I know that there are even some web-resources exist which allow you to get a preview of a web-site 'as it looks in a certain browser'.
I only need view from any browser as an image. Is it possible to get that image without people involvement? Can I get it without system programming, just by means of pure java/python/asp.net?
UPD: http://browsershots.org/ is an example of described web-resources.
The tools I know of that does this - really "just" launches a browser (programatically of course) and takes a screenshot of the contents of the browser and saves this in an image.
I think no matter what you do, you will have to find a way of doing something like this. If you by system programming are refering to OS API calls, then I think you will be out of luck. You might be able to get a third party library that can do this for you, but then that library will simply be making those system calls instead.
I see now others have posted links to places that might prove themself useful to you as well. Without having looked at the links, that would probably be the easiest and best way to go.
Good luck
I believe what you're looking for is browsershots
There are some websites that let you do this.
Try BrowserShots
PageGlimpse is a service
providing developers with programatic
access to thumbnails of any web page.
It has API based on REST protocol and some documentation.
You have a lot of things doing this for you. Take a look at stw for instance.
If you're using .NET, it is possible to do this using the DrawToBitmap method of the WebBrowser control (example here). However, as you'll see by the last comment on that example page, it doesn't work with Flash, and it's a bit 'temperamental' with sites that use complex Javascript for rendering.
I think your best bet is to do as others have said and use a third party thumbnail provider. I haven't used it, but http://www.thumbshots.com/ looks good.
Related
My freind and I want to setup a collaborative project where we both work on a HTML file (and do PHP) at the same time (bit like Google Docs share feature). I want to be able to work with him to teach him certain things in PHP and HTML while I also code at the same time. Any suggestions? I have a VPS I thought we could use for it so nothings really going to get in our way. Maybe something like GIT or something?
Sounds like what you need is a real-time collaborative text editor. Here's an extensive list from wikipedia.
I use Google Docs personally but Microsoft has added this type of functionality into Office and there are a slew of desktop and online tools on that link. I had looked into Etherpad before but i don't remember enough to suggest one or the other. All of the links are on the wikipedia article so I won't repeat here.
I want to develop an application that will visualize the recommendations of Google instant. It is for a course project and for now, I don't know much about web programming tools. What I wonder is that is it possible to retrieve that data from another web page. If you think it is possible and it is possible with which platform, could you please guide me to the correct direction?
Without more information on what you're actually trying to do, it's difficult to give a proper answer. From what I can understand, you just want a list of the auto-completed items from a Google search, to manipulate however you like?
In which case, using the highest-rated answer from here, you can use http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?client=firefox&q=YOURQUERY to give you a JSON object which you can then manipulate to get the auto-complete results. The client= part is needed, but I haven't looked at various options you can put in there.
Personally, I've never used JSON before, so can't give you any help on how to go about parsing it, but you can find more information about it on the JSON website, and w3 website.
Will need to act like javascript or run a javascript engine OR a browser add on and communication with that add on.
What happens as you type is a javascript function is called. So you need to call this function in your own or mimic what it does. I guess it calls a web service/ web page form programamtically (ajax) with what you have typed. The server responds with the suggestions. Not very difficult as long as Google does not deny you if it realizes your not a browser. i think they like only 100 free API calls but you can google google about that.
Http Components in java will help calling the serice, with cookeis etc. You should use the dev tools on firefox to see what happens under the hood when you type in the google search bar and see the code.
I'm thinking if it's a good idea to have a Web app which doesn't require a site login. This is for something like a public wiki where you just want to jump in and create stuff but still have a way to control access.
Content can be read/edited by the content creator (or a few other people).
What would be good references or existing apps that implement something like this?
EDIT: The closest similar "no signup" site I could find was ImageShack though there you can't edit what you've already submitted.
I'm not too sure on the value of this type of a system. Once the password/key has been in circulation for x time, they will be rendered useless.
I recommend rather going for something that's more scalable and open, with a good example being OpenID. Here's a good library of implementations for it as well.
Very random and annoying problem with IE6. We keep our common JS files on a resources server so we only have to update them in one place. As well as our custom classes we also keep our build of mootools and more on the resources server and link to it in the head of our sites.
This is fine in all the browsers accept IE6. In IE6 it seems to not loads the core quick enough from the external link before trying to process the mootools code in my site.js file. It will go wrong on the first line "windows.addEvent".
If i put a mootools core in a folder where the site is though its fine. Does anyone know why it might be doing this and if so a way around it, but still keeping the files on the resources domain?
Thanks
Tom
#neil . Yeah exactly. Quite frankly i didn't want to be rude but the first two responses were a waste of their time and mine. Someone correcting a typo and someone else saying not to bother supporting a browser that still has 9% share of the market, quite brilliant.
#Dimitar Thanks for your response. I can't change the event to load unless you mean in native JS because no mootools will work. I don't like mixing the native JS when i'm using a framework if i can help it. Never heard of "defer" though, i will def try that. Thanks for your help.
IE6 probably pipelines the download as an extra host gives it the ability to do it in parallel.
perhaps you can either try adding defer='defer' for IE6 for your chunk of code that relies on mootools or change the event from domready to load instead (also for IE) (I tend to use the latter)
What is a (free) technology which requires the least amount of code for creating a website with the following requirements:
Sign-up/login
Form for adding your personal info. which gets databased
Each person can view and edit their own info
Admin can view and edit any
The form needs to be easily customizable and extensible (by the website's owner, not during run-time)
Is there a beginner tutorial for such a thing?
(For me, this question is about a friend who wants me to do this, but I want him to do it himself so I don't have to get roped into maintenance. I also want to keep it more general for the sake of Stack Overflow and future readers.)
Edit: I thought I remembered some ASP.NET tutorials that were mostly drag/drop or things where it was all but made for you from the database schema (which can be made with SSMS's GUI) but I can't seem to find them now.
Responding to posts below requesting specifics: this site will be for potential clients to sign-up and enter their company's info and fill out a form about their advertising needs.
I thought about putting this on SU instead, but since there was likely going to be some coding involved (I assumed no-code was an unreachable goal) SO seemed more appropriate.
Your friend can consider a framework like drupal. It has a bit of a learning code but, you can create a website with everything you ask for without code. You may want to modify it to change the look but there are themes for that.
Also, some hosts like godaddy.com have this installed and you do not have to worry about the complex installation procedures. Just start modifying the content of the site, select a built in template and go...
PhpBB? I think you need to specify what the website is going to be used for before you can get better/more specific answers.
... have a look at Drupal or Joomla, expect a learning curve nevertheless.
Is this friend a programmer as well? If so, I'd suggest building such a site using a PHP framework. Deploying an existing forum/wiki is also an option of course, but will probably have much more features than you describe. But if s/he's not a programmer, I don't see how s/he will be able to develop a site like that in a reasonable amount of time.
Why not using a CMS like wordpress, drupal and co. ?