1.0.0 • Published 16h ago

ts-onvif

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1.0.0

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Summary Dependency Versions

ONVIF

ONVIF client protocol implementation for Node.js.

This page describes the future 1.x version of the ONVIF library written in TypeScript. If you are looking for the README for the stable 0.x version, please see branch v0.x

The default npm installation still uses version 0.x. If you want to try this new version, install it with:
npm install onvif@alpha

This is a wrapper for the ONVIF protocol that allows you to:

get information about your NVT (Network Video Transmitter) device and its media sources
control PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) movements
manage presets
detect devices on your network
control events
retrieve information about your NVR (Network Video Recorder) Profile G device
obtain a list of recordings

The library runs on Node.js and works server-side.

About

This is a new version of the ONVIF library. The previous version was written in JavaScript, while this version is written in TypeScript and includes interfaces describing ONVIF data structures.

At the moment, all the methods from v0.8 have been implemented.

The library may have some method signatures changed; it is in alpha testing.

The documentation for the new library was generated with TypeDoc and is available here:

https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/agsh/onvif/blob/v1/docs/index.html

Code that uses the old version of the library (0.8.x) should work with the compatibility class:

https://github.com/agsh/onvif/blob/v1/src/compatibility/cam.ts

Compatibility mode is currently unsupported.

Thanks a lot for your interest!
I will be happy to answer any questions and hear your feedback.

Features

TypeScript interfaces for the latest ONVIF WSDL specification generated by onvif-generate-interfaces to provide code completion and type checking in the IDE for the requested and returned values
Complete documentation
Tests using the real ONVIF server from HappyTimeSoft
Event support: pull-point, base ws-notification, filters, EventEmitter inheritance. See below
Lazy import of service modules: if, for example, a thermal service is not used, it will not be loaded.
Authentication with WS-Security and Digest (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256), also Advanced Security (experimental)
WS-Discovery support for finding devices on the local network
Full: Device, Events, Media, Media2, PTZ, Imaging, Analytics, AnalyticsDevice, Recording, Replay, Search, Receiver, DeviceIO, Display, Action Engine, Thermal, DoorControl, AccessControl, Credential, AccessRules, Schedule, Provisioning, AdvancedSecurity support.
Not yet implemented (interfaces only, from ONVIF Network Interface Specifications): AuthenticationBehavior, Application Management (appmgmt), Uplink, FederatedSearch
Improved error handling
Compatible with the original API structure

Before you can use most library methods, call connect() on your Onvif instance. This method performs the initial handshake with the device and fills internal state so later SOAP requests are authenticated and routed to the correct service endpoints.

connect() runs the following steps in order:

Time synchronization — getSystemDateAndTime() is called first. ONVIF WS-Security authentication includes a timestamp in the nonce digest, so the client must know the offset between its own clock and the device clock (timeShift). The library tries an unauthenticated request first, as the ONVIF spec allows, and retries with credentials when the device requires authentication (some Panasonic and Digital Barriers models behave this way).
Service discovery — the library tries device.getServices(), the modern ONVIF approach introduced with Profile T. If that fails on older devices, it falls back to device.getCapabilities(). Both methods populate onvif.uri with the URLs for media, PTZ, events, replay, and other services that subsequent requests use.
Media configuration — media.getProfiles() and media.getVideoSources() run in parallel, then getActiveSources() matches each video source to a suitable media profile. This sets activeSource, defaultProfile, and defaultProfiles, including encoder settings and PTZ configuration, so you can start streaming or controlling the camera without extra setup.

On success, connect() emits a connect event and returns the Onvif instance. Pass autoConnect: true in the constructor to run this automatically after instantiation.

TypeScript

import { Onvif } from 'onvif';

const onvif = new Onvif({ hostname: '192.168.1.13', port: 8000, username: 'admin', password: 'admin' });
await onvif.connect();
const info = await onvif.device.getDeviceInformation();
console.log(info);

CommonJS

const { Onvif } = require('onvif');

(async () => {
  const onvif = new Onvif({ hostname: '192.168.1.13', port: 8000, username: 'admin', password: 'admin' });
  await onvif.connect();
  const info = await onvif.device.getDeviceInformation();
  console.log(info);
})();

ESM (`.mjs` or `"type": "module"`)

import { Onvif } from 'onvif';

const onvif = new Onvif({ hostname: '192.168.1.13', port: 8000, username: 'admin', password: 'admin' });
await onvif.connect();
const info = await onvif.device.getDeviceInformation();
console.log(info);

Examples

located in the Examples Folder on the Github

Not all of them were reworked for version 1.x.

example.js - ONVIF Events. With filters, pull-point, push-sub subscriptions
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)

Events

Common approach

To subscribe to all events using pull-point subscription you can just use .on() method, since the Onvif class inherits from the EventEmitter class.

const onvif = new Onvif();
function eventHandler(msg) {
  console.log(msg);
  onvif.off('event');
}
onvif.on('event', eventHandler);

Subscription class

If you need to subscribe to events, you can use the Subscription class. This class is for the specific subscriptions, for example, when we need to subscribe to events from the camera with the filters. or add some more subscriptions than the common one. It uses the pull-point subscription. It inherits from EventEmitter. And emits two events: data and error. To use it you need to call subscribe() method. And to stop the device subscription and remove all listeners you need to call unsubscribe() method.

