Long Events and Notifications in Nx Witness
Planned
Questions About Long Events and Notifications in Nx Witness
Hello Nx Community,
I’m integrating an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) with Nx Witness using the createEvent API. While things are mostly working, I have some challenges that I hope you can clarify:
-
One Active "Long" Event Per Camera or Set of Cameras
It seems only one active "long" event (state: "active") is allowed per camera. Attempts to create additional "long" events are ignored unless the existing event is markedinactive.- Is this expected behavior?
- Can we support multiple simultaneous "long" events per camera or a group of cameras?
-
Clearing/Acknowledging Forced Acknowledgment Notifications
I’ve configured Generic Events with Force Acknowledgment, and notifications stay open until manually acknowledged by the operator.- Is there a way to clear or acknowledge these notifications programmatically via the API or through an Event Rule?
-
Updating or Editing Long Events
Updating an active "long" event seems impossible. NewcreateEventAPI calls with updated fields (e.g.,caption,description) don't reflect changes in Nx Witness.- Is the best approach to set the current event
inactiveand create a new one? - If so, how can I ensure the transition is seamless for the operator?
- Is the best approach to set the current event
-
Triggering HTTPS Requests on Operator Acknowledgment
I’d like to trigger an HTTPS request to my IDS when an operator acknowledges a desktop notification.- Is it possible to configure this (e.g., via Event Rules or API)?
Thank you in advance for your insights and guidance!
-
Hi Lozovskoy Nikolay
Thanks for your questions, please check the answer below.
1) Generic Event and Camera Correlation
Generic Event is a server-level event, so it may not directly connect to a specific camera. However, you can use the metadata parameters (e.g., cameraRefs: [cameraId1, cameraId2]) to associate the event with a specific set of cameras.Have you tried this approach? What steps have you taken that led to the conclusion that it works for only one camera? Can you also provide details on your use case and the actions associated with the events?
2) Understanding Force Acknowledgment
Force Acknowledgment requires manual acknowledgment in its design. If you’re using an API or program to automate this process, it likely no longer qualifies as an “Acknowledgment” maybe(?)
At present, this request seem not align with the intended purpose of Force Acknowledgment, which is meant to ensure manual validation by an operator.3) Updating or Editing Long Events
The description of “Updating or Editing Long Events” might not be clear to us. Could you please elaborate on what you mean by this? Providing more context and details about your use case will help us offer a more specific answer.4) Triggering HTTPS Requests on Operator Acknowledgment
No, the acknowledgment process in Nx is handled internally, and there’s no API to expose this behavior directly.
However, each acknowledgment creates a corresponding bookmark. You could consider polling for related bookmarks to identify acknowledgments. However this approach may introduce delays and additional communication overhead, so it may not be ideal depending on your use case though.0 -
Hi Ichiro,
Thanks for your reply.Here is my planned integration scenario and my answers to your questions:
Planned Use Case:
I am integrating an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) with Nx Witness to synchronize events. The system detects events like intrusion, updates their parameters (e.g., GPS, category), and allows operators to acknowledge or clear these events. The goal is to:
- Display notifications in Nx Witness for detected events.
- Keep notifications updated as event details change in the IDS.
- Allow operators to acknowledge events, syncing the acknowledgment status between Nx Witness and the IDS.
Replies:
1. One Active "Long" Event Per Rule:
- Yes, I made a small mistake here. The limitation is not for a camera but for the Event Rule itself.
If there is an Event Rule configured for a Desktop Notification with any Source, Caption, or Description, it is not possible to register two separate notifications for the same rule, even if the Source, Caption, and Description differ.
This restriction seems tied to how Nx Witness manages rules for "long" events.
3. Updating Long Events:
- In our IDS, events can mutate over time, with parameters like GPS location, Category, and other details changing. It would be ideal if notifications in Nx Witness could update dynamically when the event is updated in the IDS.
However, it seems that updating "long" events is not possible. If there are other workarounds for reflecting these changes, I’d appreciate your insights.
New Question:
I’m considering adding a web page that displays a detailed description of each event and includes an Acknowledge button. This button should acknowledge the event both in the VMS (Nx Witness) and in our IDS system.
- Is it possible to acknowledge events via the JavaScript API from an internal web page in Nx Witness?
- If yes, are there examples or documentation for implementing such a feature?
0 -
Hello!
There are several options in our system to react on real world events -- Generic Events, Analytic Events and Analytic Objects.
From what you're describing Objects look better for your case than events.
In general, Events are simpler than Objects, and represent only that something has happened and either was instant or lasted for some time. For events you can provide caption, description and source.
Objects are more complex, objects may have bounding boxes on the video, attributes that may change over time (such as you described -- location, confidence, anything like that), objects have types, there's a mechanism of track_id to provide correlation between frames. And of course there might be multiple objects on a single frame.
I would recommend you to check if this approach suits you. Feel free to reach for any help.
0 -
Hello,
Nikita,
Could you please clarify then we can create/pass objects though rest API calls?
Our IDS system is like a Perimeter detection system with it's own physical sensors and we can communicate with NX only via API call.
From your answer it looks like you suggest something about videostream analytics. Or am I wrong and we can create a plugin in your NX system which will communicate with our IDS and then create internal objects with NX?
Could you please share links to the documentation of suggested solution?0 -
Hello!
Actually, yes, you're right, despite you can send object via API without analyzing the stream, still it is device-centered, so you will need a device that will be correlated by the system with the object.
To check what you will achieve from the user's perspective you may watch this video:
You can find documentation about developing such plugin here.
But after clarifying that you don't use actual cameras for your IDS, but a set of sensors, I can also suggest to design your system based on instant generic events, and have separate generic events for intrusion start, intermediate status changes and intrusion stop, and then configure notifications for each, based on caption parameters.
0 -
Hello!
Nikita
Thanks a lot for your updates.
At first attempt we will try to MVP with instant events as you described.
Event starts -> Show Notification with Acknowledgement
Event updates -> Show common Notification
Event stops -> Show common Notification
Later may be we try to go with plugin integration.
P.S.
It's a pity, that we can not create a constant Notification, which could be created and cleared by API.
(Example: Operator has cleared the event in our interface, no need to repeat action in NX)
or
(Example: Operator cleared event in NX, so no need to repeat action in our interface)0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
6 comments