Node module that allows you to schedule, take, alter, and store web page screenshots
npm install cronshot
CronShot uses:
node-webshot to take screenshots using Phantom JS
node-cron to schedule screenshots
async to allow more than one screenshot cron job to be run in parallel
Make sure you have homebrew installed: ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)"
Install PhantomJS: brew update && brew install phantomjs
npm install cronshotInstall/Create any CronShot middleware functions that you want
Run CronShot using one of the examples below
Take and Save An Image To The Local Filesystem One Time
npm install cronshot-local
var cronshot = require('cronshot'),
middleware = {
'local': require('cronshot-local')
};
// Local File Example
// ------------------
// Takes a screenshot of sports.yahoo.com,
// and saves the screenshot to the local file system
// Save Local File Example
cronshot.startCapturing({
// The webpage URL that you would like to take a screenshot of
'url': 'http://sports.yahoo.com',
// The local path where you would like to save the image
'path': __dirname,
// Only takes one screenshot
'cronPattern': false,
// What middleware functions to use each time a screenshot is taken
'saveMiddleware': [middleware.local]
}, function(err) {
// optional callback function once all screenshots have been taken
if (err) {
console.error(err);
}
});
Take and Save a Transparent Screenshot
npm install cronshot-imagemagick
brew update && brew install imagemagick
var cronshot = require('cronshot'),
middleware = {
'imagemagick': require('cronshot-imagemagick')
};
// Image Magick Example
// --------------------
// Takes a screenshot of sports.yahoo.com,
// and converts the screenshot to be a transparent image using Image Magick
// Image Magick example
cronshot.startCapturing({
// The webpage URL that you would like to take a screenshot of
'url': 'http://sports.yahoo.com',
// The local path where you would like to save the image
'path': __dirname,
// Only takes one screenshot
'cronPattern': false,
// What middleware functions to use each time a screenshot is taken
'saveMiddleware': [{
// Function that does all the Image Magick stuff
'middleware': middleware.imagemagick,
'options': {
'gmCommands': [{
'method': 'trim',
'args': []
}, {
'method': 'transparent',
'args': ['#FFFFFF']
}]
}
}]
}, function(err) {
// optional callback function once all screenshots have been taken
});
Take and Save A Screenshot To The Local Filesystem Every 10 seconds
npm install cronshot-local
var cronshot = require('cronshot'),
middleware = {
'local': require('cronshot-local')
};
// Local File Example
// ------------------
// Takes a screenshot of sports.yahoo.com,
// and saves the screenshot to the local file system
// Save Local File Example
cronshot.startCapturing({
// The webpage URL that you would like to take a screenshot of
'url': 'http://sports.yahoo.com',
// The local path where you would like to save the image
'path': __dirname,
// Cron pattern to run every 10 seconds
'cronPattern': '*/10 * * * * *',
// What middleware functions to use each time a screenshot is taken
'saveMiddleware': [middleware.local],
}, function(err) {
// optional callback function once all screenshots have been taken
if (err) {
console.error(err);
}
});
Run One Or More Cron Jobs In Parallel
npm install cronshot-local
var cronshot = require('cronshot'),
middleware = {
'local': require('cronshot-local')
};
// Takes a screenshot of sports.yahoo.com and yahoo.com,
// and saves both screenshots in the current local directory
cronshot.startCapturing({
'parallelLimit': 2,
'screenshots': [{
// The webpage URL that you would like to take a screenshot of
'url': 'http://sports.yahoo.com',
// The local path where you would like to save the image
'path': __dirname,
// The desired name of the image (the default is screenshot.png)
'imageName': 'screenshot.png',
// What middleware functions to use each time a screenshot is taken
'saveMiddleware': [middleware.local]
}, {
// The webpage URL that you would like to take a screenshot of
'url': 'http://yahoo.com',
// The local path where you would like to save the image
'path': __dirname,
// The desired name of the image (the default is screenshot.png)
'imageName': 'screenshot1.png',
// What middleware functions to use each time a screenshot is taken
'saveMiddleware': [middleware.local]
}]
}, function(err) {
// optional callback function once all screenshots have been taken
if (err) {
console.error(err);
}
});
Passing Options via Command Line
node cronshot-runner.js --customCSS 'body { background: blue !important; }' --url 'http://yahoo.com'
Note: You can pass BOTH code options AND command line options. If you pass the same option via both methods, the command line option takes precedence.
The saveMiddleware option accepts one or more functions, that are run serially (in order), to manipulate/save a screenshot image.
Below are the current middleware functions available:
cronshot-local - Cronshot middleware to save images locally
cronshot-imagemagick - Cronshot middleware to manipulate and save images with ImageMagick
Should be small (~100 or less of code)
Should do one thing (eg. save to filesystem, manipulate image, save to cdn)
Should call a callback function when completed
module.exports = function(obj, callback) {
var options = obj.options,
content = obj.readStream,
info = {
'name': 'example-middleware'
},
error = false;
callback(error, info);
}
Save middleware functions are only provided three things; the user options, the screenshot read stream, and the callback function to call when all actions are completed. Please make sure to pass an info object, with the name of the middleware, to the callback function.
// The time to fire off your job. This can be in the form of cron syntax or a JS Date object.
// The default runs every 10 seconds
// If you set this to false, then CronShot will only take one screen shot
'cronPattern': '*/10 * * * * *',
// The webpage URL that you would like to take a screenshot of
'url': '',
// The name of the image you would like to be saved
'imageName': 'screenshot.png',
// The local path where you would like to save the image
'path': '',
// User agent to use when creating the screenshot
'userAgent': '',
// The dimensions of the browser window
'screenSize': {
'width': 1024,
'height': 768
},
//The area of the page document, starting at the upper left corner, to render.
// Possible values are 'screen', 'all', and a number defining a pixel length.
// 'window' causes the length to be set to the length of the window
// (i.e. the shot displays what is initially visible within the browser window).
// 'all' causes the length to be set to the length of the document along the given dimension.
'shotSize': {
'width': 'window',
'height': 'window'
},
// The left and top offsets define the upper left corner of the screenshot rectangle.
// The right and bottom offsets allow pixels to be removed from the shotSize dimensions
// (e.g. a shotSize height of 'all' with a bottom offset of 30 would cause all but the
// last 30 rows of pixels on the site to be rendered).
'shotOffset': {
'left': 0,
'right': 0,
'top': 0,
'bottom': 0
},
// The location of phantomjs.
// Webshot tries to use the binary provided by the phantomjs NPM module,
// and falls back to 'phantomjs' if the module isn't available.
'phantomPath': 'phantomjs',
// Object with key value pairs corresponding to phantomjs command line options.
'phantomConfig': {},
// Any additional headers to be sent in the HTTP request.
'customHeaders': null,
// When taking the screenshot, adds a white background if not defined elsewhere
'defaultWhiteBackground': true,
// When taking the screenshot, adds custom CSS rules if defined
'customCSS': '',
// JPEG compression quality.
// A higher number will look better, but creates a larger file.
// Quality setting has no effect when streaming.
'quality': 75,
// If streaming is used, this designates the file format of the streamed rendering.
// Possible values are 'png', 'jpg', and 'jpeg'.
'streamType': 'png',
// Indicates whether the content needs to be requested ('url'),
// loaded locally ('file'),
// or is being provided directly as a string ('html').
'siteType': 'url',
// Number of milliseconds to wait after a page loads before taking the screenshot.
'renderDelay': 0,
// Number of milliseconds to wait before killing the phantomjs process and assuming
// webshotting has failed. (0 is no timeout.)
'timeout': 0,
// Wait for the web page to signal to webshot when to take the photo using
// window.callPhantom('takeShot');
'takeShotOnCallback': false,
// If the loaded page has a non-200 status code, don't take a screenshot, cause an error instead.
'errorIfStatusIsNot200': false,
// If you set this to true, then CronShot will not print out any success/error logs
'silent': false,
// The maximum number of times you would like your screenshot cron job to run
'max': false,
// The maximum number of screenshot cron jobs to run in parallel
// Note: This only applies if you are running more than one screenshot cron jobs
'parallelLimit': 5
Please send all PR's to the dev branch.
If your PR is a code change:
npm installsrc/modules directory.tests/unit/cronshot.js.npm test.cronshot.js would not have been possible without the help/inspiration of the following libraries/awesome people:
FAQs
Cron job scheduler to take, alter, and store web page screenshots
The npm package cronshot receives a total of 1 weekly downloads. As such, cronshot popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that cronshot demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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