Python error: argument -c/--conf is required - json

Question

I'm new in python, my native language is C. I'm doing a code in python for a surveillance system triggered by motion using OpenCV. I based my code in the one made by Adrian Rosebrock in his blog pyimagesearch.com. Originally the code was developed for a Raspiberry Pi with a Pi Camera module attached to it, now I'm trying to adapt to my notebook's webcam. He made a easier tutorial about a simple code for motion detection and it worked very nicely in my PC. But I'm having a hardtime with this other code. Probably it's a silly mistake, but as begginer I couldn't found a specific answer to this issue.
This image have the part of the code that is causing the error (line 15) and the structure of the project on the left side of the screen. Image of python project for surveillance.
Similar part, originall code:
# import the necessary packages
from pyimagesearch.tempimage import TempImage
from dropbox.client import DropboxOAuth2FlowNoRedirect
from dropbox.client import DropboxClient
from picamera.array import PiRGBArray
from picamera import PiCamera
import argparse
import warnings
import datetime
import imutils
import json
import time
import cv2
# construct the argument parser and parse the arguments
ap = argparse.ArgumentParser()
ap.add_argument("-c", "--conf", required=True,
help="path to the JSON configuration file")
args = vars(ap.parse_args())
# filter warnings, load the configuration and initialize the Dropbox
# client
warnings.filterwarnings("ignore")
conf = json.load(open(args["conf"]))
client = None
Until now I only change these things:
Exclude the imports relatives to pi camera.
Change camera = PiCamera() by camera = cv2.VideoCapture(0). This way I use notebook's webcam.
Exclude:
camera.resolution = tuple(conf["resolution"])
camera.framerate = conf["fps"]
rawCapture = PiRGBArray(camera, size=tuple(conf["resolution"]))
Substitute the line for f in camera.capture_continuous(rawCapture, format="bgr", use_video_port=True): by while True:.
Exclude two lines in program that was rawCapture.truncate(0).
Probably there is more things to repair, if you now please tell me, but first I'd like to understand how solve that mensage error. I use PyCharm in Windows 7 with Python 2.7 and OpenCV 3.1. Sorry for not post the entire code, but once that this is my first question in the site and I have 0 reputation, apparently I can just post 2 links. The entire originall code is in the pyimagesearch.com. Thank you for your time!

Answer 1

I think you probably not running it properly. Error message is clear. You are adding argument that means you need to provide them while running which you are not doing.
Check this how he ran this in tutorial link you provided
http://www.pyimagesearch.com/2015/06/01/home-surveillance-and-motion-detection-with-the-raspberry-pi-python-and-opencv#crayon-56d3c5551ac59089479643

Answer 2

Notice on the Figure 6 screen capture in #Rhoit's link.
python pi_surveillance.py --conf conf.json
The program was initialized with the name and these --conf conf.json words.
In your code:
ap = argparse.ArgumentParser()
ap.add_argument("-c", "--conf", required=True,
help="path to the JSON configuration file")
ap is a piece of code that reads these inputs from the commandline, and parses the information. This definition specifies that a --conf argument is required, as demonstrated in Figure 6.
The error indicates that you omitted this information:
argument -c/--conf is required