Due to the large amounts of different environments available for Linux and BSD, the configuration will need to be tailored specifically for each desktop environment. If Linux or BSD is reported back in the python os platform call, the script uses an option var, set_bg_cmd, as a system command call to set the system wallpaper. NOTE: This will overwrite the currently specified configuration file A Note For The *Nixes NOTE: The configuration file option var names and the parameter names differ slightly.Ī default configuration file with all available option vars and their corresponding default values can be created by passing the parameter -conf-write-defaults to the script. See the parameter section below for more information. If a parameter is passed, it will take precedence over any configuration file values.Ī specific configuration file name can be passed to the script with the -conf-file parameter. Each script parameter has a matching option var that can be set to change script functionality instead of passing the parameter. The script checks a configuration file on execution and reads any provided options and values to modify script functionality. Running the script with the ?, -h, or -help parameter will display the help text to the terminal: For instance you can set a specific date for the APOD, get a random date for the APOD, forego setting the wallpaper, and more. Various parameters can be passed to the script in order to alter script functionality.
Determine system type (ie: Windows or Linux / BSD).Send a request to download the current APOD image to disk.Parse the request response to extract the URL of the current APOD image.Send a request to the main configured APOD URL.If prior APOD image timestamp is older than 24 hours, the script will:.If prior APOD image timestamp is less than 24 hours, the script will skip the request to download a new APOD image.Running the script without any parameters will perform these tasks: Or by command line by passing the script to python directly:.Run the script via the provided scripts from the nasa_apod.py directory:.Extract contents of the archive with directories enabled.Let's Start !Īctually action starts when a user presses the 'GET !' button. So, having the rule to fetch pages for any given day, it's a matter of starting using nice C#.NET and HTTP stuff. The people who run the site are both smart and kind for they provide an extensive archive of pictures (current and past), totally free, which may be accessed as:įor example, image for year 2009, month 09 and day 09 is accessed through the following URL: 1 does the most complicated stuff.īut before I start, we need to understand how information and pages in APOD are structured - in a very simple and intuitive way: Get all images from selected month (whose date is earlier than selected date)Ģ is actually an extension of 1, as I will explain later.
Then three commands are currently allowed: The user is currently allowed to select a specific date. Note that the code is 'quick' - hence short in documentation and cleanness. No specific background is required, other than basic knowledge of C# (or any other OO language and principles) and Microsoft Visual Studio. However, only date selection is allowed at present. Moreover, I tried to develop a user friendly window. Store JPG image in the same directory as the executable.Identify and retrieve JPG images contained in HTML (currently only JPG).Perform HTTP requests to APOD website (for a selected date).The software and lessons shared here consist of the following: Hence, I developed my own automated software for that! Moreover, I frequently had several images I wanted to download (all pictures of a month) and it was a tedious clicking process. I am a frequent visitor to that site and it was very common (if not always) to download the images to my computer for later offline visualization (we still don't have an always-on world - at least a cost effective one). I am always amazed with space-related images that NASA shares on a daily basis (see ). Download utilities (required for source code) - 24.72 KB.
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