kmotion3 - A Returning Developers Blog

Who knew windows could be so yukky !!!

2012-02-16T21:21:00.000Z

Who knew windows could be so yukky !!!, its a royal pain to develop for. Anyhow a couple more months of work and then back to kmotion 3, getting some ideas from a new generation of DVR PC interfaces I am seeing at work, kmotion 2 is looking real dated now, kmotion 3 will look a lot different.

Still out there in $$$ land ...

2012-01-21T18:46:00.000Z

Still here guys, struggleing with windows and earning a few $, this little side project is going to take a while, there's more involved that I originally thought.

Oh if anyone wants to Paypal me anything for kmotion2, its dave6502@gmail.com, not kmotiondev ... have had a few payments to kmotiondev and being via Paypal I can't tell who sent them LOL

And another detour ...

2011-12-17T10:28:00.000Z

With the possibility of earning some $$$ I am now working on some code for work to automate one of their time consuming processes, it means coding in windows (yuk) and learning wxPython but has to be done.

I have finally finished the detour :)

2011-11-30T21:18:00.001Z

I have come to the conclusion that "quick", "code" and "detour" cannot exist in the same sentence ... but think I have finally finished the detour :)

Had a little coding detour for a week or so

2011-11-26T11:10:00.002Z

Had a little coding detour for a week or so, back to kmotion now, should be moving it on a bit more this weekend.

Anyhow things are moving on :)

2011-11-20T11:35:00.000Z

So tided the code for the schedule to 'www_rc' sync, it worked but was rough, now works smooth as silk :), I also removed the 'warning popup' that was shown when the javascript was talking to the back server, I always found that annoying but needed because if a user switched config screens too quickly it could kill the transmission of the changes. Changed the code to deal with this but have now run into a closure issue .... I so dislike javascript ... anyway will work round it. After that then there is the schedule exception screen to write and sync to 'www_rc' then the real fun bit, the bit I love, the python daemon to write. Anyhow things are moving on :)

Working on code to transfer the schedule timelines to www_rc

2011-11-16T21:22:00.000Z

Working on code to transfer the schedule timelines to www_rc and back again, its now working but a bit messy. Still figuring out the GUI details but the style is getting clearer. Going for a clean simple and hopefully elegant look. Anyhow enough for tonight, hopefully a little further tomorrow ....

Back cutting code :)

2011-11-14T21:22:00.000Z

Getting my head back in the code, remembering when I left it. Wow is there a lot of work to do or what ?, got some nice GUI enhancements but zip behind them, no software leavers or gears have been written yet.

I made it back ...

2011-11-09T20:48:00.001Z

Well I have safely returned from Oz, all in one piece. Theres a surprising amount to sort out after the month away but hoping to get back to kmotion 3 in the next couple of weeks.

I am officially bogged down with things to do ...

2011-08-08T19:43:00.000+01:00

So with pretty heavy work commitments and flying to Australia in just 8 weeks I am officially bogged down with things to do. If I get an hour or two a night to myself I am lucky these days. kmotion 3 will be completed but will have to be put on ice for a couple of months till I get back from Oz. Then with the nights closing in coding should re-emerge.

Back on call ...

2011-07-24T10:18:00.002+01:00

Back on call ... code free weekend :(

Up to my elbows ...

2011-07-17T12:10:00.000+01:00

Up to my elbows in string splitting and bin > hex > bin conversion code but have to go soon, real life calls :)

Picking up steam ...

2011-07-16T22:19:00.000+01:00

Picking up steam, the schedule timeline now shows the time for each segment as you hover over it, the "all", "invert", "none", "copy", "paste" buttons now work ... overall its coming along quite nicely.

Oh plus the code has been tided up, next is to link this GUI to the "www_rc" file, most of this has already been done so it should not be to hard :)

After a few more hours arm wrestling - I have something presentable :)

2011-07-16T15:51:00.000+01:00

After a few more hours arm wrestling - I have something presentable :)

Now it looks OK but the code is rough and the buttons don't do anything yet ... LOL, can't expect miracles.

