browshot-cmd.exe: take screenshots from Windows

We have released a tool on Windows to take screenshots from the command line or to schedule screenshots automatically with browshot-cmd.exe.

Installation

Download the archive browshot-cmd.zip. Unzip all the files in any directory.
Make sure Browshot.dll and browshot-cmd.exe are in the same folder.

browshot-cmd.exe from the command line

Open the command line on Windows (Command Prompt or cmd.exe). Go into the directory that contains browshot-cmd.exe. Run browshot-cmd.exe --help to get the full list of options:

C:\Users\Julien\Downloads\browshot-cmd>browshot-cmd.exe --help
Usage: browshot.exe: OPTIONS
Interact with the Browshot API.
https://browshot.com/api/documentation

Options:
  -u, --url=URL              the URL for the screenshot
  -k, --key=KEY              your API KEY
                               default =
  -f, --file=FILENAME        FILENAME to use for the screenshot images
                               default =
  -i, --instance=INSTANCE_ID INSTANCE_ID to use
                               default = 65
  -z, --size=SIZE            the screenshot SIZE, 'page' or 'screen'
                               default = screen
  -d, --delay=SECONDS        number of SECONDS to wait after the page is
                               loaded
                               default = 5
      --fd, --flash_delay=SECONDS
                             number of SECONDS to wait if Flash objects are
                               present
                               default = 5
  -o, --format=FORMAT        the image FORMAT of the screenshot, 'png' or
                               'jpeg'
                               default = png
  -q, --quality=QUALITY      JPEG image QUALITY of the screenshot
                               Optional, default = 90
  -s, --shots=SHOTS          the number of SHOTS of the same page
                               Optional, default = 1
      --si, --shot_interval=SECONDS
                             the number of SECONDS between 2 screenshots of
                               the same page
                               Optional, default = 5
  -c, --cache=SECONDS        get a previous screenshots if done within
                               SECONDS
                               default = 8600
  -w, --width=WIDTH          thumbnail WIDTH
                               default = 0
  -e, --height=HEIGHT        thumbnail HEIGHT
                               default = 0
      --sw, --screen_width=WIDTH
                             browser screen WIDTH
                               default = 0
      --sh, --screen_height=HEIGHT
                             browser screen HEIGHT
                               default = 0
      --referrer=REFERRER    REFERRER Url
                               default =
      --script=JAVASCRIPT    JAVASCRIPT Url to inject in the page
                               default =
      --post_data=POST DATA  POST DATA for a POST request
                               default =
  -h, --help, -?             show the list of options

The options match the different options to create screenshots through the Browshot API.

To take a screenshot of https://www.google.com/ on the premium instance 58, use this command:

C:\Users\Julien\Downloads\browshot-cmd>browshot-cmd.exe --url=https://www.google.com/ --instance=58 --size=page --screen_width=1280 --screen_height=1024 --width=640 --key=my_api_key

Screenshot for https://www.google.com - attempt: 1
https://api.browshot.com/api/v1/screenshot/create?&screen_width=1280&height=0&delay=5&referrer=&post_data=&width=640&size=page&shot_interval=5&quality=90&file=&screen_height=1024&format=png&url=https:%2f%2fwww.google.com&shots=1&script=&cache=8600&instance_id=58&key=my_api_key
ID: 42250735
Status: in_queue
Waiting 20 seconds...
https://api.browshot.com/api/v1/screenshot/info?&id=42250735&key=my_api_key
Screenshot ID: 42250735
https://api.browshot.com/api/v1/screenshot/thumbnail?&quality=90&referrer=&size=page&width=640&id=42250735&format=png&instance_id=58&script=&file=&shots=1&key=my_api_key&shot_interval=5&post_data=&shot=1&cache=8600&screen_width=1280&height=0&delay=5&screen_height=1024
Screenshot saved to 42250735.png

browshot-cmd.exe.config: default values

Instead of specifying the same arguments every time you take a screenshot (key, instance ID, screen_width, etc.), you can save your default parameters in the file browshot-cmd.exe.config.

After you update browshot-cmd.exe.config, browshot-cmd.exe --help will display the default values saved in the file.

Schedule screenshots

You can use browshot-cmd.exe with the Windows task scheduler to take screenshots automatically.

browshot-schedule.xml is an example of a task. You need to edit it and change the folder and argument at the end of the file. Then, open Windows Task Scheduler and import browshot-schedule.xml. You can change additional settings such as the frequency and the start time of the task.