Generic events (explained)

Generic events allow you to trigger actions in the XProtect event server by sending simple strings via the IP network to your system.

You can use any hard- or software, which can send strings via TCP or UDP, to trigger generic events. Your system can analyze received TCP or UDP data packages, and automatically trigger generic events when specific criteria are met. This way, you may integrate your system with external sources, for example access control systems and alarm systems. The aim is to allow as many external sources as possible to interact with the system.

With the concept of data sources, you avoid having to adapt third-party tools to meet the standards of your system. With data sources, you can communicate with a particular piece of hard- or software on a specific IP port and fine-tune how bytes arriving on that port are interpreted. Each generic event type pairs up with a data source and makes up a language used for communication with a specific piece of hard- or software.

Working with data sources requires general knowledge of IP networking and specific knowledge of the individual hard- or software you want to interface from. There are many parameters you can use and no ready-made solution on how to do this. Basically, your system provides the tools, but not the solution. Unlike user-defined events, generic events have no authentication. This makes them easier to trigger but, to avoid jeopardizing security, only events from local host are accepted. You can allow other client IP addresses from the Generic Events tab of the Options menu.