can go with the default file and an open to change and think ill head that way, bit to be be fair there is no reason why it has to be limited to 4 cameras. It could be 16 or 32 etc.

Thanks for your comments too

Thanks!
Number of cameras: (whenever it comes, and you have time, no exttra priority on this) somehow the app must know the right number of cameras. If there are only 3, there should be options to display only 3 buttons or whatever. Extra unused buttons may be confusing, sources to crash, etc.
A button to launch IE with the XHTML interface (that can be guessed from the camera link

) - would make it complete.

haus · Post by **haus** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:01 pm

How about slower updates? I don't need 30fps (I'm exaggerating) - I'd settle for somewhere between 0.2 and 1fps (i.e., one frame every one to five seconds) - that would take some load off the little CPU. What's everyone else's take on a refresh rate for a mobile device?

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:02 pm

Update

http://www.jpwilson.eu/ZM4PPC.exe

Now supports opening of jpw files. It seems it will only find them on the device not the storage card, seen as they are tiny im not concerned about this at this time.

If you have no default file setup the application will ask you which config file to open on each start of the app. If you create a jpw file in the following location

/My Documments/zm4ppc/zm4PPC.jpw

on the device if the file exists it will start with this every time.

File setup has changed
As before a line is required for each camera so it needs 9 lines.
For zm's with less than 9 cams insert a 0 (the number 0) and this will disable the camera button.

You can have as many cams as you like.

I have also made it screen size aware, so if your ppc is in landscape mode the cams will be full size. As i have a tytn2 as i open the keyboard and the devices switches to landscape so does this app now.

It should now support a palm square screen too but this is untested.

The Quad causes me serious threading issues getting that many streams and keeping the device responsive. I have spent 4 hours on the quad and so far no solution, sorry.

I think we also need something to fill the gap below the image when in portrait mode. Any suggestions welcome.

Anyway let me know

James

robi · Post by **robi** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:51 pm

Whooa! Cool! Thanks a million!
Here are my observations:
- open window doesn't show always the file, unless it's in the place you mentioned, but I guess you are aware of that
- 'restart stream' sometimes causes an error
- my personal opinion is that landscape mode should also keep the aspect ratio of the picture. Currently it stretches it, because the softkey menu is visible. I guess centering it would be fine with 2 black lines on the sides.
- to fill the gap below the image, here is my suggestion: have two rows. The first would display the text which can be seen below the picture in montage view (Alarm status and Fps). The second would actually display the text that appears in the timestamp, as due to picture resizing, it's unreadable from the video. Some small php code on the zm box would help I guess... the path would be specified in the settings file.

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:14 pm

- open window doesn't show always the file, unless it's in the place you mentioned, but I guess you are aware of that

Open will show all jpw files on the device. But only on the device ie not on the card. You can select from the combo box either all locations or choose a specific one. You will need to create a few jpw config files to utilise this.

- 'restart stream' sometimes causes an error

restart should only be used after an error has stopped the stream, or you will get an error. But this is still a bit buggy

- my personal opinion is that landscape mode should also keep the aspect ratio of the picture. Currently it stretches it, because the softkey menu is visible. I guess centering it would be fine with 2 black lines on the sides.

I think you will find that the aspect is perfect just the bottom part of the image is hidden by the soft keys. Im working on a solution (hiding the soft keys, black bars are a no no IMO

- to fill the gap below the image, here is my suggestion: have two rows. The first would display the text which can be seen below the picture in montage view (Alarm status and Fps). The second would actually display the text that appears in the timestamp, as due to picture resizing, it's unreadable from the video. Some small php code on the zm box would help I guess... the path would be specified in the settings file.

Dont agree, we need to keep this simple and light, capture fps is pretty irrelevant when it can view at 1fps max. Also things like alarm status are just gonna use bandwidth and add unneccessary complication imo

haus · Post by **haus** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:22 pm

Wow, this is cool. Works on a Treo 700wx.

My thoughts:

1. Doesn't always seem to reliably start a data session. When I ran the program the first time after a soft reset, the screen was black for all cams. I exited, noticed the activesync arrows spinning, and waited for them to stop. Then I had an EVDO session. So I restarted the program and the cams came up. Maybe I just needed to wait longer, though - I'm not sure.

2. The first time I opened the program, it showed the jpw file location dialog with the WM5 "hourglass" in the middle. The hourglass never went away. I was able to select my jpw file "underneath" it, but most users don't expect the screen to work while the hourglass is spinning. It should eventually stop and show that the device is ready for user input. Better yet, no hourglass (what is it waiting for?) until after you select the file and it's loading the monitor window.