Web interfaces will give me a nervous breakdown !!

2011-07-12T21:20:00.000+01:00

So spent a couple of hours wrestling with HTML & CSS. I know what I want it to look like, a nice auto expanding colour block to the right of the buttons saying "Active" or "Inactive" to show the schedule status, can I get it to auto expand ... nope ... tried IRC HTML, they booted me to IRC CSS and no joy there either. This is a pain. Web interfaces will give me a nervous breakdown !!

I am now trying to figure out a logical interface for the schedule GUI,

2011-07-10T17:27:00.000+01:00

So organising our trip to Australia, trying to get the house decorated and dealing with extra work commitments is having a slight toll on my coding time. But I am now trying to figure out a logical interface for the schedule GUI,

I think I am on the right track, I am thinking 8 x schedules, each with 8 x schedule date exceptions. In commercial software I often find schedule GUI's confusing, so I am going to try hard to keep this one intuitive.

YAY, and I survived ...

2011-07-02T07:41:00.000+01:00

Nights is over ... YAY, and I survived ... YAY. Body clock a little off but heading the right way. Planing to do some more coding on Sunday but first I have to do the unthinkable, go clothes shopping for our holiday, its a dark dark duty and something ever man dreads ...

The config sync works in the 'www_rc' -> browser Javascript direction,

2011-06-25T23:52:00.000+01:00

The config sync works in the 'www_rc' -> browser Javascript direction, proving the other way is a little tricky, I might as well just write the schedule GUI and be done with it rather that write test code etc etc

Reality check,

2011-06-25T14:29:00.002+01:00

Reality check, its 14:30, its light - sooo its the middle of the night - right ?

Just spent 3 hours coding the schedules config sync,

2011-06-25T14:28:00.000+01:00

Just spent 3 hours coding the schedules config sync, so when you change something in the GUI (yet to be written), it syncs to 'www_rc'. kmotion3 will have 8 user defined weekly schedules, each of which can tie into one of 4 exception schedules based on special dates, ie bank holidays etc. Its a lot of addition ... might take a little break before I test and debug it ;)

On nights,

2011-06-25T04:37:00.002+01:00

On nights, its 4:36 AM, eyes heavy, mind groggy, struggling !

Really exciting screenshot :)

2011-06-18T18:18:00.000+01:00

It is said development is boring ? Just to prove this myth totally wrong here is an exciting screenshot showing the current state of Schedules :)

Cool heh ?

Started the schedule code,

2011-06-18T18:14:00.000+01:00

Started the schedule code, this bit is going to be interesting, you can have a schedule, what you do every mon - sun then you can have exceptions for bank holidays etc. So far I have a single blank timeline and a bunch of config in 'www_rc', will join the two up and then expand from there ...

Darn time is tight !

2011-06-18T10:14:00.000+01:00

Darn time is tight !, getting pulled away again but managed to fix a couple of bugs in camera config, plus enabled log scrolling now so you can see a few hundred entries, going to be important since v3 will use the logs a lot more. Trying to decide whether to work on the scheduling GUI + backend or the themes. Think I will leave themes to last, they will give kmotion eye candy plus reveal a small surprise :)

Big mug of Tea and kmotion3 IDE in front of me :)

2011-06-18T09:30:00.002+01:00

Big mug of Tea and kmotion3 IDE in front of me :)

Stealing ideas is good :)

2011-06-12T10:19:00.000+01:00

So an update, when I changed the feed config GUI I removed some options and added different ones, this totally broke the back end javascript and python so I have spent a few hours fixing it so the web interface works again, oh plus a few cosmetic touches. And I am proud to announce that the first 'new' feature now actually works, PAL / NTSC. I say new because Robert coded it in v2 - and I well stole the idea ;)

Coding is funny,

2011-06-11T20:10:00.000+01:00

Coding is funny, you can code and code and in your mind you know what you have done and know the end has drawn a little closer but explain what you have done to someone, even your cat ? difficult ! So I have done a fair bit of coding and nothing more to say. v2 took something like a 18 months to write, v3 will not take that long but its still got a long way to go.

