Comfort WebIinterface Manual

Transcription

Comfort WebIinterface Manual
Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
Overview
.................................................. 4
What is Comfort Web InterfACE?
.............................. 4
Comfort Web InterfACE Kit includes: (Part No: UCM-CWI)
System Requirements
Web Control
......... 4
......................................... 4
................................................. 4
What is an IP Address?
...................................... 5
CWI IP Upload of web page to remote web server
Inetcam iVISTA & Webcam32
Comfort Web InterfACE
Technical Hook-Up.
................ 5
.................................. 6
....................................... 6
........................................... 6
Local Wiring Configuration.
Software Installation
.................................... 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
‘Quick Guide’ Steps to Installing Comfort Web InterfACE to your
Home PC
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2. Installing Microsoft Personal Webserver
Sources of PWS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Win98 and Win2000 CD ROM
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Install Steps for PWS From Win98 CD to Windows98
. . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Install Steps Using Downloaded NT Option Pack onto Win95
Microsoft Personal Web Server IIS 5.00 (Windows 2000Pro)
3. Installing Comfort Web InterfACE
Setting Up and Running PWS and CWI
. . . . . . 15
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
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. . . . . 13
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PWS Web Server:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4. Configuring CWI Server and IP Upload
CWI Web Page IP Upload
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Cookies - enable session cookies
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Daily Reboot for Win95 / 98 in Holiday/Vacation Mode
Ace MS Set-up
. . . . . . . . . . . 28
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
InterfACE API Commands
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5. Setup Dynsite for DNS Referral Service
Dynsite for Dynamic IP Tracking
6. Webcam32 Setup
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
How is the Webcam32 Web page configured?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Routing Video through the Comfort Web InterfACE
Recommended Capture Cards
7. Inetcam iVISTA Setup
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
8. Configuring Comfort Web Pages
What are Active Server Pages? (.asp)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Setting the ‘Log-in’ Security Password (1st Log-in
screen)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Accessing CWI from a single hyperlink
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The web Editing and Adding Hyperlinks to CWI Pages
Manual Hyperlink Editing
. . . . . . . . . . . 47
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Automatic Configuration via .csx file
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Getting PC online from Remote dial-in to Comfort (Menu 5)
Comfort Scenes and Multiple API Commands
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
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. . . . . . 48
Text-to-Speech Configuration
Caller ID (CID)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
9. Using Comfort Web InterfACE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Comfort API commands supported by the 32-bit ACE Server
Security Issues
Firewalls
. . . . . 61
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Limited Failed Log-ins
Troubleshooting
Technical Support
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
Overview
What is Comfort Web InterfACE?
The new Comfort Web InterfACE (CWI) for PC, allows you to see
real-time video images from cameras around your home, control lights and
curtains, switch camera views, open the garage door and control the
heating from literally anywhere in the world using a normal web browser
and the internet as the communication line.
You can dial-into your home from your place of work, from a hotel
room or holiday home and check if the mains failure got sorted out, If the
lights actually switching on while away like they are supposed to, check if
someone is in the house, see what time the cleaners left and did they set
the system?
We've made the interface simple to use, there's very little
programming to do, all you have to do is push the buttons. We've included
a 'Chat' message screen for 'live' communication with family who may be
at home using the keyboard and also a programming screen for the
installer to support remotely, and its password protected.
ADSL NOTICE: CWI and other personal web server applications will not
work correctly if your ISP or Router uses NAT assigned IP addresses. It
means that you will be unable to locate your server on the web. It is
unfortunately, quite a common configuration.
Comfort Web InterfACE Kit includes: (Part No: UCM-CWI)
Comfort UCM01 - RS232 Module, Comfort ‘Outside’ Firmware, Leads and
Adaptor, CWI Software /DynSite, Inetcam Free Software, Webcam32
software (requires you to register online - US$39.00).
Does NOT include:
PC ,TV Card, Internet Connection and Microsoft
Personal Web Server (see the Windows 98 CD ROM). The software is also
available separately for those who already have the UCM01. Firmware will
also be required for the Comfort CPU, this is called ‘Outside 4.97’ or later.
System Requirements
For maximum system stability, the PC is best running Windows 2000Pro
but you can still run on Windows 95 and 98. Windows 95/98 Operating
Systems can suffer from memory leakage which causes the PC to become
unstable over a period of 24 hours. Windows 2000 Pro is the most stable
followed by Windows NT, W98 and then least stable is W95. You must have
an Internet connection and should have a web browser: Internet Explorer
4.01 or later or Netscape Navigator 4.6 or later and have at least 150mb
available on your hard drive.
Web Control
This is made feasible by the introduction of new 'unmetered' internet
access packages, but don't worry, if you haven't got your home PC on-line
24 hours a day, you'll be glad to know you can now have the best of both
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worlds. You can phone into your Comfort system and select the 'Dial-Up'
option and Comfort will force your PC 'online' allowing you to then access
the system over the web.
For maximum system stability, the PC is best running Windows 2000Pro
but you can still run on Windows 95 and 98. The main components are
Comfort Web InterfACE (CWI) software, Webcam32 and Microsoft Personal
Web Server. The CWI web pages are run in the web server as Active
Server Pages (ASP), this provides the 'dynamic' content. Comfort's
programming software CS-Xpress is used as a feed to configure the web
pages automatically, this means that only a little html knowledge is
required, whilst maintaining maximum flexibility. Almost any command that
you can do with Comfort locally via the Responses, you can achieve using a
click on the browser buttons and hyperlinks, such as switching lights,
video, curtains, arm and disarm, view the event log, check activity etc.
What is an IP Address?
Firstly, ask your ISP if your dial-up connection is ‘Static’ or ‘Dynamic’. A
connection to the internet can come in two forms: ‘Static’ - the IP address
of the PC dialling up is always the same, making contact with it very easy
from a remote location, and ‘Dynamic’ meaning the IP address of the Home
PC will change each time you dial-up to the Internet. Every connection to
the internet has a numeric IP address like this, even when an internet
address like http://www.bbc.co.uk still has a numeric IP address operating
in parallel with it. This is a typical numeric IP address:
http://212.123.34.45
So there needs to be a way to know from a remote browser what address
to enter to access your home server. If your connection has a Static IP
then there is no problem, because the address will remain the same. This is
the case with many ADSL and DSL connections, but not so with normal
dial-up via a 33k, 56k or ISDN modem. We have two methods to choose
from to achieve this:
Ÿ
CWI IP Upload of web page to remote web server.
Ÿ
‘‘DynSite’ IP notification to a DNS hosting service.
These methods are described in more detail in the next section.
CWI IP Upload of web page to remote web server
CWI monitors your IP address and loads it's address to a static web page
location on the internet whenever the system dials up, so you can always
find your home PC using the same web page address. This requires you to
have access to a web server on the internet with which you can upload a
page to. It is very common for web server access to be included with a
dial-up account with an Internet Service Provider. Alternatively, you can
sign-up to one of the many free ISP’s which offer this facility on the
internet, they will have online helps under ‘Support’ providing information
on how to set-up a ftp access to load you page to the server. The only
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
difference is that you will be using Ace server to ftp the page to the web
server instead of a separate ftp program. See later section on CWI IP
Upload Setup.
Inetcam iVISTA & Webcam32
IVISTA & Webcam32 are programs which takes the feed from a PC TV
capture card (which could be TV, VCR or Camera Signals) and allows it to
be embedded in the web pages as a java applet. In most cases all you
need to do is to add your static IP address (or IP chosen DNS IP referral
address) or Let ACE adjust it with the <%%myIP%%> tag into the pages
containing the webcam32 applet: video.asp, videobig.asp, and
campop2.asp (these files reside in /inetpub/wwwroot/Comfort folder).
Comfort Web InterfACE
ACE Home Automation Software server engine from Hone Software (USA)
is at the heart of the Comfort Web Interface. It allows comfort to be
controlled from the PC via the UCM01 interface and also features Caller ID
and Direct Emailing (ACE-MS) and Text to Speech (TTS).
Technical Hook-Up.
Home
Away
The UCM01 is the hardware which
allows
the
2-way
communication
Web or
between Comfort and the ACE server.
Network
A serial lead connects it to the PC. The
ACE Client
ACE
Server
UCM01 is connected to comfort via just
and/or Web
RS232
4 wires, KA,KB (RS485 Data) and 12v,
Browser
0v (supply). A 4-way IDT socket is
Phone
Line
provided on each controller to simplify
UCM
Home
connections, two crimp plugs and
Phones
RS485
heat-shrink sheathing is provided in
Comfort
keypad &
the
kit
(UCM-TERM). The cable
System
Doorphone
between Comfort can be up to 1km,
provided that the correct twisted pair
Comfort - ACE hook-up
cable is used: Belden #9773 for runs
from 100m - 250m. For runs greater
than 250m use Belden #9873.
For shorter cable runs up to 100 metres, using the normal screened alarm
cable ( 6 or 8 cores of 7-strand x 0.2mm) or CAT5 cable should be
acceptable.
Correct Screening Method
Always ensure that the screen is tied to 0v but ONLY at the CPU or
Controller end, make sure the screen is not connected at UCM01
end. Additionally, do not use the screen as part of the 12v power
supply feed (0v) to any of the modules.
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Local Wiring Configuration.
Most CWI configurations will require some form of video feed to provide
vision into the interface. The diagram opposite shows an example of a CWI
hook-up with 8 cameras, PC Card and VCR Machine, though it is perfectly
acceptable to connect just 1 or two cameras to the system such as the
doorphone and a ‘panoramic type’ front drive or rear camera.
The Comfort system is wired with camera switching relays (RLY01) which
are selectable via movement from any PIR or manually using direct
Comfort responses via the browser. The video signal (line level) is routed
through a date and time generator (optional) and then into the VCR via the
AV1 or AV2 input. The signal then leaves the VCR as UHF (also optional)
which is available for viewing at the PC using a Capture type or TV Card
device or other TV set around the property by tuning into the AV channel.
This is only one way to connect to the PC. We recommend doing it this way
because it also makes the TV channel’s audio and video signal available for
viewing TV programmes at the PC, so you are gaining full advantage of the
link to the PC. Distributing the UHF signal around the property may be
done with the use of an 8-way UHF Distribution amplifier Part No:
UHFAMP8. Additionally, we have added VCR controls to the larger camera
applet on campop2.asp and videobig.asp. These can be used to send
infrared signals from Comfort’s outputs so you can control the VCR
transport by locating an IR led pointing at the VCR-more information on
this is in the ‘HELP’ section of CWI and also on the Comfort Technical
Website ‘ONLINE HELP’. Be careful not to broadcast TV programmes
over the web, you could get into trouble over copyrighting and
performing rights.
You are able to select any camera connected to the RLY01 using Comfort’s
PIR’s as the trigger by programmed responses which are used to
coordinate the video signal via relay switching. By using a camera with a
built in PIR (Part No: HCC300 or HCC301 or Optex DC20 and DC300) you
can track activity ‘automatically’ around a property displaying the image
around TV’s, monitors and the PC. This is stunningly simple but extremely
effective. It provides a low cost method of providing an intelligent security
solution. In addition to the automatic method, there is a ‘manual’ method
which lets you select a camera using the Home Control Menu via the
keypad or telephone keypad, and even using Comfort’s ‘received X10’ to
switch each camera using the wireless transmitters, HR10, SS13 and UR24.
When Comfort is connected to the PC running CWI via the UCM01, you can
then trigger those same camera switching responses by clicking on the
links on the web pages. The web browser can be situated locally across
intranets or remotely across the web. The actual command used to drive
the responses is described later in the manual in section 6: ‘Configuring
Comfort Web Pages’. Not only can you switch any Comfort response
contained on the system NVM (U4), you can also use CWI to send the raw
action codes which go to make up responses such as 71,1 (Arm to Away
Mode) and any other action code string. So Comfort Web InterfACE allows
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
you to store large macros on the PC saving Comfort a certain amount of
code space and makes Comfort even more powerful than it already is!
