Month: July 2018

Categories
User Guides exacqVision Client Categories

How to Open Client Instances Automatically on Login

If you’ve got a single monitor viewing station you may choose to run the client upon login during the install process of the exacqVision client. If you want to change that behavior to enable or disable it after you’ve already installed the client, just download the client installer from our website and run it again so you can change the option. 

In cases where you may have multiple monitors and want to open several client instances, usually one for each monitor, we provide the following Knowledge Base articles on creating the shortcuts needed. Those shortcuts allow a user to run them to open the client to a specific saved view or event monitoring profile.

Opening exacqVision Client on Separate Monitors Using Short Cuts with Client 9.4 and Higher
Opening exacqVision Client on Separate Monitors Using Short Cuts with Client 9.2 and Earlier

To run the client shortcuts automatically upon login you will first need to have followed one of the articles above and then proceed with the following steps.

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Windows

On windows systems you will place either the XDV file created for client 9.4 and higher, or the shortcut created for client 9.2 and earlier, into the Windows Startup folder. There are two different locations for this.

All users:      %SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Single user:  %SystemDrive%\Users\%Username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

If placed in the first path listed above, the clients will open automatically for any user that logs into the system. If placed in the second path listed above, they will only open for the user account you replace %Username% with. 

Now logging back into the machine with this user account should open the client instances based on the settings in your XDV files. 

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Linux

Open a Terminal prompt.

Move the XDV files for client 9.4 and higher, or the XML created for client 9.2 and earlier, to the place you’d like to store them on the system. Training in the use of Ubuntu/Linux or the Terminal is outside the scope of exacqVision support if you experience problems with these steps. 

To move a file, type:

  sudo mv ˂FilePath˃/˂FileName˃  

Then you will need to change the permissions of the XDV files, type:

  sudo chmod 766 ˂FilePath˃/˂FileName˃     (Ex. sudo chmod 766 /home/admin/Desktop/Monitor1.xdv )

In the following steps you will need to specify the name of the user account. In each example, replace ‘$USER’ with the name of the user account you are configuring. For example, if you created a user account named ‘securityguard’, you would replace ‘$USER’ in each command with ‘securityguard’. 

Change your directory to the home directory of the user account. If you are targeting a Kiosk user account you will either need to elevate to root user or change the permissions on the directories as you go. 

  sudo chmod 777 /home/$USER  

  cd /home/$USER 

  sudo chmod 777 .config  

  cd .config  

  sudo chmod 777 autostart  

  cd autostart  

  ls  

Typing ‘ls’ above will list the files in the directory you’ve entered. Look for the file named ‘evc.desktop’. This file will only exist if you chose to start the client when logging in during your install. If it does not exist, create a new one by typing:

  sudo touch evc.desktop  

  sudo chmod 766 evc.desktop  

Now edit the ‘evc.desktop’ file by typing:

  sudo gedit evc.desktop  

When opened the file will resemble the following:

If your file is empty, it is either because you just created it, or you made a typo. In Linux if you try to open a file that does not already exist it will attempt create it.

Change the ‘Exec’ line to the following:

Exec=bash -c "sleep 5 && padsp /user/local/exacq/client/edvrclient -F˂FilePath˃/˂FileName˃"  

In the following example, the XDV file was placed inside the client install directory. There should be no space between the -F option and the file path. 

Ex. Exec=bash -c "sleep 5 && padsp /user/local/exacq/client/edvrclient -F/usr/local/exacq/client/Monitor1.xdv"

From this point you need to create a new evc#.desktop file using the steps above for each XDV file you have. For simplicity, number them in order… evc1.desktop, evc2.desktop, etc.

Now logging back into the machine with this user account should open the client instances based on the settings in your XDV files. 

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Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Client Categories Products

Opening exacqVision Client on Separate Monitors Using Short Cuts with Client 9.4 and Higher

In some installations users may want to allow users to automate the process of opening multiple client instances on different monitors of a workstation. This article details the steps to create an XDV file that will open the client to the configuration of your choice. 

Click the exacqVision logo in the top-right corner of the client window to determine which version of the exacqVision Client you are using. 

There are two methods to create an XDV file.

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Option 1

The simplest way to create your XDV file is to open a client instance and drag it to the position you’d like on one of your monitors, maximize it if you wish, to fill the screen. 

Configure the client window as you want it to appear when opened. If you want to hide the toolbars, the navigation panel or open to a specific camera view that you saved previously, do that now. 

You may toggle the navigation pane with the F4 key. Toggle the top toolbar with F8. Toggle full-screen with F11. Toggle all three by pressing ALT+Enter.

Once you’ve configured it as you like, close the client window by pressing the ‘X’ in the corner, or, if you’ve maximized the client and hidden the close button you can press ALT-F4.

Locate the following directory:

Windows:C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\edvrclient\
Linux: /home/$USER/.edvrclient.dir/

Make a copy of the file named ‘edvrclient.xml’. Save the file with a descriptive name, such as ‘Monitor1.xdv’. Be certain the file extension is .xdv, not .txt, .xml or some other file type. Close the file and the client window if it is still open. Open a new client instance and repeat these steps for each monitor. 

