Overview of External Triggers

This section describes the input and output trigger support in Cisco Vision Director.

Multiple Venues

The Triggers interface in the Configuration area of the UI is not venue aware. All defined triggers in Cisco Vision Director are global in scope in a centralized Cisco Vision Director server configuration with multiple venues. However, triggers can be applied to venue-associated scripts.

Input Trigger Support

Note: In Release 6.1, the number of inbound triggers supported increased to 1024.

Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director supports an HTTP-based inbound API that can be used to trigger one or more actions by the Cisco Vision Director software.

Cisco Vision Director has 16 default (with a configurable maximum of 1024) input trigger IDs that serve as placeholders for a Cisco Vision Director administrator to define and enable for your system.

Note : To control external triggers from a software application, contact your Cisco Systems representative to obtain the Event Trigger API white paper by special agreement.

Building management and life safety systems as well as the broadcast control room in a stadium typically allow external integration by using dry contact closure and/or GPIO devices. It is expected that networked surveillance cameras, video routers, and other broadcast equipment already have these input/output (I/O) modules built into the hardware.

Figure 1 shows the different sources of contact closure that can be used as external input triggers to an event script on the Cisco Vision Director server.

■The virtual contact closure option represents a software application that can initiate an HTTP request directly and also use the Event Trigger API for retrieval of input trigger configuration from Cisco Vision Director.

■The physical contact closure option represents a hardware device, such as those used for life safety or building management systems, which produce an electrical signal that requires another device to convert the signal to an IP-based HTTP request. Figure 1 shows this conversion being done by a GPIO gateway to initiate the HTTP request after receiving the trigger from the physical contact closure device. The Control by Web x600M is an example of a third-party hardware device that accepts two-wire signals and sends commands to Cisco Vision Director. The X600M has the ability to run Lua scripts than can take physical input from a dry-contact physical switch, digital connection, thermocouple, or other source and then send Cisco Vision Director the HTTP GET that forms the input trigger API call.

Figure 1 Input Sources like Control by Web X600M to Cisco Vision Director

Output Trigger Support

The External Triggers feature supports output triggers which allow a script event to trigger notification to external systems. Cisco Vision Director has 64 default output trigger IDs, with a configurable maximum of 256. These are initially disabled and serve as placeholders for a Cisco Vision Director administrator to define and enable for your system.

Each output trigger is identified or addressed by its trigger ID, numbered sequentially. An output trigger defines a script event that will be used to trigger one or more outbound actions using an HTTP GET or POST request.

Cisco Vision Director maintains a history of what actions were taken and the responses. An HTTP output request is considered successful when HTTP code 200 (success status) is received.

Figure 2 shows the different methods that can be used as external output triggers from an event script on the Cisco Vision Director server. Just as with input triggers, the supported methods include an HTTP call (like a software-based, virtual contact closure) with a third-party application, or a standard contact closure.

Figure 2 Output Trigger Methods From Cisco Vision Director

HTTP Methods and URLs for External Triggers

This section describes the HTTP methods and URLs used to support input and output triggers in Cisco Vision Director. When using HTTPS protocol for either input or output triggers, TLS 1.2 is the default transport security protocol that is used in Release 6.2. Prior releases use TLS 1.0.

Input Trigger HTTP Methods and URLs

The HTTP method used by the trigger device can be a GET, POST, PUT or DELETE depending on the device requirements. You can configure the inbound HTTP method per input trigger in Cisco Vision Director. The default is GET.

Each time an external system sends an HTTP request to Cisco Vision Director as an input trigger, the set of actions associated with that input trigger are taken. There is a registry key (ExternalTrigger.input.minInterval) that specifies how much time to elapse before Cisco Vision Director processes any succeeding HTTP request to the same input trigger. For more information, see the Management Dashboard Registry Settings for Input Triggers and the How to Configure Advanced External Trigger Settings in the Registry.

Cisco Vision supports both HTTP and HTTPS API calls using the following sample URLs, where svd-server-ip is the IP address of your Cisco Vision Director server, and id is the number of the input trigger:

■ http:// svd-server-ip :8080/CiscoVision/ws/rest/trigger/input/ id

■ https:// svd-server-ip /CiscoVision/ws/rest/trigger/input/ id

Note : To further protect access using these URLs, you can configure authentication by both password and IP address. For more information, see Authentication for External Triggers.

Note: You can continue to use StadiumVision in the above addresses. We recommend switching to CiscoVision.

Consider the following when using HTTPS:

■Cisco Vision Director uses self-signed certificates. Depending on how the API consumer application is designed, it might require automatic acceptance of the certificate. In Release 6.2, you can import certificates. See Release Notes for 6.2 Dynamic Signage Director or the Release 6.2: Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Administration Guide.

■The standard HTTPS port 443 is used.