The full explanation of the actual multi-line camera switching responses
which the Camera hyperlink on the CWI pages drive is beyond the scope of
this document, but can be found in the Comfort Applications Manual Section 2.9 on the CWI CD ROM within the folder ‘CWI Manual’.
We have provided a CSXpress template for switching up to 8 cameras and
lights called Default_CWI.csx. This contains many pre-written
camera-switching responses, and external lighting responses and received
IR and X10 control for Philips Pronto and provides a good starting point for
building your system.
Comfort Web InterfACE - Schematic
Remote Browser
Your ISP
WEB
DNS Service or
www.yourisp.com/cwi.htm
WEB
Detectors
DynSite or
CWI IP Upload
Cameras
TO TV's
C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Comfort
ASP WebPages
RLY01
Relay Module
VID OUT
UHF AMP
WebCam
TV Card
12V OUT
VCR
AERIAL
COMFORT
COMMS
Lights
Heating
Comfort Web InterfACE
Server
UCM
Gates
Microsoft Personal Web
Server on Home PC
Running various software
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
Software Installation
‘Quick Guide’ Steps to Installing Comfort Web InterfACE to your
Home PC
1. Install a Web Browser
If not already present, such as Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape Navigator 4.08+. See CD ROM.
2. Install Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS or IIS)
For Win 95/98 or Win2000Pro. Windows 98 CD ROM has PWS in the Add-ons folder.
3. Install Comfort Web InterfACE
Install CWI server and web pages, adjust passwords, set-up PWS. Add upgrade when available
from the HELP/ONLINE HELP link in the CWI pages.
4. Configuring CWInterfACE Server and IP Upload Web Page
Check the settings within Ace server.
5. Install iVISTA or Webcam32
Install iVISTA or Webcam32 software from CD - (WINTV or Video Capture Card required)
6. Adjust web pages
for correct Web applet, static IP or Ace IP Upload method or DNS referrer, adjust hyperlinks.
7. Start MS PWS or IIS, iVISTA or Webcam32, CWInterfACE Server, connect to the
internet and enter your homepage URL/cwi.htm or the static IP address of your server if you have
one, or DNS referral IP address into your browser address bar. Comfort Panel must also be
connected to the PC via UCM01 Interface!
Tip: For added security of you PC on ‘Always-On’ connections, install a firewall to your PC
such as Zone Alarm www.zonelabs.com.
2. Installing Microsoft Personal Webserver
One of the main drawbacks of PWS is that it can be awkward to install and
get up and running correctly. Indeed even the first question can prove an
obstacle: where to get it from?
Sources of PWS
The version of PWS, you need to install is version 4.0, which was first
released in NT4 Option Pack of Dec 1997 as part of IIS 4.0. For Windows
2000Pro you will need to install IIS 5.00 (see next section). It is available
from several sources:
Win98 and Win2000 CD ROM
The Win98 CD contains a folder named Add-Ons/PWS . Within that folder is
a Setup.exe for PWS. We have found that installing PWS from the Win98
CD onto a Win98 OS seem to have less problems than those who've used
other sources. Windows 2000Pro also has the IIS 5.00 version on Win2000
CD ROM
Front Page
Front Page, Front Page97 and FrontPage98 all include PWS, although in
different flavours. FP 97 contains PWS 1.0 and FP 98 PWS 4.0, the current
incarnation of PWS.
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The early releases of Front Page contained a program named HTTPD, which
was sold as Front Page Server. The function was the same as PWS, but
used an entirely different set of code and did not run ASP .
Download
Microsoft offers PWS as a download, but with a strange nomenclature. If
you go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/pws you'll see that there
is a WinNT option pack for NT and a WinNT option pack for Win95. If you
run the Windows NT Option Pack on a Windows9x machine, the option pack
will recognize that this is not an NT OS and will install PWS instead of IIS.
You can run the Windows NT Option Pack on Windows9x?" It is possible to
install PWS by running the NT Option Pack on Windows 9x machines, this is
the recommended method.
Which Source to Use?
The fewest problems occur when installing PWS on Win98 from the Win98
CD. The second least-problematic source seems to be the NT download
which is good for Win95 as well as Win98. Another strategy with minimum
complaints has been the installation from NT 4 Option pack onto NT
workstation. Folks that are installing from FrontPage CD-ROMs seem to
have the most problems. If you are considering moving from Win95 to
Win98 or WinNT, then do so before trying to install PWS.
Install Steps for PWS From Win98 CD to Windows98
This is the safest option for installing PWS, in our experience, but is only
possible if using Win98. The steps are as follows:
1. Ensure that the Windows 98 CD is in the drive.
2. Go to Start and Run .
3. Type x:\add-ons\pws\setup.exe substituting the letter of your CD-ROM
drive for x
4. You'll be greeted with a splash screen that should look like this:
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
5. For most users, the typical install will work fine. If you choose to do a
custom install, then ensure that you've selected the following components:
o
Common Program Files
o
MDAC 1.5
o
Personal Web Server
o
Transaction Server
6. Next you'll be prompted for your default web publishing home directory:
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7. Leave the default install folder as it is for Transaction Server. The
installation program will install the required files. It is not unusual for the
installation to lock-up at the very end, if this happens, just REBOOT the PC
and check that PWS is installed and operational by clicking either:
Start/Programs/Microsoft
Manager
Personal
Web
Server/Personal
Web
or
Start/Programs/Internet Explorer/Personal Web Server/Personal
Web Manager.
Opening IIS on Windows 2000Pro
You can open MS Personal Web Manager by creating a shortcut to
C:/WINNT/system32/INSRV/pws.exe or try:
start/programs/admin tools/computer management
Then go onto Section 3 to install CWI server and setup PWS/IIS.
Install Steps Using Downloaded NT Option Pack onto Win95
This is the best option for Win95, but be aware that a much higher number
of people have problems with PWS on Win95 than with PWS on Win98. To
reiterate: if you are considering upgrading to Win98, get that done before
you install PWS.
1. Close all applications.
2. Download WinNT Option Pack for Win95, it is around a 21mB download.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/pws.
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
3. Select the first the Download options and then, on the next page, select
the operating system you are running on. On the next page click on
download.exe for the site nearest to you.
4. Save the program to disk.
5. Select Start|Run on download.exe , and the wizard will first ask you to
agree to the licensing terms, and then present you with the following
screen:
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6. Choose Download Only , because you wouldn't have protection for your
system's configuration should the direct install quit halfway through.
7. Click Next , select x86: Windows 95 for your operating system and click
Next again.
8. Select the Typical Installation and click Next .
9. Choose a location on your hard drive for the download, and click Next .
10. Choose to download the pack from.
11. Finally Start | Run … the newly downloaded setup.exe , and then you
can follow the setup set out for previous installation from step 4.
Microsoft Personal Web Server IIS 5.00 (Windows 2000Pro)
For more detailed installation instructions
Windows2000, visit the Microsoft site.
for
installing
IIS
on
Although Personal Web Server (PWS) can be installed separately from the
Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack (NTOP) on computers running Windows NT
Workstation 4.0, PWS does not run on Windows 2000, we will still
occasionally refer to it as PWS for simplicity. Instead, you need to install
IIS 5.0, which is included in Windows 2000 Professional.
To install IIS 5.0, perform the following steps: From the Start menu, click
Control Panel, and then click Add/Remove Programs. Select Add/Remove
Windows Components, select the Internet Information Services (IIS)
component, and then follow the on-screen instructions.
NOTE: In Windows 2000 Professional, IIS 5.0 is not installed by default
unless Windows 2000 is upgraded over a previous version of Windows that
had PWS installed. Use the Virtual Directory/Comfort ‘alias’ setup
from the ‘Setting Up PWS’ section later on.
Windows 2000 ‘Web’ Folder Authorisations
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
When attempting to access Comfort Web Pages for the first time with
Windows 2000Pro, you may get the following page error:
/Comfort/inc-security.asp, line xxx
The line number (xxx) is 112 in version 1.1 of CWI, but may be different
in later versions.
To correct this, open My Computer or Windows Explorer and go to the
folder where you installed the ACE Server. This will probably be something
like c:\program files\ace\ace server. In this folder there is another
folder called "Web".
Right click on the "Web" folder and choose the Properties option. A window
will appear with 4 tabs. Go to the Security tab. This tab shows all users
allowed to access this folder. You need to add the Internet Guest Account
to the list of allowed users. The Internet Guest Account is usually called
IUSR_pcname (replace "pcname" with the name of your pc). Add this
account to the list and make sure it has "read" and "write" capability
enabled. Click the "Apply" button to accept these changes.
You now have to do the same thing for the ACE Server folder. To do so,
move up one folder to c:\program files\ace. Right click on the "ACE
Server" folder and choose the Properties option. A window will appear with
4 tabs.
Go to the Security tab. This tab shows all users allowed to access this
folder. You need to add the Internet Guest Account to the list of allowed
users. The Internet Guest Account is usually called IUSR_pcname (replace
"pcname" with the name of your pc). Add this account to the list and make
sure it has "read" and "write" capability enabled. Click the "Apply" button
to accept these changes.
Close all browsers connected to CWI pages and then restart your browser
and load the CWI pages. The error should not be displayed and you should
see the login page.
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3. Installing Comfort Web InterfACE
Quick Guide:
To install the Comfort Web InterfACE and ACE Server, simply insert the CD
ROM into the PC, this will bring up the autorun screen with a selection of
buttons to initiate the installation programs from. Alternatively, there is a
page called index.html on the CD ROM root which contains links to the
various software which is available on the disk or ‘helps’ which are on the
web. Double-click the index.html file, this will open the Software
Installation screen within your browser. (Microsoft PWS is NOT on the CD
but is available on Win98 and Win2000 CD or downloadable for W95)
Comfort CPU MUST have Firmware version ‘Outside 4.97’ or later.
UCM01 can have firmware ‘UCM4.97’ or later.
Select, Install ‘Comfort Web InterfACE’. This will start the installation. If
given the choice to ‘Save file’ or ‘Open/Run’, choose the latter. This will
start the installation of the Comfort Web InterfACE pages and the ACE
server. Most of the screens just require you to agree to the request or
enter some basic details.
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Enter licence information or enter demo mode.
This screen allows you to enter your name and registration code. If you are
wishing to run in demo mode only, then just enter anything into the fields,
otherwise the installation will not run. If you have also purchased ACE-MS
for email and dial-up facilities, then another screen will need filling in with
your details and ACE-MS licence code. You will be asked to confirm the
information and the installation will continue.
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Setting Up and Running PWS and CWI
PWS Web Server:
1. Exit all running web browsers.
2. Open Personal Web Manager by clicking the PWS icon in your system
tray or via Start/Programs/PWS/Personal Web Manager and add the
Comfort folder to the list of virtual directories as follows:
· Click on Advanced
· Click the Add button
· Click ‘Browse’ and select the Comfort folder which will be located here:
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Comfort
(Default name is "Comfort", but use whatever you specified during the
installation), click OK.
NOW REBOOT THE PC.
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
·
·
·
·
Enter an alias of "Comfort"
Set access permission options to "Read"
Set application permissions to "Scripts"
Click OK to finish
· Click on MAIN and ‘Start’, if ‘Stop’ is showing then it is already running.
· Close Personal Web Manager
Make sure that PWS/IIS is set to ‘start’ whenever the PC is started, it is
also useful to select an option for the Personal Web Server to be showing in
the system tray.
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4. Configuring CWI Server and IP Upload
Many of the following options will be pre-setup as part of the ACE
installation, but it is worth going through this section to confirm that the
settings are correct and to familiarise yourself with the screens and
functions.
1. Start the ACE Server.
It is located under Start/Programs/Ace/Ace Server. Ace Server will
normally start-up each time the PC is rebooted as will ACE -MS.
2. If a window is displayed saying that ACE is un-registered, put the mouse
cursor over the red un-registered text, and hold down the SHIFT and the
R keys while you right click. This will bring up a window where you can
enter your license information.
3. Make sure the serial port used for Comfort is NOT configured for
use as a general serial port:
· Go to Setup/Serial Ports from the menu
· Make sure the checkbox for the port in the Active Ports section is NOT
checked
· In the Port Configuration section, set the Comms Port to the port used for
Comfort on your PC.
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· Make sure the ‘Always Open’ checkbox is NOT checked. If you have to
un-check it then click the Apply button.
· Click the Done button to close the Serial Port Configuration window
4. Configure the Comfort options:
· Go to Setup/Comfort from the menu:
· In the General/Controller section, check (enable) the Interface Enabled
option and select appropriate values for the number of inputs and outputs
in your system.
· Enter a security code (any one that you can use from a keypad will work)
· In the Connection section, select the serial port connected to Comfort, set
the Retry Interval to 10, and check (enable) the "Auto Connect when ACE
Server Starts" option.
· Click the Browse button to select the full path and filename of the .CSX
file you use for the Comfort system programming which is connected to the
PC. ACE will use this to get input names and other settings to make the
user interface easier. This file MUST be specified or errors will occur
when trying to view the web pages.
· The option called ‘Broadcast Comfort Messages’ to All Clients should NOT
be checked.
· Click the Connect button to connect to Comfort. You should see status
messages for each input and output and finally the status of the security
system (MD type mode message in Hexadecimal) appear in the ‘Last
Message from Panel’ area.
When ACE is done exchanging information, the serial port status will
change from "Closed" to "Open". It is possible that an error message may
appear after you click the CONNECT button. This is due to "junk" in the
serial port buffer and will not cause a problem. Simply click the OK button
to acknowledge the error. If you have not configured the comms correctly
or if the Comfort panel is not connected via the UCM01 or the comfort
firmware does not support the RS232 support (O4.97 firmware in CPU),
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then you will get an error screen saying that there is no communication
between Ace server (32-bit), ‘Error No Response from Controller’
(Comfort).
5. Since the Auto Connect option checked, ACE will connect to Comfort
automatically every time the ACE Server is started. The connection will
occur about 10 seconds after the ACE Server starts. If ACE is not connected
to Comfort then you will get 1 or 2 errors the next time ACE is started.
This is not a problem. ACE will continue to run fine without Comfort being
connected.
6. Go to the ACTIONS tab
· If you will want to have Comfort initiate a dial-up connection, or you
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want to be able to have comfort reboot the PC, select "Virtual Output (OV)"
in the Event Type box and then check the "Enabled" option.
7. Go to the WEB tab
· Enable (check) the Web Status File option. Do not change the
filename. Always ‘check’ this after any server upgrades, it sometimes
becomes ‘unchecked’.
· In the User Access area, click the ADD button and enter a name,
password, and set the user level to 16. This user will have full access to
everything from the web pages. There should already be a guest account
created. The guest account can only view web pages. No commands will
be accepted from the guest account. Set all guests to a value of ‘0‘ for this
restriction.
8. We’ll leave the Reporting tab alone at this point.
9. Click OK to close the Comfort Configuration window
10. Configure the ACE Web options
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· Go to Setup/Preferences from the menu
· Go to the CMD Files tab:
·
·
·
·
Enable (check) the option called "Look for these commands every"
Go to the WEB tab:
Enable (check) the option called "Create ACE Server Web Status File"
Click OK to close the Preferences window.
11. Exit the ACE Server and then
start it again.
12. Go to View/Comfort Monitor
from the menu so you can see what
messages are coming from Comfort
and so you can send some
commands to Comfort. If you open
this window within 10 seconds
after ACE starts, you will see ACE
do its initial communications to
Comfort.
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13. Every event that occurs in Comfort should generate a message in the
Messages from Comfort section. For example, changing the security mode,
zone input state, output state, sending an X-10 command, etc. will all
generate event messages that can be seen in the Comfort Monitor window.
If there is no activity there following an event, then there could be a
comms problem, or the PC may have crashed (not uncommon with W95/98
unfortunately). Try this by disarming the system via the keypad or
operating a Comfort zone input (which is enabled).
CWI Web Page IP Upload
This method can be used instead of Dynsite and Myip 'type' services, and
but requires a web server such as free web space to load a page into.
Using CWI’s web page IP upload facility, you can send a simple web page
automatically via CWI ftp (below) to your isp web server. This takes 1
second.
CWI updates the page with your current ip address in every instance it
sees %%IP%% on the web page. When the page address is entered into a
web browser, a re-direct meta tag into the page which then bounces you to
your home server ip, where you can log into the CWI pages. Ace sends this
page whenever the` server is started while on-line and whenever the IP
address changes.
All you need to do is set-up your name and password in Ace Server: Setup
/Preferences/ Web/ FTP and the remote web site server host address or IP
and, if required, a the destination directory such as /public_html/cwi.htm,
the page will just upload to the root directory. If you are unsure, just ask
your ISP for the host address details..
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Here is the html for the page cwi.htm. This will be the same for every
installation as long as your web server is installed in ‘Comfort’ virtual
directory for PWS.
<Html><Head>
<Title>Re-direct to Homeserver</Title>
<meta content="0.5;url=http://%%IP%%/Comfort/index.asp"
http-equiv="Refresh"> </Head> </html>
To access the page via a browser you would enter:
www.mydomainname.com/cwi.htm (or whatever subfolder it may
reside)
This will then redirect your browser to the correct location and IP of your
home PC (provided it is on-line).
The syntax %%IP%% is used in the cwi-temp.htm page (within Prog
Files/Ace/Ace Server/Web and ace just goes throught the entire file and
replaces that with the current IP, this is used so that you only need an html
page on your ISP’s web server.
The <% =myIP %> is ASP code and is added into the web pages forming
the CWI server within the Comfort virtual directory which you require the
actual ‘current IP’ address to be written into. This allows you to use <%
=myIP %> in any web page that is in the CWI web page folder on the pc
running CWI. This is done in the video pages which contain the webcam32
applett: video.asp, webcam.asp and campop.asp’s. etc.
If you want to send the page to another web site via ftp, then you have to
use %%IP%% and also ACE has to know to search and replace that string
before FTP'ing to the web site.
Cookies - enable session cookies
Cookies must be enabled to login to CWI. There are 2 kinds of cookies,
one that is stored on your pc and one that is called a session cookie. It's
the session cookie that must be enabled or else you can not get past the
first login page. These are both adjustable in Internet Explorer 5 under
Tools/Internet Options/ Security / Internet - Custom Level then enable
‘Allow per-session Cookies’ from the list.
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Daily Reboot for Win95 / 98 in Holiday/Vacation Mode
We recommend that you restart
the PC every day to ensure that
the memory leakage which
occurs
in
these
operating
systems is rectified. We have
made provision for this using
Comfort Time Programs and a
special ACE command which is
driven from a Virtual Output
change of state. The responses
R94 has been pre-configured to
Operate Virtual Output using
Time Program 1 and for a
reconnection to the internet to
occur a few minutes later using
Response 93 in Time Program
2. This will occur at 6 AM in the
morning but only if the system is set to ‘Holiday Mode’. To ensure that
the redial will always work, you will need to have ACE-MS (Mail Server)
installed so that the dial-up facility will operate. For more information, see
section 8 under ‘Getting PC online from Remote dial-in to Comfort (Menu
5)’.
For these functions to operate properly ensure that:
Both Comfort Web InterfACE and ACE-MS are registered.
Windows is NOT configured with a ‘password’ on start-up.
Scandisk is not enabled in Windows 98
select Start/Run/Mmsconfig/General/Advanced and tick box to disable
‘scandisk after bad shutdown’, another useful screen is the startup tab then
restart. (not for Windows 2000)
Go to the Setup/Comfort window and then go to the ACTIONS tab. Select
the event type of "Virtual output". Make sure the "Enabled" option is
checked for the Virtual output event type. If it is not checked then ACE will
not do any actions defined for that event. Next, set the Output to 1 and
the State to 0 (this should already be done as they are the default
choices).
You should see an api command in the "API Commands to execute" box
that looks like this: "aces:acems:hangup:".
Then set the output to 1 and you should see an api command of
"aces:acems:dial:".
So, if ACE receives a virtual output command that sets VO #1 to a 1 (on)
then ace will execute the "aces:acems:dial:" command.
Also, ACE-MS must be running on the same pc as ace server. You can
force this to happen by going to Setup/Email and checking the option
always start ace-ms when ace server starts. You can even click a button
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on that setup window that will start
ace-ms for you if it is not already
running. This screen shows the
Time Program window in CS-Xpress
for setting a regular time for
Comfort via CWI to reboot your PC
at 6AM each day while you are on
holiday (Holiday Mode must be
set).
Ace MS Set-up
The ACE-MS.EXE program should be in the same directory as the ACE
Server. It installs as part of the main CWI Installation. You can run it in
demo mode if you wish, but this will always require intervention during
start up. You should first make sure ACE-MS is ‘Enabled’ and set to ‘Start
when ACE Server starts’. In ACE-Server select Setup/Email. Then there is a
button there you can use to start ACE-MS then go to the 3 ACE-MS setup
windows and set it all up The MAPISEND command uses your default MAPI
E-Mail program to send the mail and so does not require ACE-MS.
You can send emails in response to alarm or zone events in Comfort
by using the following API Command in Ace
Server/Setup/Comfort/Actions/Setup:
aces:MAILQ:your_name@your_isp.com,Doorbell Pressed
ACE-MS Options
Enabled
Enables the E-Mail feature. This must be enabled for the mail related API
commands to work.
Start ACE-MS when the ACE Server starts
Enable this option if you want to start the ACE-MS program every time the
ACE Server starts.
Exit ACE-MS when the ACE Server is exited
Enable this option if you want to exit the ACE-MS program every time the
ACE Server is exited.
Launch ACE-MS
Pressing this button will start
the ACE-MS program.
ACE-MS.EXE location
The full path and filename of
the ACE-MS module.
MAPI E-Mail Options
User name
The user name needed to
login to your e-mail account.
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Password
The password needed to login to your e-mail account.
InterfACE API Commands
If you are technically minded, the information below will help you check out
the interface and help you learn the command structure used by ACE and
Comfort.
1. Go to View/Comfort Monitor from the menu to open the Comfort Monitor
window (if it is not already open)
2. Type a command to Comfort in the "Command to ACE" section. A list of
all commands and some examples can be found in the API32.TXT file
located in the ACE folder. You can run any comfort response or action code
string. Here are some examples:
aces:cdr:33
this will run response number 33 (replace 33 with any
response which is resident actually on the Comfort panel)
· aces:cda:71,2
· aces:cda:71,0
· aces:cda:133,1,2
. Aces:cx:L,1,5
this will arm to AWAY mode (action 71, action
2). You can follow cda: with up to 24 action
codes, each separated by a comma.
this will disarm the security system
this will play reminder #1 on keypad 2
this will switch X10 L1 ON (use 7 for off)
These type of commands are added into the web .asp pages as hyperlinks.
See the following section called: Manual Hyperlink Editing for more
information.
· For each of the above commands you should see a message starting with
"TO:" which is what ACE is sending to Comfort. You should then see a
response from Comfort. Remember, Comfort messages are in HEX and
each value is 2 digits.
3. If you have problems you can turn on the ‘Log to File’ option and then
send the file along with a description of what you were doing when the file
was created. By default, the file (COMFORT.LOG) will be created in the
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Ace/ACE Server folder found in Program Files.
[email protected]
E-mail the file to
5. Setup Dynsite for DNS Referral Service
Dynsite for Dynamic IP Tracking
‘DynSite’ is a small program that takes place in your systray. It will register
your current IP address with some of the available dynamic DNS services.
