IVS Module
Contents
- 1 VALT Class
- 1.1 Class Specifications
- 1.2 auth
- 1.3 isrecording
- 1.4 getrecordingid
- 1.5 startrecording
- 1.6 stoprecording
- 1.7 pauserecording
- 1.8 resumerecording
- 1.9 addmarker
- 1.10 getrecordingtime
- 1.11 ispaused
- 1.12 islocked
- 1.13 getcameras
- 1.14 getrooms
- 1.15 getschedule
- 1.16 getroomname
- 1.17 getusername
- 1.18 getroomstatus
- 1.19 creategroup
- 2 Other Functions
VALT Class
Class Specifications
Usage
Creates a class that is one instance of a connection to a VALT server. The below functions are all defined as part of the valt class and can be called.
Initiation
Upon initiation, the class will attempt to authenticate to the specified VALT server using the provided credentials. If authentication fails upon initiation or upon any further actions, the class will wait 30 seconds and then attempt to reauthenticate. Upon success, the class with reauthenticate every 24 hours.
Variables
| Variable | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|
| username | string | Stores the username used to authenticate to VALT. |
| password | string | Stores the password used to authenticate to VALT. |
| baseurl | String | Stores the basic url to connect to valt. The url is composed of the valt server address. For example http://ivstest1.ad.ipivs.com/api/v3/ |
| success_reauth_time | int | The number of seconds to wait before reauthenticating to VALT after a successful authentication. Default is 28800. |
| failure_reauth_time | int | The number of seconds to wait before reauthenticating to VALT after a failed authentication attempt. Default is 30. |
| accesstoken | string | Stores the current access token retrieved during the last successful authentication. This will be set to 0 upon a failed authentication attempt or an error during any other function. |
| lastauthtime | time | Stores the last epoch time when authentication was attempted. |
Parameters
valt(server,username,password)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| server | String | IP address or DNS name of the Valt application server. | Yes |
| username | String | Valt Username. | Yes |
| password | String | Valt Password. | Yes |
Example
valttest = ivs.valt("ivstest1.ad.ipivs.com","admin","admin")
auth
Usage
Connects to the Valt server. This function is executed automatically during initializaton.
Parameters
auth()
This function does not accept any parameters.
Example
valt.auth()
isrecording
Usage
Checks the state of a room and returns True if it is recording, or False if it is not. Returns 2 if an error is encountered.
Parameters
isrecording(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
if valt.isrecording(4):
getrecordingid
Usage
If the room is currently recording, it returns the ID of the active recording. You should check if the room is recording using the isrecording function prior to getting the recording ID.
Parameters
getrecordingid(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
current_recording = valt.getrecording(4)
startrecording
Usage
Starts a new recording in the specified room.
Parameters
startrecording(room,name,author)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
| name | String | The name that will be associated with the recording in Valt. | Yes |
| author | int | The user id under which the recording should be started. If not specified, the recording will be started under the authenticated user. Must be specified as author= when calling the function. See the example below. | No |
Example
valt.startrecording(4,"My Recording",author=12)
stoprecording
Usage
Stops the current recording in the specified room.
Parameters
stoprecording(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
valt.stoprecording(4)
pauserecording
Usage
Pauses the current recording in the specified room.
Parameters
pauserecording(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
valt.pauserecording(4)
resumerecording
Usage
Unpauses the current recording in the specified room.
Parameters
resumerecording(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
valt.resumerecording(4)
WARNING
As of the writing of this article, pausing and unpausing the recording will reset the duration timer for the recording. This may cause issues with inserting markers.
addmarker
Usage
Adds a marker to the recording in progress in the specified room.
Parameters
addmarker(room,markername,color,markertime)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
| markername | String | Name for the marker in the Valt application. | Yes |
| color | String | Color for the marker, valid values are white, gray, red, yellow, purple, cyan, blue, green, and orange. If not specified, will default to red. | No |
| markertime | int | Time index to insert the marker. If not specified will use the current time index. When specifying a marker time, you must also specified a color. | No |
Example
valt.addmarker(4,"My Marker","green",137)
getrecordingtime
Usage
Returns the current time value of the recording in the specified room. Primarily used by the add marker function to specify the time for the marker.
Parameters
getrecordingtime(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
current_recording_time = valt.getrecordingtime(4)
ispaused
Usage
Checks the state of a room and returns True if it is paused, or False if it is not.
