[sldev] Using Sikuli to automate SL viewer. Case: snapshots

[Opensource Obscure]

Thanks to LL's web developer Jeffrey Carl Faden, who recently
about it on Twitter, yesterday I discovered MIT's Sikuli:

http://sikuli.org
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/screen-shots-0120.html

Using Sikuli, in a few minutes I did something that I 
never managed to do before - basically, "get a snapshot
out of SL without directly using the viewer GUI".

http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=431873

It's a sort of hack, but it actually works. The Sikuli 
script starts the SL viewer, wait for buttons to appear
and automatically click them in a predefined sequence.

AFAIK, bots can't do snapshots - so the only way to do 
something like was is to automate the use of a traditional
viewer. Sikuli lets you do in a very very easy way.

According to your setup and your operating system, this
obviously can be remotely controlled. 

For example, one could set up an LSL HTTP-in script that
detects the presence of an avatar. A second script on
your computer periodically can call that script and ask
if anyone is around. If the answer is positive, a third
script (the Sikuli one) is started: it runs the viewer,
logs in-world, take a snapshot, sends it via email and logs out.


This kind of tools has obviously much more vast implications 
than what I'm specifically talking about here - I also 
guess they will be soon abused in creative ways... :|

bye
Opensource Obscure
--
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LOL/12/34/56