Only use it, if you don’t have access to your own web server space, Ace
can load a page there with your IP address instead see (CWI IP UPLOAD)
This feature is especially useful for people who wish to use Comfort Web
InterfACE with their dynamic IP address (e.g. most people who connect to
the Internet using a dial-up connection) and do not have accesss to a web
server to upload the CWI IP page to (see CWI Web Page Upload). Thanks
to this feature, they can be reached with a fix DNS-like address (e.g.:
myhost.dhs.org/Comfort) instead of their dynamic IP 212.165.23.45. If you
then wish to contact your home server running Comfort Web InterfACE and
you have registered your IP address using ‘DynSite’, then anyone can call
you with your DNS-like address instead of your numeric-type IP address.
Since your DNS-like address will always be the same, and as long as your
are online, they will be able to contact you whatever is your numeric-type
IP address. They will never need to use it to contact you.
Before using ‘DynSite’ you must first sign up with one or more of the
‘supported’ dynamic DNS services. ‘DynSite’ only supports some of the free
services. You can install ‘Dynsite’ from the link on the Software Installation
page on the CD ROM (Index.html). Please visit the following sites for more
information about DNS Referral:
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http://www.dtdns.net
http://www.dhs.org
http://www.ddns.org
http://www.dyndns.org
http://www.dynodns.net
http://dyns.cx
http://www.eyep.net (recommended)
http://filmillz.com
http://kpn.cx
http://www.justlinux.com
http://www.myip.org (recommended)
http://nicolas.cx
http://www.ns1.net
http://www.ods.org
http://selfhost.com
http://stech.net
http://www.staticky.com
http://www.tsx.org
http://www.yi.org
CONFIGURE DYNSITE
Once you signed up with at least one of the supported
dynamic DNS Services, you are ready to install DynSite.
You can find it linked from the CD Software Installation
screen (index.html) or click on the Setup.exe which is
within the dynsite folder on the CWI CD ROM.
Now you must configure at least one DNS account in
DynSite. For that, launch DynSite from the Windows
Start button by selecting: Start/Programs/DynSite.
DynSite now appears in your systray (near the clock on
the taskbar). To access the menu of DynSite just
right-click its icon in the systray. The following options
are available from the
menu:
Open
Open the status dialog box.
It does the same as double-clicking the icon.
Connect
Once DynSite is configured, you select Connect
to connect to the Internet and automatically
have your IP address updated.
Update If the update could not be completed,
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you can make a new attempt by selecting this
option.
Cancel
Cancel any pending updates.
Setup
Configure DynSite.
Help
Give access to this Readme.txt file, to the
Dynsite web site and to the About box for
version and copyright information.
Exit
Close DynSite.
Actually, you need to configure DynSite so select "Setup" in this menu.
A dialog box with 3 tabs opens. These tabs are:
Services Configure your accounts.
Connection
Select and configure your Internet connection.
Options
Miscellaneous DynSite options.
CONFIGURE AN ACCOUNT
First select, the Services tab. Click once on the name of the service
with which you signed up (e.g. dhs.org) Now press the Add... button.
In the first field, give a name for that account (e.g. "Yourname Account"
without the quotes.) Now enter your Login and Password for this account
(you created this information when you signed up with the service.)
Note: to get access to the password field you must first check the
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"Remember password" box.
Actually you must always provide the password and leave this box checked
otherwise the registration will fail. The password will be saved and
encrypted in the registry.
The last box in this page is "Include this account during the
registration". Leave this box checked for normal use. If you have many
accounts and you temporarily want to disable one of them, just uncheck
this box.
Press OK when you are done and you will be back to the "DynSite
properties" dialogue box.
CONFIGURE A HOST
The account that you created now appears in the list under the service
that you previously selected. Select this account and press the Add...
button again. You will now add a host to this account. Some services
allow more than one host per account. Check the web site of the service
for more information. When you press Add... you got a dialogue box called
"DHS Host Properties" for example. In the first field, enter the host
name that you chose when you signed up. The host name is the one that
will appear first in your DNS-like address (e.g. myhost.dhs.org)
The fields in the Options section are specific to the service so check
the support page of the service for more information.
The Settings section let you provide 2 IP addresses.
The "Alternate IP address" is enabled when you check the "Use alternate
IP address for loggin in". If you check this box you must provide an IP
Address, this is the one that will be updated (for this account only) instead
of your current IP address. Usually you will leave the box unchecked. The
Off-line IP address is an optional IP address to update before your
disconnect. This can be the IP address of your remote web site that is
permanently online.
Press OK when you are done. You can repeat these steps for every
accounts or hosts that you want to configure.
In the "Registration options" section you can configure how many times
DynSite must try to attempt to update your IP address just in case the
first attempt fails. You can also configure the delay between two
attempts. Of course if the registration succeeds, DynSite won't try to
update again.
In the ‘Disconnection section’ you can check "Update Offline IP before
disconnecting" if you provided an Off-line IP when you configured your
host. If this box is checked, the Off-line IP address of the host will
be updated when you select ‘Disconnect’ from the menu.
You are finished with this page, now select the Connection tab.
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CONFIGURE THE CONNECTION
If you usually connect to the Internet using a dial-up connection,
click the radio button called "Connect using a dial-up connection"
and select its name from the drop-down box. If you connect to the
Internet using a cable-modem, or ISDN modem or your network, click
the radio button called "Connect using a permanent connection" and
select the IP address to use from the list. You can now select the Options
tab.
CONFIGURE THE OPTIONS
Actually there is only one option. If you check this box, DynSite will be
launch and appear in your systray each time your start your system. If you
uncheck this box and DynSite was launched at startup, it will no longer
launch automatically.
Once you have completed this, your configuration is over. You can
press the OK button to dismiss the dialogue box.
CONNECT AND UPDATE YOUR IP ADDRESS
Even if it is not required, you can double-click the DynSite icon to open the
status dialogue box. This will allow you to see the progression of the
registration. Now select Connect from the menu to update your IP address.
If you are not connected to the Internet yet, DynSite will dial the
connection that you configured in the Connection page of the configuration
dialogue box.
If there was an error during the registration the DynSite icon will show a
little yellow mark and a red cross will appear in front of the host name in
the status dialogue box. If you select the host name in the status dialogue
box and press the Details button, you may get more information.
Once your IP address is successfully updated, your DNS-like
address is available.
DISCONNECT
When you are connected, you can select ‘Disconnect’ from the menu. (this
option will replace Connect when you are connected). If you checked the
box for ‘updating Offline IP before disconnection’ and you provided an
Offline IP address for your host(s), then DynSite will first attempt to update
this IP address before disconnecting. Otherwise DynSite disconnects
immediately. If DynSite dialled the connection, it will also hang it up
otherwise it won't hang up and break the connection.
For Dynsite Technical Support, email [email protected].
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6. Webcam32 Setup
Please read the notes in the next section for details on how to
adjust web pages with .asp extensions.
How is JavaCamPush configured?
To correctly configure JavaCamPush, the Webcam32 TCP/IP settings must
have both the Server Push and Applet functions enabled.
Note: by default, the Server Push port of Webcam32 is disabled. The
video pages in CWI are pre-configured to show a webcam in
Toronto. These pages will work even without Webcam32 installed.
The following screen capture illustrates Webcam32's TCP/IP settings
configured to:
Stream server push images (Server Push Enabled)
Deliver the JavaCamPush applet (Applet Enabled)
Provide access to Server Push and the Applet on TCP/IP port 8888
How is the Webcam32 Web page configured?
The Web page which an end user will see must have a correct HTML Applet
tag inserted to download the JavaCamPush applet from Webcam32. The
following is the correct HTML for this content and is valid for both Internet
Explorer and Netscape browsers. The web pages within CWI which have the
webcam32 applet are: video.asp, videobig.asp and campop2.asp: The tag
<% =myIP %> is used by CWI to provide current IP address for the webcam
applet to display the video device to the browser.
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1 <applet code="JavaCamPush.class"
2 codebase="http://<% =myIP %>:8888/applet"
3 archive="JavaCamPush.jar"
4 width="160"
5 height="120">
6 <param name="URL" value="http://<% =myIP %>:8888">
7
<param name="cabbase" value="JavaCamPush.cab">
8 </applet>
The following is a description of the meaning of each line of HTML above:
1
Start of the applet tag and the name of Java class to load.
2
Location of Java classes. These will
from Webcam32. The value should
computer running Webcam32 and the
Webcam32 TCP/IP settings for the
8888).
3
Name of archive for Netscape browsers.
4
Width of the applet. The images received from Webcam32 will be
horizontally scaled to this width before display.
5
Height of the applet. The images received from Webcam32 will be
vertically scaled to this height before display.
6
The URL specifying the location of Webcam32's server push data.
The value should point to the computer running Webcam32 and
the remote access port (e.g. 8888).
7
This is an Internet Explorer required parameter. The JavaCamPush
class is downloaded as a compressed cab file. This parameter
names the cab file expected.
8
End of the applet tag block.
normally be loaded directly
be a URL pointing to the
port number specified in the
remote access port (e.g..
If you are using a DNS referral service for your i.p address, you would
subsitute the <% =myIP %> within the applet tags for something like
‘myip.org’, or whatever domain address you have arranged with the DNS
referral service, alternatively, with a static IP address this would be
replaced with the numeric statis IP address:
<applet code="JavaCamPush.class" codebase="http://<% =myIP %>:8888/applet"
Archive="JavaCamPush.jar" width="160" height="120" align="middle">
<param name="URL" value="http://<% =myIP %>:8888">
<param name="cabbase" value="JavaCamPush.cab">
</applet>
Note: The height and width values are different for pages video.asp and webcam.asp
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
Routing Video through the Comfort Web InterfACE
Overview
CWI uses webcam software to display video content on
the web pages. A suitable TV or Capture card is also
required.
The webcam software can be any
independent ‘java applet’ type package that is easily
embedded into web pages. We have chosen to use
Webcam32 in this version of CWI, but you could use
others, such as www.inetcam.com, however we cannot
offer installation support for them. The webcam32
software is run separately to CWI but viewable via the
CWI web pages, video.asp, videobig.asp and
campop2.asp.
Always start webcam32 BEFORE attempting to view the video page
using CWI and freshly start your browser too from closed. If the webcam
window shows no feed it is often necessary to ‘logout’, close all browser
windows and start the browser again. In some cases where the webcam32
server has crashed, it will be necessary to re-boot the PC.
The Comfort system is wired with camera switching relays (RLY01) which
are selectable via movement from any PIR or manually using direct
Comfort responses via the browser. These responses may be made into
hyperlinks on the web pages (see next) which when clicked, will do the
response and switch the desired camera to the video output and display it
in the Webcam screen. The video signal (line level) is routed through a
date and time generator and then into the VCR via the AV1 or AV2 input
(or RF modulator - UHF). The signal then leaves the VCR as UHF which is
available for viewing at the PC using a Capture type or TV Card device or
other TV set around the property by tuning into the AV channel at the PC.
Comfort is able to be controlled by the use of the UCM01 RS232 interface
and software on the PC.
Recommended Capture Cards
Do NOT use ATI - All-In-Wonder in any system, it has problems with
Webcam32 on Windows 2000 and iVISTA.
Win 95/98
PCI Bus:
Hauppauge WinTV (any model)
WINNOV AO
Tview 2000
AGP Bus:
Hauppauge WinTV
USB:
Belkin VideoBus
Hauppauge WinTV USB
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PCMCIA:
Nogatech ConfrenceCard
Win NT 4.0/2000
PCI Bus:
Hauppauge WinTV (any model)
WINNOV AO
7. Inetcam iVISTA Setup
Please read the notes in the next section for details on how to
adjust web pages with .asp extensions.
Why use iVISTA webcam software?
We currently provide two options for serving your Comfort video into your
CWI pages via the PC capture card, Webcam32 and Inetcam's iVISTA.
You can see a demo of the iVISTA video feed at their website. They also
have a support forum which is very Responsive.
Inetcam Site: http://www.inetcam.com/
Both software offer similar performances on the PC, however, we have
found that webcam32 sometimes has trouble serving video to certain types
of browser and operating system combinations. iVISTA seems to be more
robust in this respect and serves to more types of browsers and is better at
streaming audio. They are both on the CWI CD and registration must be
made direct with the two companies at their sites from the above links.
