Download Chromecast Wallpapers using C# and MonoDevelop

[SeanKD]

I decided to write a small program in C# to download Chromecast Wallpapers. I am providing the code below free for anyone to use. If anyone has any suggestions for improving the code I would love to hear them as I am currently learning C# in university. NOTE: I have tested this on Windows 10 and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS only and it was compiled as a C# Console Application. Your mileage may vary.


// Sean K. Davis// Email: sean.k.davis@gmail.com
//
// Chromecast Wallpapers Downloader
//
// This program downloads the current set of Chromecast wallpapers
// and saves them to a directory of your choice
//


using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;


namespace ChromecastWallpapers
{
class ChromecastWallpapers
{
static void Main (string[] args)
{
using (WebClient client = new WebClient ()) {
// Set the save directory here
string directory = "/path/to/save/directory/";


// Create the directory if it doesn not already exist
if (!Directory.Exists (directory))
Directory.CreateDirectory (directory);


//Set the working directory
Directory.SetCurrentDirectory (directory);


// Set desired size, width, and height
// I know only that the default(s1280,w1280,h720)
// and 1080p(s1920,w1920,h1080) work for certain.
// Other resolutions may be available, but no guarantees
string picSize = "s1920";
string picWidth = "w1920";
string picHeight = "h1080";


// Download the chromecast screensaver html
string htmlCode = client.DownloadString ("https://clients3.google.com/cast/chromecast/home");


// Separator used to split html code
string[] separators = { "x22" };


// Split the html code
string[] lines = htmlCode.Split (separators, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);


foreach (string line in lines) {
// See if the line contains a URL is for an image file
if (line.Contains ("googleusercontent") && line.Contains (".jpg")) {
// If so, clean it up so we can use it and
// set the desired image resolution for download
string fileURL = line.Replace ("\\", "").Replace ("s1280", picSize).Replace ("w1280", picWidth).Replace ("h720", picHeight);


//Clean up any html percent codes in the filename
//NOTE: You may see others in you downloaded image filenames,
//Just append another .Replace("string to replace", "replacement string")
//to remove any annoying characters you find in the filenames
fileURL = fileURL.Replace ("%2B", " ").Replace ("%25", "");


//Let's use this to find the filename
//within the file URL
separators = new string[] { "/" };


string[] fileNames = fileURL.Split (separators, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);


foreach (string fileName in fileNames) {
// If we have a valid filename then
// download the file if it doesn't already exist
if (fileName.Contains (".jpg") && !File.Exists (fileName)) {
//Since this program is running in a terminal,
//let the user know which files are being downloaded
Console.WriteLine ("Downloading {0}", fileName);


//Download the file and save it
client.DownloadFile (fileURL, directory + fileName);
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}

[Erik1984]

Thanks for the script. Maybe a good reason to install Monodevelop. Never tried developing .Net applications on Linux. I'm still learning C# myself but I think that client.Dispose() is not necessary. You declare the client in a using block, using takes care of calling Dispose(). https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yh598w02.aspx

[SeanKD]

Thanks for the advice. I'm still trying to get used to the language being garbage collected. I'll adjust the script accordingly.