Script to take pictures of desktop every 10 minutes.

Hi,
I have a headless server. It has a problem I cannot recreate manually.
It is programmed to do a restart and if this fails to do a forced restart. However when it does the forced restart I would like to know what is happening and why it failed. So I thought if I have it take pictures of the desktop I might see what dialogue boxes are open and hence find what programme is hanging and stopping the restart.
I would also like it to repeat this procedure every (lets say) 10 minutes.
I have broken my head over the script (I am not very good) to no avail. Any help out there?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1476873&tstart=0
Reposted as forum server disallowed me to edit it.

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Script to take pictures of desktop and mail results

Hi,
I am reposting as posted before finishing and I can not edit the message, > server tels me I am not allowed to edit.
I have a headless server. It has a problem I cannot recreate manually.
It is programmed to do a restart and if this fails to do a forced restart. However when it does the forced restart I would like to know what is happening and why it failed. So I thought if I have it take pictures of the desktop I might see what dialogue boxes are open and hence find what programme is hanging and stopping the restart.
This is what I found from dev_sleidy (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6670993&#6670993):
set dFolder to "~/Desktop/screencapture/"
do shell script ("mkdir -p " & dFolder)
repeat 2 times -- Repeat 2 times.
set tTime to do shell script "date +%H%M%S"
do shell script ("screencapture " & dFolder & tTime & ".png") -- Capture screen.
delay 30 -- Wait for 30 seconds.
end repeat
So far so good it works.
Now I want this file to be send per email to me, for which it first needs to be compressed, unless I send all the individual pictures which would also be fine as well.
How would I do this using mail?
I have broken my head over the script (I am not very good) to no avail. Any help out there?

01. Code with '.zip' file attached to each e-Mail message.
-- Code starts here --
property tAddress : "[email protected]" -- e-Mail address.
set tFolder to ((path to desktop folder from user domain) as string) & "screencapture" & ":" -- Screen capture folders' path.
set dFolder to quoted form of (POSIX path of tFolder) -- Screen capture folders' path, in UNIX form.
repeat -- Infinite loop.
do shell script ("mkdir -p " & dFolder) -- Create 'screencapture' folder.
set tTime to do shell script "date +%H%M%S" -- Obtain current time.
do shell script ("screencapture " & dFolder & tTime & ".png") -- Capture screen.
do shell script "zip -r -j " & (dFolder & tTime & ".zip") & " " & (dFolder & tTime & ".png") -- 'zip' the '.png' file.
tell application "Finder" to set tAttachments to files of folder tFolder whose name contains ".zip" -- Obtain list of all '.zip' files.
if ((count tAttachments) > 0) then -- If list of '.zip' files exist, continue.
delay 2
tell application "Mail"
activate
set nMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {visible:false, subject:tTime, content:"" & return & return}
tell nMessage
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {address:tAddress}
tell content
repeat with i in tAttachments -- Cycle through '.zip' files, attaching each to e-Mail message.
make new attachment with properties {file name:((i as string) as alias)} at after the last paragraph
end repeat
end tell
send -- Send the e-Mail message.
end tell
end tell
delay 3
do shell script ("rm -rf " & dFolder) -- Delete 'screencapture' folder.
end if
delay (60 * 10) -- Delay for 30 minutes.
end repeat
-- Code ends here --
02. Code with '.png' file attached to each e-Mail message.
-- Code starts here --
property tAddress : "[email protected]" -- e-Mail address.
set tFolder to ((path to desktop folder from user domain) as string) & "screencapture" & ":" -- Screen capture folders' path.
set dFolder to quoted form of (POSIX path of tFolder) -- Screen capture folders' path, in UNIX form.
repeat -- Infinite loop.
do shell script ("mkdir -p " & dFolder) -- Create 'screencapture' folder.
set tTime to do shell script "date +%H%M%S" -- Obtain current time.
do shell script ("screencapture " & dFolder & tTime & ".png") -- Capture screen.
tell application "Finder" to set tAttachments to files of folder tFolder whose name contains ".png" -- Obtain list of all '.png' files.
if ((count tAttachments) > 0) then -- If list of '.png' files exist, continue.
delay 2
tell application "Mail"
activate
set nMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {visible:false, subject:tTime, content:"" & return & return}
tell nMessage
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {address:tAddress}
tell content
repeat with i in tAttachments -- Cycle through '.png' files, attaching each to e-Mail message.
make new attachment with properties {file name:((i as string) as alias)} at after the last paragraph
end repeat
end tell
send -- Send the e-Mail message.
end tell
end tell
delay 3
do shell script ("rm -rf " & dFolder) -- Delete 'screencapture' folder.
end if
delay (60 * 10) -- Delay for 30 minutes.
end repeat
-- Code ends here --

Creating script to take picture and email it

I recently read an article about someone who created an automator script that would take a picture using a MacBook iSight camera and email it each time the MacBook awoke from sleep. Several laptops have been stolen from my workplace and I thought this would be a great way of figuring out the thief were my laptop ever stolen.
When I looked at the script, I noticed that it opens up PhotoBooth and Mail so that the user in front of the computer would see that their picture was being taken and that an email message was sent.
In the name of stealthness, I was hoping to duplicate this process in a unix script. I have a few pieces figured out, but I need some guidance on other issues.
What I know:
1. How to use sleepwatcher to call a unix script upon the MacBook waking.
2. How to take a stealth image using the commandline command "camcapture".
What I would like to know
1. What unix command could I use to check to see if the MacBook has a viable internet connection?
2. If there is a viable connection, send an email with the image taken to a particular email address and with a particular subjectline.
3. If there is not a viable internet connection, save the email and check for a viable internet connection each 5 minutes (or so) and send the email as soon as an internet connection is achieved.
Thank you in advance for any guidance you can offer.

Hi Mahongue,
   I'm sorry for being absent for a while but in your case that seems to have been a good idea. I think you deserve the star more than I because you seemed to have worked it all out. Of course I couldn't tell you what server your e-mail account uses but it doesn't matter that much in the ping statement. If you can ping mail.yahoo.com, I'm sure that would indicate that you have an internet connection that would allow you to send mail to a yahoo account. I see your point about e-mail being the best solution in case you don't have a reliable server of your own. Of course you can get around the dynamic IP address the way I do, with DynDNS.org. They allow you to change your DNS listing programmatically and you do that at boot. Of course that wouldn't allow you to reliably scp to that machine unless it's always up.
   Your idea of testing the return value of ping command will work in principle. I tested it and ping returns an error if either the lookup fails or the ping times out. I've never used the syntax you did in the if clause. What shell are you using? In a Bourne-type shell, you shouldn't need the parentheses. You could use something like:
if ping -c 1 mail.yahoo.com >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   <Invoke Network Usage>
fi
The redirection avoids cluttering the output of your script with the ping output.
If you're interested, the CheckForNetwork function in the /etc/rc.common script is:
# Determine if the network is up by looking for any non-loopback
# internet network interfaces.
CheckForNetwork()
   local test
   if [ -z "${NETWORKUP:=}" ]; then
   test=$(ifconfig -a inet 2>/dev/null | sed -n -e '/127.0.0.1/d' -e '/0.0.0.0/d' -e '/inet/p' | wc -l)
   if [ "${test}" -gt 0 ]; then
      NETWORKUP="-YES-"
   else
      NETWORKUP="-NO-"
   fi
   fi
and usage is:
CheckForNetwork
if [ "${NETWORKUP}" = "-YES-" ]; then
   <Invoke Network Usage>
fi
If you copy-and-paste any of this code, be sure to replace the non-breaking spaces used for indention with real spaces.
   Thanks for the link to the mail_files script!! That is really impressive! Naturally I saved it. The link you posted is broken at the moment but it's probably one of those sites that throttle traffic by shutting it down for a while when it's "overused". Maybe you've made him popular. Anyway, I got a version of the same script elsewhere but mine says that the uuencoding is untested. Yours doesn't say that, does it? Have you tested that with your version?
   Dave's script still uses Perl to do base64 encoding. It should still be possible to do this in Perl and there are advantages to letting library code handle certain tasks. That way, if a protocol changes someone will likely upgrade the library for you. I think that on another thread you asked about how to add an attachment in the code that we were discussing on that other thread. However, I thought you said that you had Perl code to do that. I was just suggesting that you put the two together.
Gary
~~~~
   The party adjourned to a hot tub, yes.
   Fully clothed, I might add.
         -- IBM employee, testifying in California State Supreme Court

Good morning, i would like to know how to take pictures from iphoto and put them in a folder on desktop

Good morning: would like to know how to take pictures from my iphoto and put them in a folder on my desktop

To take photos from iPhoto and put them onto a folder on Desktop, first create a folder on Desktop. Right-click on Desktop and create a new folder.
Then, open iPhoto, and you have two ways to export photos:
1. Select the photos you want to copy to Desktop with Command key (or go to Edit menu > Select All, if you want to copy all photos), and then, drag them to the folder on Desktop.
2. Select the photos you want to copy to Desktop with Command key, go to File menu > Export, and follow the steps.
You can choose the one you prefer

How to take voltage measurements every minute

Hi all,
I am currently new to labview and i am trying to take timed voltage measurements. Here is what i am trying to do;
I am using labview 2010 and I am trying to take temperature and humidity readings in sync with each other. To measure the temperature i am using a cDaq and mudule 9213, for humiduty i am using the voltage from module 9234 and converting it using the ambient temperature and voltage from my humidity sensor.
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Solved!
Go to Solution.

