Automatic ScreenShotter Thoughts

[sphere]

What a great application.  Tried this out for a number of hours and it worked really well.  I was toggling between Email, a Word processing document and the browser. My use case was keeping a somewhat searchable visual log of what I had done/was doing.

The only issue I ran into was when deleting the images from the internal screenshot browser. I needed to back out of the folder containing the images I had deleted and then navigate back in for the image thumbnails to disappear.

I figured I would leave a few quick comments and thoughts.  I put some thoughts in this thread already regarding more file/window context in the filename. Add window title to custom naming

I think that for my use case, having program specific profiles for capture would be useful.  When I am in the word processing program, I do not need as frequent captures.  In fact captures based on pixel difference seemed enough.  When in my email client I could see it being helpful to capture only emails that had been opened in a new window or that I was replying/forwarding or composing.  If it is possible to utilize the windows title like mentioned in the other thread,  then I wonder if it would be possible  to only screen capture windows with "re:" or "fwd:" or some other keyword in the window name, as that would limit the number of captures when working in the email client. I imagine that having application specific capture profiles could be difficult to implement. What might be easier is having different profiles and being able to switch between them with a hot key.

I really liked the capture when shifting the focus window, but with the task I was doing,  it resulted in many unneeded captures. I wonder if it would be possible to set to not capture with a focus change, IF  a focus change capture was made within a certain amount of time, or IF a focus change was made between two specific applications within a certain time?

Having captures during certain events might also be helpful.  Like when saving a file.  It would be important to capture after the input, so perhaps using the pixel compare to wait until a certain number of characters were input before doing the capture?

When browsing web pages, there just was not a way I see to make screen captures work better.  Having a separate profile might help.  Maybe turning off captures when if scrolling? I have a scroll button on my mouse

I also wish there was a way of choosing the frame of a specific window, to cut out the stuff I really dd not need for my uses. So for instance,  the menu bar and tool bar on the word processor and in the email compose client.  I do not think there is a way to auto select the inner most frame.   I did see the user could define a specific area to be captured. Which is a way to make this work.


If someone were using this to audit their time, I could see it being helpful to add a "project" tag and be able to apply that tag to the captures being collected. 

Again. Really cool application.

[mouser]

Great suggestions, give me a day or two to comment intelligently about them..

[sphere]

No problem. Take your time.  This is not a time sensitive thing at all for me and I am not on donationcoder every day. 

I also wish there was a way of choosing the frame of a specific window, to cut out the stuff I really dd not need for my uses. So for instance,  the menu bar and tool bar on the word processor and in the email compose client.  I do not think there is a way to auto select the inner most frame.   I did see the user could define a specific area to be captured. Which is a way to make this work.

-sphere (March 09, 2021, 02:10 PM)

I had an additional thought on this. I wonder if it was possible to have the screenshot determined by the mouse or curser location.   Like a box defined by a certain distance out from whatever point that is.  Some screen recording software allow you to zoom in and follow the mouse. So Something similar to that.

[mouser]

The only issue I ran into was when deleting the images from the internal screenshot browser. I needed to back out of the folder containing the images I had deleted and then navigate back in for the image thumbnails to disappear.

sounds like a bug, ill check it.

Add window title to custom naming

added to todo list, that's an easy one.

having program specific profiles for capture would be useful.

that's a good idea.. but not so easy to do.

If someone were using this to audit their time, I could see it being helpful to add a "project" tag and be able to apply that tag to the captures being collected.

I like this idea.. i may add a right-click menu item to set the project tag (maybe hotkey too).

[sphere]

The only issue I ran into was when deleting the images from the internal screenshot browser. I needed to back out of the folder containing the images I had deleted and then navigate back in for the image thumbnails to disappear.

sounds like a bug, ill check it.

-mouser (March 11, 2021, 01:34 AM)

It made sense once I backed out.   But it was not my expectation. So user error/ignorance. 

Add window title to custom naming

added to todo list, that's an easy one.

-mouser (March 11, 2021, 01:34 AM)

This would be a great help.

having program specific profiles for capture would be useful.

that's a good idea.. but not so easy to do.

-mouser (March 11, 2021, 01:34 AM)

I understand completely.  As I said, much of my aim was trying to create a searchable visual log.  To that end, reducing the number of screen captures needing to be searched and ensuring the screen captures are as meaningful as possible was key.  I do wonder if there are easier ways to achieve the same thing as program or window title profiles.   

If someone were using this to audit their time, I could see it being helpful to add a "project" tag and be able to apply that tag to the captures being collected.

I like this idea.. i may add a right-click menu item to set the project tag (maybe hotkey too).

-mouser (March 11, 2021, 01:34 AM)

Very cool.  I  think the hotkey could be really nice to toggle between tags.

No problem. Take your time.  This is not a time sensitive thing at all for me and I am not on donationcoder every day. 

I also wish there was a way of choosing the frame of a specific window, to cut out the stuff I really dd not need for my uses. So for instance,  the menu bar and tool bar on the word processor and in the email compose client.  I do not think there is a way to auto select the inner most frame.   I did see the user could define a specific area to be captured. Which is a way to make this work.

-sphere (March 09, 2021, 02:10 PM)

I had an additional thought on this. I wonder if it was possible to have the screenshot determined by the mouse or curser location.   Like a box defined by a certain distance out from whatever point that is.  Some screen recording software allow you to zoom in and follow the mouse. So Something similar to that.

-sphere (March 10, 2021, 02:08 PM)

I did want to follow up on this point.  Is it possible to have the area being captured to be anchored some how by the location of the mouse or cursor?  This is another way of addressing the focus of the user.  So for instance, if typing, the cursor will be near the text I am interested in capturing.  I could simply have a user defined box follow the cursor.

[mouser]

New beta with %winTitle field you can use:
Beta download of v1.20.01:

• https://www.donation...reenshotterSetup.exe
• https://www.donation...nshotterPortable.zip

Been a while since I updated my software so I'm a little rusty and thought I'd try a quick one-feature beta release.  Let me know if the new %winTitle does what you want/expect.

[mouser]

Let's get back to this overarching point for a second:

My use case was keeping a somewhat searchable visual log of what I had done/was doing.

I have occasionally thought of making a kind of hybrid app that was a combination of Automatic Screenshotter plus some more information, with a more flexible system for browsing history of activity, so it could be used more as a way of tracking one's own activity history.. I'd be interested in hearing more ideas along these lines..

I guess the idea is that it would try to log the activity you perform on your computer, with screenshots, to show you what activities you were doing, what apps you launched, documents opened, etc.

[KodeZwerg]

The only issue I ran into was when deleting the images from the internal screenshot browser. I needed to back out of the folder containing the images I had deleted and then navigate back in for the image thumbnails to disappear.

sounds like a bug, ill check it.

-mouser (March 11, 2021, 01:34 AM)

-sphere (March 09, 2021, 02:10 PM)

If deleted with Explorer, that is normal behavior. Then you should monitor the folder to fix.
If deleted within your app = bug. Bad mouser 

[sphere]

New beta with %winTitle field you can use:
Been a while since I updated my software so I'm a little rusty and thought I'd try a quick one-feature beta release.  Let me know if the new %winTitle does what you want/expect.

-mouser (March 17, 2021, 05:41 AM)

That is great. I will try to give it a test in the coming days.

...I have occasionally thought of making a kind of hybrid app that was a combination of Automatic Screenshotter plus some more information, with a more flexible system for browsing history of activity, so it could be used more as a way of tracking one's own activity history.. I'd be interested in hearing more ideas along these lines..
I guess the idea is that it would try to log the activity you perform on your computer, with screenshots, to show you what activities you were doing, what apps you launched, documents opened, etc.

-mouser (March 17, 2021, 05:44 AM)

Very interesting.  I have long standing interested in a single application that gives me a great deal of control in building a history like that.  Automatically logging file activity, in conjunction with screen screenshots would would provide a lot of contextual information to help navigate the files.

I am not sure what is possible to log/capture from the system automatically- but having the ability to layer different types of activity to create a fairly accurate account of what was done would be attracted to person’s interested in auditing their time, recreating or remember something they had done, and even those who are involved in the life logging/quantified self community.

In my opinion,  capturing whatever can be captured automatically, would mean the user would not be required to input information.  However, I think it would be important for the user to be able to annotate or otherwise add context to what is being logged and captured with as little friction as possible.

Viewing the log of activity and being able to navigate it quickly would be great, but also being able to filter, search, and even analyze it would be great.  Maybe even generate a report or save a query based on the project tags (mentioned above).  I like a timeline viewer,  where I can search or specify the date,  but they are certainly more difficult to create.  I could imagine others being interested in statistics surrounding their activity, like how long they are on certain sites etc. 

Some additional ideas:

-Prompted input:  A popup or sound indicating an event was just logged, with the option to add or annotate events with predefined tags or notes.  So for instance, if a file was saved  or modified, being able to quickly enter in some details about that. 
-Events can trigger other actions.
-Utilizing metadata as much as possible
-Merge or somehow sync histories from different computers systems.  (i.e work and personal or old pc and new pc and maybe the possibility of adding some sort of input from a smartphone.  Adding a smartphone is another hurdle, but if there was a simple app that allowed you to make a note of say, a phone call or a meeting, that could then be exported and then imported into the log/history.
-Notes: Ability to create structured and unstructured notes to add context.
- Export a segment of the history based on filters
-If there are notes related to an activity, perhaps having those notes display when you engage in this activity again.
-Perhaps being able to import comma delineated or text files logs from elsewhere.

Those are some thoughts, but I guess what I am curious about is what information it is possible to capture from the system automatically?

[sphere]

I also stumbled upon this.
C# FileSystemWatcher listens to the file system and places a watch on a directory, its subdirecttories, and files and notifies if any changes are made to the directory. This class is useful when you need to auto update the updates in a directory. For example, if you want to create an auto backup of a folder, you can implement a File system watcher service that watches a directory or entire machine and find when and what changes are made and copy the changes to the backup device.

https://www.c-sharpc...mwatcher-in-C-Sharp/

[sphere]

New beta with %winTitle field you can use:
Beta download of v1.20.01:

• https://www.donation...reenshotterSetup.exe
• https://www.donation...nshotterPortable.zip

Been a while since I updated my software so I'm a little rusty and thought I'd try a quick one-feature beta release.  Let me know if the new %winTitle does what you want/expect.

-mouser (March 17, 2021, 05:41 AM)

I have been able to do some testing and this seems to work. Sometimes  Automatic Screenshotter mis-names a screenshot, but I believe this is because I am in the midst of toggling windows or changing focus window quickly and it just grabs the wrong name.  Being able filter by a certain window name,  like a libre writer/ word document is nice.
 
I need to fine tune the pixel changes and get it just right.  I think that will be the best way to limit the number of captures I accumulate.  I am curious what others have it set at?