Yawcam

Hi Malun

Hope you don't mind me posting this here.

I developed this simple sidebar gadget initially for personal use but later realized that other people might also find this useful.

It basically allows you to view the HTTP image from Yawcam without having to use a browser. You can control how often it retrieves an image and keeps it right on your desktop. Holding the winkey+space (Vista/Win7) key combination lets you take a quick peek on your desktop, including this gadget.

Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Here's the link btw : http://www.sticktech.net/content/d-eye- ... bar-gadget

Additional pointers: (I'd list them here till I get the chance to modify the page)
do not include "http://" on your URL (thanks to theoldschool for this one)
i.e 192.168.1.1 instead of http://192.168.1.1 and ipaddress.dnsprovider.com instead of http://ipaddress.dnsprovider.com

No answer is given.

Great idea - got it working OK but I can't change the resolution - I can only see a bit of the camera image it seems to be set at 130x98. How can I change it to 320x240?
Tony

thanks for liking my little project. if you move your mouse over the gadget, a couple of buttons should appear to the right of the gadget. just below the X button is a "larger size" button. just click that.

btw, if you do not see the buttons on the right, just drag the gadget a little bit to the left. maybe its off-screen.

All I have at the right is the X button and below that spanner icon which when I click on it opens the configuration screen where the URL & port settings go. No other buttons...

are you using windows vista? if so, you should undock the gadget. the 320x240 is the undocked size of the gadget.

Oh yes I see - when I drag the gadget away from the sidebar it goes up to 320x240 and when I drag it back to the sidebar it continues to display the full image albeit smaller.
Incidentally it took me some time to realise that I should enter just the IP address when entering my URL - initially I entered http://<my ip address> which didn't work - it may be worth pointing this out on your webpage in case others make the same mistake
Anyway - a fantastic gadget - I can keep an eye on my bird feeders on my desktop whilst at work! Thanks

As promissed,
I was not able to run the gadget successfully.
Here Is in order what i did :

1. Downloaded the archive file
   For info, the archive contained the files :
   • gadget.xml
   • main.htm
   • main.js
   • Settings.css
   • settings.html
   • settings.js
   • thumbnail.jpg
2. Extracted the files in the archive in directory "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\Yawcam.Gadget".
3. I added the Gadget to the side bar of Windows.
   For your info, i run Windows Vista (32 bits) on my computer.
   Click the link for specifications.
4. I tried to configure the gadget via the settings file setting.html and via the rightclick menu on the gadget (option : "Options").
   I have entered the local IP, with and without the http:// prefix.
   But all of the combinations give me only a white rectangle with a red cross in the upper left corner.
   
   

What did i do wrong ?
What did i forgot ?
I believe this usualy indicates, a script can not be ran.
However in this case i can view Http and Stream via the build in webpage of Yawcam.

For your info :

• I have tried to enter the settings (see point 4 above) with "Yawcam installed on my Vista computer" as well as "Yawcam installed on another computer in my local network".
• The second desktop is WindowsXP installed.
  Here you can find the specs of this machine.
• Yawcam is correctly installed on both desktops.
  The "Am i online test give on both desktops OK as result.
• I only did the test with the local IP of both desktops.
  (Example : 192.168.1.2)
• On both computers yawcam is/was running normally (not as a service)

@theoldschool
thanks. I'd keep that in mind and put it in the instructions.

@tellmewhy
i think the way you installed the gadget and edited the files messed the settings up. you should delete the folder you placed in the gadget folder then just double click the gadget file to let windows handle the installation. then enter the url,port number, and refresh page via the options window. i'm assuming that you already tested your Yawcam installation by using a browser. let me know what happens.


I am using Win7 btw so I'm more or less shooting blind with Vista.

Dragnier wrote:@tellmewhy
i think the way you installed the gadget and edited the files messed the settings up. you should delete the folder you placed in the gadget folder then just double click the gadget file to let windows handle the installation. then enter the url,port number, and refresh page via the options window. i'm assuming that you already tested your Yawcam installation by using a browser. let me know what happens.

• I deleted the previous installed files.
• I found a clear discription of what a "gadget file is :

  A gadget is distributed as a .gadget file—a renamed .zip archive—consisting of a collection of XML, HTML, Microsoft JScript, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) files. Installation consists of downloading the .gadget file and allowing the download process to install the gadget or saving the .gadget file to the local system and double-clicking to start the installation process.

  So I renamed the archive file in a .gadget file and installed the gadget.
  Files were installed now in my profile directory ("C:\Users\[My_username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\D-Eye0.2.gadget")
• Settings (IP, port and refreshrate) enterd via the settings.html are now passed to the gadget.
  However the display remaines as showed in the picture above.

As i said before i have no problem to run Yawcam and access the Http and stream in my browser via the local IP.
The scripts you are using, do they need modified settings ?
Wich internet option can't be blocked, ....

pls redownload the file as i'm not sure what may have changed on it when you opened it up. its basically a plug and play gadget. just double click it once its done downloading then click the wrench to go to settings.

i just installed yawcam on this PC and had no problem at all. here are the settings i used.

URL : localhost
Port: 8888
Refresh : 12

there's no need to edit anything in the gadget. the red x simply means that it cannot retrieve the image for some reason (i'm planning to come up with a more elegant solution for that in future releases). i really don't see where your problem is coming from. sorry. hope the redownload solves your problem

No use.
My guess is that some security setting prevents the image from being displayed via the gadget.
For your info, i even tried it with the previous version.
But with the very same result.

I still have one question,
Does the gadget works when you enter the local IP ?
Meaning, gadget and Yaxcam installed on the same computer or installed on computers within the local network.

In answer to your question - yes it does work on the local IP. On my desktop I'm using 192.168.0.2 ("localhost" works as well) and on my laptop (networked) I'm using my normal IP address (so that it works when I'm roaming) & they both work fine.

i really cannot figure out what's wrong with your system that prevents the gadget from extracting an image. It works just like a browser and extracts the image from HTTP.

what browser are you using to get the "It's a webcam" page?
have you tried using Internet Explorer?
can you put the exact values you entered on the options page?

This is a blind-shot but you should try turning off your firewall for a couple of minutes and test the gadget.

The gadget works fine for me.
Thanks for making it available for Yawcam users!

/malun