Using DropBox to Build an On-Line Grabber

Building an on-line grabber is a two step process.  First, download and learn to use a waterfall display grabber such as ARGO or SpectrumLab.  Of the two, ARGO is much simpler to use while SpectrumLab is more versatile....I have a SpectrumLab turorial on this blog to help overcome the learning curve.

Second, upload your grabs either to a web page or to the DropBox photo sharing service.  The web page approach is more versatile and sophisticated but has a steep learning curve if you don't already know how to design a web page and get in online.

That's where DropBox comes in.  All you need to do is open a FREE account which links a folder on your computer directly to one at DB.  Then as ARGO or SL makes the grabs and stores them in the computer's DB folder they magically appear in the one at DB.  Furthermore, DB is designed for image sharing and all you need do is obtain the link to the image in question and show it to the Knights so they can view it.

I've been running an auxiliary online grabber using this method and it works FB...with one exception...it will not automatically update and the user needs to click his refresh button to see the latest grab.  This is not considered objectionable according to several comments I've received.

Here are the details of the DB folders.

After setting up the *Free* DB account this is the opening screen you will see.  You are provided with two basic folders, one called Photos, which we will be using, and another called Public which is useful for other files such a programs and sound files.  Note also the Getting Started file which will explain everything.

Next open the Photos folder which will look something like this:

The only one of interest to us is 10 Minute Grabber which is where the grab ends up.  Open this one and we see,

a single file which is the actual .jpg  uploaded from the grabber and which is to be viewed by the user.  Click on the "link" icon to the right to copy the link and pass it along to your potential user.

This is the actual folder set-up at DropBox and there is a similar one on your computer at a location you specify when setting it up.  This is where you direct the grabs made by ARGO or SL.

Note that I gave the file a rather strange name..."W4HBK Grabber  (REFRESH for latest grab)".  That's so a message will show up at the top of the screen to ID my grabber and remind the user to hit the REFRESH button once in a while.

Now you must add a new line to the Periodic Actions commands:

capture("C:\Users\bill\Dropbox\Photos\10 Minute Archive\W4HBK Grabber  (REFRESH for latest grab.jpg")

Here's what the Periodic Actions screen will now look like:

Finally, go to the image file in your Dropbox folder, right-click on it and select "Copy Dropbox Link".  Open a new Tab, paste the link and make sure it opens the file.  This link is the one you send to users so they can open the file.

Note that it DOES NOT auto-update and the user will need to refresh the screen to see the latest grab.  That's why the reminder in the name, "W4HBK Grabber  (REFRESH for latest grab.jpg"

There is an easy way to make it auto-refresh and that is with a browser extension that auto-refreshes the screen at an interval you select.  I use "Easy Auto Refresh" for my Google Chrome browser.

If you publish the link to ur archive the user can also view all the grabs there.

If you have any problems please feel free to contact me at owlpoop@gmail.com


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Archiving QRSS Uploads with Dropbox

One of the more difficult parts of operating a grabber is making an online archive and keeping it purged of old files.  I like to keep 24 hours of grabs which should give everybody time to look for their signal while they were asleep or whatever.

Until recently I had been using Picasa for archiving my grabber files using the feature which uploads images from my SL folder to Picasa Web and keeps the two synced.  As files in the SL folder get automatically deleted by a program called Autodelete when they are over 24 hours old the sync feature deletes the same files in the Picasa Web folder.  As Google made changes to Picasa the syncing process stopped working  requiring me to delete old files manually every day....ugh!  So now I use Dropbox.

I've seen Dropbox mentioned favorably as a place to store images and files for others to view so decided to check it out.  They offer a free account of 2 GB which is much more than adequate for my QRSS archiving. The files at Dropbox are maintained in sync with the corresponding folder on your computer. After establishing an account I linked it to my SL folder and then changed the URL link in my html file at qsl.net to that of the Dropbox folder...easy as pie and works like a charm.  I also like the images better and the ease of scanning through them.  The syncing is spot on.

The Dropbox account provides two folders, one for images and one for files.  Within the image folder you can add other folders and I use two, one for the 10 minute grabs and one for the 6 hour grabs.  The other folder for files has come in handy also as a way to include files with the posts in this blog ...Google doesn't allow files attachment in their blogs.

Autodelete is a neat little program that deletes computer files older than x days in specified folders when run, where x is 1 day or greater.  I run it 4 times a day automatically via the Windows Task Scheduler.  If you haven't used TS it is in Assesories/System Tools menu.

For a week now the Dropbox/Autodelete process has been performing flawlessly leaving me with one more thing I don't have to forget to do.

A special thanks to Dave, N4FRE, for watching the archives for problems, of which there were a few.

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