Question

Urgent: Generate image from html source

Asked by: psyki_be

I need some way to convert a html page to an image.
So, I write (generate) an (x)html page. That page has to be saved as an image automatically (can't do it manually).
Is this possible?
I've looked into GD images, but can't find it immediately.

I have php5 hosting, pear, .. are no problem if needed.
Of course, it has to be free (or very cheap).
I'm still looking myself, and perhaps convert html to pdf, and convert the pdf to an image is a possibility?

Why do I need this?
Well, as some of you might know, Flash can display html.
What you also might know, is that html support for flash is complete cr*p.
It doesn't look as it should, doesn't have any decent css (only 10 properties or so supported)
However, I need dynamic content, and it has to look rather decent.
So, instead of loading html (which doesn't look nice), I'd generate an image from the html and send that image to flash. Showing an image would be perfect. (allthough it would take longer to load)

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Asked On
2007-01-08 at 15:00:34ID22115451
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image

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html

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CGI Scripting

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PHP Scripting Language

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WebApplications

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Answers

 

by: ozoPosted on 2007-01-08 at 15:20:39ID: 18271541

 

by: anokun7Posted on 2007-01-08 at 16:06:23ID: 18271832

Why not just use snagit... The latest version is just so nice, it saves your html page as an image but at the same time all the links in it are clickable.. that is really nice & amazing at the same time.

http://techsmith.com/download/snagittrial.asp

But it is not free - you have free trial fo 30 days. You can buy it also - it is worth it.

Anoop

 

by: psyki_bePosted on 2007-01-08 at 16:18:11ID: 18271890

Should've read the question.

Snagit is an application, (windows even, while I'm on a mac), which allows you to manually capture your screen.

I'm looking for a php script, which will do this automatically, not a windows application.

 

by: Chris_GralikePosted on 2007-01-08 at 16:35:46ID: 18271983

Well i think the bigest problem is "rendering" stuff like borders, and putting multiple pointer canvases into one single new canvas. If it is even doable, this will be one slow slow slow, memory intensive script...

With the skill i have im looking at an impossible question, i dont know how the other experts think about it. I would be able to do the multiple images after allot allot of effort, maybe add some of the text. But i see multiple big problems, and ill try to explain.

1. Getting the "total size" of the window you are looking at.
2. Find all the "exact" coordinates of the objects in that window.
3. Determining "where" the borders are, and find a way to "duplicate" (css styling etc) them in code.
4. Finding a way to handle repeated backgrounds for layout of the site
5. finding an efficient way to convert all types of images (wich require different devels) to one format and past all these canvas pointers back into one canvas on the right spot.
6. Factoring it all down (texts etc) to keep the layout in order

All in all i think this is impossible with the kind of information i can fetch from a site and the rendering caps of php.

but then again, this is my limited knowledge of php, dont know what others think...

Regards,

 

by: Chris_GralikePosted on 2007-01-08 at 16:38:16ID: 18271998

whn i think of it, youll be rebuilding an internet explorer in php that can interpet and translate the html / css / java to a visible whole and rendering that into an image...

I dont think its possible lol :)

 

by: slyongPosted on 2007-01-08 at 16:45:20ID: 18272035

 

by: slyongPosted on 2007-01-08 at 16:46:16ID: 18272038

you might be able to call the perl script in PHP and generate the file

 

by: TintinPosted on 2007-01-08 at 17:35:46ID: 18272281

slyong.

still requires you to have mozilla installed.  Which may or may not be OK.

 

by: psyki_bePosted on 2007-01-08 at 17:38:33ID: 18272298

It's definitely possible, and not slow at all.

Example:

http://www.browsrcamp.com/

This is what I'm looking for
The only problem is: I have no idea how they do it ....

 

by: psyki_bePosted on 2007-01-08 at 17:42:17ID: 18272314

I think I may have found a solution ...

The website of browsrcamp actually gives a source of what they used (not the code, but names of the tools used)

webkit2png:
http://www.paulhammond.org/webkit2png/

Now I just have to figure out how it works ...

Anyone know how to make this work trough php? (like browsrcamp does)

 

by: psyki_bePosted on 2007-01-08 at 17:46:56ID: 18272348

Found another way:

http://webdesignbook.net/snapper.php?url=http://www.psyki.be&full

You can change the url in the querystring to whatever you want.

It's a little slow, and I have to depend on another website, but it works, and with a short deadline, this saves me a lot of work...

I'll leave this open, in case anyone finds any faster/easier way...
Closing in a few days.

 

by: TintinPosted on 2007-01-08 at 18:01:03ID: 18272441

That snapper tool is pretty cool.  Wonder if the source is available.

 

by: psyki_bePosted on 2007-01-08 at 18:03:00ID: 18272468

Well, if you can find it, tell me.
I'd rather have this service on my own webserver, otherwise, I have to depend on some other guy's website....
Besides, processing my snapshots 'local' would propable improve the speed, less load, less traffic.

Shoo, go find the source, 2000 points award :p

 

by: TintinPosted on 2007-01-08 at 18:15:39ID: 18272550

Here's what the author of snapper.php says:

I am writing this post, once and for all, and then ill stop replying on mails regarding these things.

   1. The design I am currently using is not released as a public WordPress theme - I might release it some day, but no, you can’t have it.
   2. The snapshot service is not a PHP script, it is only a PHP front end. So no, I can’t tell you which PHP functions is used, and no you can’t get a copy to run it on your own server. If you are interested in paying, I can expand server capacity etc, and we can work out a service agreement.
   3. The functionality developed for my website projects, such as the theme viewer and webdesignbook.net, is not available for download. If you are interested in hiring me for such a project, don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

by: psyki_bePosted on 2007-01-08 at 18:27:56ID: 18272663

Yeah, pretty much what I expected.

Looked into all this stuff a little.

PHP on itself can't do this.
You need a variety of scripts and toolkits in various languages to get this to work.
Installing all those toolkits and languages might take a while too, considering I'm on rented webhosting, on which I don't have full root rights.

Oh well, it works for now, and I'm surprised it even existed (in a free service, there's also some API out there: http://webshotspro.com/ which only produces thumbnails, and asks money for it.)
So, I'm happy.
It's for a portfolio, if I actually use this in a serious (paid) project, I might pay the guy, get a 'service agreement'. i have no problems with paying for decent stuff like this.

Btw, that snapper thing has a cache.
I'll only rebuild the snapshot every 24 hours if the page isn't changed.
Speeds up the service A LOT.

 

by: DarthModPosted on 2007-02-03 at 18:39:56ID: 18461717

PAQd, 500 points refunded.

DarthMod
CS Moderator

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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