This is an early version of a page to explain DE49- PicPgBuilder, and invite you to try it... for free.

DE49 is a program which evolved from something I wrote for my own needs. It was written sometime before June 2014. I have had it running more or less continually since then first on a Windows 98 PC, more recently on Windows 10.

Diagram of PicPgBuilder operation

I have a number of IP cameras, all sending images to an FTP server running in the same Windows PC as a web server I have running. That web server is "connected" to the internet via the magic of DDNS at http://mon7nc.dyndns.org

DE49 periodically looks in selected folders of the FTP server, and assembles a page showing the most recently FTP'd IP cam image from each camera. At the same time, it moves any other .jpgs in the folder to a sub-folder called "Older". (This helps minimize the processing time for each update.)

Most of the things I've mentioned so far can be configured via DE49's ini file... How many folders are checked, which folders are checked, how often they are checked.

Usually, you can see the result at...

My IP cams display page

The images are not "live"... I don't want to waste internet bandwidth maintaining live video feeds... but, for as many cameras as are currently working, and sending images to the FTP server, the images are likely to be recent. (When the image was stored on the FTP server, according to the time at the server, is displayed as part of the page. My rather cryptic labels on the images... "IVA199", etc., mean something to me. You can make the labels on your page whatever you want them to be.

Some of the cameras are set up to take a new picture every hour during the day. (Some are set up badly, and take a picture every hour, and thus sometimes the image is all black, or a messy thing resulting from IR LEDs reflecting off a window pane.)

Some of the cameras are set up to send an image when they detect motion... so an "old" image may merely be the result of the camera not seeing any motion for a while.

One of the beauties of the DE49 approach is that you are not forced to accept one size which is supposed to fit all. Different cameras (or other image sources) have different features. As long as the image source can periodically save an image to a file, DE49 can use it as a source for the webpage that it creates.

(Continuing for a moment with "sources of images"... I have other programs which, for 8instance, create a graph with readings from weather sensors... temperatures, windspeed, etc. They create and save images. DE49 can "post" those images on the webpage it creates.)

Try it?

It is much more fun if you have a webserver already in place, but you don't need one. And you don't need an FTP server.

You do need something that is saving at least one image to a file from time to time.

You could then set up DE49 to create a web page to display that image... but, without a webserver (which you can add, for free... plus some serious work!), you will only be able to see the resulting webpage on the PC where it is created, or, if you've opened the folder it is in to filesharing, on the LAN the PC is on. But, if that is where you are, you can start with that modest beginning, and then "grow" your system to make what DE49 is creating visible on the web. It will mean that you have to set up a webserver with a folder DE49 can write to. It is not Rocket Science, nor need it cost anything except your time... and...

You can do it!

I hope you are still reading. Sorry to be so "negative", but I didn't want to drag you into something that was going to be beyond you.

If you are still reading, I think you are ready to download DE49-PicPgBuilder.zip, with the exe and some supporting text files.

Create a folder... I would suggest using C:/ForDE49... and unzip what's in the .zip file to it. (Whatever folder you decide to use, I would avoid using the "virtual" folders, like "My Documents", or any subfolder of one of them.)

Run DE49.exe. The first time it runs, it gives you a message, creates an .ini file, and then shuts down. That ini file needs tweaking for your system... mostly to say where images are to come from, where they are to go to... (You tweak it with a text editor. Notepad (comes with Windows) will do. I much prefer Textpad, from Textpad.com (they do a free trial, with only sensible limits). (Most of my work... including writing this... is done with Textpad.)

After you have tweaked the ini file, DE49 will run normally when you launch it. (If it all goes horribly wrong, just delete DE49ini.txt to make a fresh start.)

In the free demo version of DE49, the web page it creates can display just one image. But you can use it for as long as you wish.

If you decide you like it, you can upgrade to the full version upon a small payment to me... let's say $10, for now... All that you need to do to upgrade is to modify two lines in the ini file... you don't have to download anything, you don't have to reinstall anything.

I would be very grateful if you would give it a try!!

... especially if you keep a log of puzzles you encounter along the way, and send that on to me. The program is new, I don't know where these support documents need improvement.

When you get an instance up and running, if you would be willing to send me the URL to post here, to show others your success, I would be grateful.




Please contact me directly by email for any help you may need.


Ad from page's editor: Yes.. I do enjoy compiling these things for you. I hope they are helpful. However... this doesn't pay my bills!!! Sheepdog Software (tm) is supposed to help do that, so if you found this stuff useful, (and you run a Windows or MS-DOS PC) please visit my freeware and shareware page, download something, and circulate it for me? Links on your page to this page would also be appreciated!
Click here to visit editor's freeware, shareware page.

How to email or write this page's editor, Tom Boyd


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