The first and the only one argument for data is the NotificationMessage object. And an error raised only when the connection to the device is lost.

await cam.connect();
const sub = new Subscription(cam, {
  filter: {
    topicExpression: [
      {
        expression: 'tns1:RuleEngine/CellMotionDetector/Motion',
        dialect: 'http://www.onvif.org/ver10/tev/topicExpression/ConcreteSet',
      },
    ],
  },
});
sub.on('data', async (data) => {
  console.log(new Date().toLocaleTimeString(), 'motion', data.topic._, data.message.message.data);
  await sub.unsubscribe();
});
await sub.subscribe();

For a full interactive example, see events.with.filter.ts.

This class is used internally by the Onvif class for the common event listener.

Push WS-BaseNotification

With push (WS-BaseNotification), the camera sends event notifications to an HTTP endpoint you host, instead of you polling the device.

To use it: start an HTTP server reachable from the camera, call subscribe with that URL as the consumer reference, keep the subscription alive with renew before it expires, and call unsubscribe when you are done. Method signatures are in the Events class documentation. A working flow is shown in events.with.filter.ts — the HTTP server at lines 50–65, and subscribe / unsubscribe at lines 143–164.

Interfaces

Interfaces are generated according to the latest version of the ONVIF specification.

All methods accept options defined by the ONVIF specification and return data from the corresponding <method_name>Response.

For example, the getCapabilities method accepts a single argument of type GetCapabilities and returns a result of type Capabilities.

Below is the internal structure of the GetCapabilitiesResponse type:

export interface GetCapabilitiesResponse {
  /** Capability information. */
  capabilities?: Capabilities;
}

class Device {
  // ...

  async getCapabilities(options?: GetCapabilities): Promise<Capabilities> {
    // ...
  }

  // ...
}

In general, the library tries to avoid returning objects that contain only a single property.

In some cases, where native JavaScript types are more convenient, interfaces are extended with additional fields.

For example:

SetSystemDateAndTime
SetSystemDateAndTimeExtended

The extended version adds a more convenient field:

export interface SetSystemDateAndTimeExtended extends SetSystemDateAndTime {
  /**
   * Javascript Date object to use instead of UTCDateTime
   */
  dateTime?: Date;
  // ...
}

Support for `xs:any`

The ONVIF specifications include numerous extension points, which presents a challenge:

on one hand, we want simple and convenient interfaces
on the other hand, we need a unified mechanism for handling undocumented vendor-specific data

This data is usually provided through:

<xs:any namespace="##any" processContents="lax" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>

This mechanism is important for:

backward compatibility
forward compatibility
XML JavaScript transformation in ONVIF get/set methods

Example

Suppose we have an ElementItem structure defined in:

https://github.com/onvif/specs/blob/9cdc78685cc9ddd80099a7a9cb9ada035dd0d5eb/wsdl/ver10/schema/onvif.xsd#L6611

Example schema:

<xs:element name="ElementItem" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
    <xs:annotation>
        <xs:documentation>Complex value structure.</xs:documentation>
    </xs:annotation>

    <xs:complexType>
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:any namespace="##any" processContents="lax">
                <xs:annotation>
                    <xs:documentation>
                        XML tree containing the element value as defined
                        in the corresponding description.
                    </xs:documentation>
                </xs:annotation>
            </xs:any>
        </xs:sequence>

        <xs:attribute name="Name" type="xs:string" use="required">
            <xs:annotation>
                <xs:documentation>Item name.</xs:documentation>
            </xs:annotation>
        </xs:attribute>
    </xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

This becomes the following autogenerated TypeScript interface:

export interface ElementItem {
  /** Item name. */
  name: string;

  /** XML tree containing the element value as defined in the corresponding description. */
  [key: string]: unknown;
}

Real-World XML Example

For example, in MetadataConfiguration:

<Parameters>
    <ElementItem>
        <Name>elementItem1</Name>

        <Param1>
            <Data>42</Data>
        </Param1>

        <Param2>param2</Param2>
    </ElementItem>
</Parameters>

After parsing, the object looks like this:

{
  elementItem : [{
    name    : 'elementItem1',

    param1  : {
      data : 42
    },

    param2  : 'param2',

    __any__ : {
      'Name'   : ['elementItem1'],

      'Param1' : [{
        'Data' : ['42']
      }],

      'Param2' : 'param2'
    }
  }]
}

This object contains:

the required name field
parsed xs:any fields (param1, param2)
the raw __any__ field

The __any__ field contains the original unprocessed object returned by xml2js

Why Keep `any`?

A reasonable question is:

Why keep the raw XML structure?

The answer is simple.

When configuring ONVIF devices, extensions, or vendor-specific parameters, we often do not know how to serialize a clean JavaScript object back into the correct XML structure.

At the same time, we still want to work with the data in a convenient way.

So when modifying device configuration (for example using setMetadataConfiguration), follow two simple rules: