appshot
Version:
A command-line tool record gifs of apps on MacOS.
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# appshot
[](https://badge.fury.io/js/appshot)
[](https://travis-ci.org/artdecocode/appshot)
```
npm i -g appshot
```
A CLI tool to record gifs of apps on MacOS.
![appshot gif][appshot-appshot.gif]
## Table Of Contents
%TOC%
## ImageMagic convert
The `convert` utility from ImageMagic library should be installed to allow saving optimised gifs.
```sh
brew install imagemagic
```
Otherwise, unoptimised records can be taken with `-g` flag.
## CLI
After installing globally, the program can be run. Pass a part of the window title to start recording.
```
appshot part_of_window_title
```
```
appshot README.md
```
If more that one window is found, the recording won't start.
### `--list`, `-l`
Only list the open windows without capturing a gif.
```sh
appshot -l
```
```
┌────────┬──────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┬────────┐
│ winid │ app │ title │ pid │
│ 108 │ Creative Cloud │ Item-0 │ 993 │
│ 101 │ Tunnelblick │ Item-0 │ 1036 │
│ 84 │ Avira │ Item-0 │ 997 │
│ 81 │ PostgresMenuHel… │ Item-0 │ 1018 │
│ 17 │ Little Snitch A… │ Item-0 │ 344 │
│ 29 │ SystemUIServer │ AppleBluetoothExtra │ 417 │
│ 33 │ SystemUIServer │ AirPortExtra │ 417 │
│ 37 │ SystemUIServer │ AppleTextInputExtra │ 417 │
│ 41 │ SystemUIServer │ AppleClockExtra │ 417 │
│ 45 │ SystemUIServer │ AppleUser │ 417 │
│ 50 │ Spotlight │ Item-0 │ 419 │
│ 27 │ SystemUIServer │ Siri │ 417 │
│ 25 │ SystemUIServer │ NotificationCenter │ 417 │
│ 3 │ Window Server │ Menubar │ 206 │
│ 66 │ Visual Studio C… │ README.md — appshot │ 410 │
│ 68 │ Google Chrome │ Child Process | Node.js v10.2.1 Docum… │ 414 │
│ 59 │ iTerm2 │ 1. bash │ 415 │
│ 4 │ Window Server │ Backstop Menubar │ 206 │
│ 60 │ Finder │ │ 418 │
│ 54 │ Dock │ Desktop Picture - Sierra 2.jpg │ 416 │
│ 2 │ Window Server │ Desktop │ 206 │
└────────┴──────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────┴────────┘
```
### `--app`, `-a`
Filter by the name of the application.
### `--title`, `-t`
Filter by the title of the window. Same as passing the title as the first argument.
### `--wait`, `-w`
Delay in seconds before the recording starts.
### `--file`, `-f`
Path to the file. If none specified, a prompt will be displayed.
### `--delay`, `-d`
How often to take screenshots. Defaults to 1 second.
### `--resize`, `-z`
Resize to this width, keeping height proportionate.
### `--colors`, `-c`
How many colors to use in the output gif.
### `--dir`, `-D`
Directory in which to save the gif.
### `--gifsicle`, `-g`
Save in unoptimised gif format. This can be used when `imagemagic` is not installed, however not recommended as the image size is not optimal.
### `--max`, `-m`
Capture this number of frames at max and stop recording.
### `--chopTop`, `-T`: Chop Top
How many pixels to take off top of each image. Pass `23` value (on non-retina displays) to remove the window headers, which can change title or status and lead to de-optimisation.
<!-- ### `--focus`, `-F`
Bring the window to the foreground using a snippet:
```applescript
tell app "Finder" to set frontmost of process processName to true
```
```sh
appshot --app iTunes --capture --focus
``` -->
<!-- After getting information about windows via the same process as `list` mode, spawn `screencapture`, passing the id of the first found window. Windows do not have to be in foreground, and can appear dimmed. To solve this, add `--focus` flag to additionally run `./etc/active.py` which will use _applescript_: . -->
<!--
The table with found windows will be printed as well, unless you
set the `--quiet` flag. -->
<!-- ## Screenshots
 -->
<!-- ### Example
```bash
appshot \
--app Chrome \
--title zoroaster \
--capture \
--no-shadow \
--screenshots-dir ~/appshots \
--format jpg \
--focus \
```
 -->
<!-- ## Explanation
Data comes encoded as JSON string from `etc/run.py`, which uses Quartz to get information about windows.
```
[[64, "Flux", "Item-0", 526], [26, "SystemUIServer", "AppleBluetoothExtra", 394], [30, "SystemUIServer", "AirPortExtra", 394], [46, "SystemUIServer", "DisplaysExtra", 394], [34, "SystemUIServer", "AppleTextInputExtra", 394], [38, "SystemUIServer", "AppleClockExtra", 394], [42, "SystemUIServer", "AppleUser", 394], [54, "Spotlight", "Item-0", 464], [24, "SystemUIServer", "Siri", 394], [22, "SystemUIServer", "NotificationCenter", 394], [3, "Window Server", "Menubar", 158], [20,
"Dock", "Dock", 391], [314, "iTerm2", "1. bash", 1219], [2437, "Google Chrome", "", 372], [2438, "Google Chrome", "Logfile by z-vr \u00b7 Pull Request #1 \u00b7 Sobesednik/browsershot", 372], [297, "iTunes", "iTunes", 1137], [2778, "Finder", "logs", 395], [2510, "Finder", "58dc0ebb-12d3-42d0-8f68-73ebe6821f44", 395], [1554, "Activity Monitor", "Activity Monitor (All Processes)", 25318], [1263, "App Store", "App Store", 19532], [4, "Window Server", "Backstop Menubar", 158], [21,
"Finder", "", 395], [18, "Dock", "Desktop Picture - IMG_2586.JPG", 391], [2, "Window Server", "Desktop", 158]]
```
JSON-encoded array with records like `[winid, app, title, pid]` is printed to `stdout` by Python and deserialised by Node. Once window id is found, we call `screecapture -l<winid>` to take a screenshot of an app. -->
<!-- ## TODO:
- add support for export of all fields from python, and provide interface between python script and node
- add cli help
- use more `screencapture` options, such as formats other than `jpg` and `png`, `-P`, `-T`, `-c` -->
<!-- ## Readings
[stackoverflow - WindowInfo list of keys][2] -->
---
Copyright 2018 [Art Deco Code][1]
[1]: https://artdeco.bz
[2]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6160727/how-to-obtain-info-of-the-program-from-the-window-list-with-cgwindowlistcopywind