phpLD Screenshot processor

[dvduval]

Whether you want to make thumbnails of the sites, or full screenshots, or anywhere in between, this application is up to the task. Automate the process of creating thumbshots or screenshots of websites. You just need to connect to any mysql database with an id and url, and the screenshot processor will take care of the rest.

How to purchase: (cost: $25)
1. Create a phpLD Account or login to your existing phpLD account.
2. Click on "Purchase Products" and select the Screenshot Processor.
We also have a forum for Pre-sales questions, as well as a Screenshot Processor Support Forum

Requirements:
1. This screenshot processor is for use by one individual on one computer.
2. This application works with Windows XP and Vista, and may work with some older versions of Windows also.
3. The host of your database must allow remote connections. Please make sure this is possible before purchasing the software.

Below is a screenshot of the (screenshot) application.



Section 1: Database Connection - this is where the values are added to connect to the database
Section 2: Table Selection - this application will actually work with ANY mysql database with the id field and the url field, and this is what you need to choose from your links table in your mysql database that you connected to in section 1
Section 3: Processed Links - shows processed links from previous runs on this job
Section 4: Allows for many different settings for size and image type. Image types can by BMP, PNG, JPG, GIF and WMF. At this point, we believe PNG is the best choice for quality and performance. When selecting sizes, try to choose good height/width ratios that would present the webpage well. If you choose "Full Page" the screenshot processor will get the whole web page from top to bottom, and only the width will be factored in.
Section 5: Current Progress - as the job runs the application shows the status of each link, which can be skipped, pending, processing, complete or failed. Two different browsers are used, so if one fails, another one tries to process. A failure is usually only marked after attempts by two browsers
Section 6: You specify a folder and the ftp settings for your website, and the screenshots are uploaded to this folder. At this point, all you have to do is write the code to display the images.

For more information on this product, you may also want to refer to this thread.

Terms of Service:
1. phpLD cannot be held responsible for incompatibility issues, and cannot give refunds, so please understand you take this risk when purchasing the software.
2. Future upgrades will be made available to purchasers of the software, but please know that the terms of service may be changed without notification, and upgrades may be subject to those terms.
3. phpLD reserves the right to disable software that is used in violation of the terms.
4. The software artwork, code, and all parts are protected by the license, which cannot be resold or transferred without written consent.
5. Support is limited. We we always try to address issues in a timely manner when possible. However, phpLD is not responsible for any delays in use of the software as a result of issues incurred by the user, and makes no promises at to the speediness of support.

[bruleo]

I can really vouch for this application and is currently used on all my sites in my signature. Will worth the $25 and extremely easy to use.

Bruce.

[falsealarm]

As unreliable as free thumbshot services have become, this application would be one of the few professional solutions.

[dvduval]

We have now released a new version! Here are some of the highlights of the new release:
- ability to run as a job, periodically, at a time interval set in the application. On minimize, the application will continue to run and will be placed as a small icon in tray. To restore the application simply double click on the tray icon.
- ability to add an overlay text over the thumbnails. The text position can be set from some predefined values (horizontal and vertical) or can be a custom position, specified in pixels from left margin and top margin. The overlay text's font can be customized, as well as the text color and shadow color. This option is useful for copyright texts on images and was requested on the forum.
- ability to add a watermark image over the thumbnails. The image position is customizable and optionally a transparent color can be specified. The transparent color can be used to set the image background transparent, for example. This feature is useful also for copyright logos and was requested on the forum.
- ability to specify the screen width for the browser used when taking the screenshot.
- custom naming for the generated thumbnails. The naming pattern can contain the following wildcards, which will be replaced with their real values: [id], [width], [height], [link].
- option to close Internet Explorer windows after the process runs. Useful for closing the popups that may appear while taking the screenshots.
- the projects will be saved with all the new settings for later use.
- added an event viewer window which will show the progress of the job, messages and errors to the user.
- replaced the buttons from the 'Settings' panel with small icons. Please tell me if you like those icons more and if we should keep them. Maybe I can add some small icons on the New/Open/Save project buttons or the other buttons.
- added support for specific image to be displayed when a thumbnail cannot be created; users can choose either the default image or a custom image
- added small icon images on all of the buttons
- specific the width and height of the browser screen used for taking the capture. Useful in order to have best results when taking screenshots at a different ratio than the standard screen (eg: for square thumbnails, ratio 1:1, you can set the capture browser size to have the same ratio, 1024x1024 for example)
- added an option to move records that were already processed into the 'to do' list. Together with the 'Mark as Completed' and the option to select a range of IDs to process, this option will give full control over the websites that will be processed
-added tooltips when the user has the mouse cursor over a control from the 'Settings' section with details about how each option can be used. I chose tooltips instead of always visible texts because the user interface had already enough information on it. The tooltips would make the main form appear cleaner.
- optimizations in the screenshot and upload process.

If you have any questions, we have a thread here.

[dvduval]

And we have a new update!

- Take a Screenshot Now option - users can enter an URL, click on the 'Capture' button, then choose a destination on their harddrive and the screenshot is generated in that location.
- added a button for testing FTP connection using the current FTP information
- option to choose the interval for running the job process. Available options are: minute, hour, day and can be preceded by a numeric value (a multiplier)
- the default option for running the job process is '1 day'
- the default FTP folder to upload the screenshots is 'public_html/images/'
- when the database connection is established, the table selected by default is 'PLD_LINK', if this table exists
- added an option to process the links from the table in reverse order of the IDs, from the last ID to the first one
- added the time elapsed and the estimated time remaining to the main process of generating thumbnails
- added new wildcards in the name pattern for the thumbnails: [date] and [datetime]
- fixed a bug reported on the forum with a black border that appears in some thumbnails

More info

[TheGamerX]

Wow this looks useful! Is this for the phld script itself or for submitting?

[dvduval]

And check out our latest manual. It is for making screenshots:
1. Manually
2. From a list
3. Syncing with a database (ex. phpLD)