That broken server ...

2011-06-11T11:49:00.000+01:00

That dead kmotion server ... PSU dead, video capture card physically broken (???), New PSU, New video capture card, Spinrite both HDD's, Memtest86 over night, re-install software, not really needed but was an upgrade from 9.04 ?, so installed 10.04 LTS, soak test and ready to be returned to owner :)

I have a secret plan

2011-06-08T19:35:00.000+01:00

So after a good start a lot of real world stuff has been eating my time, relatives from Australia, my wife getting ill, on call - its all been a bit of a whirlwind but I have a secret plan. This weekend I have nothing planned in the evenings ;)

OK so a little more code

2011-06-02T21:52:00.002+01:00

OK so a little more code on the "misc function" buttons to get the new ones to behave properly and starting to convert logs to the new format.

So coding on hold

2011-05-31T20:29:00.000+01:00

So coding on hold, trying to contact a friends kmotion v2 server in his loft ... not even a response to a ping ... mmm ...

A little more coding and a few more refinements

2011-05-29T09:28:00.000+01:00

A little more coding and a few more refinements to the GUI. I used to wonder why it took so long to develop software, now I know :),

What you see is just the shop front, there is nothing driving it yet. I will polish the GUI a little more, add some more options then dive into the back end to make it actually do something, then back to the GUI. I find if I work too much on one end or the other I can get out of sync.

The suggestions list ... please feel free to comment

2011-05-28T20:08:00.000+01:00

- please don't remove frame mode, keep the options open!

Don't worry, I have had a re-think, frame mode is staying

I really like the idea of a panic button and mobile interface though and would like to see them graduate to the feature list! :)

Panic button, yes it will be implemented, mobile interface will stay on the maybe list - its a lot of work.

-synchronized playback from multiple cameras with color coded motion timeline graphs (the ultimate feature IMO)

I think I might implement it but want to get all the other changes done first because its a lot of code changes in the most complex part of kmotion.

-revamp playback controls so all buttons are visible at once (currently user must click "Click for frames" to get to frame+- and event+- buttons).

In kmotion3 I am enlarging the config / non live screen area so there would be enough screen real estate but I am concerned about too many buttons causing confusion, it has to be intuitive.

-add play/pause button and option to auto-play events or not (specifically not)

Noted, I am re-thinking archive playback, I was going to leave it largely unchanged but looks like it is going to be re-written.

-option to sort events by date descending (newest first)

As above :)

-option to disable login prompt

Not sure how useful this would be, you can formulate the URL to contain the username and password for LAN use and any WAN access will need a login prompt.

-keep aspect ratio true to camera resolution (currently 1280x720 gets squished into 4:3)

That could get messy, especially with different camera aspect ratios in the same view ... unsure how to handle that one so putting it on ice.

-include all motion detection settings in kmotion interface as opposed to config files

That would be very difficult, there are a lot of motion options and locking the GUI in that closely would mean that any changes in motion would completely break kmotion. I have gone with the rational that the GUI is for common options that are used 95% of the time. The more advanced stuff is for the config files. There is also the point that to add all the option in the GUI would take a long long time :)

-need a better way to switch between event and display modes, maybe a toggle button? or potentially
display both at the same time?

As above, having an archive re-think.

Anyhow got to go, got some free time and want to push kmotion3 on a bit further ...

I'm still here ...

2011-05-26T22:49:00.000+01:00

Still here, still running ragged, longing for the weekend when I can unwind and do some coding ...

I had an anonymous comment on the kmotion3 feature list, a lot of useful feedback - some suggestions would take an age to code but others are definitely going to be included, so thank you anonymous commenter wherever you are .... :)

A little code and a lot of running around

2011-05-24T23:07:00.000+01:00

A little code and a lot of running around, My wife is not so well, flu I think, so running round shopping, cooking, going to chemist ... running a little ragged !!

2011-05-21T10:07:00.000+01:00

Sneaked an hour, did some easy changes for motion errors and server load ... started to make more kmotion3 GUI changes but have to go ...

