Using PhantomJS (with the render.js script or render_multi_url.js script in the examples folder), Valentin's Shell Xtra to execute PhantomJS, BuddyAPI to find the user's folder to write the images to, and Valentin's ImgXtra to resize the images is probably the best solution. However, I was testing it out to see how well it would work and the variability in load times of the websites (which you can't really get around) is... well, quite variable. As well, PhantomJS seems to be the best solution for capturing the actual viewport of the browser without the browser chrome (and considering how many toolbars I used to see installed on people's browsers when I did tech support, you really don't want to leave that up to chance!)
After you download PhantomJS open render_multi_url.js and edit this line:
page.viewportSize = { width: 800, height : 600 };
to this:
page.viewportSize = { width: 1024, height : 768 };
then add this line below it:
page.clipRect = { top: 0, left: 0, width: 1024, height: 768 };
why am I using those values and adding that line? Because 1024x768 should be the minimum viewable area that most websites are designed for (some at higher resolutions, but tend to also be designed to scale down too). The next line clips the area. If we didn't do that then the height of the screenshot would reflect the height of the website if there's a lot of content. To see what I mean check out css-tricks.com and how long it is.
So, now make sure that file is in the same folder as phantomjs.exe
The whole phantomjs folder should be within your director project folder.
You should have the Shell Xtra installed, so now you can test. In the message window in Director try this:
shell_setCurrentDir(the moviepath & "phantomjs\")
params = "www.google.ca www.css-tricks.com www.random-roll.com www.adobe.com www.yahoo.com www.arstechnica.com"
shell_cmd_thread("phantomjs render_multi_url.js " & params, EMPTY, 30, true, #complete, #stdout)
where #complete and #stdout are handlers in a moviescript:
on complete (str)
put str
end
on stdout (str)
put str
end
As far as the ImgXtra and BuddyAPI are concerned, well, that's a tad more complicated... I'm doing up an example right now complete with a loading animation (which you can create yourself here: http://ajaxload.info/) that will load the thumbnails as they are generated. The key here is using programmer techniques to create thumbs when things are not happening... in order to mask or mitigate the sometimes long load times. For example, you might start to load the first 'page' of thumbnails during the loading of your application... and subsequent 'pages' thumbs can be loaded while the user is on the first page... as well, you might stick with using the previously generated thumbnails on subsequent launches of the app and then use the shell_cmd_thread() to get and test updated thumbs against the older ones using a simple if statement like this:
if thumbOld <> thumbNew then
-- swap out the old thumbnail for the new one
end if
