Snapper

Full control window


The full size control window

conwin2.png - 111KbToggling the snapper window to full size (click on the top right corner icon) reveals more options, as shown in the window at the right and sections of the window below.

Key trigger

This allows you to set which key press combination will start the screen capture. You need to pick a combination that will not clash with other apps using hotkey combinations, such as Keystroke. You can now use the left and right SHIFT, CTRL, ALT and LOGO keys (some keyboards do not always have both LOGO keys). It should be possible to pick a key combination that does not interact with other software. Note that it is not necessary to choose a two key combination. You can select as many (or as few) keys as you like, although two adjacent keys is probably the best option for normal use.

Pointer

There are two options. Move will remove the pointer from the screen area before capturing the screen. This is useful if you want to capture a menu. With move selected, the menu will appear without the usual inverted selection where the pointer is. Show will display the pointer in its correct position on any captured images. There is further information on the pointer hints page.

Note for MoreDesk users: An option in MoreDesk is to use 'Alt key + mouse moved to edge of screen' to navigate to the next screen. If you have the Snapper option 'Move' set, and the Alt key is one of your trigger keys, then when the pointer is moved to the bottom left of the screen during the grab, and the Alt key is still being held down, MoreDesk will detect this and may change screens! You then end up grabbing an area of the wrong screen.

Fill

This allows you to specify the fill colour for the area window. If the fill is set as Trans (transparent) then everything visible within the area border will be captured. If there is a fill colour set, then only windows in front of the area will appear. The area window follows the usual rules for window order. Dragging it around with adjust will preserve its position in the window stack. Dragging with select will bring it to the front. The fill colour can be chosen by clicking on the menu button to the right of the set colour and then making a selection from the menu. The colours are limited to the standard wimp colours There is further information on the menu hints page.

Save options

A full description of the options for saving files is given below.

Bring target window to front

If other windows overlay part of the target window then these will be shown when the window is snapped. If this option is selected, then Snapper will bring the target window to the front before snapping, and then return it to the original position in the window stack after the snap.

Hide control window on screen grab

If this is ticked then the control window will be temporarily hidden when a full screen grab is carried out. This only applies to the screen setting, and not to e.g. window, and only to normal desktop operation.

Delay snap

Normally, Snapper takes the screen grab as soon as the trigger keys are pressed. There may be the rare occasion when some additional setting up of the display is required that cannot be done before the trigger keys are pressed. It is therefore possible to set a time delay between triggering the snap and the snap occurring. Ticking this option enables this feature. The actual time delay is configurable between 4 and 10 seconds. Users should be careful about the actions taken during this time delay so as not to confuse Snapper!

More settings...

Clicking on this button will open the 'More settings' dialogue, shown here.


Options for saving the screen snap

Saves from within the desktop

In the case of saves from within the desktop, there are four ways of completing the snap. The method is set by clicking on the menu button and selecting from the resulting menu, which is shown below. You will need to save choices from the iconbar menu for the new setting to be remembered after Snapper is quit.

method.png - 11KB
Use Save As
A standard SaveAs dialogue will be opened when you click on the Snap button or use the key trigger. You can select the image filetype for the save by selecting the appropriate button in the SaveAs dialogue as shown below. The icon (which should reflect your choice of filetype) may be dragged to a directory viewer to save to disc, or directly to an application that is able to load that type of file. Once a save has been made to disc, then the path and filetype are remembered, so that if subsequent saves are required in the same directory, it is possible to click on the OK button to save immediately. The filename numerical suffix will increment with each save so the previous file will not be overwritten.
saveas.png - 11KB
Use Save path
When you click on the Snap button or use the key trigger the save path is used directly without opening a SaveAs dialogue, and the file is saved immediately in the designated directory. The filename suffix will increment to prevent previous files being overwritten.

In order to set the Save path to other than the default (which is set to the same directory as that holding the Snapper application), you have three options.

  1. Enter the full path manually and press RETURN
  2. Click on the menu button just to the right of the save path writable field. This will open a save box. The icon must be dragged into the directory in which you want the images to be saved

  3. Drag the destination directory from the filer window into the save path writable field

Whichever method you use, you will need to save choices from the iconbar menu for the new setting to be remembered after Snapper is quit.

The image file format for direct saves using the Save path is shown in the lower field and is selected by using the popup menu button to the right of the field. The image file types are sprite, draw (a sprite in a drawfile wrapper), PNG or JPEG.

ftype.png - 11KB
Use clipboard
In this case, when the snap is made, the captured sprite is held in memory, without an actual save being made, and Snapper claims the global clipboard. The snap may then be pasted into another application that supports the global clipboard and will paste sprites. Examples are OvationPro and TechWriter.

When using the clipboard it is only possible to paste as a sprite (or drawfile wrapped sprite). This is due to the png and jpeg library routines used here writing the converted image directly to a file. In addition, very few, if any, RISC OS applications will request the clipboard contents as png or jpeg type.

Filer_Run
With this setting, Snapper will save the snap into the configured save directory (as above for Use Save path), but will then issue a Filer_run command for the file. The snap should then be directly loaded into the configured application for running that image format. The default for sprites will be !Paint. For formats such as PNG, a suitable application must have been booted, so that the run action for the file has been set up.

Capturing the complete desktop screen without the snapper control window being visible
There are two options:

  1. The simplest way is to hide the snapper control window behind another window before using the hotkey combination to make the snap. This way you have the full range of save methods and save filetypes available.
  2. Make sure that Screen is the mode selected. The control window can then be closed and the capture initiated with the key trigger. In this case it is the module which deals with the save as described in the next section. The snap will immediately be saved into the configured save path directory as a sprite. You cannot change either the save method or filetype.

Capturing the complete desktop screen without even the snapper iconbar icon being visible
This is a modified version of the second option above. Make sure that Screen is the mode selected. The control window can then be closed, and Snapper quit. Again it is the module which deals with the save, which is initiated using the key trigger, and the sprite will be saved into the configured save path directory.

Saves from outside the desktop
If you have a program that does not run in the desktop, but takes over the screen and runs as a single task, then you can only save in one way. By choosing Screen mode, and ensuring that the Snapper control window is closed before leaving the desktop, screen captures can be achieved from outside the desktop, by using the trigger key combination. The configured Save path will be used to save the screen. In this case the screen will always be saved as a sprite.

This full screen save from outside the desktop is implemented by the Snapper module. This is contained in the module Spell (it shares some code). The module supports one *command, viz. Snapper_Key, which is followed by a number formed from one bit for each of the Left and Right Alt, Ctrl, Shift and Logo keys. So Left Alt contributes 1, Right Alt 2, Left Ctrl 4, Right Ctrl 8, and so on up to Right Logo 128. Files will be saved to the system variable <SnapperFile$Dir>. This information should allow the use of the module outside of Snapper.

More information about the save path may be found in the save hints section.


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Snapper is © Chris Johnson and David Pilling, 2013
Email:chris@chris-johnson.org.uk