PHP Library

You can take screenshots in real time from PHP using the Browshot service. Get a free account and try now.

Browshot.php

The source code is available on GitHub. You can get the latest version on on Packagist or you can download version 1.16.1 from our website.

Requirements: PHP 5.1.6 or above, PHPUnit 3.3.5 or above (to run unit tests)

Composer

You can use composer to set up Browshot:

composer require browshot-php/browshot=dev-master

This will create a vendor folder with the Browshot library and its dependencies. In your PHP file, you cal then load the PHP library:

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

If you don't want to use Composer, you can include the Browshot library directly into your PHP file:

require_once 'Browshot.php';

Here are a couple of basic code samples. You can find more code samples for each API call on the API Documentation page.

Download a screenshot (simple API)

<?php

#######################
# WARNING
# Running this code sample will cost you Browshot credits
#######################

require 'vendor/autoload.php'; # Composer
# require_once 'Browshot.php'; # or download Browshot.php

$browshot = new Browshot('my_api_key');


$data = $browshot->simple(array('url' => 'http://mobilito.net/', 'cache' => 60 * 60 * 24 * 365, 'instance_id' => 12)); # 1 year cache, free screenshot
# code above is blocking, it will return when the screenshot finished or failed

if ($data['code'] == 200) { # success
	$fp = fopen("screenshot.png", 'w');
	fwrite($fp, $data['image']);
	fclose($fp);

	echo "Screenshot saved to screenshot.png\n";
}
else {
	echo "Screenshot failed!\n";
	# the reason for the error is sent as part of the HTTP response in the X-Error header but it is not exposed by this library
}

# quicker way to save a screenshot
$info = $browshot->simple_file("mobilito.png", array('url' => 'http://mobilito.net/', 'cache' => 0, 'instance_id' => 65, 'screen_width' => 1280, 'screen_height' => 1024)); # no cache, premium browser
if ($info['file'] != '') {
	echo sprintf("Screenshot saved to %s\n", $info['file']);
}
else {
	echo "The screenshot failed\n";
}

?>

Download code sample

Download a screenshot (full API)

<?php

#######################
# WARNING
# Running this code sample will cost you Browshot credits
#######################

require 'vendor/autoload.php'; # Composer
# require_once 'Browshot.php'; # or download Browshot.php

$browshot = new Browshot('my_api_key');

$screenshot = $browshot->screenshot_create(array('url' => 'http://www.google.com/', 'instance_id' => 12, 'size' => 'page')); # all default parameters, instance_id = 12 (free)
# If the screenshot is already in cache, it could be finished already. Otherwise, wait longer
while ($screenshot->{'status'} != 'finished' &&  $screenshot->{'status'} != 'error') {
	echo "Wait...\n";
	sleep(10);
	$screenshot = $browshot->screenshot_info($screenshot->{'id'});
}

# screenshot is done: finished (successful) or error (failed)
if ($screenshot->{'status'} == 'error') {
	echo "Screenshot failed: " . $screenshot->{'error'} . "\n"; # display the reason for the error
}
else { # request the thumbnail
	$image = $browshot->screenshot_thumbnail($screenshot->{'id'});
	
	# save the screenshot
	$fp = fopen("browshot.png", 'w');
	fwrite($fp, $image);
	fclose($fp);
}

?>

Download code sample

Download a 640x480 thumbnail (simple API)

<?php

#######################
# WARNING
# Running this code sample will cost you Browshot credits
#######################

require 'vendor/autoload.php'; # Composer
# require_once 'Browshot.php'; # or download Browshot.php

$browshot = new Browshot('my_api_key');

$info = $browshot->simple_file('google-640.png', array('url' => 'http://www.google.com/', 'width' => 640, 'height' => 480));

if ($info['file'] == '' || $info['code'] != 200) {
  echo "Screenshot failed\n";
}
else {
  echo sprintf("Thumbnail saved at %s\n", $info['file']);
}

?>

Download code sample

Download a 640x480 thumbnail (full API)

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php'; # Composer
# require_once 'Browshot.php'; # or download Browshot.php

$screenshot = $browshot->screenshot_create(array('url' => 'http://www.google.com/', 'instance_id' => 12, 'size' => 'screen')); # all default parameters, instance_id = 12 (free)

# If the screenshot is already in cache, it could be finished already. Otherwise, wait longer
while ($screenshot->{'status'} != 'finished' &&  $screenshot->{'status'} != 'error') {
	echo "Wait...\n";
	sleep(10);
	$screenshot = $browshot->screenshot_info($screenshot->{'id'});
}

# screenshot is done: finished (successful) or error (failed)
if ($screenshot->{'status'} == 'error') {
	echo "Screenshot failed: " . $screenshot->{'error'} . "\n"; # display the reason for the error
}
else { # request the thumbnail
	$browshot->screenshot_thumbnail_file($screenshot->{'id'},'/tmp/google-640.png', array('width' => 640, 'height' => 480));
	echo "Screenshot was saved to /tmp/google-640.png\n";
}

?>

Download code sample