Pre-purchase, Webcam32 times out every hour, whereas, iVISTA may be
used indefinately once the confirmation code has been entered into the
software after registration even without payment! They introduce a charge
once you wish to have audio streaming or multiple camera capability.
Clicking on the buttons shown in figure 1 below, allows the option to
purchase the extra upgrade modules.
When using the free version of the iVISTA software, you have only one
limitation, you can use only the single camera video streaming. In order to
add any other modules, you must purchase a license for that module.
Otherwise, you have full functionality of the video streaming portion of the
software.
1. Installing iVISTA software
First, check your video capture card is compatible using this list:
http://www.inetcam.com/products/hardware/videocards.phtml
You can register iVISTA for FREE here :
https://wwws.inetcam.com/secured/download.html
Run the installation application from the CD ROM /inetcam/ivista300.exe
If you have had a previous version of webcam32 software installed, make
sure it is NOT running during the installation of iVISTA or while iVISTA is
being run, they will conflict with each other! Download iVISTA from the
www.inetcam.com site or look on the CWI CD under the /inetcam folder for
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
ivista300.exe. Make sure all programs are closed, disconnect from the
internet and double-click the file, this will start the installation. You will be
asked to select the capture card in use and also the version of iVISTA,
choose the top iVISTA option in the list.
2. Setting up iVISTA Web Server (IWS)
This is the iVISTA setup panel. It is accessed from Start/Inetcam/iVISTA
software or from the yellow icon in the system tray (see figure 2).
The video Inetcam web server
(IWS) must be running for the
video feed to be served to the
CWI web pages. This Web Status
Server Icon must be green. Click
on it to make adjustments to the
IWS server setup. IWS must be
set to run on port 8080. See
figure 3 for the screenshot.
Always check that Web Cast
Video is set by clicking the
Video button.
This image shows
the systray on the
windows
desktop.
The inetcam and
the PWS/IIS icons
Figure 2
are showing as
1figure 2
'running.
When
inetcam is serving video, it will
flash green. The centre icon
shows the internet connection.
Figure 1
3. Testing the installation of iVISTA with your Capture Card
To test your iVISTA streaming
capability, click the http://
addresss line on the panel shown
above (figure 1). It will open
your local browser and attempt
to show your video feed but is
likely to return 'The page cannot
be found'. The address in the
browser will be showing:
http://127.0.0.1/index.html , this
needs changing to read as
follows: http://127.0.0.1:8080
this points the page to the actual
server port which is serving the
video feed and is partly due
Figure 3
to the fact that we are
employing PWS/IIS method of
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page serving rather than just the iVISTA web server (IWS). You should now
see the following page.
Figure 4
It may be that your applet parameters need fine tuning when you try to
run the CWI pages after pasting the applet samples below into the video
pages of CWI. By viewing the source from the above pages produced when
following the advice in section 3, you can compare them with the applet
parameters below. You view the source by maximising the window and
right mouse click the white area and select 'view source' from the
drop-down menu, then you will see the actual applet parameters which
work on your machine. Pay particular attention to the parameters labelled
as CGI and the Device number, they will need to be tranferred in the
applet on the CWI video pages. Do not adjust the IP aspect of the applet.
codebase="http://< % =myIP % >:8080" this is correct and allows CWI to
updated the IP using Ace Server method. It can however, be hard coded if
a static IP address is being used. Also do not copy the image sizes because
they will be wrong for the CWI pages.
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
Setting the Correct 'DEVICE' Number
< param name=DEVICE value="0" >
The device number is one of the parameter tags in the applet, it is totally
dependent on what camera/capture drivers have been installed on your
machine. It is set as default as '0' (which is the first device) and may need
to be set to '1' for others. By doing the test in the paragraph above, you
will find out the correct device number to be used.
4. Setup Inetcam for Personal Web Server or IIS
(MS Personal Web Server PWS Win98/ IIS 5.0 Win2000)
The CWI pages WILL NOT be viewable unless the PWS access permissions
are correctly setup. After installing iVISTA software, in the same way that
you checked that the alias was correctly set in PWS/IIS for the
inetpub/wwwroot/Comfort pages you will need to do the same for inetcam
webcast and webcast/cgi folders. These should be correctly done
automatically during the installation, but it's always best to check.
Path
Alias
name
Access
Permisions
C:\Program
cgi
Read,Write & Execute
Files\Inetcam\Webcast\cgi
C:\Program Files\Inetcam
inetcam
Read,Write & Execute
( C = substitute for the your correct hard-drive letter for your PC)
figure 5
Opening PWS on Windows 98
You can open MS Personal Web Manager from Start/Programs / Personal
Web Manager or from Start/Programs/Internet Explorer.
Opening IIS on Windows 2000Pro
You can open MS Personal Web Manager by creating a shortcut to
C:/WINNT/system32/INSRV/pws.exe
5. Adjusting CWI pages to receive the Inetcam iVISTA applet
(use Dreamweaver - see CWI CD)
For the adjustment of the camera applet on video.asp and videobig.asp
(formerly webcam.asp) and campop2.asp pages, select the old webcam32
applett on the above pages using Dreamweaver html editor (see CWI disc)
and copy and paste the contents of these box over it for each video page.
These pages are located in /inetpub/wwwroot/Comfort folder. They include
the parameters for streaming Video and Audio. The audio requires the
purchase of the audio module from Inetcam.
(video.asp applet code)
<applet archive=Inetcam_av.jar codebase="http://<% =myIP %>:8080"
code=InetcamAVideo.class
name=Inetcam
width=160
height=120
align="middle" alt="streamingvideo and audio">
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<param name=cabbase value="Inetcam_av.cab">
<param name=SERVER_NAME value="">
<param name=IMAGE_TYPE value="JPEG">
<param name=IMAGE_WIDTH value="160">
<param name=IMAGE_HEIGHT value="120">
<param name=COMPRESSION value="30">
<param name=CGI_BASE value="/cgi">
<param name=CGI_NAME value="nph-jpeg.exe?-video+0">
<param name=AUDIO_CGI_BASE value="/cgi">
<param name=AUDIO_CGI_NAME value="nph-au.exe?-encode4">
<param name=SERVER_PERIOD value="33">
<param name=SERVER_PORT value="80">
<param name=CAPTION_X value="0">
<param name=CAPTION_Y value="0">
<param name=LTIME_X value="0">
<param name=LTIME_Y value="0">
<param name=CTIME_X value="5">
<param name=CTIME_Y value="12">
<param name=DEVICE value="0">
<param name=SERVER_DESCRIPTION value="Web Video">
</applet>
(videobig.asp applet code)
<applet archive=Inetcam_av.jar codebase="http://<% =myIP %>:8080"
code=InetcamAVideo.class
name=Inetcam
width=320
height=240
align="middle" alt="streamingvideo and audio">
<param name=cabbase value="Inetcam_av.cab">
<param name=SERVER_NAME value="">
<param name=IMAGE_TYPE value="JPEG">
<param name=IMAGE_WIDTH value="320">
<param name=IMAGE_HEIGHT value="240">
<param name=COMPRESSION value="30">
<param name=CGI_BASE value="/cgi">
<param name=CGI_NAME value="nph-jpeg.exe?-video+0">
<param name=AUDIO_CGI_BASE value="/cgi">
<param name=AUDIO_CGI_NAME value="nph-au.exe?-encode4">
<param name=SERVER_PERIOD value="33">
<param name=SERVER_PORT value="80">
<param name=CAPTION_X value="0">
<param name=CAPTION_Y value="0">
<param name=LTIME_X value="0">
<param name=LTIME_Y value="0">
<param name=CTIME_X value="5">
<param name=CTIME_Y value="12">
<param name=DEVICE value="0">
<param name=SERVER_DESCRIPTION value="Web Video">
</applet>
Note: Adjust the DEVICE number to correct one for your machine. Lower
'COMPRESSION' values, increase the quality of the video feed but can
cause pixellation effcts.
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
6. Windows 2000Pro
Windows 2000 Pro works well with iVISTA, however there are a couple of
issues. Make sure that you change the port number in IWS to run on Port
8080. Additionally, for Audio Streaming there is a setting which must be
done in the system Audio Module:
iVISTA Audio CGI Working with IIS on Windows 2000
Here is the procedure how to get set up iVISTA Audio Streaming CGI to
work with IIS on Windows 2000 (MUST have bought Audio Module).
1/ Start->Run... DCOMCNFG
2/ Select "Audio" module on the list and click Properties:
3/ On the Properties sheet, General tab, select Authentication Level (None)
and click OK:
4/ Restart Windows 2000.
5/ This will enable the iVISTA audio with Windows 2000 IIS.
Zone Alarm Firewall
Zone Alarm Firewall software will block access to the PC running CWI and
Inetcam/ PWS, so to run CWI on Win 2000, Zone Alarm must be set to Low
Internet Security in the SecuritySettings/Internet screen.
After installation of iVISTA, zone Alarm will block it, you will need to give
permission the following program operations to run in zone Alarm Programs
Screen:
IWS.exe
nph-jpeg.exe
nph-setparam.exe
(in Zone Alarm: permit for Allow Connect, Allow Server and under Options
check for ' Allow the program to pass through the lock')
8. Configuring Comfort Web Pages
What are Active Server Pages? (.asp)
The Comfort Web Interface uses Active Server Pages to produce it’s
dynamic content. These pages are identical to .html pages except their
extension is .asp rather than .html. The other difference with .asp pages is
that they can only be viewed using the web browser when the page is held
within the PWS server. When the pages are served from PWS, the .asp
code in the top of the documents along with the .asp tokens are stripped
out of the page when viewed from the web, this makes the information
they contain more secure and also stops people from copying your code.
Some of the web pages which form the Web Interface may be manually
edited as required.
We have found that one of the best web editors for this is Macromedia
Dreamweaver 3 or 4 (see www.macromedia.com/dreamweaver for free
evaluation download 11mb, cost to purchase is approx £190 on-line). This
is because of its ‘what you see is what you get’ environment and that it can
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easily handle .asp tags and dhtml code without spoiling the code. You can
view/edit the code within .asp pages using windows/notepad.
For information on configuring CWI, see the ACE help which is under Start /
Programmes / ACE.
Free Web Editor
We have included another editor on the CD ROM called 1st Page 2000. This
is a ‘FREEWARE’ product from: Eversoft. It is on the CD ROM and can be
installed from the front index.html software installation screen.
http://www.evrsoft.com
Evrsoft
FAX #1: (419) 821-6117
Po Box 7755
FAX #2: (419) 828-2597
GCMC 9726, QLD
Email: [email protected] Australia
Using Windows Notepad to Edit ASP Pages
Open notepad via Start/Programs/Accessories/Notepad
HTML Editors which are not suitable are:
Frontpage Express: Bundled with Internet Explorer Windows 98 and
Netscape Composer both of which do not like the .asp type pages.
