Screenshot of server's desktop using PHP

Question

Is there any way of taking screenshots of my server's desktop using PHP, so that they can be presented to my website's remote administration page?

I am running a Windows Server 2008, but would be interested in a *nix alternative aswell for future purposes.

*nix doesn't usually make a habit of running graphical environments on headless servers. — Chris Eberle, Feb 11 '12 at 18:46
@Chris Yeah, just wanted to know though for my small red hat kde desktop, which I use as a server for personal purposes, although I don't really think it can be done without the use of an external program — ᴘᴀɴᴀʏɪᴏᴛɪs, Feb 11 '12 at 18:53
I think you'd be better running an executable for KDE to do the screenshot, potentially using PHP to modify it afterwards if you wish. A quick web search should turn up a possible solution. (Edit: ditto for Windows too). — halfer, Feb 11 '12 at 18:55

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

Will only work on Windows based servers, but how about:

<?php
// capture the screen
$img = imagegrabscreen();
imagepng($img, 'screenshot.png');
?>

Or:

<?php
// Capture the browser window
$Browser = new COM('InternetExplorer.Application');
$Browserhandle = $Browser->HWND;
$Browser->Visible = true;
$Browser->Fullscreen = true;
$Browser->Navigate('http://www.stackoverflow.com');

while($Browser->Busy){
  com_message_pump(4000);
}

$img = imagegrabwindow($Browserhandle, 0);
$Browser->Quit();
imagepng($img, 'screenshot.png');
?>

Searching is useful for a fast answer ;)

Website screenshots using PHP

Image grab screen was exactly what I was looking for, thanks! — ᴘᴀɴᴀʏɪᴏᴛɪs, Feb 12 '12 at 08:29

Screenshot of server's desktop using PHP

1 Answers1