PROJECTOR NETWORK CONTROL - NodeJs

[TOC]

Introduction

While working on a project with a lot of projectors, I saw that some of them had an Ethernet Port, So I searched a way to control them using network

I use the CLAXAN CL-ACC-18030N and CL-ACC-18030NH.

I contacted the firm that produce this projector, but the software they gave me did not work well.

So I put the default URL(169.254.1.1) of the projector in a web Browser, and the result was promising :

But, with this interface, we can only control one projector at a time, so I began my journey on analyzing the protocol to produce an app that can control more than one projector

Authentication

For this model the credentials are :

username : admin

password : 0000

I used axiosform nodejs

const axios = require('axios');

const client = axios.create({
    baseURL: 'http://admin:[email protected]',
    timeout: 2000,
});

Basic Controls

All the controls have the same method to access the data and change it, they only need one API call. Let's take a look at some examples :

Power

When we want to check if the power is on :

client.get('/protect/execPwr.cgi')
.then(response => {
    console.log(response.data); // 0 if  the power is off, 1 if it's on
})

When we want to power the projector on :

client.get('/protect/execPwr.cgi?PWRCHG=1');

When we want to power the projector off :

client.get('/protect/execPwr.cgi?PWRCHG=2');

Mute

When we want to check if the sound is muted :

client.get('/protect/execMute.cgi')
.then(response => {
    console.log(response.data); // 1 if the sound is muted, 0 if not
})

When we want to mute the sound:

client.get('/protect/execMute.cgi?MUTESEL=1');

When we want to not mute the sound:

client.get('/protect/execMute.cgi?MUTESEL=0');

Freeze

When we want to check if the screen is freezed (The image is static) :

client.get('/protect/execFree.cgi')
.then(response => {
    console.log(response.data); // 1 if the screen is freezed, 0 if not
})

When we want to freeze the screen:

client.get('/protect/execFree.cgi?FREESEL=1');

When we want to unfreezed the screen:

client.get('/protect/execFree.cgi?FREESEL=0');

Advanced Control

Here are some controls you need to reboot the manager so they took place and you can see the changes.

• dhcpen : boolean if the projector accept or not DHCP
• ip : if dhcpen is false, we can set a default ip address
• subnet : if dhcpen is false, we can set a default subnet mask
• **gw ** : if dhcpen is false, we can set a default Gateway
• dns1 : if dhcpen is false, we can set a default DNS Server
• **group **: We can specify a group for the projector, e.g. all the projector of the same level in a building could have the same group. 14 characters max.
• host : The name of the projector. 14 characters max

All these parameters can be changed at the same time, with a POST on /protect/network.htm, and to apply change, you need to reboot

const querystring = require('querystring');

const params = { // There is no need to send a parameter if it doesn't change.
    dhcpen: '1',
    ip: '169.254.1.1',
    subnet: '255.255.0.0',
    gw: '192.168.1.1',
    dns1: '192.168.1.1',
    group: 'Group',
    host: 'Projector',
};

client.post('/protect/network.htm', querystring.stringify(params))
    .then(() => {
        client.get('/protect/reboot.cgi') //reboot
    })

The reboot has some issue, it always wait for the timeout to goes off to apply.

What's next ?

The next step is to use this protocol to make an app which can control multiple projectors given their IP address, or,.... not ? ;)