Milestone Systems, a global industry leader in open platform IP video management software (VMS), offers online courses at no charge on how to create integrated solutions. Third-party solution developers can expand expertise at their own pace to create innovations developed with the Milestone Software Development Kit (SDK). The tools provided show how to:
• Integrate Milestone XProtect VMS components into their applications, and/or interact with XProtect
• Make their application available as a plug-in with the XProtect Event Server and the XProtect Smart Client
The Milestone Integration Platform (MIP) has a set of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) that allow partner, customer, or third-party vendor applications to communicate with and control Milestone XProtect VMS, and for XProtect to communicate with and control other applications. For example, events/alarms from an access control system can be displayed or handled in the XProtect client or the video can be triggered to view in the access control interface. The goal is to offer operational flexibility and efficiency for the end user by making separate systems work together.
Milestone also provides a Software Development Kit (SDK)—the MIP SDK—which provides a toolset of code samples, libraries, documentation, and processes that help developers when they interact with XProtect.
Milestone offers three free, online courses that help to get started defining an integration to accomplish specific goals, as well as how to use Visual Studio, .NET, and C# to create plug-in and component integrations:
- Getting Started with the MIP SDK
- Developing MIP SDK Plug-in Integrations
- Developing MIP SDK Component Integrations
A MIP plug-in is able to execute in a number of Milestone products, making it easy to support multiple products with a single developed plug-in. For example:
- Add simple ways of system control, such as handling devices with PTZ, events and outputs
- Store Milestone Partner-developed configurations and share Milestone Partner configurations between applications
- Add specific user controls to the Live, Playback, and Setup tabs in the Smart Client
- Add customized options in menu configuration for common parameters, such as using private and shared views between all users
- Make customized graphical overlays superimposed on live or recorded video, such as for video content analysis (analytics) applications
The SDK classes are available from the Milestone Partner Learning Portal as well as on YouTube (where the same content is presented in shorter, smaller sections).
Milestone also provides an in-person, instructor-led SDK course that takes place over three days in different world regions (U.S. and Denmark in 2018, more this year as demand determines).
A World of Innovation Possibilities
- Create Powerful Solutions – Use the MIP SDK to build on Milestone’s rich VMS capabilities to deliver new and innovative offerings, such as integrating business management systems directly into the software.
- Open and Flexible Integration Architecture – MIP SDK supports three types of integration: basic protocol integration, component-based integration via .NET library and plug-in integration to embed plug-ins directly into the software.
- The MIP SDK Mobile – provides an easy way for creating new Mobile or Web applications or extending an existing one by wrapping the existing Milestone Mobile Server communication protocol. It is available for four different platforms: iOS, Android, Web, and Windows.
- Video Access– Easily make solutions that access the video for viewing or processing purposes and show metadata-based overlays on top of the video using built-in tools.
- Configuration – The MIP SDK provides access to not only append other data types to the VMS, but also access and modify the configuration of the VMS itself.
- Events – Use the APIs or MIP SDK to send external events into the VMS, and to monitor and react to events coming from the VMS.
MIP SDK Works on the Free XProtect Essential+ VMS
XProtect Essential+ supports the Milestone Integration Platform (MIP), meaning developers can integrate and embed third-party applications and business systems directly into the software. Download XProtect Essential+ and get started! The free license supports up to 8 devices, an unlimited number of users and unlimited video retention time.