howToWashAnAmcrestCamera.txt

(Or Using ONVIF on an IP camera, the way that you should ~ R0NAM1)

Install SoapUI, easy to learn the complicated way ONVIF works and how simple it actually is, I haven't found a single tutorial
like the one I'm currently writing.

1. In SoapUI, make a new Soap Project with an initial WSDL of:
http://www.onvif.org/ver10/device/wsdl/devicemgmt.wsdl

[ Now what does all that really mean? SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) Is A Sub-Protocol / Encoding Meathod (Since in HTTP headers it
sets encoding to soap+xml, oh yeah, it also uses HTTP as a transport protocal, so SOAP would be the running protocol with XML encoding.

A WSDL is a 'Definitions' file, another 'protocol' of sorts. The protocol is defined on the ONVIF website by renamed XML files, WSDL's.]

2. Find the Request 'GetCapabilities', expand it and double-click on 'Request 1'.

XML is sent as data attatched to the HTTP request, so that's the main window. (Replace the ? With 'Device')
With SOAP you authenticate without headers, click on the auth section on the bottom and enter basic credentials.
Toggle Pre-emptive auth as needed, if it returns invalid or not.

3. The Endpoint URI is special, by ONVIF Standard it is as follows, http(s)://ip.address/onvif/device_service

With all that set...

4. Press Run!

You'll now get a soap+xml response, see?

In this the Content Type Is soap+xml, so that makes more sense, plus some more URL's of WSDL files.
This is how we get the Camera's Capabilities, so we can load all those files and the camera should support most if not all of them!
That, is what ONVIF really is. SOAP.