No code day,

2011-05-20T21:08:00.002+01:00

No code day, probably no time till Monday night

Stole a couple of hours ... its getting more kmotion3 looking ...

2011-05-18T20:44:00.000+01:00

Stole a couple of hours ... its getting more kmotion3 looking ...

Next few days ....

2011-05-17T22:07:00.000+01:00

Have some relatives coming over from Oz, going to be so great to see them but coding will be zip for a few days ... <wish> if only I could code for a living </wish>

Mind numbing code audit and tidy up

2011-05-16T21:39:00.000+01:00

Mind numbing code audit and tidy up to let the new config page enable / disable AOK, it takes soooo long and is soooo boring but this page is done now.

2011-05-15T16:52:00.000+01:00

OK did a bit more, does not look that different but apart from it being px perfect now it has been converted from .png's to .svg's

Managed to hack a bit of code

2011-05-14T22:10:00.000+01:00

Managed to hack a bit of code on the config GUI, its pretty rough but have posted a screenshot

On call this weekend

2011-05-14T07:53:00.000+01:00

Well guys, on call this weekend, working 9:00 - 21:00 so not a lot of chance to code, you never know though - very very occasionally its quiet.

Mask "All", "Invert", "none" buttons done

2011-05-13T21:51:00.002+01:00

Mask "All", "Invert", "none" buttons done and working, kind of need them now there is a 15 x 15 mask grid, they work a treat.

kmotion3 proposed feature list

2011-05-13T20:12:00.000+01:00

Here is the proposed feature list, please have a read and let me know what you think, If you have any suggestions now is the time to let me know :)

PRETTY DEFINITE LIST

Increase the size of the config pages .... will need the extra room
Remove camera buttons and replace with camera name scroll
Add extra info line to camera display, ie "outside temp 22C"
Add audio alerts as per flame2, ie "Fire door opened", "Motion
detected in vault" possible link to user events
Remove frame mode, just have .swf (simplifies config, code and makes
sense when trying to save a movie + browsers have now moved on)
Add "save movie" option to Archive to save to hard drive
Increase mask resolution + add full, invert & none buttons
Change mask priority so user can define one in virtual_motion_config
Add PAL & NTSC options
Add full scheduling GUI for motion and snapshot recordings + audio
alerts + email if included
Add zoom to PTZ
Change all PNG's to SVG's allows real time color changes in themes and
hover modes, complete new theme
Add "hover highlighting" on buttons
Add user defined theme with full GUI, will be able to define all colours
Add multi lingual support
Add auto detect size screen size changes as per flame2
Animated kmotion logo
Add HDD limits per camera in kmotion_rc

MAYBE LIST, DEPENDING ON HOW DIFFICULT THE ABOVE IS :)

Add global "panic" button to record all cameras
Add tours to PTZ without needing external script
Add email on motion option with frame of max motion
Add color control for cameras - maight be problematic
Add basic mobile phone interface

Hacking away ...

2011-05-11T22:11:00.000+01:00

Enlarged config screen, started to hack HTML to add options for mask & PAL / NTSC, good night :), hey if anyone is reading this please say hi ;)

Low hanging fruit ...

2011-05-10T21:48:00.000+01:00

So just fixed a bug where incorrect shutdown is not reliably detected, haven't tested it yet, instead busy wrestling with my company about overtime payments :)

Motion Mask

2011-05-08T19:37:00.000+01:00

Increased the motion mask granularity from 10x10 to 15x15 and moved from 'override' to 'default' section to allow custom motion masks in 'virtual_motion_mask', tested AOK

Working till late tomorrow night, no coding possible :(

Well its a start :)

2011-05-08T15:31:00.001+01:00

So my first act, move those ever growing list of HOWTO's to the 'docs' dir ... giving myself an easy start

Back developing kmotion3

2011-05-08T13:06:00.001+01:00

Why am I back and developing kmotion3 ? Well I have had a good break, worked on some other projects and am looking for something to sink my teeth into, its kmotion3 or an Android project. Guess I am a bit lazy Android = learn Java. So here is to kmotion3 :)