The CWI web pages are found within the Inetpub/wwwroot/Comfort
folder on your PC’s hard-drive after installation of PWS and CWI Server or
whatever name you gave during installation as a folder. There are other
associated folders which contain ‘images’, ‘audio’ samples and ‘html’ help
pages. The main page descriptions and editable status are as follows:
Page Name
Description
authentication_form.html
campop2.asp
Login Boxes
Floating Large Video with
VCR controls
Chat Frame
Chat Frame
Caller Id Log
User Configurable Screen
for Main1.asp /User 1
chat.asp
chat1.asp
cid.asp
config.asp
control.asp
Display.asp
engineer.asp
event.asp
inc-ace.asp
inc-comfort.asp
inc-security.asp
index.asp
CWI Menu
Name
Chat ‘Live’ Display Screen
Engineering Configuration
Event Log Screen
Password 1st ‘Login’ Scrn
Main Frame
main.asp
Comfort Pin Log-In
main1.asp
System Overview Screen
scenes.asp
video.asp
videobig.asp
message.asp
side.asp
snapshot.aso
User-Defined Macros
Video/Cam Controls
Video/Cam Controls
Chat ‘Live’ Entry Screen
Side Menu Options
Video Alarm log
Read Only
Edit IP
Large
Webcam
CHAT
CHAT
CID
CONFIG
CONTROL
CHAT
ENGINEER
EVENT LOG
Your
address
Page after
index.html
MAIN
ip
SCENES
VIDEO
VIDEO CTRLS
CHAT
SNAPS
Edit Options
Read Only
Read Only
Read Only
Only User with Pin
1 may edit
.csx config
Read Only
Read Only
Read Only
Read Only
Read Only
Set Password
Read Only
Read Only
User 1 configured
via hyperlinks
Configured via PCF
Edit IP & links
Edit IP & links
Read Only
Read Only
Read Only
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top.asp
status.asp
response.asp
command.asp
Top Menu Options
Side Menu Options
Side Menu Options
Side Menu Options
STATUS
Responses
Commands
Read
Read
Read
Read
Only
Only
Only
Only
Setting the ‘Log-in’ Security Password (1st Log-in screen)
The default name and password are: guest / cwi (restricted access!)
The main password screen which is the first line of defence from the web
is controlled from the ACE Server. You have various levels of web access
which may be assigned to each user. These
are from 0 (Guest Mode) to 16 (Full Access).
Using the 'Config' screen, It is also possible
to prevent certain pin-codes on comfort from
having any web access if so required. Default
is for just user 1 to have web access. To add
or edit these, open ACE server click Setup /
Comfort and then Web, you will see the
following screen, the default password may
be edited for to give full access by changing
the value from 0 to 16.
Guest Access (level 0)
This facility is provided to allow you
to show the CWI to other people.
You can allocate them the URL of
your web page and a password but
this still provides protection from
them gaining full access. It is like a
‘view only‘ mode preventing them
from arming and disarming the
system as well as controlling lights
etc. The webcam feed is visible and
they can see you controlling things.
Accessing CWI from a single hyperlink
It is possible to use a special URL to securrely access your CWI pages
without having to do all the log-ins. This involves adding the name.
password and pin into the URL. The red shows the name=guest ,
password=cwi and code=1234. This may be used as a desktop shortcut link
to 'localhost' or as an http address to a static IP to CWI location. Here are
the defaults, but you should alter them to match your details.
eg: To Localhost:
http://localhost/comfort/index.asp?UserID=guest&UserPWD=cwi&UserPIN=
1234
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To IP Address:
http://my_static_IP_here/comfort/index.asp?UserID=guest&UserPWD=cwi&
UserPIN=1234
The web Editing and Adding Hyperlinks to CWI Pages
The web pages are adjusted for you preferences in one of two ways:
1. Automatically via ACE using the Comfort .csx file as the source. This is
for pages under ‘Control’ and ‘Security.’
2. Manually, using an html editor, this is for ‘Video’ and ‘Main’ and ‘Scenes’.
ALWAYS BACKUP THE CWI PAGES BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO EDIT THEM
Manual Hyperlink Editing
The 'Video' and 'Main' screens which have camera control capability and
light switching, may have all their hyperlinks edited manually to provide
any variation. A hyperlink may even run action codes and X10 commands
irrespective of whether they are resident on the Comfort system. This
increases the available responses and commands far beyond Comforts 255
Responses. All must go 'through' Comfort though, using Comfort as a
gateway. See the next section for a list of the available Comfort API
Commands.
For example, the ACE API hyperlinks which are on the security.asp page
look like this:
<a href="security.asp?api=aces:cda:71,1">AWAY</a>
(arm to away)
<a href="security.asp?api=aces:cdr:1 ">OP1 ON</a>
(do response1)
These numbers [71,1] may look familiar, they are normal comfort actions
for arming to away mode and are found in the action code worksheet. If
you examine a CWI page and place your mouse over a hyperlink, you will
see the actual hard coding eg: security.asp?api=aces:cda:71,1 because it
is visible in the status bar at the bottom of the web page. Try each link like
this and you will start to see just how simple it is to understand and edit.
On the ‘Video’ page:
<a href="video.asp?api=aces:cx:A,1,5">A1 ON</a> (do X10 command)
Here are some other ACE commands. The full Command set can be found
in the API32.txt document via the Ace Start Menu.
aces = ace server command
cda = do comfort action
cdr = do comfort response
cx = do X10 command where 5 is ON, 7 is OFF (see Comfort API Section).
You can do multiple ACE API commands using the method described in the
‘Scenes’ section later on.
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Automatic Configuration via .csx file
Ace will auto configure the ‘Control’ page and ‘Security‘ pages by extracting
the information from the zone settings and the home control screens from
the CS-Xpress file. When programming a system for use with CWI, you can
start using the default CWI files which are found in the CSXpress folder.
These are: DEF18.csx (basic config including the dialup menu and reboot
with time program) and Default_CWI.csx (includes the same reboot
/redial menu’s but also includes responses for switching 8 cameras).
This .csx file which was used to configure the comfort System should be
held locally on the PC which is serving the CWI web pages. Simply open
InterfACE server and select Setup / Comfort / General. You will see the
screen opposite open up. Click ‘Browse’ and point it at the actual .csx file
which has been used for the Comfort programming. Then click ‘Connect’
and provided the system is connected to the UCM correctly, ACE will
configure the CWI ‘Control’, Responses and ‘Security’ pages.
Always keep the .csx file in the same place on your hard drive and if ever
you edit the system and always make sure that this file is kept up to date.
Getting PC online from Remote dial-in to Comfort (Menu 5)
Windows 95 / 98 / NT may require a daily REBOOT to maintain reliability of
web server applications. This can be achieved by using Comfort Time
Programs to schedule a 'virtual output' event which causes Ace Server to
reboot the PC and redial if required. The def18_CWI.csx file found in the
CSXpress folder is already configured with this command. Ace server also
requires setting in the Setup/Comfort/Actions , then Event Type=Virtual
Output 1
(output value 0) = then select Add and Save for each command. You will
notice that a few commands are pre-written when you select output 1 and
2 and status 0 or 1. as follows:
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Event Type
Virtual Output (OV)
Virtual Output (OV)
Virtual Output (OV)
Output
1
1
2
State
0
1
1
Ace Api Command
aces:acems:hangup:
aces:acems:dial:
aces:reboot:
A new command is also available to reboot and redial:
aces:acems:rebootd: you could use it by switching Comfort's Virtual Output
2 ON in the Time Program
Virtual Output (OV)
2
1
aces:acems:rebootd:
eg: Comfort Virtual OP2 OFF,136,2,1,255 (setup a Comfort response,
trigger from Time Prog)
These are 2 snippets from the CSXpress Default_CWI.csx file, you can
paste them into your existing file using notepad, then re-open CSXpress
and view the changed Responses and Time Programs. The virtual output
action code command is 136.
HR93=93,Dial Up Internet Connection Virtual OP1 ON,136,1,1,255
HR94=94,REBOOT PC Virtual OP2 ON,136,2,1,255
>Timed
Time00=01,Reboot PC,94,6,N,N,N,N,N,N,N,Y,00
Time01=02,Force Dial Up Internet,93,6,N,N,N,N,N,N,N,Y,05
This Time Program event also includes the 'Holiday' flag, which means that
the reboot will only happen when Comfort is in Holiday/Vacation mode.
The redial commands available require Ace MS to be setup and running.
Comfort Scenes and Multiple API Commands
You can operate multiple API commands using a method called ‘Comfort
Scenes’. By writing all the ACE api commands as single lines in a text file,
you can request ACE to run all of the commands in the file by calling it via
a hyperlink on the Comfort/scenes.asp page using the following command:
aces:cs:filename. This means that unlimited macros are possible enabling
many commands to be sent at once. The Scenes files are located in the
ComfortScenes folder in the ACE Server within Program Files.
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Eg: <a href="security.asp?api=aces:cs:scene1.txt">SCENE 1</a>
Here is the contents of the ComfortScenes file: scene1.txt
aces:cdr:79
aces:cda:194,16,0,30,3
aces:cda:109,25
aces:cda:195,65,01,21
aces:cda:195,65,02,21
aces:cda:195,65,03,21
aces:cda:195,65,04,21
aces:cda:195,65,05,21
aces:cda:195,65,06,21
aces:cx:L,0,1
In order this will Pulse OP 1, switch OP2 ON after 30 seconds using Time
16, Switch X10 A1 - A6 ON to Dim level set by action 109 = 25 (from 0
-31) , switch All L ON. Which could the open the Gate and hold it open
(OP2 in line with photo cell) and Switch the driveway lights L ON.
You can use either ACE (cx) command for X10 or Comfort 195 action or use
Comfort Responses, the choice is yours.
You can 'comment' within the CS text file to give a description by
preceeding the line with a semi-colon (;) and writing commands on the
next line, eg:
;Switch all lights A ON
Aces:cx:A,1,0,3
So the above Dinner Party scene may look like this:
;DINNER PARTY SCENE 1
;pulse Output 1
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aces:cdr:79
;run timer 16 for 30 secs and do response 3(switch ON OP3) breaking
photocell
aces:cda:194,16,0,30,3
;set dim level to 25
aces:cda:109,25
;DIM A1
aces:cda:195,65,01,21
;DIM A2
aces:cda:195,65,02,21
;DIM A3
aces:cda:195,65,03,21
;DIM A4
aces:cda:195,65,04,21
;DIM A5
aces:cda:195,65,05,21
;DIM A6
aces:cda:195,65,06,21
;All Outside Light
Note: Commands in this form are seemingly carried out 'simultaneously'
and are not serial in the strict sense.
We have provided 16 scene text files which are located in the Ace/ACE
Server folder in Program Files. Only two have been set up scene1.txt and
CallKids.txt as an example and this if controlled from the Scene1 button in
the Scenes screen in CWI.
;Call Kids for Dinner, flash lights, sound speaker and kill outlets power
;start A and B flashing
aces:cdr:49
;using timer 15 do response 77 after 13 seconds, which stops Timer 7
aces:cda:194,15,0,13,77
;sound siren type 20 alerting causing chime at keypads
aces:cda:7,64,20
;switch Kids K1 sockets off for HI-FI and TV
Aces:cx:K,1,7
Reset Scenes (All Light A ON is a hard coded comfort response), but could
also refer to a new file called reset.txt. This could contain more commands
such as restore power to the upstairs sockets K1 and close the gate.
The command to send from an Scenes 'image' hyperlink is like this:
<a href="scenes.asp?api=aces:cs:scene1.txt" target="_self">
<img
src="images/scene_socialise1.jpg"
width="92"
height="113"
align="top" border="0" alt="Dinner Party"></a>
The above example makes use of the new Comfort pre-set dim X10 action
code (109).
109 - Set X10 Preset Dim Level
Action Code 1: 109
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Action Code 2: Preset Dim Level 0 to 31
This sets the preset dim level for the X10 preset dim command. When the
X10 Preset dim command (Function code 21 is sent, the system will use the
level set by this action code
Example:
109,10
Set Preset dim level to 10
195,66,03,21
X10 B3 Preset Dim command
From CPU firmware Outside 4.97 only
Text-to-Speech Configuration
The ACE Text-to-Speech program will speak any text string sent to it. This
uses Microsoft Text-to-Speech Engine (Version 4.0a) and is bundled on the
CD ROM. It can accept text to speak from DDE, the ACE Client, the ACE
Server, ECS, Comfort, HomeVision, or from an ASCII file.
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Ÿ
Speak text from Comfort or HomeVision and most other systems
Supports these Caller ID features when used with the ACE Server
Announce phone calls by speaking a phrase
Speak the name and/or number of the caller
Assign text to be spoken for each caller in your database
Assign text to be spoken for Blocked numbers
Assign text to be spoken for Unavailable numbers
The application notes are found in the ACE Api document
which is available via the Start/Products/Ace/ACE TTS/ACE TTS.
