How to: upload screenshots to personal site (SFTP or FTP)

You have your own site and want to upload screenshots to it. This small article describes how to do it.

You will need:
– personal site or any hosting with SFTP or FTP access. For example: virtual private server with SSH or FTP access.
– install Cygwin (easy).

You will got: after you click "Upload image" in Screenshot Captor, image will be uploaded and URL will be copied to clipboard, e.g. http://files.example.com/screenshots/20120504_162348_591_nMFnu4un.png
You can upload image in different ways:
- Main menu: SendTo → Upload image file with Uploader tool.
- Tray icon: Upload last image.
- New screenshot popup after capture: Send to... → Upload image file with Uploader tool.
- Screenshot Captor floating toolbar: Select post-capture options and actions → [x] Upload screenshot.

Differences from ZUploader:
– ZUploader doesn't work for SFTP at all for me (as for v.5.5.0 r3030),
– random string is added to file name, so no one will be able to see your screenshots: you should give an exact link to it,
– screenshot is saved with single style of file naming: date_time_milliseconds_random.ext. This allows to order screenshots by date and resists to file name guessing.

I've tested three modes of upload (from most to less preferred):
1) upload using SFTP with public key,
2) upload using SFTP with password,
3) upload using FTP with password.
Some other upload protocols that are possible in "lftp" mode: FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, HFTP, FISH, Torrent.

Steps for SFTP with public key

1. Run http://cygwin.com/setup.exe and install "openssh" in addition to base package. So you will have files "sftp.exe" and "date.exe" in folder "C:\Cygwin\bin".
2. Create SSH keys without password (press Enter twice) that will allow you to upload files:

[copy or print]
> C:\Cygwin\bin\ssh-keygen -b 2048 -f automatic_access

Copy two new files to directory: "C:\Cygwin\home\UserName\.ssh\". As a result you should got two files: "C:\Cygwin\home\UserName\.ssh\automatic_access" and "automatic_access.pub".
3. Copy public key file "automatic_access.pub" to server to file "~/.ssh/authorized_keys"
4. Test your setup:

[copy or print]
> C:\Cygwin\bin\sftp -i ~/.ssh/automatic_access username@files.example.com

"username" is your login to server, "files.example.com" is your site domain.
You should got:

[copy or print]
Connected to files.example.com
sftp>

Type "quit".

Example of server configuration:
– home directory of site: ~/ (e.g. /home/sites/files.example.com/)
– public ssh key: ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
– some directory for screenshots: http://files.example.com/screenshots/ matches to path on server ~/data/screenshots/
So, if you put file to ~/data/screenshots/screenshot.png you will be able to see it here: http://files.example.com/screenshots/screenshot.png

5. Update variables in upload.bat (file is below) to match your configuration:

[copy or print]
set pathToCygwinBin=C:\Cygwin\bin
set urlPathPrefix=http://files.example.com/screenshots
set serverPathPrefix=/data/screenshots
set remoteServer=files@files.example.com
set uploadMode=sftp
set privateKey=~/.ssh/automatic_access

6. Main menu: Edit → Preferences → External Tools - Custom Uploader Tool: specify path to "upload.bat".
In same window: Online Uploading → (*) Use custom uploader.

Now command "Upload image" will upload screenshot to your site and will copy URL to it to clipboard.

Steps for SFTP with password

1. Run http://cygwin.com/setup.exe and install "lftp" in addition to base package. So you will have files "lftp.exe" and "date.exe" in folder "C:\Cygwin\bin".
2-4. Skip.
5. Update variables in upload.bat (file is below) to match your configuration:

[copy or print]
set pathToCygwinBin=C:\Cygwin\bin
set urlPathPrefix=http://files.example.com/screenshots
set serverPathPrefix=/data/screenshots
set remoteServer=sftp://login:password@files.example.com
set uploadMode=lftp

(notice "uploadMode" variable is changed)

Steps for FTP with password

1. Run http://cygwin.com/setup.exe and install "lftp" in addition to base package. So you will have files "lftp.exe" and "date.exe" in folder "C:\Cygwin\bin".
2-4. Skip.
5. Update variables in "upload.bat" (file is below) to match your configuration:

[copy or print]
set pathToCygwinBin=C:\Cygwin\bin
set urlPathPrefix=http://files.example.com/screenshots
set serverPathPrefix=/data/screenshots
set remoteServer=ftp://login:password@files.example.com
set uploadMode=lftp

(notice "uploadMode" variable is changed)

upload.bat:

Formatted for Text with the GeSHI Syntax Highlighter [copy or print]
@echo off
 
rem Depends on Cygwin: date, sftp (openssh) or lftp
 
set pathToCygwinBin=C:\Cygwin\bin
set urlPathPrefix=http://files.example.com/screenshots
set serverPathPrefix=/data/screenshots
set remoteServer=files@files.example.com
rem uploadMode=sftp for SFTP with public key or uploadMode=lftp in other cases.
set uploadMode=sftp
set privateKey=~/.ssh/automatic_access
 
rem Don't warn about Windows path scheme.
set CYGWIN=nodosfilewarning
 
set source=%1
 
if exist %source% (
    rem file exists
) else (
    echo Error: file %source% doesn't exist.
    exit
)
 
rem Get full name of file.
for /F "tokens=*" %%A in ('dir /L /B %source%') do set Variable=%%A
rem Get file extension in lowercase.
for %%i in ("%Variable%") do set sourceExt=%%~xi
 
rem Generate random string.
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
set _RNDLength=8
set _Alphanumeric=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789
set _Str=%_Alphanumeric%987654321
:_LenLoop
if not "%_Str:~18%"=="" set _Str=%_Str:~9%& set /A _Len+=9& goto :_LenLoop
set _tmp=%_Str:~9,1%
set /A _Len=_Len+_tmp
set _count=0
set _RndAlphaNum=
:_loop
set /a _count+=1
set _RND=%Random%
set /A _RND=_RND%%%_Len%
set _RndAlphaNum=!_RndAlphaNum!!_Alphanumeric:~%_RND%,1!
if !_count! lss %_RNDLength% goto _loop
 
rem Get current time.
for /F "tokens=*" %%A in ('%pathToCygwinBin%\date +%%Y%%m%%d_%%H%%M%%S_%%N') do set Variable=%%A
set FileTime=%Variable:~0,19%
 
rem Compose new file name.
set NewName=%FileTime%_!_RndAlphaNum!!sourceExt!
set destination="%serverPathPrefix%/!NewName!"
 
set url=%urlPathPrefix%/!NewName!
rem Copy to clipboard without new line and trailing space.
<nul set /p any-variable-name="%url%"| clip
echo Url %url% was copied to clipboard.
 
rem Convert file path for Cygwin and add quotes.
set source=%source:\=/%
rem Remove existen quotes if any, and add quotes.
set source="%source:"=%"
rem Upload.
if "%uploadMode%"=="sftp" (
    echo put %source% %destination%| %pathToCygwinBin%\sftp -C -i %privateKey% %remoteServer%
) else (
    echo put %source% -o %destination%| %pathToCygwinBin%\lftp %remoteServer%
)
rem pause