Parameters
ispaused(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
if valt.ispaused(4):
islocked
Usage
Checks the state of a room and returns True if it is locked and False if it is not.
Parameters
islocked(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
if valt.islocked(4):
getcameras
Usage
Returns a nested list, containing details for the cameras in the specified room. Primarily used with the AXIS module to enable/disable privacy mode on cameras.
Parameters
getcameras(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
cameras = valt.getcameras(4)
getrooms
Usage
Returns a list of rooms if successful. Each list item is actually a dictionary containing information about that room.
Parameters
getcameras()
This function does not accept any parameters.
Example
rooms = valt.getrooms()
getschedule
Usage
Returns a nested list of all upcoming schedules for the specified room. The returned list contains the start and end time for each schedule.
Parameters
getschedule(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
schedules = valt.getschedule(4)
getroomname
Usage
Returns the name of the room in VALT.
Parameters
getroomname(room)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
roomname = valt.getroomname(4)
getusername
Usage
Returns the name of the user in VALT.
Parameters
getusername(user)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| user | Integer | The user number of the user in the Valt application. This must be the actual user ID number, not the user name. This can be obtained from the database. | Yes |
Example
username = valt.getusername(4)
getroomstatus
Usage
Returns a value indicating the current status of the room. This should be used instead of islocked, ispaused, or isrecording as it also includes better error handling.
| Room Status | Return Value |
| ERROR | 0 |
| Available | 1 |
| Recording | 2 |
| Paused | 3 |
| Locked | 4 |
Parameters
getroomstatus(https,server,accesstoken,room)
| Parameter | Type | Value |
| https | Boolean | True if the server uses HTTPS, otherwise False. |
| server | String | IP address or DNS name of the Valt application server. |
| accesstoken | String | The authentication token returned by the function valtauth. |
| room | Integer | The room number of the room in the Valt application. This must be the actual room ID number, not the room name. This can be obtained from the database. |
Example
roomstatus = valt.getroomstatus(True,'valt.example.com','3e2c3e461736ce73830ed8d6d9d5dae6',4)
creategroup
Usage
Connects to the VALT server and creates a user group with the specified rights, templates, retention period, and video access.
Parameters
creategroup(https,server,accesstoken,groupname,infoid,markerid)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| https | Boolean | True if the server uses HTTPS, otherwise False. | Yes |
| server | String | IP address or DNS name of the VALT application server. | Yes |
| accesstoken | String | The authentication token returned by the function valtauth. | Yes |
| Group name | String | The name that will be given the to group in VALT. | Yes |
| infoid | Int | The id number of the information template that will be assigned to the group as the default. | Yes |
| markerid | Int | The id number of the marker template that will be assigned to the group as the default. | Yes |
| rights | List (of strings) | All the rights that should be granted to the new group in VALT. | No |
| max_record_duration | Int | The maximum record duration in minutes. | No |
| rooms | List (of ints) | Room ids the new group should be granted access to in VALT. | No |
| video_access_users | List (of ints) | User ids the new group should be granted video access to in VALT. | No |
| video_access_groups | List (of ints) | Group ids the new group should be granted video access to in VALT. | No |
| retention_type | String | Retention Type (Valid Values: infinitely, until, days, hours, minutes) | No |
| retention_until | String | Date formatted as MM-DD-YYYY | No |
| retention_for | Int | Value in hours, minutes, or days (as specified by retention_type) the video will retained for. | No |
Example
valt.creategroup(https,server,auth,splitline[0],30,71,rights=rightslist,max_record_duration=180,video_access_users=[14,15,17],video_access_groups=[2,6],retention_type="days",retention_for=365)
Other Functions
log
Usage
Used to to write log entries to a standard central log. This function is used by the valt class. This function writes a time stamp in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format before each log entry.
Parameters
log(message,logpath)
| Parameter | Type | Value | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| message | string | String to be written to the log. | Yes |
| logpath | string | Local path to the log file. If not specified it will default to ivs.log in the same directory as the executed python program. | No |
Example
ivs.log("Room 127 Unlocked")
factorydefault
Usage
This function is specific to the use of IVS accessories. The factory default function restores all config files to a template and re-enables the web service. It then reboots the device. This function is currently only supported on the IVS Keypad and IVS Card Reader.
Example
ivs.factorydefault