The Ace-TTS engine files are located on the CD under /tts folder. Click each
one to install:
/tts/MsttsL.EXE
/tts/spchapi.exe
Reboot the PC. The Ace TTS program may be started from Ace
Server/Setup/Text to Speech. You will only be able to try this a few times
each session until the licence is purchased, available from
www.comfort.org.uk/products/index6.html.
Caller ID (CID)
Normally, caller id functionality is handled by the ACE Server. If you need
to monitor a device for caller id data on the phone line then you will need a
CID Enabled modem to connect to it. ACE monitors this caller id device
and then uses the ACE Server to forward the caller id data to the CID
Screen. For more information see the Ace ‘Help’.
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9. Using Comfort Web InterfACE
We will assume that you are using either ‘Dynsite’ to provide you with a
straight forward domain address or you have a static IP address that
always takes you to your home server.
1. Go ‘on-line’ to the Internet using the Home Server .
2. Start ACE Server and Webcam32 (if installed)
3. If you are on the same PC as the Comfort Web pages, Start your web
browser and enter a URL of "localhost/Comfort" (replace "comfort" with
whatever you specified during the installation), or if you are remote to the
site, enter your ip address:
”http://your_free_webspace.com/cwi.htm” or it’s numeric IP
equivalent if you have a ststic IP eg http://211.86.94.23/Comfort and
then enter.
You can find out your current IP address, by
going on line and clicking Start/ run
winipcfg in the command line, then return
(Win98 only).
4. The Comfort Web InterfACE login page
should be displayed:
5. Enter a user name and password that
you configured in the ACE
Setup/Comfort window.
6. If you did not login as a
guest, another page will be
displayed that asks for
your Comfort PIN. This is
any valid user code that
can be used to login to
Comfort at a keypad.
Tip:
Internet
Explorer
users, we recommend you
browse
CWI
in
FULL
SCREEN mode press F11
to toggle between normal
viewing and full screen
viewing. Set your monitor
display to 1024 x 768 pixels. Right-click your desktop and select
properties/settings then screen area 1024x768 then OK.
7. The MAIN Comfort Web InterfACE web page should now be displayed.
Always make sure you logout at the end using the link on the top bar. The
following pages describe the CWI pages and their functions.
HAVE FUN!
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Main Screen (Main1.asp - do not edit)
The main page is the first page that is displayed. The top is common to all
pages, It shows the Security Mode and and active alarms as well as the last
zone to be triggered. All the links on this page are configured by a file
called cmaincfg.ini in the ACE Server\Web folder. This file contains some
comments at the end of the file to help you modify it in order to customise
the main1.asp page. A user interface under ‘CONFIG’ allows you to
configure the page without needing an html editor.
The lights responses on the page are driving comfort default responses
which are on the system. The TV Controls link take you to the videobig.asp
page which features the large webcam applet and VCR controls.
REFRESH
The pages are updated using a ‘pushlet’ type java script. You will see the
status bar show activity every few seconds and may hear the hard drive as
the page is reloaded, this is the normal operation. If you suspect that the
page is not being refreshed or the ‘pushlet’ has stopped working, then
press REFRESH at the top of the centre page. If the desired result is still
not achieved after ‘Refresh’ is clicked, then restart ACE and the browser
and try again. In extreme cases of a system lockup or program crash,
Re-boot and Redial functions are available in the ‘Main’ screen and also as
a function within the Home Control Menu 4 on Comfort. The Main1.asp
The refresh rate is now adjustable in the CONFIG menu.
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Side Navigation Bar (side.asp)
The side navigation bar provides
links to the main pages of your
Comfort Web Interface. Upon
clicking a link the page will load in
the main body of the frame.
Additionally, we have provided
two options to view the ‘Webcam
Feed’ as a floating pop-up
window, one small and another
larger
version.
Ensure
that
webcam
software
is
already
running before clicking these
links.
Security Screen (security.asp - do not edit)
The security screen provides the main security control functionality. Each
zone is represented on this screen. The zone status is shown in the boxes
as is the status of the bypass. You will notice that the page is being
refreshed every few seconds. Clicking a ‘Bypass’ link should cause the text
in the status box to change from NO to YES.
The Security mode can also be seen in the text box. Clicking the links
under Security Mode Control will allow you to change the mode of the
system. Always be careful when operating this function. In the UK it is
against British Standard 4737 to operate such a feature and could
have an impact upon your insurance cover, in such cases it would be
prudent to disable the security links in this screen using an html editor.
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Control Screen (control.asp)
The Control screen is automatically populated with links and descriptions
from the Control Codes screen within the .csx file assigned in the ACE
server under Setup/Comfort. The responses are also entered into the
screen automatically, clicking on the ‘Do’ hyperlink buttons, will run the
response numbers which are held on the Comfort panel. The last few
doorbell events are also listed in the bottom of this screen.
Video Screen (video.asp and videobig.asp)
The Video screen has links to the 8 cameras (OP 1 - 8) individually fed to
the video output of the Relay card and out to the TV Capture card. The
links for lights (L) and Responses to switch the cameras are hard coded
onto the page using html API commands. Clicking on a link can select the
camera and the other buttons can allow the switching of lights. Clicking
Enlarge’ Video will open up the videobig.asp page which is larger and
clearer, though it is the same image feed.
Video Controls (videobig.asp and
campop2.asp)
Controlling Input Source and Cameras
using Comfort Outputs
The camera window in video_big.asp
and campop2.asp windows each have
controls which if set-up properly, can
allow you to control the VCR, TV
channels and even switch between
cameras and operate lights. The best way to achieve this is to feed the
camera output from the comfort relays into the Scart input of the VCR, the
TV aerial feeds into the VCR UHF IN and the UHF OUT can feed into a
distribution amplifier and on to the other TV's in the house aswell as the PC
capture card. This allows all video sources to be available at any TV or
even the PC! Full setup details are available when clicking on the yellow
‘HELP’ button on the large video monitor in CWI.
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Events Screen (events.asp - do not edit)
The Events screen shows the last 254 signals seen by comfort. The most
recent event is at the top of the list. Time, Date and Alarm Type and user
Number (Arm and Disarm) are show in the columns. The date is shown in
‘US format’ Month/Day. The Event log may also be printed out by clicking
the icon at page bottom and then clicking ‘Print’. Allow up to a minute for
the events screen to load after clicking ‘Refresh’. Ther is an option in Ace
Server to cause Ace to upload the Event Log when first connecting to
Comfort.
Comfort Scenes (scenes.asp)
You can operate multiple API commands using a method called ‘Comfort
Scenes’ . These are buttons in the form of pictures which when clicked can
do a chain of commands driven from a text file. This is a very powerful
facility. The API commands are again hard coded into the page using an
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html editor. Buttons marked ‘OFF’ are disabled. You can add your own
pictures to this page if you wish. Reduce them in size to 92 x 113 pixels
and save them in the html folder within the Comfort folder.
Chat Screen (not editable)
The chat screen provides a means of live communication across the
internet between the Home Server and the Remote Web Browser. To run
Chat just click on the ‘Chat’ link within the grey band on the top navigation
bar. This will open the chat screens into the main frame. If the screen stays
purple or doesn’t quite open properly, right hand click the offending area
and select ‘Refresh’ or ‘Reload’ from the drop down menu. This happens
more often with the very bottom text entry panel. Upon entry to he screen,
your IP will be logged. Enter your name where it says ‘Guest’ in the
Username window and then type your message in the text window to the
right. When complete, press ‘SEND’ or press return on the keyboard. To
leave the screen just click one of the links in the left hand navigation Panel.
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Config Screen (config.asp - do not edit)
This screen allows the Master User to clear the ‘Active Alarms’ in the
window on the Top Menu and to assign page permissions against the level
of authorisation which has been allocated to user codes. You can also
adjust the type of hyperlink display required. The config page now allows
you to select between two different styles for displaying hyperlinks on each
web page. The option is called "Underline command links" and is on the
MISC config page. You can enter either "Yes" or "No". A value of "Yes" is
the default and is how the pages work now. A value of "No" will cause
each link to be displayed in blue as usual, but it won't be underlined until
the mouse cursor is over the link.
Caller ID (CID) Screen (cid.asp - do not edit)
This screen provides caller id information as a log. This function require
ACE-MS to operate and a separate CID enable modem dedicated to the
task and connected to another comm port. For information on configuring
Caller ID and other aspects of the CWI setup, see the ACE help which is
under Start / Programs / ACE.
Status Screen (status.asp - do not edit)
The status page will only work if you have gone to the ace server,
setup/comfort config window and then go to the NAMES tab and name
everything, and then go to the WEB tab and click the Create Web Status
Page button. You can then go to the status page in CWI and see all your
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devices and control them.
Responses Screen (response.asp - do not edit)
The Responses screen loads all the current Responses which are found in
the .csx configuration file for the system. These a often raw commands and
you should discuss with your installer what commands are available to you.
The .csx file is selected in the CWI server under Setup/Comfort/CSX File
Location. Once the screen is loaded into the CWI browser screen, each
Response and it’s description is displayed as a hyperlink which may be
executed. Note that some caution should be employed when using this
screen as some responses are best not operated such as Responses 100 116 are only applicable to keypad triggerring, other responses such as
alarm triggerring responses are also best left alone. The obvious responses
such as X10 Commands On and Off, operating Outputs and setting flags
are really the ones which this screen is intended for.
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Comfort API commands supported by the 32-bit ACE Server
The API strings which may be written as hyperlinks on a web page are
quite extensive. When used they should take the form of: aces:’command’
for a more full details see the api32.txt found within the ACE server in
Program Files or from CWI HELP button. Here is a list of the commands.
CC
- Comfort COUNTER command
Format: CC:counter,function,value(optional)
counter - 0 to 7
function - 0=decrement, 1=increment, 2=check, 3=load
value - value to load into counter (load function only)
CDA
- Comfort Do Actions
Format: CDA:action1,action2,action3,...,action24
actionX - Any valid action code (in decimal, not hex)
Use this command to execute a series of actions in the
same way as you would configure a response in Comfort.
Up to 24 actions can be executed. You do NOT need to
have the last action be a 255.
CDR
- Comfort Do Response
Format: CDR:response list
response list - response numbers
(separate with a comma if more than 1)
For example:
CDR:33
CDR:33,1,21
then response 21)
(in
decimal)
to
execute
(this will execute response 33)
(this will execute response 33, then response 1,
CDT
- Set Comfort DATE/TIME
Format: CDT:year,month,day,hour,minute,second
year - 4 digit year
month - 1 to 12
day - 1 to 31
hour - 0 to 23
minute - 0 to 59
second - 0 to 59
CDTPC
- Set Comfort DATE/TIME to PC's date and time
Format: CDTPC:
Sets the date and time in Comfort to the current date and
time on the ACE Server PC.
CF
- Comfort FLAG command
Format: CF:flag,function
flag - 1 to 16
function - 0=clear, 1=set, 2=check, 3=toggle
CINIT
- Comfort INIT
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Format: CINIT:
This command opens the serial port to Comfort and updates ACE
with the status of all inputs, outputs, security mode, etc.
This happens automatically if you have the ACE Server configured
to connect automatically when the ACE Server starts up. Thus,
you only need to use this command if you want to control when
ACE connects to Comfort yourself.
CIR
- Comfort send IR
Format: CIR:ir code, output
ir code - 1 to 31
output - 1 to n (output that has an IR emitter attached)
CIU
- Comfort Input(s) Update
Format: CIU:first,last
first - first input number to update
last - last input number to update
ACE gets the status of each input when ACE first connects to
Comfort. ACE then tracks the state of each input as Comfort
reports state changes. However, you can force ACE to update
its status of any range of inputs by using this command.
CIUA
- Comfort Inputs Update ALL
Format: CIUA:
ACE gets the status of each input when ACE first connects to
Comfort. ACE then tracks the state of each input as Comfort
reports state changes. However, you can force ACE to update
its status of all inputs by using this command.