Output Trigger HTTP Methods and URLs

Just as with input triggers, the HTTP method used by output triggers in Cisco Vision Director can be a GET, POST, PUT or DELETE depending on the external device or application requirements. You can configure the outbound HTTP method per output trigger in Cisco Vision Director.

Note : Cisco Vision Director can accept a payload in a POST or PUT request.

The URL that Cisco Vision Director specifies in its output HTTP request is determined by the target application or hardware device consuming the trigger event. However, the URL to the target external system must be configured in the output trigger when you define the HTTP action.

Sample Output Trigger URL to GPIO Device

The following is a sample URL when sending an output trigger to a hardware GPIO device:

■ http:// gpio-server-ip /state.xml?relay X State= n

where:

– gpio-server-ip —Specifies the IP address of the GPIO device.

– X —Specifies the relay number that you want to trigger (1 or 2).

– n —Specifies the numeric value that corresponds to the state that you want to assign to the relay (for example, 0 is off, 1 is on, and 2 pulses the relay on for a default of 1 second, then off).

Authentication for External Triggers

Cisco Vision Director supports Basic Authorization for both input and output triggers. This section describes the methods supported to secure the use of input and output triggers in Cisco Vision Director.

Input Trigger Authentication

Cisco Vision Director supports two forms of authentication that you can configure per input trigger:

■Username and password

■IP address list

For added security, both forms of authentication can be enabled.

Output Trigger Authentication

Cisco Vision Director supports a username and password authentication that you can configure per output trigger as part of the HTTP action definition.

These are credentials required by the external system. For example, consider an external web server's REST API that can only be called by clients that provide credentials. Then, configure an input trigger (10) in Cisco Vision Director to require authentication. If you wanted to loop an output trigger to that input trigger 10, the username/password for this output trigger must match what is set in input trigger 10.

External Trigger Actions

This section describes the trigger actions that are supported for input and output triggers. For input triggers, you define what script actions should happen when an inbound trigger is received. For output triggers, you define a URL to be sent from Cisco Vision Director when a particular script action occurs.

Input Trigger Actions

Cisco Vision Director can perform certain script actions or TV controls upon receipt of an input trigger. Each input trigger can be configured to have multiple actions.

You can configure the following script actions to occur upon receipt of an input trigger:

■Start a script.

■Stop a script.

■Change to an ad-hoc state.

■Leave the current ad-hoc state.

■Go to the next sequential state.

■Go to the previous sequential state.

You can configure the following TV control actions to occur upon receipt of an input trigger:

■Turn TVs off by group, zone, or device.

■Turn TVs on by group, zone or device.

Output Trigger Actions

Cisco Vision Director supports configuration of a URL to be sent outbound when a designated script starts, stops, or changes to a specified state.

If a script is configured in an outbound trigger, and then you remove the script (or you remove a state, and the trigger refers to a state in the script), Cisco Vision Director will auto-disable the trigger.

Use Cases for External Triggers

This section provides a high-level description of some specific use cases for input and output triggers in Cisco Vision Director.

Moment of Exclusivity Use Case for Input Triggers

Figure 3 shows the use case of a single button that can be used when a goal occurs during the match that can trigger multiple display changes at once, including a Cisco Vision Director event script change to an ad-hoc state that displays new content on multiple TVs in the venue.

Figure 3 Moment of Exclusivity for a Goal During Match with Input Trigger

Moment of Exclusivity Use Case for Input and Output Triggers

Figure 4 also shows the use case of a moment of exclusivity for a goal during a match. In this example, an input trigger occurs when a single button is used to identify a goal. Cisco Vision Director responds to the input trigger action with an event script change to an ad-hoc state that displays new content on multiple TVs in the venue. In addition, an output trigger is defined that sends an output URL to the Cisco Vision Connected Stadium that displays a message on mobile devices.

Figure 4 Moment of Exclusivity for a Goal During Match with Input and Output Triggers

Management Dashboard Registry Settings

This section describes the registry keys in the Cisco Vision Management Dashboard for input and output triggers. The registry values are global and apply to all input or output triggers.

Management Dashboard Registry Settings for Input Triggers

Table 1 describes the registry keys in the Management Dashboard that support input trigger configuration and operation.

Increased Inbound Trigger Functionality

New in Release 6.1, the number of inbound triggers in the registry greatly increased to 1024. Be advised, the more triggers you add, the more difficult it may be to find them. They are collated by incrementing number only and not searchable.

To change the number of inbound triggers:

1. Go to More > Management Dashboard > Tools drawer > Advanced tab > Registry.

2. Scroll down to ExternalTrigger.input.count (Figure 5).

3. Change the Value field to no greater than 1024.

4. Click Apply.

Figure 5 External Trigger Input Registry

Management Dashboard Registry Settings for Output Triggers

Table 2 describes the registry keys in the Management Dashboard that support output trigger configuration and operation.

