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ONVIF

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ONVIF Client protocol Profile S (Live Streaming) and Profile G (Replay) Node.js implementation.

This is a wrapper to ONVIF protocol which allows you to get information about your NVT (network video transmitter) device, its media sources, control PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) movements and manage presets, detect devices in your network and control its events. It will also allow you to get information about your NVR (network video recorder) Profile G device and obtain a list of recordings.

The library uses NodeJS. And works on the server-side.

ONVIF

Troubleshooting

The library is tested on a test bed with 5 x Axis, 2 x Bosch, 1 x Canon, 2 x Hanwha, 4 x HikVision, 1 x Panasonic, 2 x Sony and 2 x unknown vendor cameras. There is a mix of PTZ and Fixed cameras and a mix of Pre-Profile, Profile S, Profile G and Profile T devices.

It is also tested with some Analogue Encoders from Avigilon, Axis, Bosch and HikVision including testing the RS485 output.

We welcome any donations or long term loans cameras from other vendors to test compatibility especially when testing the Media2 API, ONVIF Events and OSD.

Installation

NPM

npm install onvif - install latest stable version

npm install agsh/onvif - install latest version from GitHub

npm install agsh/onvif#v1 - install latest development version

Clone the latest version from github

git clone https://github.com/agsh/onvif.git

Tests

In the library directory run npm test

By default the tests use a mockup server to generate ONVIF replies.

To test with the real device, set appropriate environment variables HOSTNAME, USERNAME, PASSWORD, PORT and run tests.

Documentation

To build jsdoc for the library with default theme run npm run jsdoc. Otherwise use jsdoc with sources from ./lib/*.js

Quick example

Special teasing example how to create little funny video server (http://localhost:6147) with 1 ffmpeg and 3 node.js libraries: 

sudo apt install ffmpeg
npm install onvif socket.io rtsp-ffmpeg

const server = require('http').createServer((req, res) =>
        res.end(`
<!DOCTYPE html><body>
<canvas width='640' height='480' />
<script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script><script>
  const socket = io(), ctx = document.getElementsByTagName('canvas')[0].getContext('2d');
  socket.on('data', (data) => {
    const img = new Image;    
    const url = URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([new Uint8Array(data)], {type: 'application/octet-binary'}));
    img.onload = () => {
      URL.revokeObjectURL(url, {type: 'application/octet-binary'});
      ctx.drawImage(img, 100, 100);
    };
    img.src = url;
  });
</script></body></html>`));
const { Cam } = require('onvif/promises'), io = require('socket.io')(server), rtsp = require('rtsp-ffmpeg');
server.listen(6147);

const cam = new Cam({username: 'username', password: 'password', hostname: '192.168.0.116', port: 2020});
(async() => {
  await cam.connect();
  const input = (await cam.getStreamUri({protocol:'RTSP'})).uri.replace('://', `://${cam.username}:${cam.password}@`);
  const stream = new rtsp.FFMpeg({input, resolution: '320x240', quality: 3});
  io.on('connection', (socket) => {
    const pipeStream = socket.emit.bind(socket, 'data');
    stream.on('disconnect', () => stream.removeListener('data', pipeStream)).on('data', pipeStream);
  });
  setInterval(() => cam.absoluteMove({
    x: Math.random() * 2 - 1,
    y: Math.random() * 2 - 1,
    zoom: Math.random()
  }), 3000);
})().catch(console.error);

Other examples (located in the Examples Folder on the Github)

  • example.js - Move camera to a pre-defined position then server the RTSP URL up via a HTTP Server. Click on the RTSP address in a browser to open the video (if you have the VLC plugin installed)
  • example2.js - takes an IP address range, scans the range for ONVIF devices (brute force scan) and displays information about each device found including make and model and RTSP URLs For Profile S Cameras and Encoders it displays the default RTSP address For Profile G Recorders it displays the RTSP address of the first recording
  • example3.js - reads the command line cursor keys and sends PTZ commands to the Camera
  • example4.js - uses Discovery to find cameras on the local network
  • example5.js - connect to a camera via SOCKS proxy. Note SSH includes a SOCKS proxy so you can use this example to connect to remote cameras via SSH
  • example6.js - ONVIF Events. Example can be switched btween using Pull Point Subscriptions and using Base Subscribe with a built in mini HTTP Server
  • example7.js - example using a Promise API. It uses 'promisify' to convert the ONVIF Library to return promises and uses Await to wait for responses
  • example8.js - example setting OSD On Screen Display. (also uses Promises API)

API

You can find this page and full API class documentation here: https://onvif.pages.dev/

Short description of library possibilities is below.

Discovery

Since 0.2.7 version library supports WS-Discovery of NVT devices. Currently it uses only Probe SOAP method that just works well. You can find devices in your subnetwork using probe method of the Discovery singleton. Discovery is an EventEmitter inheritor, so you can wait until discovery timeout, or subscribe on device event. You must subscribe to the error event as a device on your network could reply with bad XML Here some examples:

var onvif = require('onvif');
onvif.Discovery.on('device', function(cam){
// function will be called as soon as NVT responds
	cam.username = <USERNAME>;
	cam.password = <PASSWORD>;
	cam.connect(console.log);
})
// Must have an error handler to catch bad replies from the network
onvif.Discovery.on('error', function (err,xml) {
  // function called as soon as NVT responds, but this library could not parse the response
  console.log('Discovery error ' + err);
});
onvif.Discovery.probe();

var onvif = require('onvif');
// Must have an error handler to catch bad replies from the network
onvif.Discovery.on('error', function (err,xml) {
  console.log('Discovery error ' + err);
});
onvif.Discovery.probe(function(err, cams) {
// function will be called only after timeout (5 sec by default)
	if (err) { 
    // There is a device on the network returning bad discovery data
    // Probe results will be incomplete
    throw err;
  }
	cams.forEach(function(cam) {
		cam.username = <USERNAME>;
		cam.password = <PASSWORD>;
		cam.connect(console.log);
	});
});

In all of that cases you've got disconnected cameras. To access each camera (and issue ONVIF commands) you normally need the tuple username:password. So, as shown in the examples, you can assign these properties and call connect method to get full functionality.

Discovery.probe(options, callback)

Options

  • timeout, number. Time the probe method will wait NVT responses in ms
  • resolve, boolean. If this argument is false, all discovered NVTs would be presented as data object instead of Cam instance

Discovery events

  • device(cam, remoteInfo, responseXML) fires on device discover. cam is a Cam instance, remoteInfo is an object with network information and responseXML is a body of SOAP response
  • error(error) fires on some UDP error or on bad SOAP response from NVT

Promises

Since version 0.7.2 this library have a onvif/promises namespace. It have promisified version of Cam constructor which returns an object with the same methods as described below or in documentation but returns promises instead of callback function. Short example of common usage is here:

const onvif = require('onvif/promises');
onvif.Discovery.on('device', async (cam) => {
  // Set credentials to connect
  cam.username = 'username';
  cam.password = 'password';
  await cam.connect();
  cam.on('event', (event)=> console.log(JSON.stringify(event.message, null, '\t')));
  cam.on('eventsError', console.error);
  console.log(cam.username, cam.password);
  console.log((await cam.getStreamUri({protocol:'RTSP'})).uri);
  const date = await cam.getSystemDateAndTime();
  console.log(date);
  await cam.absoluteMove({
    x: Math.random() * 2 - 1,
    y: Math.random() * 2 - 1,
    zoom: Math.random()
  });
});
onvif.Discovery.on('error', console.error);
onvif.Discovery.probe();

Cam class

const Cam = require('onvif').Cam;

new Cam(options, callback)

Options are:

  • hostname
  • username, password (optional, to deal with majority of functions)
  • port (optional)

The library calls connect() automatically which executes the getSystemDateAndTime, getCapabilities and other methods. Note on username and password:

  • Some cameras do not require username:password credentials.
  • If a camera does require a username:password but you do not provide them, you will be limited to executing a few ONVIF methods that can operate without credentials, for example you can execute only getSystemDateAndTime method.

Callback (optional) executes when the cam is initialised. Single argument for this function is possible error.

Technical description

When the cam object is created it automatically sends a getCapabilities command to the ONVIF device. If the device is a camera or encoder (NVT) it sends two commands to the ONVIF device: getVideoSources and getProfiles. It fills corresponding properties of an object:

  • capabilities
    • device
    • events
    • imaging
    • media
    • PTZ
    • extension
  • uri (this is a links to different NVT services)
  • videoSources
    • $.token
    • framerate
    • resolution
  • profiles, array of profile object
    • name
    • videoSourceConfiguration
    • videoEncoderConfiguration
    • PTZConfiguration

After that it runs getActiveSources method. It iterates over all video sources and tries to find out proper configuration for profile and videosource. First matching profile becomes a member of defaultProfiles array and video source configuration with ptz configuration becomes a member of activeSources array.

Configuration for the first or the only one video source becomes defaultProfile and activeSource properties. All methods without passing options object use it. You can change it manually at any time.

