[jon31]

Hello all,

Is it possible with PHP to take a screenshot of a website to display on a website? Like a small thumbnail. I know this is probably quite a difficult task, but I'm looking for possible solutions. I have a list of websites, and I'd like to include a small 100x100 (or whatever) pixel thumbnail beside it.

Suggestions?

[ApeInTheShell]

You could try using the OS X screenshot cmd+shift+4 and space bar on the window and sending it to a picture editor to resize it.

Thanks for the idea partner. =<D

[jon31]

Well, the whole point is to do it automatically

jon31

[clam2000]

you may be able to do it with the image magick pear plugin. (look at pear.php.net for all the different php modules). I think it has some way to convert a url to a picture, but i'm not sure

--will

[Arkham_c]

There is a command-line tool on OSX to do a screen capture. Just rig up PHP to do:

Code:
screencapture test.pdf

Other options are available as well:

Code:
usage: screencapture [-icmwsWx] [file] [cursor]
  -i      capture screen interactively, by selection or window
            control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
            space key   - toggle between mouse selection and
                          window selection modes
            escape key  - cancels interactive screen shot
  -c      force screen capture to go to the clipboard
  -m      only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
  -w      only allow window selection mode
  -s      only allow mouse selection mode
  -W      start interaction in window selection mode
  -x      do not play sounds
  file    where to save the screen capture

[bluedog]

Originally posted by Arkham_c:
There is a command-line tool on OSX to do a screen capture. Just rig up PHP to do:

Code:
screencapture test.pdf

Other options are available as well:

Code:
usage: screencapture [-icmwsWx] [file] [cursor]
  -i      capture screen interactively, by selection or window
            control key - causes screen shot to go to clipboard
            space key   - toggle between mouse selection and
                          window selection modes
            escape key  - cancels interactive screen shot
  -c      force screen capture to go to the clipboard
  -m      only capture the main monitor, undefined if -i is set
  -w      only allow window selection mode
  -s      only allow mouse selection mode
  -W      start interaction in window selection mode
  -x      do not play sounds
  file    where to save the screen capture

Well, to use that you would have to first tell your browser to go to the page you want. This is an interesting question!

Is the server going to be running OSX? You could have a separate computer set up to do the screenshots, and then automatically save them to the server in question. The question is... which browser will you want to depict in your screengrab.