CO
- Comfort Output command
Format: CO:output,function,duration
output - 1 to n
function - 0=off, 1=on, 2=pulse, 3=toggle
duration - duration of pulse in 50ms intervals
COU
- Comfort Output(s) Update
Format: COU:first,last
first - first output number to update
last - last output number to update
ACE gets the status of each output when ACE first connects to
Comfort. ACE then tracks the state of each output as Comfort
reports state changes. However, you can force ACE to update
its status of any range of outputs by using this command.
COUA
- Comfort Outputs Update ALL
Format: COUA:
ACE gets the status of each output when ACE first connects to
Comfort. ACE then tracks the state of each output as Comfort
reports state changes. However, you can force ACE to update
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its status of any range of outputs by using this command.
CSM
- Comfort Security mode
Format: CSM:mode,usercode
mode - 0=off, 1=away, 2=night, 3=day, 4=vacation
usercode - any valid user code
CSMU
- Comfort Security Mode Update
Format: CSMU:
ACE gets the security system mode when ACE first connects to
Comfort. ACE then tracks the security mode as Comfort
reports state changes. However, you can force ACE to update
the security mode by using this command.
CVAI
- Comfort set virtual analog input
Format: CVAI:input,value
input - virtual input to set
value - analog value to set it to
CVI
- Comfort set virtual input state
Format: CVI:input,value
input - virtual input to set
value - state value to set it to
CX
- Comfort X-10 command
Format: CX:house,unit,command,repeats(optional)
house - A to P (a letter, not a number, upper or lower case)
unit - 1 to 16
command
1 - all units off ( unit number is ignored)
3 - all lights on (unit number is ignored)
5 - on
7 - off
9 - dim
11 - bright
13 - all lights off (unit number is ignored)
repeats - 1 to 8, for dim and bright commands, this steps up and down the
light level by the number of repeats.
Security Issues
When connecting a PC to the internet, there are a number of security
issues which need addressing. Windows operating systems offer a wide
number of ways for hackers to exploit it’s weaknesses. A number of ports
are left ‘open’ and these can act as gateways for the hacker to enter your
PC and cause havoc. No, it’s not paranoia, it’s a very common ocurrance,
check-out this site for more information: http://www.attrition.org/ It is
essential to employ the services of ‘firewall’ type of product which allows
you to control which programs are allowed to operate freely on the internet
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and also has the ability to close off the ports on the PC which may be open
and can be ‘hacked’.
Firewalls
The installation of a firewall can be a complex thing to set-up, but one we
have found which is quite simple is ‘Zone Alarm’. It’s a ‘freeware’ program
and is included on the CD ROM. Their website is here www.zonelabs.com ,
they also do a pro version which costs $39.95. If you are working with a
NAT type connection sharing, then only the ‘Zone Alarm Pro version’ will
work. If you do experience Zone Alarm Standard blocking the CWI/Ace
Server Web Page IP Upload and sometimes crashing Ace Server, then
installing Zone Alarm Pro should rectify this situation.
Limited Failed Log-ins
The latest CWI security allows 6 login attempts (configurable). if the 6th
attempt is bad, you are directed to a page that says you must wait 5
minutes (configurable) before trying again. If you try to login again during
this 5 minute period, even if you use a valid login name and password, you
are taken to the page saying you must wait. The wait page displays the
number of minutes you must wait, so you can see how much longer it will
be.
Once the 5 minutes times out, you are then presented with a page with a
link to the login page. Clicking the hyperlink takes you back
to the main login page asking you for a name and password. You again
get 6 tries. If you screw up again, the 5 minute waiting period starts all
over again.
CWI keeps track of each individual bad login, and of each time a users
reaches the 6 try limit. CWI will display a message when a level 16 user
logs in that says how many failed attempts there were and how many
lockout times (5 minute delays) there were. If none were logged, then the
window will not be displayed.
A new page will be added to display the login log file. And, there will be
a button to click to clear the alarm message. This will reset the bad login
counters to 0 so you don't get the message the next time you login.
Cookies must be enabled to login to CWI. There are 2 kinds of cookies,
one that is stored on your pc and one that is called a session cookie. It's
the session cookie that must be enabled or else you can not get past the
first login page. These are both adjustable in Internet Explorer 5 under
Tools/Internet Options/ Security / Internet - Custom Level then enable
‘Allow per-session Cookies’ from the list.
But, if someone keeps trying to login that has cookies disabled, the user
count for cwi users keeps getting incremented until you reach the limit and
no other users can log in.
There is a file that actually logs ALL VISITORS to the cwi site and logs
whether they logged in correctly or not. This page is viewable from link
‘Users’ on the top right of the Comfort Web Interface. The name of the file
is cwi.log and is located in the ACE Server\Web folder.
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This file logs 4 different types of access:
VISITED: someone just browses to the main CWI login page
FAILED: user entered incorrect password at the AUTH page
LOGGED IN: user logged in
LOGGED OUT: user logged out
In all cases, the date, time and IP address are logged too. When a user
logs in or out, the user's name is also logged. These failures may be
cleared by clicking the ‘Users’ link on the Grey bar, and then clicking the
‘failed’ link at the top of the page.
Troubleshooting
PWS Install Can't see IE 4.01
Install of PWS requires IE4.01 or higher. In some cases, particularly with
the FrontPage 98 PWS and Windows 95, there is an error message that
setup cannot continue because setup requires IE4.01, even though IE4.01
is installed and working. Solution
There are multiple problems with installing the NT4 download version over
the FP98 version with Win 95. The first option would be to upgrade the OS
to Win98 and use the PWS on the Win98 CD. In addition this problem is
usually solved if you have run the IE4.01 Service Pack 1 or upgrade to IE5.
Using ADSL and Cannot locate my home server on the web:
CWI and other personal web server applications will not work correctly if
your ISP uses NAT assigned IP addresses. It means that you will be unable
to locate your server on the web. It is unfortunately a VERY common
configuration
Session Times-Out, have to log-in again
While you are using CWI you may find that clicking the links results in the
Authorisation Screen appearing again in the centre of the frame. This is a
normal occurance and will happen if there has been not activity in the
browser for 20 minutes. Just sign-in again, then when the pages start
loading in the centre frame (yes it does look strange), when you click
enter, it will revert to the full CWI framset as usual.
Setting the Security Password
The main password screen which is the first line of defence from the web is
found within These can be changed very easily in the ACE server under
Setup/Comfort/Web. Configure your PC to 'User Level Security' and then
give permission only to those users you want to gain access to CWI.
Go to the WEB tab · Enable (check) the Web Status File option. Do not
change the filename. · In the User Access area, click the ADD button and
enter a name, password, and set the user level to 16. This user will have
full access to everything from the web pages. There should already be a
guest account created. The guest account can only view web pages. No
commands will be accepted from the guest account. Set all guests to a
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value of '0' for this restriction. The default name is 'guest' and the
password is 'cwi'.
Can people access my PC outside of the PWS server pages?
Microsoft Personal Web Server has built-in security protection which
prevents access to files outside of the wwwroot directory. Additionally,
no-one can access even this area unless they have both your web address,
password, log-in code and your Comfort pin code. The only way anyone
could have those details is if you have told them. So the usual precautions
apply, don't tell anyone your passwords and be careful of anyone looking
over your shoulder should you access your site from someone else’s PC.
You could always use one of the user codes 2 - 8, these may be
de-selected for 'no access' to web in the 'config' screen when you get
home.
ISP Cuts you OFF?
If your ISP cuts off your connection after a certain time to preserve their
bandwidth, you can install Dialler 2000 or Net Monitor from the CD ROM.
They feature a keep alive function that prevents your ISP from pulling the
plug on you for inactivity, and allows you to conduct a simple test to
determine your connection speed and IP number.
I have a dynamic IP Address
If you have a dynamic IP address you can use a program called Dynsite to
update a DNS referrer or CWI itself to upload a page containing your
current IP address to a remote server as a ‘mirror’. Thanks to this feature,
you will be able to reach using a page on a remote web server or with
Dynsite it will be a DNS-like address (e.g.: myhost.dhs.org) instead of your
dynamic IP 212.165.23.45. If you then wish to contact your home server
running Comfort Web InterfACE and you have registered your IP address
using DynSite then anyone can call you with your DNS-like address instead
of your IP address. Since your DNS-like address will always be the same,
and as long as your are online, they will be able to contact you whatever is
your IP address. They will never need to know it anymore to contact you.
Before using DynSite you must first sign up with one or more of the
supported dynamic DNS services. DynSite only supports some of the free
services and will only work with Windows 95/98/NT/2000. It will not work
with AOL Dialler. You can find Dynsite on the CWI CD ROM, or visit the
Dynsite Site.
WebCam32 feed stops streaming
Webcam32 can ocasionally stop streaming after a while. There are some
TCP/IP settings for Maximum Push size and Maximum Push interval
(preferences/TCP-IP) control how long the push stream should last. Setting
both of these to 0 (zero) will result in continuous push. There is extensive
webcam32
support
at
the
following
address:
http://www.surveyor.com/webcam32help/
Why does Webcam applett show 'image not available'?
First try to access the page after first closing down the browser and all of
it’s windows, this often cures the problem. If the Webserver being used to
host the Webcam32 images is Microsoft IIS (PWS) V4.0, a number of bugs
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and workarounds prevent the image from being reloaded, for more
information see the FAQ on the webcam32 help on the CWI CD ROM.
Why does Server Push transmission stops after a few frames?
Server Push is controlled by both image size transmitted and time that the
image have been transmitted. Both these settings are located in the TCP/IP
settings dialog. If either of these are exceeded by a client accessing
webcam32, server push for the client will end until the next access.
Recommended settings are:
Why does the Server Push image flicker?
If you access Webcam32 in Server Push mode directly (ie not referenced in
a web page) the image will appear to flicker. This is a quirk of the Netscape
browser which, seeing that the only content on the screen is the image,
redraws the whole screen. If the image reference is included in an HTML
web page with an <IMG> tag, the flicker is completely removed.
Webcam32 Video feed won’t work again after a lock-up?
If your Webcam32 application locks-up (crashes) which results in a need to
force close it using Ctrl / Alt / Delete, then you will find that the video card
also locks up with it. After restarting Webcam32 you will find the Capture
Card and it’s port is unavailable and will not allow Webcam32 to serve
video into CWI Pages again saying the port is already in use by another
application. The only way to resolve this, is to restart the PC and restart
Webcam32 again.
Inetcam - iVISTA Can't See The Streaming Video?
1. You must have a Java enabled (compatible) browser to view the Inetcam
streaming video. Check your browser preferences to verify this.
2. The Inetcam webcam can be influenced by the number of current
viewers - try checking back.
4. Your personal connection to the Internet is no longer established. Check
your modem or network connection.
5. You have an "always on" connection (DSL or Cable) and have a personal
fire wall installed with Java Applet Security engaged.
6. Currently, the java engine in Netscape browsers for the Macintosh does
not support the full number of parameters necessary to send the streaming
video, use Internet Explorer instead.
7. Internet Explorer Users: Make sure your security settings are no higher
than Medium, and try emptying your browser cache.
Comfort Web InterfACE copyright 1997-2001 Hone Software & ISCaM Systems Ltd
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Comfort Web InterfACE 1.5L
Technical Support
If you are having difficulties installing CWI on your PC, please ensure you
have checked the obvious things before attempting to make contact for
support.You should make contact with your installer if they have installed
the system for you. The CWI Manual has much detail about the set-up
including problem solving. Basic HTML knowledge will be required for
configuring certain CWI Pages, and this is beyond our support capability.
Our support cannot extend to related PC hardware and software conflicts,
you should contact your network administrator or a PC specialist for such
assistance. If you do need to contact us for support, here are the details:
Support click ‘HELP’
For all countries you can email ([email protected]) or subscribe and
post a question on the Technical egroup. There are links in CWI for direct
help and support, click the grey ‘HELP’ button and select an option.
(www.egroups.com/groups/comfort-cwi)
Comfort Web InterfACE copyright 1997-2001 Hone Software & ISCaM Systems Ltd
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