from hikvisionapi import Client

cam = Client('http://192.168.0.2', 'admin', 'admin')


# Dict response (default)
response = cam.System.deviceInfo(method='get')

response == {
    u'DeviceInfo': {
        u'@version': u'2.0',
        '...':'...'
        }
    }


# xml text response
response = cam.System.deviceInfo(method='get', present='text')

response == '''<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
        <DeviceInfo version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.hikvision.com/ver20/XMLSchema">
        <deviceName>HIKVISION</deviceName>
        </DeviceInfo>'''

# to get the channel info
motion_detection_info = cam.System.Video.inputs.channels[1].motionDetection(method='get')


# to send data to device:
xml = cam.System.deviceInfo(method='get', present='text')
cam.System.deviceInfo(method='put', data=xml)


# to get events (motion, etc..)
# Increase timeout if you want to wait for the event to be received
cam = Client('http://192.168.0.2', 'admin', 'Password', timeout=30)
cam.count_events = 2 # The number of events we want to retrieve (default = 1)
response = cam.Event.notification.alertStream(method='get', type='stream')

response == [{
    u'EventNotificationAlert':{
        u'@version': u'2.0',
        u'@xmlns': u'http://www.hikvision.com/ver20/XMLSchema',
        u'activePostCount': u'0',
        u'channelID': u'1',
        u'dateTime': u'2018-03-21T15:49:02+08:00',
        u'eventDescription': u'videoloss alarm',
        u'eventState': u'inactive',
        u'eventType': u'videoloss'
        }
   }]

# Alternative solution to get events
cam = Client('http://192.168.0.2', 'admin', 'Password', timeout=1)
while True:
    try:
        response = cam.Event.notification.alertStream(method='get', type='stream')
        if response:
            print response
    except Exception:
        pass

# to get opaque data type and write to file
response = cam.System.configurationData(method='get', type='opaque_data')
with open('my_file', 'wb') as f:
    for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=1024): 
        if chunk:
            f.write(chunk)
            
# Get and save picture from camera            
response = client.Streaming.channels[102].picture(method='get', type='opaque_data')
with open('screen.jpg', 'wb') as f:
    for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=1024):
        if chunk:
            f.write(chunk)