setting up the http web server

Configuring

By default, the HTTP Server in i-Catcher is disabled. This prevents anyone online from taking a look at your camera without your knowing. If you want your camera to be visible online, the HTTP Server makes this easy by providing a small-scale web server on your i-Catcher machine. To enable and configure the Web Server, select "Settings" from the main i-Catcher Window, and then select "HTTP Server".

In order to use the HTTP Server, you need to make sure "Enable HTTP Server" is checked. This will then enable the additional configuration options. The IP Address and Port are used to set up the network details of the HTTP Server. Most people can leave these as they are. The IP Address setting is useful if your computer has more than one IP Address and you only want to accept connection made to just one of those addresses. The port setting allows you to specify which TCP port i-Catcher will use. For most people it is safe to leave this set to "80", which is the standard port used for websites. If your computer is already using this port, for example to run a website, then you may wish to change this to a different value.

On the right hand side of the configuration window are settings relating to the username and password features. i-Catcher allows you to prevent unauthorised access to your camera by setting a username and password that everyone attempting to view your camera will need to enter before they can see your camera. To enable this feature, check the box marked "Require a password to view the server", and enter a username and password.

Usage

Once the HTTP Server is running, you will most likely want to test it with your web browser. Most HTTP Server configurations can be tested by entering http://localhost/ into a web browser. If the port you configured is something other than 80, then you will need to supply that too. For example: http://localhost:81/ would access an i-Catcher HTTP Server running on port 81. If you used an IP Address other than 0.0.0.0, you will need to specify that IP address instead of "localhost". IF you have set up a username and password for i-Catcher, you can specify that in the address by putting username:password@ after http://. If you don't specify the username and password, your browser will ask you for them.

In i-Catcher, the current live image is returned by the HTTP Server by default. The image does not update, so if you wish to see an updating image, then put /live.htm on the end of the address. This is a page showing an updating image from your camera. Again, if a username and password have been set, then these will be requested by your browser.

A common question asked is how to go about giving the address of the camera to friends and colleagues so that they may also look at it. Obviously, "localhost" won't work for them, and you will need to know what your internet IP Address is. Because internet connections vary, it would be difficult to give a complete guide on how to obtain your IP address here. For this reason we refer you to the "Getting Online" HowTo, which covers internet connections in more detail.