Active X control of D-Link DCS-2100+ Wireless Network Camera

[fadenoid]

Hello,
I need to periodically grab a still image from the above camera using LabVIEW 8+. I've seen some similar stuff on the forum regarding the use of activeX with other types of D-Link camera, but would like to know exactly which activeX control should be used, and where I can get it from.
 
The camera comes with some bundled surveillance software with a few dlls that it may be possible to register, to allow access to some functions, but has anybody else had a go at this?!
 
Previously I used a linksys camera which worked with the 80211netcam.ocx, but the activeX functionality was extremely limited and would not allow a snapshot to be downloaded directly by labview. Instead, I had to stream the video image into the front panel activeX container then perform a screendump which would then be cropped and saved to HDD. The whole process took at least 2 seconds, so the ability to get a pic directly to HDD from the camera without having to go through the above process would be extremely useful. I think it can be done using the D-Link, but need some pointers on how to create the ActiveX functionality.
 
Cheers
Chris

[fadenoid]

Hello Tom
After reverting back to the linksys wvc54g camera I have managed to neatly get it to snapshot to hdd in labview using the activeX functionality available on the camera. Took a fair bit of experimentation, but does work with the netcamplayer11g ocx.
Cheers
 

[Tom O]

Hi Fadenoid, I'm glad you've had success with this! Thanks for posting back, I'm sure this will be useful for people with a similar setup in the future.Cheers,

[pepic]

I have an identical camera, linksys wvc54g, done the same tric you mention in another email to download an image and it works but I would love to do it exploiting the activeX functionalty available with the camera.
Could you please tell me how to do it, possibly with a sample program?
I still use labview 7.1 but if necessary I would upgrade, thanks, pepic.

[fadenoid]

Hello Pepic,
I've attached a copy of the netcamplayer11g.ocx. Put this in C:/Windows/System 32, then run the following in the command line:
regsvr32 "C:\WINDOWS\system32\netcamplayer11g.ocx"
A message box will pop saying that registration has succeeded. Open up a new vi, put an empty activeX container on it and you should now be able to access the properties of the camera via activeX. Let me know if this works, and if you can see "snapshot" as one of those properties.
Best Regards
 
 
 


NetCamPlayer11g.zip:
http://forums.ni.com/attachments/ni/170/346505/1/NetCamPlayer11g.zip

[pepic]

Thanks Chris, everything you told me worked flawlessly and I can see the Snapshot property.
I am still struggleing to get an image saved, I am just not a good enough programmer to succeed immediately but I am still trying, thanks again, p.-

[fadenoid]

Hello Pepic,
If you're still having problems in a day or so I'll downgrade some code to 7.1 (currently using it with 8.5) and attach it. Let me know.
Cheers

[Klein]

Hi Fadenoid,
 
Did this activeX control (netcamplayer11g.ocx) work or not with D-Link DCS-2100+ Wireless Camera?
Did you find a way to grab images from D-link cam?
 
I have to buy an IP wireless webcam to save snapshots using LabVIEW 8.5.1.
 
Thanks a lot!
 
Klein

[fadenoid]

Hello Klein,
The netcamplayer ocx was native to the linksys so wouldn't work with the D link. I didn't have any success storing images with the d link and have found the linksys units to be better at the job at least from a programming perspective. There is some other info on the forum regarding d link cam access via activeX but I could never get it to work!
Cheers

[APrado]

Why is it still so difficult control these IP camera using LabVIEW?
It seems so easy to me:
- Open a TCP-IP connection between computer and camera with a special parameter which enable snapshots transmittions. Only images, no other information.
- Use a loop to send commands to request new snapshots.
- Close TCP-IP connection.
When do you use Internet Explorer to connect to IP cameras is it possible receive only images or the internal camera server sends a HTML page with the image included?
Thanks again, fadenoid!

[fadenoid]

Hello,
The dlink can return a streaming image to the web browser, but I tried messing about with saving the contents of the explorer activeX window which unfortunately didn't work. I've snapshot the screen on previous attempts to save image to HDD (see my earlier posts on this topic) but its very processor hungry.
The linksys image is streaming and embedded in the web page but from recollection the image part can be stripped out. This route I think is a bit "clunky" as the image capture is still as above.
After a lot of experimentation I've found that the quickest route for my apps is to use the activeX functionality that is bundled with the camera to extract snapshots etc. I'm sure it is possible with the dlink but I chose the linksys as it is easier to implement this function, and doesn't require the use of the browser.
Hope this helps.