  • defaultProfile (link to the first profile in profiles)
  • activeSource (based on the default profile)
    • sourceToken
    • profileToken
    • encoding
    • width
    • height
    • fps
    • bitrate
    • ptz

connect(callback)

Connect to the camera and fill device information properties with getSystemDateAndTime, getCapabilities, getVideoSources, getProfiles methods

See more detailed information at http://www.onvif.org/ver10/media/wsdl/media.wsdl After cam initialisation we can run several ONVIF commands. There are several common methods that work without credentials. Here are they: getSystemDateAndTime.

getSystemDateAndTime(callback)

Returns a Date object with current camera datetime in the callback. The ONVIF Standard says this would work without credentials (passed username and password arguments) so that the timeShift difference between the local clock and the NVT's onboard clock can be calculated for SOAP Authentication. However some devices claiming ONVIF support require a password and the library will re-try the connection if a username and password are available.

getDeviceInformation(callback)

Device. Returns a device information, such as manufacturer, model and firmware version in the callback

getServices(callback)

Device. Returns in callback and assigns to #services property an array consists of objects with properties: namespace, XAddr, version

getServiceCapabilities(callback)

Device. Returns in callback and assigns to #serviceCapabilities property the capabilities of the device service (not media): network, security and system. If your device supports some auxiliary capabilities they will be there too.

getStreamUri(options, callback)

Media. Returns a URI that can be used to initiate a live media stream using RTSP as the control protocol The options are:

  • stream (optional) - defines if a multicast or unicast stream is requested. Possible values are: 'RTP-Unicast' (default), 'RTP-Multicast'
  • protocol (optional) - defines the network protocol for streaming. Possible values are: 'UDP', 'TCP', 'RTSP' (default), 'HTTP'
  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken

getSnapshotUri(options, callback)

Media. Obtain a JPEG snapshot URI from the device.

getPresets(options, callback)

Returns the saved presets as an a key-value object where the key is the name of a preset and a value is a preset token. This method also stores the presets information in a #presets property of an object.

The options are:

  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken

gotoPreset(options, callback)

PTZ. Operation to go to a saved preset position for the PTZ node in the selected profile.

The options are:

  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken
  • preset - the name of preset. List of presets you can get by #getPresets method or in #presets property.

setPreset(options, callback)

PTZ. Operation to set the current position as a preset for the PTZ node in the selected profile. If presetToken is passed as an option, then the preset for which that token is attached will be replaced. After success, you should re-fetch the presets with #getPresets method.

The options are:

  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken
  • presetName - the name to give to the preset. (optional) is this is a preset update.

removePreset(options, callback)

PTZ. Operation to remove a preset specified by the preset token. After success, you should re-fetch the presets with #getPresets method.

The options are:

  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken
  • presetToken - the preset token to use for preset removal (this will be the value of a preset object found in #presets after calling the #getPresets method.

gotoHomePosition(options, callback)

PTZ. Operation to go to the saved home position for the PTZ node in the selected profile. If no home position has been saved, the ONVIF camera will do nothing.

The options are:

  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken

  • speed An object with properties

    • x Pan speed, float within 0 to 1
    • y Tilt speed, float within 0 to 1
    • zoom Zoom speed, float within 0 to 1

    If the speed option is omitted, the default speed set by the PTZConfiguration will be used.

setHomePosition(options, callback)

PTZ. Operation to set the current position as the home position for the PTZ node in the selected profile.

The options are:

  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken

getNodes(callback)

PTZ. Returns the properties of the current PTZ node, if it exists. Use this function to get maximum number of presets, ranges of admitted values for x, y, zoom, iris, focus. Sets all information into #nodes property.

relativeMove(options, callback)

PTZ. This is a relative pan-tilt-zoom method. Options for this method is a delta between desired and current position of the camera.

The options are:

  • x Pan, number or a string within -1 to 1, optional

  • y Tilt, number or a string within -1 to 1, optional

  • zoom Zoom, number or a string within 0 to 1, optional

  • speed An object with properties

    • x Pan speed, float within 0 to 1
    • y Tilt speed, float within 0 to 1
    • zoom Zoom speed, float within 0 to 1

    If the speed option is omitted, the default speed set by the PTZConfiguration will be used.

Callback is optional and means essentially nothing

absoluteMove(options, callback)

PTZ. This is an absolute pan-tilt-zoom method. Options for this method is an absolute position of the camera.

The options are:

  • x Pan, number or a string within -1 to 1, optional

  • y Tilt, number or a string within -1 to 1, optional

  • zoom Zoom, number or a string within 0 to 1, optional

  • speed An object with properties

    • x Pan speed, float within 0 to 1
    • y Tilt speed, float within 0 to 1
    • zoom Zoom speed, float within 0 to 1

    If the speed option is omitted, the default speed set by the PTZConfiguration will be used.

