Reusable Integrations

What is reusable integration?

An integration that can be easily deployed in multiple systems without advanced knowledge or manual ‘hacks’ is reusable.

The key aspects of reusability are simplifying the configuration and the usage:

1. Automate the basic setup to reduce the possibility of errors caused by the user. You can take advantage of Server API to automate configuration, including setting up system rules.
2. Design and maintain a simple UI from which the user can easily connect to the Nx Witness server, or to the third-party system.
3. Make it work ‘out of the box’ with default settings, and reduce the steps required from the user to make the integration work.
4. Make the solution user-friendly for operators. Use clear messaging and flexible setup; cover a wide range of user scenarios.

What is the point of making the integration reusable?

Here are some advantages:

1. Ability to deploy it in any system with less configuration required. 
2. Less maintenance is required for installations, reducing the workload for the support team
3. Lower qualification requirements for system administrators.
4. Ability to deploy the integration in different systems that have different requirements, without custom development overhead.

How integrations can work

There are many ways a solution can be integrated with Nx Witness. Using the Server API, Rules Engine, or Metadata SDK are some common approaches.

Using the API

You can utilize HTTP requests (GET, POST, PUT, etc) to push data to Nx Witness from 3rd party devices/systems. When using the API along the Rules Engine to automate system configuration or send API calls to 3rd party devices. 

For more examples of how the API can be used, please visit API Examples.

Using the Rules Engine

The built-in Rules Engine is used to automate Nx Witness to perform a certain action when certain criteria are met. The Rules Engine can also be used to push data to third party services from Nx Witness by creating an event rule that performs an HTTP request when a set trigger occurs. 

For example, Nx Witness can detect a specific license plate, which would trigger an event set by the user and send a command to open the parking gate.

Using Metadata SDK

The Metadata SDK is used to create plugins that can be easily installed in any system.

Plugins have capabilities:

• Attaching additional information (metadata) to the video
• Sending custom events to the system
• Built into the desktop client native configuration interface to simplify user setup

The Metadata SDK is mostly used for developing video analytics plugins, but can be applied to other scenarios as well. Please refer to How to Create a Video Analytics Plugin to learn about the process of developing your own plugin.

To better understand how a plugin works, please read Plugin Control Flow.