Periodic screenshot utility.

[UAdnan]

...

[scouser73]

Ubuntu Forum DO's and DON'T's

DON'T

8 Bump your posts too often (around once every 24 hours is recommended)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=885580

[Vaphell]

how about putting it before/after -window root switch/value combo, inside ()?

command line tools usually go like this

command_name -option1 value1 -option2 value2 ... file(s)/folder(s)

what is available: import --help

[UAdnan]

I can't understand how to put it.

Are you able to fix the script I wrote just in the previous post ? That will be easier.
If not, explain further.


Thanks.

[Vaphell]

import -window root -quality N $screenshot_dir/screenshot-$(date +%M_%k_%d_%m_%Y|sed -e 's/^ *//').png

[HiImTye]

just save this wherever you want to run it from. it will store your images in $HOME/Pictures/Screenshots/<date>/<time>.png

#!/bin/bash
# declare variables
delay=20 				# seconds to delay
basefolder=$HOME/Pictures/Screenshots	# our main screenshot folder

# create our basefolder if it doesn't exist
if [ ! -d $basefolder ]; then
 mkdir $basefolder
fi
# move into it
cd $basefolder

# meat n pooptatoes
while :
do
 currentdate="$(date +%x)"
 if [ ! "$reference" = "$currentdate" ]; then
   mkdir $currentdate
   reference="$currentdate"
   shotfolder="$basefolder/$currentdate"
   if [ ! -d "$shotfolder" ]; then
     mkdir $shotfolder
   fi
 fi
 currenttime="$(date +%X)"
 import -quality 5 -window root $shotfolder/$currenttime.png
 sleep $delay
done

[UAdnan]

Well, HilmTye, I'm sorry to tell you that the script you've written didn't work, it has just created a "Screenshot" folder within the Pictures folder, containing three sub-folders, the first one having the date day, the second named as the current month, and the last folder named "2012". That's fine, but add to it that no screen-shots were being token.
I'm sorry for that, hope I didn't waste much of your time.

After re-reading my script, I understood how Vaphell has put the script, and here's how my script looks like now and it's working as expected:

screenshot_dir='screens'
seconds='30';
if [ ! -d "$screenshot_dir" ]; then
mkdir $screenshot_dir;
fi
while [ 1 ]; do
sleep $seconds;
(import -window root -quality 3 $screenshot_dir/screenshot-$(date +%S_%M_%k_%d_%m_%Y|sed -e 's/^ *//').jpg) &
done


Thanks to everyone who helped be going through my issue.

[HiImTye]

sorry about that, I didn't actually test it and as a result, neglected quotes in the filename. if you're interested in it, here is the script, fixed:

#!/bin/bash
# declare variables
delay=20 				# seconds to delay
basefolder=$HOME/Pictures/Screenshots	# our main screenshot folder
extension=.png				# the extension we want to use
quality=5				# image quality

# create our basefolder if it doesn't exist
if [ ! -d $basefolder ]; then
 mkdir $basefolder
fi
# move into it
cd $basefolder

# meat n pooptatoes
while :
do
 currentdate="$(date +%x)"
 if [ ! "$reference" = "$currentdate" ]; then
   reference="$currentdate"
   shotfolder="$basefolder/$currentdate"
   if [ ! -d "$shotfolder" ]; then
     mkdir $shotfolder
   fi
 fi
 currenttime="$(date +%X)"
 import -quality $quality -window root "$shotfolder/$currenttime$extension"
 sleep $delay
done

the advantage to this script is that each day will have its' own folder (and is automagically created by the script on a new day) with the filenames simply being the time and the extension

as you can see, it works:
Screenshot at 2012-05-15 05:35:58.jpg

if you would like it edited so that, for instance, they are separated by hour into separate folders or whatever, just let me know. right now if you leave it running from midnight to midnight you will end up with a folder that has 4320 images inside it (with a 20 second interval)

[UAdnan]

Oh, lucky I came back to this thread.

Thanks for the script, I just saved it and I will use it whenever I find it necessary !

[UAdnan]

Hey guys, sorry for having to Up this topic, but it's not as old and I need to add something to it:

Can I modify the screen-shot file name to the focused window ? I can't explain much so here's a photo to make things clearer: