Validating APIs
````````````````

Please make sure you go through this before you wonder why zmNinja is not working.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    Assumption: Your ZM server is accessible at ``http://server/zm`` ->
    replace this with your actual path

Make sure ZM APIs are working:
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

**Note 1**: nginx users, if you are facing API issues, please see if `this
page <https://github.com/pliablepixels/zmNinja/wiki/How-to-configure-APIs-with-nginx>`__
helps)

**Note 2**: It is **important** that you run the API tests from the device you plan to use zmNinja with. Very often, I've seen folks doing API tests on the same server ZM is running on and then face issues (mostly due to network connectivity) when using zmNinja because it is running on a different device. So, I'd recommend you open a chrome browser on the device you plan to use zmNinja on (desktop or mobile) and then run these tests.

-  Step 1: Open up a browser
-  Step 2: Log into ZM
-  Step 3: Open another tab in the same browser (**IMPORTANT**: Has to
   be from the same browser you logged into ZM)
-  Step 4: Type in ``http://server/zm/api/host/getVersion.json`` --> you
   should see a response like:

   .. code:: json

       {
       "version": "1.30.0",
       "apiversion": "1.0"
       }

   version/apiversion may be different. If you don't see such a
   response, your APIs are **not** working

-  Step 5:Make sure you can see monitors and events:

Type in ``http://server/zm/api/monitors.json`` --> you should see a
response like:

.. code:: jsonld

    {
        "monitors": [
            {
                "Monitor": {
                    /*lots of additional details*/
                },
                /*more monitor objects if you have more than one*/
            }]
    }

-  Step 6: (If you find your APIs show ok, but zmNinja has issues)

        -  Open a browser, log into ZM
        -  Open a new tab, enter ``http://server/zm/api/host/getVersion.json``
        -  Now, right click and do a ``View Source`` in your browser (different
           browsers may have different names for it). This brings up a full
           source code view of the page. Do you ONLY see the JSON output or do
           you see gobs of HTML on top like ``<pre class=`` and lots of cake
           related messages? If you do, you need to fix it.

if you find the page empty, your APIs/permissions have a problem. Please
post in the ZM forums (**please DON'T** contact me first as its not a
zmNinja bug)

Type in ``http://server/zm/api/events.json`` --> you should see a
response like: (this list may be an empty set if you don't have events
but you will still see the ``{"events":[]}`` text - if you find the page
empty, your APIs have a problem. Please post in the ZM forums (please
**DON'T** contact me first, as its not a zmNinja bug)

.. code:: jsonld

    {"events":[{"Event":{ /* many more details */ }}]}

*Top reasons why monitors and events API returns blank while getVersion
works:* \* You don't have monitor/event view permissions allocated to
the user \* You have an invalid camera definition (happens sometimes
when you remove and re-add cameras) \* If you are using non UTF8
characters in your monitor names/zone names this can cause issues. Edit
``/usr/share/zoneminder/www/api/app/Config/database.php`` (assuming ZM
is in /usr/share) and make sure ``'encoding' => 'utf8'`` is
*uncommented* (remove ``//``) around line 74. I've submitted a
`patch <https://github.com/ZoneMinder/ZoneMinder/pull/1635/commits/92d7cad5f154359a5b249d7a63fb5034f7d1b51a>`__
but till its merged, you might have to do it manually.

zmNinja API notes:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-  Please make sure the user credentials you use has:
-  view or edit access to monitors
-  view or edit access to streams
-  view or edit access to system

-  If you are accessing zmNinja remotely, make sure you first access ZM
   remotely from your desktop browser, ensure it works and then use the
   same DNS/IP for zmNinja