3. I think that if you specify a default jpw file, it should just remain the default. I suspect most users of this program will have one ZM box they are monitoring; no need for multiple config files for the *average* user, and having to select the config file every time I start the program is an extra step that probably could be avoided. I'm not sure what is the "right" way to implement the idea of multiple config files. It's a feature I will never use, though, so I throw this one out there as an "ease-of-use"/"simplicity" consideration. When you open Microsoft Word, you aren't asked to specify your user preferences file for that session; those prefs are stored in one place based on your Windows login. My jpw file is in "/My Documents/zm4ppc/zm4PPC.jpw" as your earlier post suggested, and it still seems to ask me to confirm that file every time I open the program. I wonder if I have the wrong path.

4. At the bottom, where it's black, maybe just a little text showing which cam you are viewing. Or failing that, maybe a checkbox in the menu so you know which one you are on. I know my cams by name, not by number, so seeing a list of 1-9 makes me sometimes click on the same number by mistake since I don't know which number cam I'm looking at. Or maybe the jpw file could have camera names as a parameter, and then the menu could have those names in addition to (or instead of) the numbers. Like:

1. Front
2. Walkway
3. West_Pathway
4. Front_Door

etc.

I should point out that my use for this program stems from the desire for "one-click", "***fast***", access to my cams. That is, when I'm waiting in line for something and I want to check on the house. Press whatever key I've assigned to start zm4ppc, and it would ideally just start, load my config, and show me my first monitor as quickly as possible. No mess, no fuss, so to speak. Something you can do without having to press the screen or pull out the stylus; one-handed and quick.

It's really nice so far! When we do "QA" stuff we tend to harp on the bugs, or features we don't like or things that are missing. Please don't read all this feedback the wrong way. This is a very cool app!!!

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:20 am

lads im not reading it the wrong way feedback is good

I didnt test the /my docs thing but i will as that is how its written

I agree that the default should just load

re the hour glass during config load i noticed that but i dont know why, ill look into it

but in answer to your question

1, unknown its always been ok to me and it just tries to download via http using whatever connection you have...maybe a 700 issue during acive sync? your not vpn'ing are you?

2, unknown maybe cos i load the form with the images first the open the dialog, ill test and see

3, it should its desgined to load a default unless a default doesnt exist. I didnt test this but look slike i need to lol

4, i did think about chnaging the cam 1-9 to be text ill look at the option of additional lines in the config file, but im wary of ovr complicating this.

keep it coming else i cant make it great. But it is early alpha with your help i can make it to beta then release. 2 things i wont do when 'giving' software is documentation and full debugging, so thanks.

robi · Post by **robi** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:35 pm

Agree with Haus, these were reproduced here too.

The full-screen-landscape aspect is a problem. If resolution is not 4:3 aspect ratio, then it stretches the picture. Not good.

I see your point about capture fps and alarm status, but how about the timestamp info? That contains camera name too (of course if defined so on ZM box).

haus · Post by **haus** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:37 pm

jameswilson wrote: 1, unknown its always been ok to me and it just tries to download via http using whatever connection you have...maybe a 700 issue during acive sync? your not vpn'ing are you?

4, i did think about chnaging the cam 1-9 to be text ill look at the option of additional lines in the config file, but im wary of ovr complicating this.

Hi again,

#1: no VPN here. It is probably something to do with OTA activesync - not that big a deal. It has only happened once or twice and it's hard to reproduce.

#4: I understand completely. Can you put a check mark next to the active camera in the menu? Or some other way of indicating which cam we're looking at? Or as robi suggests, the cam name below the image, something along those lines. I like the check mark next to the cam name in the menu because that's consistent user interface with the idea of a radio button style menu selection where one button is always "pressed".

As things develop a little more I'll write up a quick doc on the jpw configuration, though it's pretty self-explanatory. I think anyone who manages to install ZM has the ability to figure this one out on their own, so documentation isn't much of an issue.

robi · Post by **robi** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:50 pm

jameswilson wrote:4, i did think about chnaging the cam 1-9 to be text ill look at the option of additional lines in the config file, but im wary of ovr complicating this.

Why not use the standard ini-file structure? Still very easy to use and covers all we need.

Code: Select all

[Section]
Name=Value

Code: Select all

[Camera1]
enabled=true
video=http://path
name=Indoor
var=otherval

[Camera2]
enabled=false
video=
name=
var=

[Settings]
xhtml=http://path

One could add as many [CameraX] sections as he/she wants, within a section, as many further options as ever may be needed. Plus a general Settings section, where common things would be like link to the xhtml console, or device-specific stuff that may arise in the future...

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:22 pm

yep if i knew how to parse all that easily id agree, as its designed to be a simple and light app ill pass

lol