How to Configure Input Triggers

This section includes the following tasks:

■Defining an Input Trigger (required)

■Configuring the HTTP Method for Input Triggers (optional)

■Configuring Authentication for Input Triggers (optional)

■Configuring Actions for a Received Trigger (required)

Defining an Input Trigger

By default, Cisco Vision Director supports 16 placeholder triggers that are undefined (unmapped) in the user interface. To support an external trigger, define one of the unmapped triggers and enable it.

You can change this number of supported triggers in the Management Dashboard registry. For more information How to Configure Advanced External Trigger Settings in the Registry.

Note: All the screens and examples in this document show Administrator role-based access level.

To define an input trigger:

5. From the Main Menu click Configuration > Triggers.

6. In the Input Triggers list, select a trigger number that is not configured.

The trigger is highlighted and the trigger configuration is shown in the Basics panel on the right (Figure 6).

Figure 6 New Input Trigger Basics Panel

7. In the Name box, type a name for the external trigger.

8. (Optional) Configure the HTTP method.

For more information, see Configuring the HTTP Method for Input Triggers.

9. (Optional) Configure authentication of the trigger source.

For more information, see Configuring Authentication for Input Triggers.

10. Configure the actions for the trigger.

For more information, see Configuring Actions for a Received Trigger.

11. To activate the trigger, click the Enable checkbox.

TIP : You can only enable a trigger if actions are defined for it.

For more information, see Enabling and Disabling an External Trigger.

12. Click Save.

Configuring the HTTP Method for Input Triggers

The default HTTP method is a GET operation in Cisco Vision Director. A GET operation is also required for external devices that use the Event Trigger API to get the list of defined triggers.

Cisco Vision Director ignores any payload updates that might be included in a POST operation. Therefore, you only need to configure the HTTP method if your device only supports the POST HTTP method, or if you prefer to support a POST.

To configure the HTTP method for input triggers:

1. From Main Menu > Configuration > Triggers, select a trigger number in the Input Triggers list.

The configuration for the trigger that you selected appears in the Basics panel.

2. In the Inbound HTTP Method drop-down box, click the arrow to display options and select GET or POST (Figure 7).

Figure 7 Inbound HTTP Method

3. Click Save.

Configuring Authentication for Input Triggers

You can authenticate an external input trigger by user name and password, and/or IP address.

Note : The trigger user name and password has no relationship to any Cisco Vision Director user accounts. You can define any ASCII set of characters for an external trigger user name and password.

You can configure multiple IP addresses to be accepted using a semi-colon separator between addresses, and also using an asterisk (*) as a wild card symbol to match any number that appears in the position where the asterisk is specified.

For example, 10.10.10.* accepts an external input trigger from any IP address in the range 10.10.10.0 through 10.10.10.255.

To configure authentication for input triggers:

1. From Main Menu, click Configiration > Triggers.

2. Select a trigger number in the trigger list.

The configuration for the trigger that you selected appears in the Basics panel.

3. To authenticate the external trigger by username and password:

a. Select the Require Authentication checkbox (Figure 8).

b. In the User Name box, type the user name that you want to allow.

c. In the Password box, type the password for the specified user name.

Figure 8 Basics Panel for Input Triggers

4. To authenticate the external trigger by IP address:

a. Select the Verify Inbound IP Addresses checkbox (Figure 8).

b. In the Address List box, type one or more IP addresses separated by a semi-colon (;).

5. Click Save.

Configuring Actions for a Received Trigger

Cisco Vision Director can perform certain script actions or TV controls upon receipt of an input trigger. Each input trigger can be configured to have multiple actions.

The script and device controls available for selection are based on what is already configured in the Cisco Vision Director Control Panel.

To configure the actions for a received trigger:

1. From Main Menu > Event Management > Control Panel > Setup > Triggers, select a trigger number in the trigger list.

The configuration for the trigger that you selected appears in the Basics panel.

2. Click the Actions tab. The Actions panel displays (Figure 9).

Figure 9 Input Trigger Actions Panel

3. Click the plus (+) icon to add an action for the selected input trigger.

The Action dialog box opens (Figure 10).

Figure 10 Trigger Action Dialog Box

4. At the top right of the dialog box, select the drop-down list and choose one of the following actions and associated sub-options shown in the figure and described in Table 3.

