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Bosch Security Systems | 2011-02
Praesideo 3.5 | Installation and User Instructions | 11 | Optional Software
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62
Open Interface
62.1 Introduction
The Praesideo Open Interface is based on a Visual 
Basic implementation and is based on the COM 
technology (OLE automation subset), as described by 
Microsoft.
It is preferred to use .NET to implement the Praesideo 
Open Interface. .NET is the successor of COMCOM+ 
and DCOM and is comparable to these. Existing COM 
interfaces can be used in a .NET environment. Many 
programming languages recognize .NET, which makes 
development of user interfaces by third parties easier.
At this moment, the Praesideo Open Interface is based 
on COM to enable connections to existing systems that 
are not built on .NET. Most current third party systems 
support COM, but not yet .NET. However, in the future, 
Bosch Security Systems will convert the COM interfaces 
to .NET.
It may be convenient to develop third party applications 
(e.g. PC call stations) in .NET already. These .NET 
applications can communicate with the current COM 
interface without any problems and will cause no 
problems in the future when the interface is based on 
.NET. If the application is developed in a COM 
environment, it must be rewritten when the interface is 
based on .NET.
The open interface connection (i.e. an Internet 
connection) is regarded as an open connection that 
requires extra safety precautions. For example, a 
firewall to prevent unauthorized persons from (ab)using 
the system. The system can also limit the access of TCP/
IP devices (see section 42.9).
Use of the open interface can lead to situations in which 
the Praesideo system does not comply anymore to the 
evacuation standards that have been verified by TÜV. 
In that case, the TÜV certificate can be lapsed.
62.2 Scope
As mentioned before, the Open Interface manual 
describes how to use the Praesideo Open Interface in 
combination with Visual Basic. To understand this 
manual, knowledge in the following fields in necessary:
The Visual Basic 6.0 programming language and its 
development environment.
The principle of COM interfaces and OLE 
automation.
The Praesideo system and its installation.
The Open Interface Manual is intended for users, who 
want to use the Praesideo Open Interface. It is not 
possible to derive any rights from this manual regarding 
the programming interface. Extensions and 
improvements on the open interface can be 
implemented when new versions of Praesideo are 
introduced. Since this manual is intended for 
programmers, it is only available in English.
Although the open interface DLLs contain the previous 
versions of the open interface (for backward 
compatibility), only the open interface version 3.4 is 
described in this manual. The interfaces in the DLL are 
identified using a name extension. The original version 
does not have a name extension.
Note
The COM interface is not limited to Visual 
Basic. It can also be used in other programming 
languages that support COM. Visual Basic is 
just used as an example here.
Note
A maximum of 5 TCP/IP devices, such as the 
PC Call Server or Logging Server, with Open 
Interface access can be used with a network 
controller. The configuration web browser uses 
a different port (port 80) for the connection and 
is not part of this limitation.