How can I get a screenshot (a thumbnail) of a Website inside Processing?

Is Processing able to get one?
If not, what kind of external tool can you recommend?

THANKS for all IDEAS !

i am also trying to do this, but couldn't figure out a way yet.

i don't think there is a way to get website thumbnails without some kind of browser-thing going on, because the html code has to be interpreted to produce a graphic result, but who knows.

i found a java plugin called jdic (http://www.processingblogs.org/2007/08/30/jdic-embedding-a-web-browser-in-java/) that works as a browser and you can  run it with processing. it is able to display pretty much every webpage. but it kinda works like a stand-alone app in its own extra window and i haven't figured out how you can send back data (i.e. screenshot) from the java-browser to processing.
i recently startet a thread for this (http://processing.org/discourse/yabb2/num_1264609096_.html

maybe you find jdic useful or have come up with an idea yourself in the meanwhile

Perhaps you could use a service to generate the thumbnails? Just an example, but shrinktheweb has plugins for thumbnail generation on  different web platforms. Not sure if you can integrate that with Processing.

In this old thread I found at the end a java library called "Scrender" that performs screen capturing of web sites.

But I could not find the reference - nowhere. . .

yes it works... you get a screenshot of the website as image
mine : http://api.thumbalizr.com/?url=http://www.dec32.de&width=250

only problem to solve. it takes a while and it returns an "picture queued" image as long as the original shot is not loaded.
I would check for a special pixel color in this queded image, so you can make your own "waiting" screen as long as the image is not loaded.
other thing is the watermark, but this could be easily removed, by not drawing the latest 15 pixel of the image.

I found a command line tool, here:
http://www.paulhammond.org/webkit2png/

It is written in Python.
Could somebody explain how it works?
On the site he says: "Download webkit2png" - but theres nothing to download, just a text.
So I guess I have to do a copy/print and save it as ".py".
But where should I put this file so that the shell can find it ?

PhiLho, I think the JDIC Library should work for you.
It uses InternetExplorer as engine. Have you tried it?
http://workshop.evolutionzone.com/2007/08/30/jdic-embedding-a-web-browser-in-java/#more-127

Ok. Alors, I thought JDIC is only for Windows, but no.
But the problem is the engine, that it uses:
For Windows it is Internet Explorer.
For Mac it is only Mozilla - not Firefox. (?) It is not the same thing.
Mozilla is a Browser that exists before Firefox. But they didn't developped it further. So now I'm trying to download an old version of this old Mozilla-Thing. For all Windows-users, could you tell me if it works with InternetExplorer?
I tried it with InternetExplorer for Mac, but it didn't work! Pffffou...

Check this code:
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// JDIC_multiple.pde  

// Marius Watz - http://workshop.evolutionzone.com  



import java.awt.*;  

import java.awt.event.*;  

import javax.swing.*;  



import java.net.URL;  

import java.net.MalformedURLException;  

import org.jdesktop.jdic.browser.*;  



aBrowser browser[];  

long last;  



void setup() {  

 size(800,600);  

 frame.setLayout(new GridLayout(2,2));  



 browser=new aBrowser[4];  

 for(int i=0; i<4; i++) {  

   browser[i]=new aBrowser();  

   browser[i].initPanel(400,300);  



   if(i==0) browser[i].setURL("http://www.google.com/");  

   if(i==1) browser[i].setURL("http://processing.org/");  

   if(i==2) browser[i].setURL("http://ffffound.com/");  

   if(i==3) browser[i].setURL("http://sojamo.tumblr.com/");  



   frame.add(browser[i].panel);  

 }  

}  



void draw() {  



}  



public class aBrowser {  

 Panel panel;  

 WebBrowser webBrowser;  



 public aBrowser() {  
   
   

       
       



   // Set engine to IE  or Mozilla

   BrowserEngineManager mng=BrowserEngineManager.instance();  

   mng.setActiveEngine(BrowserEngineManager.MOZILLA);
 
   IBrowserEngine be=mng.getActiveEngine();
   
   //the path that constains xpcom.dll
   //I think when you use IE as browser, you don't have to tell the Path...
   be.setEnginePath("d:\\mozilla\\bin\\mozilla.exe");  

   webBrowser = new WebBrowser();  

 }  



 public void initPanel(int w,int h) {  

   panel = new Panel();  

   panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());  

   panel.setSize(w,h);  

   webBrowser.setSize(w, h);  

   panel.add(webBrowser, BorderLayout.CENTER);  

 }  



 public void setContent(String htmlContent) {  

   webBrowser.setContent(htmlContent);  

 }  



 public void setURL(String url) {  

   try {  

     webBrowser.setURL(new URL(url));  

     webBrowser.setDebug(false);  

   }  

   catch (MalformedURLException e) {  

     System.out.println(e.getMessage());  

     return;  

   }  

 }  

}

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