Did you stop your VI when changing voltages? It would make since if you did since the chart will retain its memory while the table's Express VI is reset with each run.
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Finder resets every minute

Last week I upgraded my ibook from 10.4.8 to 10.4.9 via software update. i think i also updated quicktime and iTunes at the same time. After doing this I began experiencing a problem i've never seen before in which the finder 'resets' every minute or so, regardless of what program i am running. the desktop items disappear for a few moments and when they reappear, i'm "in" the finder and have to click on the window of the progam i'm in to continue using the program (e.g. if i'm typing in Word or Mail, i have to click on that doc in order to continue typing, something i've done 3 times since beginning this message). I downloaded 10.4.9 combo and installed that. no change. i thru away the system and finder preferences in my library. no change, and the finder prefs renews itself at every 'reset'. there is no 'finder reset' option from the finder dock icon like there once was--the only option is "hide". Any suggestions?

I suspect the magic word is "StuffIt"--for some reason its various add on goodies frequently have unfortunate effects on the Finder.
Restart and hold down the Shift key as soon as you hear the startup chime. This will boot you into Safe Mode, which will repair the disk, clean a couple of caches, and disable ALL third party startup items (and a few of Apple's too). The start will take longer than normal as it does all this. The Finder should now work normally, and you can start looking for Stuffit add ons: check here:
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Hello CrowScraps,
Welcome to the BlackBerry Support Community Forums.
In this case we can try to reload the software on the BlackBerry smartphone to make sure it is running the latest version and there are no issues with the OS.
To do this we would need to back up the BlackBerry smartphone. Please open the BlackBerry Desktop Manager and connect your BlackBerry smartphone. Click on the Backup and Restore button and select Back Up. Please note the location where the backup is being saved as we will need to access it later to restore the BlackBerry smartphone.
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Invoke runbook every minute

This may possibly be a stupid question but I'm going to ask anyway ;-)
We have created a runbook to provision users in Lync, and this runbook goes every minute. I have the box ticked for wait for completion on the invoke runbook activity.
On enabling a handful of users the process is very quick, but we're getting to a point in our lync deployment that we are adding sometimes over 100 users at a time. I'm seeing some errors that I can't really correlate with anything else, so my question is
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If a runbook runs every minute, and the data it's working on takes more than a minute to complete, will the runbook religiously spawn every minute and perhaps trample on work of a previous runbook?
Jeffrey S. Patton Jeffrey S. Patton Systems Specialist, Enterprise Systems University of Kansas 1001 Sunnyside Ave. Lawrence, KS. 66045 (785) 864-0242 | http://patton-tech.com

Ryan,
I've double-checked my runbook and have that set, and yet I'm seeing what appears to be the runbook running multiple times. As it runs every minute, under the Log tab I saw several instances with a status of running.
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Jeffrey S. Patton Jeffrey S. Patton Systems Specialist, Enterprise Systems University of Kansas 1001 Sunnyside Ave. Lawrence, KS. 66045 (785) 864-0242 | http://patton-tech.com

Firefox keeps crashing at random times every minute or so, need help.

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<pre><nowiki>0da6cbf3-643b-4a8b-bcb2-5ec0c983b213 7/20/20139:18 PM
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Hello,
'''Try Firefox Safe Mode''' to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.
''(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)''
* You can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the '''Shift''' key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
* Or open the Help menu and click on the '''Restart with Add-ons Disabled...''' menu item while Firefox is running.
''Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"''
'''''If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode''''', your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]] article for that.
''To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.''
''When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.''
Thank you.

Why does my mouse keep losing connection every minute

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I'm having the same issue. Every so often it loses connection then re establishes. This goes on repeatedly.
If you change batteries while the computer is still active then it takes for ever to re connect.
Can't wait until someone replies to your question.

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Message was edited by: Daniel Goyette

Well it seem nobody want to give to me any feedbacks or my question in not asked in a good way.
Message was edited by: Daniel Goyette

Do the new iPod Touches shoot video and take pictures?

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not yet....
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Lauren, welcome to the discussions!
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Message was edited by: rogue416

HI,
Reinstall the PhotoBooth application from your Mac install disk.
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Script to take pictures of desktop every 10 minutes.

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