Add IP address to text overlay?

stevejones

Might there be some way to add the IP address of the server along with camera name and time and date stamp to the text overlay on images emailed when motion is detected? There are times when it would be very helpful for me to have that information. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Ben

Hi Steve, there is currently no way to do this, and this is not a feature that has been requested before. If you can let us know the problem you're trying to solve I should be able to suggest something.

For example, if you set the Mac to a manual (static) IP address on your local network, then this IP address will always belong to the server and will never change. This is a required setup step in setting up Remote Monitoring, so please consult this section of the manual for instructions.

Hope this helps.

Ben

Hi Steve, quick follow-up: you can actually achieve what you want using AppleScript. Use the AppleScript Editor app to put together a script like this:

    set x to "Front door camera, IP " & IPv4 address of (get system info)

    tell application "SecuritySpy"
        set overlay text x camera number 0
    end tell

This will update the IP address in the text overlay for the specified camera whenever it is run.

stevejones

Fantastic, that works perfectly well! Thank you very much! The reason I needed this is that there are occasions when a computer and/or router hiccups and IP address changes at the remote site, and none of the services I've used seem to do a good job of sending the new IP address. This way I'll have it included with any motion detection images that are emailed to me. Thanks again!

stevejones

If I may follow up on this... what do I add to the script so that the overlay also includes the time and date stamp? Thanks in advance.

stevejones

Sorry if this seems like pestering... instead of IPv4 address of (get system info) is there some way to ensure the external IP is sent and not the DHCP one?

Ben

Hi Steve,

You can add the time and date by adding "+d" to the text overlay.

For an AppleScript to get the external IP address it would need to contact an external server to provide this information - here's an AppleScript example to get the external IP address.

However, I think you are very much over-engineering this solution! SecuritySpy has a built-in DDNS feature to provide you with a permanent hostname (e.g. example.viewcam.me), which will be continually updated with your external IP address, even when it changes.

Hope this helps.

stevejones

DOH! Brilliant... never mind the previous. :-) And thank you very, very much!