Instructions for Setting up the phpLD Screenshot Application

[David]

Requirements:
1. This screenshot processor is for use by one individual on one computer.
2. This application works with Windows XP and Vista, and may work with some older versions of Windows also.
3. The host of your database must allow remote connections. Please make sure this is possible before purchasing the software.


Installing the Software:
1. Purchase a license, and download the zip file
2. Create a new folder on your computer named Screenshots, and extract the contents into the folder.

Running the Software:
1. Open the folder, and click on the Screenshot Processor Icon to start the application.
2. Database connection – you need to enter the database server, the port (optional), the username and the password and then click on the ‘Connect’ button. A message with the status of the attempt will be displayed. If the connection succeeded, then you will go to the second section
Example Values:
Database server: 66.128.66.128 (so this is usually the ip address of your database. If this doesn't work, be sure to ask your host about this first)
Database Port: 3306 (usually you will not need to change this)
Database Username: siteuser_dbname (the same as the value found in your phpLD /include/config.php file)
Database Password: letmein (the same as the value found in your phpLD /include/config.php file)
3. Table selection - This section consists of 4 cascading dropdowns that will fill automatically when you select a value from the previous dropdown. First you will select the database from the available databases, then the table and in the end you will match the columns for ID and link. After the correct values are selected, you will click the Analyze button.
4. Current status – will display the IDs and links already processed from the current connection.
5. Settings – image type and size options and also ability to specify only a range of IDs to process
6. Current Progress – will list the new IDs and links from the connection and the real-time progress of the process once you click the ‘Start’ button.
7. FTP upload – allows you to enter the FTP server, username, password and the folder on the server to upload the generated thumbnails. When clicking on the ‘Upload’ button the files generated will be sent to the FTP server, in the specified folder.


Terms of Service:
1. phpLD cannot be held responsible for incompatibility issues, and cannot give refunds, so please understand you take this risk when purchasing the software.
2. Future upgrades will be made available to purchasers of the software, but please know that the terms of service may be changed without notification, and upgrades may be subject to those terms.
3. phpLD reserves the right to disable software that is used in violation of the terms.
4. The software artwork, code, and all parts are protected by the license, which cannot be resold or transferred without written consent.
5. Support is limited. We we always try to address issues in a timely manner when possible. However, phpLD is not responsible for any delays in use of the software as a result of issues incurred by the user, and makes no promises at to the speediness of support.

More instructions and a screenshot of the application below...

[David]

Below is a screenshot of the (screenshot) application.

Content visible to registered users only.

Section 1: Database Connection - this is where the values are added to connect to the database
Section 2: Table Selection - this application will actually work with ANY mysql database with the id field and the url field, and this is what you need to choose from your links table in your mysql database that you connected to in section 1
Section 3: Processed Links - shows processed links from previous runs on this job
Section 4: Allows for many different settings for size and image type. Image types can by BMP, PNG, JPG, GIF and WMF. At this point, we believe PNG is the best choice for quality and performance. When selecting sizes, try to choose good height/width ratios that would present the webpage well. If you choose "Full Page" the screenshot processor will get the whole web page from top to bottom, and only the width will be factored in.
Section 5: Current Progress - as the job runs the application shows the status of each link, which can be skipped, pending, processing, complete or failed. Two different browsers are used, so if one fails, another one tries to process. A failure is usually only marked after attempts by two browsers
Section 6: You specify a folder and the ftp settings for your website, and the screenshots are uploaded to this folder. At this point, all you have to do is write the code to display the images. To get you started here is a real example:

http://www.directhoo.com/detail/link-1.html (I chose to create a 400x300 size PNG, and I used the following Smarty code to output the screenshot:

Content visible to registered users only.