Soft Buttons and API

The left row of buttons in the menu for the live, player and multiview display modes for the MOBOTIX cameras can be freely configured by the user with a wide range of different camera functions. The most important functions for the current application can be made available conveniently in the form of soft buttons.

Hardware functions can also be defined as soft buttons, such as switching between different view modes in multiview or incorporating "standard" links to the LAN or Internet. This means that not only can you go a website at the simple push of a button, Emergency Instructions can also be retrieved on a server or PC in the form of a local document (HTML, PDF, movie etc.).

Soft button technology also gives you the option of programming external devices such as heating controls or phone systems via the camera, provided they are connected to the camera via a serial port. Furthermore, the soft buttons are also very suitable for controlling pan/tilt heads which are communicated with via the camera's serial port. In this case, the control commands to the port can be simply assigned to any button as text or binary strings. Programming is very simple; SHIFT-click the required button to open the configuration menu and assign the desired functions.

Over and beyond the pure button functions, soft buttons can also be activated manually in multiview mode by clicking the mouse on a camera pane or even automatically by means of a camera alarm.

Like the camera controls, the soft buttons also use http links to the camera (http-API). Thanks to this concept, a web designer can generate new, customized user interfaces for the camera, if necessary. See reference manual or developer tools.