# ScreenCatch Standalone - Quick Start
## Installation
1. Ensure you have Python 3.7+ installed
2. Install Pillow:
```bash
pip install pillow
```
## Quick Test
Run the test suite to verify everything works:
```bash
python test-standalone.py
```
## Basic Usage
### Simple Capture
```bash
python screencatch.py
```
**What happens:**
1. Description dialog appears - enter "My first capture" (or skip)
2. Capture overlay appears with instructions
3. Drag to select first region
4. Press **Enter** to capture and continue
5. Drag to select second region (optional)
6. Press **Shift+Enter** to capture and finish
7. Done! Check current directory for:
- `capture_YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS.png` - The merged image
- `capture_YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS.json` - Metadata with description
### Capture Without Description
```bash
python screencatch.py --no-description
```
Skips the description dialog and goes straight to capture.
### Capture with Preview
```bash
python screencatch.py --preview
```
After capturing, shows a preview window where you can:
- Click "Keep This Capture" to save
- Click "Recapture (Keep Description)" to try again with the same description
## Keyboard Shortcuts
### During Capture
- **Enter** - Capture current region and continue to next
- **Shift+Enter** - Capture current region and finish
- **ESC** - Finish without capturing current region
- **Drag instruction box** - Move it out of the way
### In Preview Window
- **Enter** or **ESC** - Keep the capture
- **R** - Recapture
## Output
### PNG Image
Single merged image if you captured multiple regions, or single image if one region.
### JSON Metadata
```json
{
"description": "My first capture",
"timestamp": "2024-01-15T14:30:22.123456",
"captures": 2,
"merged": true,
"filepath": "capture_2024-01-15_143022.png",
"regions": [
{"x": 100, "y": 200, "width": 800, "height": 600},
{"x": 1000, "y": 300, "width": 600, "height": 400}
],
"recapture_iteration": 0,
"merge_method": "auto"
}
```
## Common Use Cases
### 1. Tutorial Screenshots
```bash
python screencatch.py
# Description: "Installing Node.js - Step by step"
# Capture each step, merged into single image
```
### 2. Bug Reports
```bash
python screencatch.py --output-dir ./bug-reports
# Description: "Login button not responding"
# Capture error message, console, network tab
```
### 3. Code Review
```bash
python screencatch.py --merge-method vertical
# Description: "Code changes for PR #123"
# Capture before/after code side-by-side
```
### 4. Automation/Web Integration
```bash
python screencatch.py --no-description --json-output > result.json
# Parse result.json to get filepath
# Upload to server, database, etc.
```
## Multi-Monitor Support
Works seamlessly across multiple monitors:
- Drag the instruction box to any monitor
- Capture regions from different monitors
- All regions merged into single image
## Troubleshooting
### "No module named 'PIL'"
```bash
pip install pillow
```
### Capture overlay doesn't show
- Check that tkinter is installed (usually comes with Python)
- Try running as administrator on Windows
### Images merge in wrong order
Regions are merged in capture order (the order you selected them).
## Next Steps
- See [STANDALONE-README.md](STANDALONE-README.md) for full documentation
- Check `--help` for all command-line options:
```bash
python screencatch.py --help
```
## Integration with Web Application
For web application integration, use `--json-output`:
```python
import subprocess
import json
result = subprocess.run(
['python', 'screencatch.py', '--no-description', '--json-output'],
capture_output=True,
text=True
)
data = json.loads(result.stdout)
filepath = data['filepath']
description = data['description']
# Upload to your web service
# upload_to_server(filepath, description)
```
Exit codes:
- `0` - Success
- `1` - Cancelled by user
- `130` - Interrupted (Ctrl+C)
## Examples
See the examples directory (coming soon) for:
- Web service integration
- Batch processing
- Custom merge layouts
- OCR text extraction