Callback is optional and means essentially nothing

continuousMove(options, callback)

PTZ. Operation for continuous Pan/Tilt and Zoom movements

The options are:

  • x Pan velocity, number or a string within -1 to 1, optional
  • y Tilt velocity, number or a string within -1 to 1, optional
  • zoom Zoom velocity, number or a string within -1 to 1, optional
  • timeout Timeout in milliseconds, number. If timeout is omitted, movement will continue until stop command

stop(options, callback)

PTZ. Stop ongoing pan, tilt and zoom movements of absolute, relative and continuous type

Options and callback are optional. The options properties are:

  • profileToken (optional) - defines media profile to use and will define the configuration of the content of the stream. Default is #activeSource.profileToken
  • panTilt (optional) - set true when we want to stop ongoing pan and tilt movements. If panTilt arguments are not present, this command stops these movements.
  • zoom (optional) - set true when we want to stop ongoing zoom movement. If zoom arguments are not present, this command stops ongoing zoom movement.

getStatus(options, callback)

PTZ. Returns an object with the current PTZ values.

{
	position: {
		x: 'pan position', 
        y: 'tilt position',
		zoom: 'zoom'
	}
	, moveStatus: {} // camera moving
	, utcTime: 'current camera datetime'
}

getConfigurations(callback)

PTZ. Get all the existing PTZConfigurations from the device. Configurations saved into #configurations property

getConfigurationOptions(configurationToken, callback)

PTZ. Get supported coordinate systems including their range limitations for selected configuration. Extends corresponding configuration object

GetRecordings(callback)

Recordings. Get all the recordings tracks available on the device. Note: Only Onvif Profile G devices provide this features.

GetReplayUri(callback)

Recordings. Get the replay stream or streams (if using a NVR) - usually RTSP - for the provided recording token/s.

GetRecordingOptions(callback)

Recordings. Get the information of a recording token. Needed in order to match a recordingToken with a sourceToken. Used with both GetRecordings and GetReplayUri will allow to retreive recordings from an Onvif Profile G device. Note: not all devices are 100% Onvif G compliant.

Changelog

  • 0.8.0 Only Digest Auth support
  • 0.7.1 Improved events handling
  • 0.6.5 Add MEDIA2 support, Profile T and GetServices XAddrs support for H265 cameras. Add support for HTTPS. Add Discovery.on('error') to examples. Add flag to only send Zoom, or only send Pan/Tilt for some broken cameras (Sony XP1 Xiongmai). Fix bug in GetServices. Improve setNTP command. API changed on getNetworkInterfaces and other methods that could return an Array or a Single Item. We now return an Array in all cases. Add example converting library so it uses Promises with Promisify. Enable 3702 Discovery on Windows for MockServer. Add MockServer test cases)
  • 0.6.1 Workaround for cams that don't send date-time
  • 0.6.0 Refactor modules for proper import in electron-based environment
  • 0.5.5 Added ptz.gotoHomePosition, ptz.setHomePosition. Fixed exceptions in ptz.getConfigurations and utils.parseSOAPString. Added tests for ptz.setPreset, ptz.removePreset, ptz.gotoHomePosition, and ptz.setHomePosition.
  • 0.5.4 Bumped for NPM.
  • 0.5.3 Some fixes. Tests
  • 0.5.2 preserveAddress property for NAT devices, discovery with multiple network interfaces (@Climax777)
  • 0.5.1 Critical bugfix in SOAP-auth for some cams
  • 0.5.0 Profile G support (@RogerHardiman), proper SOAP auth, nodejs support >= 0.12
  • 0.4.2 Bugfixes
  • 0.4.1 Improved discovery (@sousandrei, @RogerHardiman)
  • 0.4.0 Encoder support (@chriswiggins), Imaging service (@EastL)
  • 0.3.1 EventEmitter-based events
  • 0.3.0 Refactoring, documentation, event service basics
  • 0.2.7 WS-Discovery

Links

WSDL schemes and docs:

  • Operations index
  • http://www.onvif.org/onvif/ver10/tc/onvif_core_ver10.pdf
  • http://www.onvif.org/ver10/device/wsdl/devicemgmt.wsdl
  • http://www.onvif.org/ver10/media/wsdl/media.wsdl
  • http://www.onvif.org/ver20/ptz/wsdl/ptz.wsdl
  • http://www.onvif.org/onvif/ver10/recording.wsdl
  • http://www.onvif.org/onvif/ver10/replay.wsdl
  • ONVIF Application Programmer's Guide