Table 3 External Trigger Script Actions and Sub-Options

Action Name	Sub-Options	Description
Change Script State	■Script—Select the script name for the action. ■State—Select the state to which to change. Change Script State Example:   Select Script Example:   Select State Example:	Change to an ad-hoc or sequential state of a specified script.
Leave Script State	Script—Select the script name for the action. Example:	Leave the current ad-hoc state of a specified script.
Next Script State	Script—Select the script name for the action. (See Leave Script State example).	Go to the next sequential state of a specified script.
Previous Script State	Script—Select the script name for the action. (See Leave Script State example).	Go to the previous sequential state of a specified script.
Start Script or Stop Script	Script—Select the script name for the action. (See Leave Script State example).	Start or stop a specified script.
TV Off or TV On	■Target type—Select Devices, Groups, or Zones.   ■Select—Choose one or more checkboxes beside devices, groups, or zones to which the action applies. Example: Devices	Turn TVs off or on by device name, group, or zone.

5. Click Save.

The action that you added is shown under the Actions panel of the Input Triggers screen.

6. Repeat from Step Click the Actions tab. The Actions panel displays (Figure 9 on page 13). to add multiple actions for the trigger.

7. When you have finished adding actions, click Save.

How to Configure Output Triggers

This section includes the following tasks:

■Defining an Output Trigger (required)

■Configuring Actions for an Output Trigger (required)

■Enabling and Disabling an External Trigger (required)

Defining an Output Trigger

By default, Cisco Vision Director supports 64 placeholder triggers that are undefined (unmapped) in the user interface for output triggers. To support an external trigger, define one of the unmapped triggers and enable it.

You can change this number of supported triggers in the Management Dashboard registry. For more information see How to Configure Advanced External Trigger Settings in the Registry.

To define an output trigger:

1. Click Configuration > Triggers.

2. Click Output Triggers.

3. In the Output Triggers list, select a trigger number that is not configured.

The trigger that you selected is highlighted and the trigger configuration is shown in the Basics panel on the right (Figure 11).

Figure 11 New Output Trigger Basics Panel

4. In the Name box, type a name for the external trigger.

5. Configure the Event Type, by completing the following steps:

a. In the Event Type drop-down box, choose the type of script event that will be used to initiate the output trigger actions.

– Script State Changed —Specifies that output trigger actions begin when a change to the specified state for the selected script occurs.

– Script Started —Specifies that output trigger actions begin when the specified script starts.

– Script Stopped —Specifies that output trigger actions begin when the specified script stops.

b. In the Script drop-down box, select the script name for the specified event type.

c. (ChangeScriptState only) In the State drop-down box, select the state of the specified script that will be used to initiate the output trigger actions.

6. Configure the Actions for the trigger.

For more information, see the Configuring Actions for an Output Trigger.

7. To activate the trigger, click the Enable checkbox.

TIP : You can only enable a trigger if actions are defined for it.

For more information, see the Enabling and Disabling an External Trigger.

8. Click Save.

Configuring Actions for an Output Trigger

Cisco Vision Director can send an output URL based on a specified script event. Each output trigger can be configured to have multiple actions.

The scripts available for selection are based on what is already configured in the Trigger interface.

To configure the actions for an output trigger:

1. Click Configuration > Triggers, select a trigger number in the trigger list.

The configuration for the trigger that you selected appears in the Basics panel.

2. Click Actions (Figure 12).

Figure 12 Output Trigger Actions Panel

3. Click the plus (+) icon to add an action for the selected output trigger.

The HTTP Action dialog box opens (Figure 13).

Figure 13 HTTP Action Dialog Box for Output Triggers

4. In the HTTP Method drop-down box, click the arrow to display options and select GET, POST, PUT or DELETE.

5. To specify authentication for the outbound URL, click the Verify Credentials checkbox (Figure 14).

Figure 14 Verify Credentials for Output Triggers

a. In the User Name box, type the user name that you want to allow.

b. In the Password box, type the password for the specified user name.

6. In the URL box, type the URL to be sent by the output trigger when the specified event type occurs.

Enter only a single URL in this box. Be sure that the entire URL appears correctly and as a single string.

7. Click Save.

The action displays in the Actions panel of the Output Triggers screen.

8. Repeat from Click the plus (+) icon to add an action for the selected output trigger. to add multiple actions for the trigger.

9. When you finish adding actions, click Save.

Enabling and Disabling an External Trigger

You can define external triggers in Cisco Vision Director, but independently enable or disable them from operation. By default, external triggers are disabled.

Disabled triggers are indicated by a gray checkmark in the Status column of the corresponding trigger. When a trigger is enabled, the checkmark turns green in the Status column for the trigger name.

Note : You can only enable a trigger if actions are defined for it.

To enable and disable an external trigger:

1. Click Configuration > Triggers, click the Input Triggers or Output Triggers tab.

2. Select a trigger number in the trigger list.

The configuration for the trigger that you selected appears in the Basics panel.

3. In the Basics panel, do one of the following:

■To enable the external trigger configuration, select the Enable checkbox.

A checkmark appears in the box when the option has been enabled.

■To disable the external trigger configuration, select the Enable checkbox to clear the checkmark.

4. Click Save.