When you have finished you may place these XDV files where you’d like such as the Desktop for users to access them easily or in the client installation directory for easy access from scripts. Double-clicking the icon for the XDV file will open the client with your chosen settings. 

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Option 2

If you are familiar with XML you may opt to write an XDV file from scratch using a non-formatting text editor such as Notepad or Notepad++ on Windows, or using Vi, Nano, or Gedit on Linux systems.

You may refer to the evCLI.pdf documentation located in the client installation directory:

Windows:  C:\Program Files\exacqVision\Client\evCLI.pdf
Linux: /usr/local/exacq/client/evCLI.pdf

When you save the file, do not save it with an XML file extension, instead save it as an XDV file type. (Ex. Monitor1.xdv). This will associate the file with the exacqVision client software. 

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Additional Considerations / Troubleshooting

If you are planning to place an XDV file on another machine than it was created on, or allow other user accounts to access and open the XDV file, you will need to make some edits. 

If you are using a Windows machine, right-click on Notepad and choose ‘Run as Administrator’, then open the XDV file for editing.

If you are using a Linux machine, you may use Vi, Nano, or Gedit run with elevated privileges to open and edit the XDV file.

Look for the block of XML language that lists each of the servers the client will log into. It will have a structure similar to the following example, but with the details of your system(s). This sample has been truncated a for display.

You will replace the encoded text between the ” ” for the Password with the password the user account will use to login to each of the servers listed. 

Replace the “3” for PasswordType with “0”. 

Do this for each server listed. If you have created more than one XDV file for multiple monitors, perform this on each of the XDV files. 

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Opening-exacqVision-Client-on-Separate-Monitors-Client-9.4-and-Higher.pdf
Categories
User Guides exacqVision Client Categories

Changing the Kiosk User Language On Ubuntu/Linux

Systems built by Exacq with Ubuntu 16.04 and higher will have an ‘Exacq Kiosk User’ icon on the administrator’s Desktop. More details on Kiosk users can be found at KB:22542.

Click to run this program.

There should be no users listed here when you begin. If there are already Kiosk user accounts created, the following configuration steps will only apply to new accounts created. If you wish to use an account name you have already added, you will need to remove it and add it back in later steps. 

To remove an existing Kiosk user account, enter the name again and you will be asked if you wish to Delete the account. Click on ‘Delete this User’.

Once you have removed the Kiosk user account(s), you will be returned to the Kiosk user setup program, click the ‘Quit’ button. 

You should also check the ‘User and Group’ settings to see if other user accounts exist. This can be found under the Applications > System Tools > Administration menu on the Desktop. 

In the top-right corner of the Desktop, click on the monitor icon and select ‘System Settings…’.

Open the ‘Language Support’ option

In the ‘Language Support’ dialog you will see some languages may already be installed. Click on ‘Install / Remove Languages’ if you do not see your desired language listed.

Scroll through the list of languages and check mark and languages you wish to install. You may select more than one if needed. Click ‘Apply’. You will be prompted to enter administrator credentials. 

When you have returned to the ‘Language Support’ dialog you will need to find the language you installed in the list. Click and drag the language name to the top of the list, as seen in the example below where ‘Deutsch’ has been placed above ‘English’ in the list. Despite being grayed out you can still drag these to the top.

When the language chosen has been moved to the top of the list, click the button labeled ‘Apply System-Wide’. The change will not take effect until the user logs in again. Click the ‘Close’ button. 

From the Desktop, log out of the system as administrator and log back in with the same administrative account. You should now see that the exacqVision Client appears in the language chosen. 

Now you will create your Kiosk user. Click on the ‘Exacq Kiosk User’ icon on the Desktop again. 

When the dialog appears, enter the name of the user account you wish to create and click ‘OK’.

A new dialog will appear. Enter the password you wish to assign to the Kiosk user. Change the drop-down menu to the language locale you want to assign to the user and click ‘OK’.

When you have returned to the ‘Exacq Kiosk User’ dialog, click on the ‘Quit’ button to return to the Desktop.

Open the Terminal program. 

From the Terminal prompt you will create an SSH session to the Kiosk user’s account. At the prompt, type:

 ssh user@localhost  

In this example the Kiosk user was named ‘user’, replace ‘user’ with the name you gave the account in the previous steps. 

When you press ‘Enter’ you will be prompted to enter the password you assigned to the Kiosk user in the previous steps. Type this password and press ‘Enter’.  NOTE: The Linux Terminal does not display text when entering passwords, but you are entering keystrokes. 

When the prompt returns, type:

 cd /home/$USER  

Press ‘Enter’. At the next prompt, type:

 nano .pam_environment  

Press ‘Enter’. 

You should now see the following:

This is the nano text editor in Terminal. You may use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor. Delete all but the second line, reading ‘LC_TIME=XX_XX.UTF-8’, where XX_XX specifics the language. The final file should appear like the example below:

Press ‘CTRL+X’ on the keyboard to exit the nano editor.

When prompted below, press ‘Y’ and then ‘Enter’. 

Another prompt appears, press ‘Enter’.

You may now close the Terminal and log out from the Desktop. When you log back into the operating system as your new Kiosk user the exacqVision Client will now display in your chosen language. 

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Changing-the-Kiosk-User-Language-On-Ubuntu-Linux.pdf