Webcam: Added a uuid/id to the webcams to make it easier to use the API

[Clon1998]

Hey, in #713, I suggested that we should use ID/UUID when addressing webcams instead of their names. I went ahead and implemented that. The implementation also still supports the addressing of webcams via names rather than the id.

I tested everything and updated the docs, so let me know if you spot any issues I missed. 🚀

Signed-off-by: Patrick Schmidt [email protected]

[Arksine]

Thanks. I recall this discussion and did look into it, concluding that exposing the UUID is not the best approach at this time. I looked into an implementation similar to yours, however there are challenges in doing so:

1. Changing the self.webcams dict to key off of the ID instead of the name will break other components that depend on the webcam component. Specifically the simplyprint component in Moonraker depends on webcam. Additionally I think timelapse does externally. It isnt worth the refactor in these components to make this change.

2. The changes as implemented would allow for webcams with duplicate names. This could result in unexpected behavior when attempting to lookup a webcam by name. Webcam names must be unique as it isn't feasible to configure a UUID for webcams added to moonraker.conf.

3. The UUID was kept for compatibility with legacy frontends. It was the best option for Mainsail to reliably generate unique keys, however a UUID is not the best option when ID assignment can be managed by Moonraker. That said, I'm not sure we should risk breaking legacy clients at this time to change it.

IIRC the primary issue was renaming a webcam, as it requires two API calls. I have a local branch that has resolved that particular problem, I haven't gotten around to fully testing it but I'll try to do so asap.

[Clon1998]

Thanks. I recall this discussion and did look into it, concluding that exposing the UUID is not the best approach at this time. I looked into an implementation similar to yours, however there are challenges in doing so:

1. Changing the self.webcams dict to key off of the ID instead of the name will break other components that depend on the webcam component. Specifically the simplyprint component in Moonraker depends on webcam. Additionally I think timelapse does externally. It isnt worth the refactor in these components to make this change.

2. The changes as implemented would allow for webcams with duplicate names. This could result in unexpected behavior when attempting to lookup a webcam by name. Webcam names must be unique as it isn't feasible to configure a UUID for webcams added to moonraker.conf.

3. The UUID was kept for compatibility with legacy frontends. It was the best option for Mainsail to reliably generate unique keys, however a UUID is not the best option when ID assignment can be managed by Moonraker. That said, I'm not sure we should risk breaking legacy clients at this time to change it.

IIRC the primary issue was renaming a webcam, as it requires two API calls. I have a local branch that has resolved that particular problem, I haven't gotten around to fully testing it but I'll try to do so asap.

Sure! I was unaware about the dependencies.

[Arksine]

After some further thought and review I came up with a solution to add uid support without breaking local components. I chose uid over uuid as I wanted the parameter/field to be more generic in the event that I want to move away from uuids in the future.

The change was made in commit a232260. Feel free to give it a try and let me know if there are any issues or regressions. Thanks.